Do you know what the most frequently used word is that people type in a search box on the internet Knowing what this word is and using it to its fullest extent can literally EXPLODE your sales if you run an online business. Let me explain.
The all important word is FREE!!!
The word that is used in searches on the internet more than any other is FREE. Everyone loves something for nothing. No one wants to pay for something if they can get it for free.
Think about all the times you have searched for something on the internet. Weather it was for information, a service, a product, in fact anything. Did you just type in the description, a keyword or phrase, or did you put free before it If you obmitted the word free, when the search engines generated the results, I gaurentee it gave you a list of related searches containing the keywords you used with free in front of them.
The benefit of giving something for free.
As an online business, if you offer a product, service or some information for free, it can have great returns.
First of all it boosts your search engine rankings. As the word is typed into a search more than any other, having it optimized on your website will have amazing dividends.
Once a customer has found you in their search results, further use of the word free will draw them in even more. Giving them something for nothing if they visit your site is a big attraction. In fact it is such a huge attraction that I cant emphisize how important it is.
How giving something for free can make you money.
When someone visits your site to claim their freebie, several things can happen.
In order to get their free product, they have to give you their name and email address. This is the #1 reason for offering it to them in the first place.
It is highly unlikely that someone will buy something on their first visit to a website. And unless there is an excellent reason for them to return, they may never visit again.
By having their email address, you can contact them and remind them to revisit your site. You can offer them special offers and affiliate sales through your correspondence emails.
It is a well known fact that there needs to be an average of 7 contacts (sales pitches, remind revisits, offers ect...)with a customer before they will actually buy something. The reasons for this are quite lengthy and are a whole other article, so lets stick to the matter at hand.
By being able to have the important contact with your customers, your chances of them making a purchase have increased significantly.
They learn to trust you, you become familiar to them and that is what often clinches the deal. You gain these things from your customers and then they buy.
So, thats how you make money from giving away something for free.
The quality of free.
The item that you offer, weather it be a subscription to an ezine, an ebook, report or software, MUST be of good quality.
If the customer receives their freebie and the quality is poor, they will not come back to your website and buy anything.
Even if you are the best website in your niche, offering the best deals, they will never find out, because they just wont come back.
On the other hand, if they are impressed by their free gift, they are more than likely to visit you website again and again. High quality, useful products are an essential if you want the freeie offer to work for you.
How you can drive traffic to your website using free.
Classified ads are a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website. The headline and description should be centered around the infamous whats in it for me. That is offering them a freebie. This will intice them to click the link and visit your website.
You can post classifieds for free. Just type free classifieds into the search box and choose from the 1000s of results that the search engines produce. Submit your ads often and the traffic will keep coming.
Other ways to drive traffic using free.
Simply use it anywhere your ads appear. If you publish articles, reports or ebooks, put your offer in your resource box. If you use pay-per-click, use the offer as your ad copy. Advertising in ezines, weather its your own, an affiliates or bought advertising, again use the free offer in your resource box.
Choose carefully.
When deciding on what it is that you will give way, there is one piece of advice that is vital.
Make the free item appropriate to you audience. Whatever niche you operate it, stick with the theme.
If you offer an ebook on how to knit fancy tea cosies and your business sells musical instuments, you will be heading for a problem.
The customer will visit your website to get their ebook. They will download it and probably be very pleased if it contained high quality information on how to knit fancy tea cosies. When you contact them via email with for example a special offer on violin strings, unless by some highly unlikely, random chance that they play the violin, they will not visit your website again.
No matter how many emails you send them, their interest was tea cosies, not musical instuments. Why should they visit your site again The fact is they wont.
So be mindful of what your own niche actually wants and give it to them.
In conclusion, the more you offer freebies, the more money you will make.
It is one of the best traffic drivers and is a straight forward concept.
Now that you have this little golden nugget of valuable information, get to work. Plan what you could offer, to whom, when and where.
Decide on a product that you can legally give away. Make it something that is usefull to your own niche market. Adcertise it everywhere you can and your opt-in-list will grow very quickly. After all the money is in the list, but again, thats another article.
Below is a perfect example of the free offer. I didnt make it up, its for real and it works.
Jane Harper, Webmaster
I am the Webmaster at .
I offer products and services to anyone who is serious about making money online. There are always freebies there too. Why not visit now and claim yours.
I also write articles quite often and they can be viewed at
A little bit about me. I am happily married with 4 wonderful daughters. I recently gave up my job to work full time on my online business. I love being able to work from home, but it does have its draw backs.
I have instant messenger for msn and yahoo, so if you would like to chat with me online, just zap me an email with your details and Ill add you. Contact me at
All-In-One Toolbox for Webmasters. 28 Amazing must-have tools. FREE!!! This incredible kit turned my small online business into a huge success. My opt-in-list grew so fast that my sales hit the roof Editor of Affiliates r us eZine.Download YOUR free copy now at
1. Increase the number of visitors that revisit your web site by publishing a free course right on your site. Just release a new lesson once a week or once a month.
2. Make sure your graphics load correctly. Broken graphics or the x box will make your business look very unprofessional.
3. Avoid using scrolling marquees on your web site. They take the attention away from your ad copy and make your web page load much slower. Those were great in the 90s, but obsolete today.
4. Make your web site writing exciting to read. You can use emotional words, descriptive wording, highlight keywords with color, etc.
5. You must allow your visitors to sign up for your services. When your visitors give you offline contact information, if you have the funds, send direct mail when possible.
6. Guest books are old. Take them off of your site. Use forms instead. The shorter the form, the better off you are. Allow them to add comments.
7. Submit your url to Google. To find it, just go to Google and type in ADD URL. This will bring you to the right page.
8. Our hosting is $50.00 a year. Structure your price over a period of time to make it sound less. Offer a payment plan or show the per day price. For example, Only 14 cents per day!
9. If you have a tangible product, make sure you include pictures, functions, and the benefits of the product. There are millions of websites out there. Keep there attention.
10. Update the content on your web site regularly. Youll want to add new content and update the old content. If your content is obsolete, remove it.
E. L. Strauch is the marketing director for 10000mb.com