When you advertise, your message can highlight your good points because you are paying to display your ad. Publicity, which has greater credibility, refers to free positive mentions in a variety of media - what others say about you. Over time, these mentions help create a favorable impression of your product or services.

There are many ways besides sending out press releases to attract favorable attention to your site The Internet has its own rules about commercialism, and woe to those who break them. If your press releases, postings or articles are blatant self-promotion or a sales pitch instead of truly useful information they won't be used. Worse, you risk being "flamed"-- having your mailbox flooded with negative e-mail from outraged netizens.

Search engines are an important way to find opportunities for publicizing your site. You will find a wealth of newsletters, discussion groups, mailing lists, resources and forums that can help promote your site. Two user-friendly search engines are LookSmart and HotBot.

Here are some ways your site can get publicity for your site:

• Offer to host a conference for a heavily trafficked forum on a topic in which you or someone in your firm is an expert. Concentrate on providing helpful and useful information to participants instead of trying to advertise your service or site. The host of the forum will explain how qualified you are when introducing you and promoting the event.
• For $250 and up, services like Internet News Bureau distribute news and feature stories to some 2,000 online journalists, who include reporters for the web sites of traditional media. Some will write your press releases for a reasonable fee. (Search for "online news services" to locate these companies.)
• Become active in online mailing lists and discussion groups relating to your customers. If, for example, you sell office furniture, consider giving advice about how to plan a home office to a small business association. Do not include self-serving trumpetry.
• Write articles with information that could be helpful to the readers of online newsletters and other online media. Advice, how-tos, and Top 10 lists are the best formats. Ask permission before sending your article to the list moderator, editor or webmaster, each of whom will identify its source and tell visitors how to reach you.
• Use your e-mail signature file to promote your site and services. That way, when you use e-mail to participate in a discussion or post to a mailing list, everyone will know from your signature what your business does and how to reach you.

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• A blatantly commercial e-mail signature message such as "Earn a million dollars online in your spare time. Call NOW!" is not acceptable to the online community. However it would be acceptable to say in your signature, "We provide affordable marketing services to help online enterprises increase traffic to their sites," or "We create revenue-building opportunities for online storefronts." Be sure to include your name and the name of your business, your site's URL, e-mail address, phone number and fax in the signature, which should not exceed four or five short lines.
• Sponsor surveys on your site of consumer attitudes toward various issues of online business and offer the results to the media and to other webmasters. Your company will be mentioned and your executives are likely to be quoted in coverage of the survey.

The most important part of publicizing your site is to do it steadily over a long period of time. Publicity is an ongoing process with a cumulative result.