Author: Richard Lowe, Jr.
Contact Author: articles@internet-tips.net
Web Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
There's something about the word "free". I mean, it's very attractive and for some reason many of us think that "free" also means "quality" and "desirable" and, of course, "get it now". That's one reason why you see free stuff all over the web.
Of course, giving away free services and goods has been a way to get people into a store (or to a web site) for countless ages. I'm sure that way back in the Roman times they gave away free bread or trinkets to get people hook people in, just like
web sites do now.
But on the web "free" seems to have been taken to ludicrous extremes. it seems that everyone wants it for "free". A web site has to offer something, anything, for free to get people to visit. There are entire companies who are entirely devoted to
giving away free things. Even such giants as "Yahoo" are almost entirely based upon the concept of free giveaways.
Now that Yahoo has announced that it will start charging for auctions, the question begs: "is free a thing of the past?" Will other sites start charging for things that, outside of the internet, they would normally charge for?
Personally, I don't think this is going to happen. One thing that makes the internet different from anything we have experienced in the past is it's vastness. Someone who is surfing the internet literally has billions (and in a half dozen years more
like trillions) of choices.
On the internet there is no such thing as unique - at least not for long. How can there be? With so many people (over 300 million last time I looked), there is such an explosion of creativeness that there is going to be overlap and similarities
everywhere.
What does this have to do with free? Well, when someone visits a site, especially for the first time, you've got seconds to convince then to stay and look around. You have to give all of your visitors a lot of options and things to read and learn
about. You must impress them, and you must do so quickly.
One way to get them to stay for a short while is to give them some free things. Of course, you can write articles (that's what I do on my site) which give valuable information. You can give them graphics, games, plug-ins for their site, free
programs, coupons, or anything
else that you can think of (it's probably a good idea to make sure all of this fits in with the theme of your site - other than that, the sky is the limit).
Another reason to give out free things is to get people to come back. That's one of the primary ways that Yahoo and sites like it sell advertising ... they give away free things (email, calendars, classifieds and so on) so you will continue to come
back to their
sites. They can predict how often people will view those ads (based upon statistical analysis), and they've got a good idea of what kind of things you are interested in based upon your actions at their site. Thus, they can sell advertisers a
commodity ... you. Or
rather, your eyes.
That's why free stuff will continue on the internet ... it gets you there and it makes you come back again and again.
Copyright (c) 1999-2001, Richard Lowe Jr And Claudia Arevalo-Lowe
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
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Claudia Arevalo-Lowe is the webmistress of Internet Tips And Secrets
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