How to Make Money by Giving Away a Free Report

Making money from a free report seems counterintuitive, doesn't it? If you think about it, though, with the plethora of free reports circling around the internet, the authors must have something to gain from it, right?

There are several ways to benefit from a free report other than making money, of course. Some authors are simply passionate about their subject. Others want to solve a problem or support a cause. Still others want to increase their visibility, prestige, or just see their name in print!

When it comes down to it though, there are many ways to bring in cash by giving information away for free. Let's take a look at how anyone can make this happen.

A free report can easily become a "viral" piece of advertising, meaning that it propagates itself across the internet widely and quickly. This is because there is no more attractive price than free! Surfers will gladly download a free report, and if it contains quality information, they will share it with their friends.

You can augment this effect by using a simple solution like Viral Friend Generator, a new product by internet marketing legend Mike Filsaime. It works on the principle that if you make it easy for people to share your website, they will. If you make it difficult, they won't. So make it easy!

After you manage to get your report all over the net, it can start bringing in cash immediately. When you mention services or products that have an affiliate program, you can put your own affiliate link in the report to get credit when readers click through to the merchant.

For example, if I have a report about autoresponders, I would put my own affiliate link for Aweber, my autoresponder service, rather than Aweber's generic link. If enough people see my report and find it useful, a few are bound to sign up for this service through my link, earning me a commission.

A free report can serve as a teaser for a larger or more in-depth report or ebook on the same general theme. If you provide quality information, yet hold out a few gems for your paying customers, some readers will choose to pay for what's in the full report.