Know Your Free Stuff

Lesson 6 of our free stuff tutorial - A comprehensive explanation of all the different types of free offers currently available on the Internet - plus a short history lesson on free stuff.

So, what's the deal with these different types of free stuff offers professor?

I'll be more than happy to answer that, but first I need to offer up a short (sort of) history lesson on free stuff. Bear with me as we walk down memory lane together...

As I stated at the end of the last lesson, when I started hunting for free stuff in 1997. There was only one kind of free offer then. A company would post a freebie on their Website, I applied for it and waited until it arrived in my mailbox. Simple, neat, uncomplicated. Well, I've come to learn that the only thing that's constant in life is change. That is just what has happened to the Internet and to free stuff in general... major, earth shaking change. Back in 1997, and way before the dot com bust, companies were falling all over themselves to be first in line to offer marketing goodies on this new fangled thing they called the World Wide Web. There was so much stuff available for free online that even the most rabid of freebie junkies couldn't apply for it all. Alas, all good things must come to an end...and it did...with a screeching halt now infamously known throughout the world as the dot com bust...

After the bust, companies naturally decided it was time to tighten their money belts. Only the stalwarts in the industry like Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo were still bully over the potential of the Web. Then, all of a sudden things radically changed again. Some geek geniuses figured out that the Internet wasn't just about selling millions of dollars worth of products. They surmised that what it really was about...was being the perfect tool to gather detailed marketing information from every average Jane that surfed the Web...and at Ľ the cost of traditional means. And here is where free stuff really begins to get convoluted...

Gathering information isn't as easy a task as it sounds. Ever see those survey takers at your local mall? I don't know anyone with an ounce of common sense that doesn't run screaming in the other direction when confronted by one of them. That's the dilemma the geeks had in implementing their information gathering idea. Let's listen in to a supposed conversation as they try and figure out what to do.

So, (the geeky geniuses) thought, how do we entice average Jane into coming to our site and letting loose with all her private information about buying habits and the like? Ah, one geek says to the other, remember the good ole days when we used to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars in free junk to get visitors to a new site? Why wouldn't that work here? After all, average Jane loves free junk! She's a free junk freak. She'd rather apply for free junk then feed the kids! Yeah, the other geek says, that's a great idea...but wait a minute, wasn't that one of the reasons we went bust in the first place back then? At that point, geek number one looks like someone just stepped on his Palm Pilot. Man he says, I thought we had the answer. Then geek number two (as they always do) has a revelation. What if we found a way to make average Jane pay for the free stuff we give her without her knowing it? Brilliant! says geek number one...how do we do that? Geek two muses for a bit and then lights up like the national Christmas tree. We get all of our clients together and make her complete a series of surveys. For every survey she completes, she gets points she can use to get free stuff. Say she fills out 149 surveys...it would cost us over 5k in the real world to get that much information. If she completes all 149, we'll give her a $49.00 DVD. We're $4,951.00 ahead of the game! Brilliant! says geek number one...lets do it! And so incentive freebies were born...

I know I took the long way around in getting to your answer...but I felt it was the only way to fully explain why these offers came to be. Anyway, here is a breakdown of free offers as they stand today:

	Totally Free: Requires no shipping and handling of any kind. Just sign-up and get it.
	Almost Free: Requires a small shipping and handling fee, usually less then 5% of the total cost of the item offered.
	Free Trials: These are freebies usually with a time limit associated. A good example of one of these offers would be a trial magazine subscription where there is a cancellation period, (e.g., "cancel with-in 30 days and you won't be charged".)
	Free With Participation: Also called incentives. Additional action is required to get the offer. This can range from signing up for additional free offers to filling out a series of surveys. The additional requirements vary and depend on the value of the item being offered.

Great thanks, I know a lot more about free stuff offers now. But can you tell me more about all those free newsletters I keep reading about when I visit a site. Are they worth the time to apply for?

Hmm, you’ve been doing your homework haven’t you. As far as I'm concerned, free newsletters are one of the very best freebies on the ‘Net. Follow me to the next lesson and I’ll tell you why….

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