I know it sounds like a conundrum, giving things away to make money, but that's just what the all of the top marketers are doing.

Everyone wants something for nothing. Who doesn't?

It's the proverbial free lunch. But there is no free lunch, or is there? Give-aways and their cousin, viral marketing are extremely powerful methods of obtaining new customers. Customers who are endeared and grateful for the useful, valuable information, service, software, or whatever but mostly FREE.

When you give a person something they will remember you.

Think back to when someone gave you something last. I recall a person handing me an extra admission ticket in line at an event once. A complete stranger gave me a ride in Las Vegas when I couldn't get a cab to come to my location. I remember these people and I'm grateful to them. If one of them called me today and asked a favor, I'd be like "What can I do for you?".

To market our goods we need visitors, enrollees, subscribers.

Giving away an ebook, a collection of articles, some training, consulting, whatever you have or can get of value to give, is a great way to get someone's attention. It's easy, downright easy, to then get them to sign up for your newsletter, ezine, or visit your site for more information. It's helpful if the item you're giving away has high Intrinsic value.

Where do I get things to give away?

There are lots of sites that have ebooks to give away. Do a search for free ebooks and you'll get dozens and dozens of sites that have ebooks. Now, that being said, you'll want to give away something of value so choose wisely. Better yet, create an ebook or report of your own to give away. If you have a unique service or ezine or newsletter, create a collection and give that away.

Viral marketing, the cousin of the "give-away".

In viral marketing, you give away something, an e-book for example, that is "branded" with your links and product offers. The given item has to have value, some useful or valuable information, obviously, or who would want it? A great example of a valuable branded e-book is Stone Evan's "Dotcomology" that can be found at plenty of locations worldwide. There are lots of other virally branded e-books and freebies out there. The way this works, you become an affiliate or a subscriber and you get the e-book and the brander. Now you can put YOUR affiliate links in the book and give it away on your sign-up page. It's a simple concept, works great and doesn't cost a lot.

One of the very hottest programs going today (March 2008) is a program that gives away training from the top experts in the world. The program even gives a 14 day "free" trial for a nominal $2 which is given to charity.

This program I'm talking about is changing peoples' lives every day and for the rest of their lives. Can you duplicate this? Can we all be better people and give more? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we did?