Freebies and give aways on the Internet aren't being
perceived the same way they were today as they were
just last year. Their value has dropped 95% in the
last year. Thus, what can you do about this? Here
are eight suggestions.
Almost everyone is giving away a freebie in order to attract
visitors to their web site or to get them to make a decision
now to buy something. They are giving away free ezines, e-
books, e-courses, teleclasses, introductory services and
other e-learning opportunities.
What is happening to all this fre*e stuff? Net visitors are
loosing the perceived value of anything offered for fre*e.
Every time you surf the Internet or check your e-mail you
see at least 5, 10, or even 30 freebies offers. Don't get me
wrong freebies do increase traffic, but not like they did
just a year ago. Most of the material being offered is old
information, poorly written -- sometimes even incomprehensible
-- or 50 percent sales pitches.
Visitor's appetite for anything fre*e being offered on the
Internet is now going back to the old saying, "There is no
such thing as a fre*e lunch."
Even bonus offers aren't turning heads any longer.
So what is the answer? Or is there one?
The key is to increase the perceived value of your freebies
so they will be more attractive to your audience. How do you
do this? Well, here are eight ways:
1. You could tell them what the freebie is worth with a
dollar amount. For example, "Subscribe to my free ezine! A
$199 value!"
2. You could add other freebies to your freebie that will
increase the value. For example, "Subscribe to my free e-
ezine and get free access to our "subscribers only" private
web site!"
3. You could tell them the freebie is only available for a
limited time. For example, " Download our free ebook, this
free offer will only be available until May 30, 2000."
4. You could tell them the freebie is only available to a
limited number of people. For example, "Our free software
will only be available for the next 100 people that download
it."
5. You could give more details about the freebie. List the
benefits, features, what problems the freebie will solve,
etc.
6. You could describe your freebie to sound more
attractive. For example, instead of "free report" you could
say, "free never released top secret document."
7. You could list testimonials for your freebie. Most
businesses don't give testimonials for their freebies. This
would defiantly increase your freebie value.
8. You could tell people how many people have already
received your freebie. For example, "15,000 people have
already subscribed to my free ezine! Can they all be
wrong?
These are only a few ways you can add value to your
freebies. Feel free to be creative, color outside the lines
and think up some other ways to increase the perceived value
of your freebies. But remember. It isn't what you perceive
the value to be, but what the visitors or prospective buyers
think its worth. You will also want to test each idea to
see which one draws the most traffic to your web site.
Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing &
Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet
writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and
articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com
blog: http://abundance.blogs.com
