In a prior article, I had written some ways in which you could start your own internet business, as simple as it was. Although not the most glamorous of business, one should never underestimate the power of millions of potential clients. Internet spending is in the billions, and with the holidays right around the corner, most experts agree that if your business cannot be found on the internet now, you'll miss out on the money shoppers are going to be spending. According to leading industry analysts, there will be a 17% increase in shopping this year over last, a total of 13.1 billion dollars for the November - December months.

However, in order for you to get a piece of the proverbial pie, you must get people to view your site; and what better way to do it that through the efforts of others? Just as businesses can be "multi-level," so can advertising, at least on the internet. Some of the more popular ones are listed below:

1. StartBlaze.com

Every time you start up your browser, you could be getting chances to be seen on the startblaze network. Every time you open your browser, you'll get a new starting page. The amount this occurs depends on how often you open your browser. Currently they're offering one site exposure for every three times you open your browser; you can earn additional hits by referring other members. Currently free; may be pay only at some point.

2. ExitExchange

A revolution in the pop under, the ExitExchange system offers surfers another window when they click off your site. Much like StartBlaze, you get traffic depending upon the page views, either 2:1 (free) or 1:1 (paid). ExitExchange offers a simple code you may cut and paste onto your site, and isn't obtrusive at all.

3. Free-Banner.com

Launched in 1997, Free-Banners now displays over 300 Million Banner Ads every month over a network of 200,000 websites. Sign up to get free site stats, the opportunity to win impressions by designing banners, and access to other account plugins like FFA pages and classified set up. 2:1 ratio for your banners.

4. Links To You

One of the ways that search engines determine your popularity is by the amount of sites that link to you. LinksToYou.com addresses this issue in a interesting fashion. You upload to your site several link pages encompassing different categories with the assumption that other sites on the network will do the same. This creates hundreds of links to your site across the internet very rapidly. In order to be a member in good standing, you must upload pages monthly and display a small graphic on your site. A bit unwieldy for a beginner, but very effective.

5. Text Link Swap

Instead of big bulky banners on your site, this program offers the flexibility of size. Small textual ads (either 36 or 72 characters in length) inhabit the space of what would normally be a 468x60 ad size. Given the fact that text links outstrip banner links in performance and a 1:1 ad ration from text link swap, this makes for a very powerful program.

Well, there you have it. Five different options to promote your web venture whatever it may be. If you have another advertising hint, please put it in the forum for all to see. That's it for this week!