"Using the word FREE .. Does it still work?"

     By Gary Christensen

"The word FREE doesn't do anything for me", she said. "It's over-used and I just don't believe anything is completely free."  Those were the words of one of my students in my class on "Making Money in a Home-Based Business."  We had been talking about Advertising and the WORDS that are best to use in your advertising.

Regardless of what some people might think, FREE is still the most often used word in both traditional and in mailorder advertising!  Look in your local Newspaper: You'll find it in Pizza ads: "One FREE Topping",.. or "A Medium Pizza FREE when you buy any large Pizza".. or "A FREE Liter of Soda with any Pizza order!"

You'll find the word FREE in Mattress ads,.. "FREE Frame with the purchase of any Bed" .. "Free Delivery" .. FREE Set-up."  You'll find it in Automobile Tire ads: "Buy 3 Tires, at the regular price and get the 4th Tire FREE!"  In Real Estate Ads: "FREE Appraisals."  In Restaurant Ads: "FREE Bread Sticks".. "FREE Wine Sampling" .. "FREE Appetizers."  In a sewing machine ad: "FREE Financing for up to one year available."  In an ad for our local County Fair:  "Kids get in FREE!"

It's in ads you see on TV and In ads you hear on the Radio,.. but, you'll probably see it used most often in mailorder ads. Usually the offer of a "FREE Report" will pull in more responses than most any other thing offered from a mailorder ad.  I've seen Mailorder Printers offer "FREE Colored Paper"; "FREE shipping" or "FREE Folding on orders of 1,000 or more."  The "Two-for-one" offer (One FREE when you buy one) is often used with terrific results by Publishers (including DEMC) who offers: "Pay for your ad to run in 3 issues, and we'll run it a fourth issue, FREE!"

But, do these types of ads really work? Check out ANY PAGE of ads in most any Mailorder Tabloid. Go through the ads, read each one & circle the word FREE where ever you find it. I just picked one at random, and on page 22 of their latest issue, there are 54 ads,.. and 24 of them have the word FREE in them at least once!  That's nearly half of the ads on that page, using the word FREE in their ads! What do they offer? Well, Free Reports; Free Information; Free Details; Free subscriptions; Free dealerships; Free checking copies; Free MLM leads; Free ads; Free book; Free sample copy; Free "Stuff",.. and much more!

Try comparing a current issue, with an issue from a few months ago, or even one from a year ago! You will probably find the same kind of ads running then as are running now! Why would those same kinds of ads be running, month after month, if they were not working?

I recently placed an ad of 30 words in an e-mail Newsletter. I've had reasonably good success with placing ads in their Newsletter before, so, I sent them a new ad. I offered a FREE Report,.. it was a list of 150 websites where anyone could place ads FREE!  I offered the Report completely FREE for the asking!  (I did NOT put the word FREE in all Caps in my ad,.. I did this just now to show you HOW MANY TIMES I used the word FREE in my ad!  That's right, 4 times!  (Trust me, you can't use the word FREE too many times in each ad!)

The Response? I received 173 requests for my Report! I then placed that same ad, one more time, in their next issue, and I have (so far) received another 69 requests!

There is no better word to have in your ad; there is no better word to have in your headline, or within the first 3 words of your ad; there is no other word that pulls in requests and inquiries more than the word Free!

If you are able to offer SOMETHING FREE in your ad, use the word FREE, and it should outpull any other ad you have ever placed! DEMC's E-Magazine is a great place to start! 

Send them your ad, offer something FREE in your ad, and you'll probably get a good number of responses!!

For Ideas on what to offer in your ad, read this article again. If you need help writing an ad, drop me a line and I might offer a few suggestions. I can't guarantee what kind of response you will get, but, you can't do better than to make sure that you have the word FREE somewhere in every ad you place!  That one word - and the use of it - continues to surprise and amaze me!  The word is "FREE",..  use it Freely!  Good luck!

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(This article was written by Gary Christensen, a freelance writer and self- published author of 8 Books & over 100 original articles.  Gary's newest article, "The THREE THINGS you MUST do, or your Business will fail"  PLUS his "HomeMoney Newsletter" are both FREE for the asking         Email: Gapach97@aol.com  Ask for his latest article by regular mail:        Gary Christensen, 999 N.W. Sycamore Ave., Corvallis, OR 97330.          His website is at:  http://www.homeincome.com/writers-connection/

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