A cost-effective way to promote your home business is to get free leads from various sources. Today, your networking boundary is not defined by your family, relatives, and friends. If you are ready to invest some time regularly on the internet, you will be able to generate plenty of free leads with minimal costs. Your own website, blog, social and business networking websites, as well as online groups and forums are excellent sources for generating free leads.

A website or blog that showcases your home business is imperative in generating free leads. Keep it uncluttered and simple, while displaying all relevant information about you and your products and services. You can pep it up with photos and videos. Think about your blog as a space where your prospective customers come and check you out. Some of the ways to popularize your blog are:

• Regular updates

• Prompt response to comments and queries

• Listing your blog in as many blog aggregators as possible

• Visiting other blogs and leaving your comments

Networking sites and many online forums allow you to give links to your blog. As the traffic to your blog increases, so are the free leads for your business.

Social and business networking sites are ideal for subtly promoting your home business. They are goldmines of free leads. While business networking sites, such as LinkedIn and Ryze, are meant to talk about business, social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are intended, as the name suggests, for social networking. However, you can wisely use them to get noticed by your target audience and generate free leads.

The primary step is to create a personal profile that talks about you rather than your business. Create a page that looks professional and contains relevant information. Frequent updates with interesting content and regular interaction with others in the network will make you popular. The key is not to spam anyone with unsolicited information about your home business. If you remain active, the number of people in your network increases. Getting free leads will be a natural outcome. You can be less cautious with business networks as you can talk about your home business more freely and directly. Some business networking sites allow you to offer discounts to its members. Networking sites also allow you to create your own groups based on your interests. You can also join other groups to find the right audience for publicizing your home business and get free leads.

If used wisely, online groups and forums will also supply you with free leads. Join a few forums that suit your home business interests and create an interesting profile. Start by observing the discussions and chip in only when you have something interesting to say. People will notice when you make quality posts and respond to threads with authoritative information.

A common mistake people commit while using online networks and forums is going overboard in promoting the business. If you do this, you will be judged as self-centered and boring. Most networking communities will not like someone taking advantage of them. Nevertheless, you can use them to produce free leads for your home business if you focus on presenting yourself as an intelligent person while helping and appreciating others. Remember, it's all about building relationships, and free leads will follow.

For more information or to learn how to work with Maryjean, go to http://MaryjeanAHowe.com/?t=tg5.19