5 Free Things You Can Do Today to Build Your Online Presence

Not having money to spend on marketing shouldn’t stop you from getting your business visible online. In 2026, there are more free tools available than ever — and almost all of them have video tutorials, so you don’t need to be technical to use them.

Here are five things you can do today, for zero dollars, that will genuinely make a difference. None of them require a website. None of them take more than an hour each.

1. Set up your Google Business Profile

This is the single most impactful free action any Australian small business can take. It’s completely free, it takes about an hour, and it controls how your business shows up on Google Search and Google Maps.

Without one, when someone searches for your business name — or for what you do in your area — nothing comes up. You’re invisible to the 93% of Australians who search online for local businesses.

Head to google.com/business, sign in with a Google account (use a business email if you have one), and follow the prompts. Add your business name, address or service area, phone number, hours, and a few photos of your actual work — not stock images.

Once it’s live, set aside 30 minutes once or twice a month to upload a few photos, reply to reviews, and add a post or update. That small effort goes a long way.

If you’ve already got a Google Business Profile, check it’s complete. Businesses with complete profiles get significantly more clicks than incomplete ones. I’ve written a full guide to getting it set up if you want the step-by-step.

2. Claim your social media handles

Even if you’re not ready to post yet, claim your business name on the platforms that matter for your industry. It costs nothing and it stops someone else from taking it.

The biggest mistake small businesses make with social media is trying to be everywhere. The smarter approach is to pick one primary platform for discovery and one secondary platform for credibility — then do those two well.

Here’s a quick guide to which platforms make sense for different business types:

One platform done well beats five abandoned profiles.

One thing I’ve noticed recently — Pinterest is driving surprisingly good organic traffic for businesses with physical products. If you sell anything people might search for visually — jewellery, clothing, homewares, art — it’s worth setting up a profile even if you don’t post straight away.

I’ve written a full guide to choosing the right social media platform for your business if you want to go deeper on this.

3. List your business in free Australian directories

This takes about 30 minutes and it helps Google see your business as real and trustworthy. The more places your business name, address, and phone number appear consistently online, the more confident Google is about recommending you.

Start with the big ones:

Yellow Pages (yellowpages.com.au) — still gets more traffic than you’d expect, especially from older Australians. A Yellow Pages listing also automatically creates a True Local listing.

Apple Business Connect — if you want to show up on Apple Maps. About half of Australian mobile users are on iPhones, so this matters.

Bing Places — powers Bing search, Microsoft Copilot, and LinkedIn search results.

After those, add yourself to Localsearch, Hotfrog, and any industry-specific directories relevant to your trade. If you’re a tradie, hipages and ServiceSeeking are worth listing on. Hospitality? TripAdvisor.

The key rule: make sure your business name, address, and phone number are identical everywhere. Even small differences — “St” versus “Street,” a different phone number — can confuse search engines. I’ve written more about this in the local SEO guide if you want to go deeper.

4. Ask for your first Google reviews

Reviews are free. They’re one of the strongest trust signals for both Google and potential customers. And most business owners simply don’t ask.

You don’t need a system or a tool to start. Just message your happiest clients — the ones you know had a great experience — and ask them directly. Something as simple as “Would you mind leaving me a quick Google review? It really helps” works.

Even three or four genuine reviews make a difference. When someone is comparing two businesses and one has recent reviews while the other has none, the choice is obvious.

Respond to every review you get — good or bad. It shows future customers that there’s a real person behind the business who cares.

5. Use free tools to plan and create content

You don’t need to start posting today. But you can start building up a bank of content you’ll use later — on your Google Business Profile, social media, or eventually your website.

Here’s what that looks like using entirely free tools:

Canva (free account) for creating simple graphics, social media posts, and marketing materials. If you’ve never used it, there are hundreds of free YouTube tutorials — 15 minutes will get you started.

Google Docs or Sheets for writing content, collecting ideas, and planning what to post. Nothing fancy needed.

ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini (all have free tiers) for brainstorming content ideas, writing draft social media captions, or researching what your competitors are posting. Ask something like “give me 10 social media post ideas for a mobile dog groomer in Perth” and you’ll have a week’s worth of content in five minutes.

The goal isn’t to do everything at once. It’s to build up some material so that when you’re ready to post, you’re not starting from a blank page.

You don’t need money to start

Not having a budget is a real constraint — but it’s not a reason to stay invisible. Every one of these five actions is free, takes less than an hour, and puts your business somewhere it wasn’t before.

Google Business Profile gets you on the map. Social handles secure your name. Directory listings build your digital footprint. Reviews build trust. And content planning means you’re ready to go when the time is right.

Start with whichever one feels easiest. Do one today. Do another tomorrow. Before you know it, you’ve got an online presence — and it didn’t cost a cent.