Almost everyone will try to give away online freebies to attract people to their web site. They are giving away free e-zines, ebooks, services, etc. What's happening to all this free stuff? In some sense it's loosing it's perceived value. Every time you surf the internet or check your e-mail you see at least 30 to 40 freebie offers.
Don't get me wrong, freebies do increase traffic, but not like they did when the internet was new. The key is to increase the perceived value of your freebies so they will be more attractive to your online audience. How do you do this? Well, here are eight ways:
1. Put a time limit on your freebie and create a sense of urgency. For example, " Download our free ebook, this free offer will only be available until August 30, 2005."
2. You could tell them what the freebie is worth with a dollar amount. For example, "Subscribe to my free e-zine! A $199 value!"
3. You could add other freebies to your freebie that will increase the value. For example, "Subscribe to my free e-zine and get free access to our "subscribers only" private web site!"
4. You could tell people how many people have already receive your freebie. For example, "15,000 people have already subscribed to my free e-zine! Can they all be wrong?
5. 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."
6. You could give more details about the freebie. List the benefits, features, what problems the freebie will solve, etc.
7. You could describe your freebie to sound more attractive. For example, instead of "free report" you could say "free never released top secret document".
8. You could list testimonials for your freebie. Most businesses don't give testimonials for their freebies. This would defiantly increase your freebies value.
These are just a few ways you can add value to the freebies you offer to your customers. Be creative and think up some other ways to increase the perceived value of your freebies. You can also test each idea to see which one draws the most traffic to your web site.
