Free. Oh how we love to hear that word. Just the sound of it coming off anyone's lips triggers the immediate exclamatory one-word questions -- "What?" "When?" or "Where?"
Everyone loves a bargain. And there was once a time on the Internet when everything was at a bargain. For the Internet boom of the late 1990's ushered in the "free business model" when almost everything you wanted online was priced at . . . well, for free.
That's not the case anymore. Many of those companies with the free offers have taken free voluntary bankruptcy.
But still, there are many websites that use freebies to increase their website traffic and attract new business. Does it work? You darn right it does, or else it wouldn't still exist. However, the online commerce world is a game of "Survivor" if there ever was one. Survival of the fitess, that is.
Free works great as a marketing strategy provided it is used to convert website visitors into real paying customers. To do that you have to have a product or service that people need, want and will buy. But above all, your products and services have to be competitively priced. The only way you can expect to garner top bucks for your goods or services online is to offer proprietary products and services that no one else offers. If you can't do that, be prepared to lose a lot of sales to your Internet competition who most likely has some aspect of the free business model in their marketing plan.
You have to be competitive online, because now, more than ever before, people have the ability to use powerful search engines like PriceGrabber.com, PriceScan.com or Shopzilla.com to find the best deals online.
But what if you're not searching for a name brand product. What if you really do want something for free? What if you want to know more about what's free online for lesser known products and services. Then, you might want to consider turning to an information source that provides helpful articles and hints about free goods and services online.
In the event you can't find the free item or service you desire, or chasing down a free offer ends up costing you big bucks, chances are you might just copy and paste "free" to your brain's list of bad four-letter words. :o)
Craig Whitley is a freelance writer that frequently writes about the Internet, consumer trends and online business practices. He is a contributing editor to http://www.get-free.com and other websites that focus on providing useful information to consumers.
No comments:
Post a Comment