what are some ways to advertise without money?

[phylicia]

I have an art business and I had it for about a year, I did get some orders, but those were from teachers surprisingly and family members, but I want to publicize through the public.
I don't have enough money for business cards.
I have information on facebook, but where else?

[kyle]

Either make a website showing your art, or make a large awe inspiring piece of art and place it outside your studio.

[grouse]

You need a web presence where you can drive people to learn more about you and what you do. Facebook is good but a website should be first...supported by facebook. Godaddy and Gatorhost offer amazing deals to build and host a site for as little as $2 a month. But you will need a credit card or paypal. Barter some art with someone who can help build your site. They can do it in about 2 to 3 hours if you are ready with images and copy. Wordpress is a template solution for a website that can be free. Once you get someone to build it for you, it can be really easy for "you" to make changes on your own...like changing images and copy. Spend the right amount of time to create the site so it reflects what you do and more importantly "Why" someone should deal with you....versus other options.

Think of the website as a baseball glove that will catch all your marketing. Your marketing goals should now be to push all your marketing to that glove. Make your website address very bold and prevalent on everything you do.You can get very cheap business cards created online and mailed to you from vistaprint.com....$20 or less. Post flyers and/or set up a table or display in public spaces or events (concerts, festivals, street fairs,etc,). We have about a dozen artists display representative work every weekend in our large public park. Attend lots of social networking events with your business cards and/or flyers. Online: post an add every week on craigslists, put your business on Yelp.com and get friends to write good reviews about you.

Just a few ideas...but they all need a website to drive your activities to. While it would be great to make a sale every time you meet someone...it is not the real world. Your goal when you meet people is an opportunity to create awareness that you exist and what you do...then send them to your website to see what you do in more detail.

Good luck!!