Does Giving Your Customers Something for Free Help Market Your Internet Business?

Nope. It doesn't.

I know what you are thinking...

"But Joe...all of those ebooks and course materials say to offer free newsletters, and free ebooks, and free special reports to gain customers."

But that is not the entire story...and any good marketer probably told you something else too...

"Give them something of value for free."

Notice the word in italics...value. That is the key to this technique. Now why I am I typing this post on a valuable marketing tips blog when the technique described above sounds so simple and easy to implement?

Because most of the free newsletters, ebooks, and special reports I read over... have very little if any real value to the reader.

If this includes yours...stop sending what you are currently to your new subscribers! You are losing more ground than you are gaining.

"Well Joe...how do we tell if what we are sending out is not valuable enough?"

Good question. Here is a general "litmus test" to start with:

1) Am I using this in my business currently? Is it a profitable bit of information? How profitable? Joe: If the information you provide is not very profitable to your business...why provide it for someone else?

2) If the answer to the first part of #1 is NO...have you done enough research to ensure that the person receiving the information will be able to profit from it? Joe: For example...any of the free gifts I give on my site at http://www.profitpartnersconsulting.com that I am not using in my own business has been carefully researched by talking with other people using the gift...or knowing how valuable the strategies are from experiences in the past.

3) If you assign a value to a newsletter, ebook, course, or other freebie...does that freebie really live up to that value by applying the freebie to a business? Joe: An example here...Derek Gehl's newsletter at the Internet Marketing Center claims a value of $147.00 for the information contained. It is a free newsletter...but it has MUCH MORE value in practical application of the techniques described. Probably one of the reasons The Internet Marketing Center is one of the most successful businesses on the Internet, huh?