Ever since the Internet came on the scene it has been all about access to oodles of free information. I see this as a very good thing and I hope that much of the content on the Internet will remain free.

The traditional way of doing business online has been to give away about 10% of the good information – a “teaser” of sorts – and hold back the other 90% to sell.  I’ve been doing just the opposite. I typically give away 90% of my stuff. The rest of it is for my fans and those who need specific help better suited to a more in-depth, perhaps one-to-one or group coaching approach.

I sell my coaching and consulting services and some programs and teleclasses and ebooks, but most of my writing is put out there for free.

Of course, free may not be an accurate term to use because in reality there is always a price that must be paid. Usually when something is offered for free it is done so in exchange for an email address and a name.

Take my “How to Get the Word Out About Who You Are and What You Do” guidebook that’s available for free on this website. It’s free so long as you are willing to give me your first name and email address in exchange for getting it.

Now, this is no 5 page special report that tells you what you should be doing and then telling you in the end that to get the full story you must buy one of my programs. No, this is a 75+ page ebook that not only tells you what you might do to market your business it also tells you how to go about implementing those strategies.

That guidebook has done more to generate new business for me than any other marketing strategy I’ve implemented. Those people that have come to me as a result of reading my free guidebook have been so impressed with what I’ve given them for free that they already are certain that they will get incredible value if they actually pay me for something.

Now, some people want EVERYTHING for free. They even balk at having to share their email information to get access to the guidebook. Those are the people that grudgingly put in their email address, download the free ebook, and then just as quickly, unsubscribe from the list. It happens all the time and it will happen to you, too.

That’s okay. I’m very clear that those people will never buy a single thing from me anyway, so why should I invest any more of my time – even digital time – with them?

I’ve always subscribed to the idea that you can’t give away too much. Many people take issue with me on this including my partner and my accountant as well as many of my students and clients. “What will be left to buy if you give it all away?” they cry.

Just bear in mind that you won’t sell something to everybody. The whole idea behind giving stuff away for free is to have an opportunity to get people interested in what you have to say, get to know you better, confirm in their own minds that you are, indeed, an expert in your field, learn to like, and then trust you, so that one day they may decide it is safe to buy from you.

I’ve had people receiving my ezines and downloading every free thing I offer for more than three years before deciding it was time to buy something.

I’ve got thousands of people on my list but only about 10% buy from me or hire me. But every time someone downloads a free report or reads one of my articles or a blog post or even emails me for some free guidance (which I usually happily provide) that interaction has the potential to bring them that much closer to possibly becoming a paying client on down the road.

I’ve known lots of marketers and business owners who literally give everything away for free. All one has to do is read their blogs, their ezines, their special reports, and attend their free teleclasses. But many of those same people who can easily get all that stuff for free will happily pay for the exact same information if they can get it all in one place such as in a book, ebook, membership site, or audio program.

So, go ahead and give away as much free stuff as you can. All the while you’re not only building a vast library of material that you can collect later on and sell to many of those same folks, but you’re collecting valuable contact information that you can use to send your marketing messages for as long as they will allow you to do so.

Those that truly value what you offer will become your fans, and then your customers. Those that don’t, don’t matter anyway.

Want some fun free stuff that you can actually hold in your hand? Click here to find out how to get free goodies sent to you in the mail.

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This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 9:56 pm and is filed under Business Planning, Internet Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.