New websites for small business people are often facing challenges in gaining rank in online searches. Pay Per Click advertising, especially in competitive niches in an overall bear market, can mean a struggle to gain a positive return on investment. Sometimes only select long tail terms and small non-competitive niches are affordable.

Meanwhile, rising robotic click fraud is increasing demand for PPC solutions.

Granted, no marketing means or media is without its challenges (or benefits). But new websites for small businesses are likely to increase in number for the foreseeable future. For those that work their way to success, less expensive advertising methods are likely to become popular, especially at the beginning. Of these, the following effective methods especially come to mind.

First, Article Marketing

Some article sites do not adequately screen "contributors" who stuff their site with poor quality and plagiarized content. Others article marketing sites are more careful and maintain a better reputation.

The advantage for the start-up businesses that provide quality content for readers, of course, is links to the business's website(s) and improved organic search rankings. Those providing useful content in the body of their article are usually allowed a small space at the end for business promotion.

Authors may contribute to some sites for free. Others offer a service for a modest fee to distribute each article to multiple sites.

Second, Social Networking or Social Media

These sites are useful for more indirect, long term, and round-about means of garnering traffic and conversions. The many such sites excluding commercial content will continue to be plagued by unwelcome sales pitches. Savvy small business owners will ...

learn to ask questions of potential friends rather than preach product to potential customers,
find out needs and desires before providing solutions,
provide help before doing business.

And the business done will be outside the social networking sites by the buzz that was first generated in the social arena. Of course, some such sites like Twitter (or many blogs) are openly business-friendly.

Perhaps the main advantage of social networking sites is that they help develop relationships that can produce long term and repeat customers.

Third, Video Marketing

Online videos can also be produced cheaply, now that camcorders can be purchased inexpensively. And some sites are littered with cheap sales pitch videos. As with article marketing, the better videos will ad value for the viewer. The potential advantage of video over article marketing is the emotions conveyed by voice and facial expression and the visual element in our visually oriented world.

On the other hand, video marketing is also similar to social networking in that, when the social chemistry is right, an emotional bond and trust ensues. In fact, some videos can be used on some social networking sites. Unlike social networking, though, videos usually only give you one shot rather than a developed relationship--unless the viewer will see several of your videos.

More advanced video marketers will want to purchase video editing and page-capture software and maybe some higher-end digital video recorders, microphones, stands, and lighting equipment--but these extra expenses are often unnecessary for start-up businesses.

Integrating these three free or inexpensive advertising methods over a period of months may generate some significant traffic to a new web site and increase the site's ranking to a place where Pay Per Click often becomes more affordable.