[kconnections]

I really have found that for me word of mouth is one of my best "marketing" tools. I have quite a few friends who have their own businesses and so they have many contacts. They will tell their friends about my work and vice versa (assuming the people would benefit from my services). Sometimes people just ask what I do for a living in conversation and then realize they or someone they know can use my writing or other services. It works out nicely.

[imehesz]

Yes, I think this is definitely the cheapest and therefore the best! ;)

[ScottHughes]

Yes, word of mouth is great. And, as you said, it comes in conversation naturally all the time. I use business cards, they help a lot.

[ColeCash]

Word of mouth is in fact the most powerful form of advertising. Networking is also very important for this very reason. Eventually word of mouth takes on a life of its own and spreads like wildfire.

[Swordude_07]

Definitely, if you tell 10 people, then they tell 10 people and those 10 people tell 10 people you're at 1000 new visitors.

[profanitytalker]

Actually, the best is youtube. Since 100's can view your videos a day. It will stick in their heads more.

[matty]

It may be your best form of marketing, but word of mouth doesn't work as well for some sites compared to others. When I say this, I mean that word of mouth would be better for a games site than a site that is about articles.

This is because when you are in a room with many others and everyone wants something to do, then they are more likely to ask others what's the best games site online, while that sort of thing will not come up when it's an article site really.

Well that is what I think anyway, but that's just me.