Cheap Ways to Advertise a Small Business Online (That Actually Stick Around)

Paid ads work like a tap. Turn it on, customers trickle in. Turn it off, they stop. That’s fine if you have a big budget. Most small businesses don’t, so it’s worth putting some effort into things that keep working after you’ve stopped paying for them.

Here are the ones we’d start with, roughly in order of bang for buck.

1. Claim your free business listings

If you do nothing else, do this. A Google Business Profile is free and is what shows up when someone searches your business name or “near me.” Add your hours, photos, and a real description. Then do the same on Bing Places, Microsoft’s equivalent. Both take an afternoon and keep working for years.

2. Ask for reviews, every time

Reviews are free advertising written by other people. The trick is asking at the right moment: right after a job goes well. A short text with a direct link to your review page beats a sign at the counter.

3. Answer the questions your customers already ask

Every business gets the same ten questions. “How much does it cost?” “How long does it take?” “Do you work weekends?” Put the answers on your website, one clear page each. Search engines and AI assistants love pages that answer a real question plainly, and customers do too.

4. Short videos of the work itself

You don’t need a studio. A 20-second clip of a before-and-after, a weld being laid, or a wheel being finished is more convincing than any slogan. Post the same clip to TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Old videos keep getting found long after you post them.

5. Be useful in communities

Local Facebook groups, neighbourhood apps, and the subreddits for your trade or town are full of people asking for recommendations. Answer questions honestly, and only mention your business when it’s actually relevant. Being the helpful person in the group is better advertising than any post that just says “we’re open.”

6. Collect emails or numbers

Social platforms change their rules constantly. A list of customers who asked to hear from you doesn’t. A short note when you have something genuinely new is enough.

7. Try pay-per-play local billboards

If you want something physical, digital billboard networks such as Blip now let you pay only when your ad is shown, for a few dollars a day with no contract (Blip’s pricing page). It’s still rented attention, so treat it as a short campaign rather than a permanent fixture. (For context, a traditional US billboard averages about $3,953 a month: here’s our full billboard cost breakdown.)

8. Put your business on TheWorldsBillboard

Yes, this is our project, so take it with the appropriate pinch of salt. TheWorldsBillboard is a shared online billboard where anyone can claim a space with an image and a link, starting at $3, paid once. Your space is sized by your share of the billboard, and it gets its own page in a public directory that people browse.

Small businesses are already on it: a custom wheel shop, a mobile welding service, and a plumber directory, next to creators, causes, and the odd meme. It won’t replace your Google listing, and it’s not a lead machine. Think of it as a small, lasting presence somewhere fun, for less than a coffee and a pastry.

The pattern

Notice that most of this list costs time rather than money, and almost all of it keeps working after you stop. That’s the real definition of cheap advertising: not the lowest price, but the lowest price per year of being found.

Want to see how the billboard works first? It’s all on the how it works page.