"FREE" - Is The Future Of Business

I would like to say, Free is Money, Because free brings more traffic, and more advertisers.

 

no, thats true you are correct abuot that

but statistics do make it fact, and so this is not my opinio.

you can only name a HANDFULL of free "business" models. It just doesnt work as a whole. Again if you have never owned a brick and mortar business or had employees and payroll (other than being an affiliate and outsourcing to freelancers) it would be hard for you to understand.

and firefox is a browser, not a business. Many businesses have "projects" they offer for free, but they earn income to pay for it elsewhere

many do not know it, but google has ALWAYS had a commercial/enterprise division, and before "adwords" was even invented, it was what paid Googls bills

and using your example of Firefox...they are owned by hte Mozilla Foundation...who uses ITS MONEY to fund mozilla's projects (including firefox) along with a ton of volunteers.

Neither Firefox nor mozilla ATTEMPTS to make money, so they are not a valid example of a business model either.

but you would have to be old enough to remember the internet and its origins to know all that.

 

Well according to researches Firefox made over 72mil. Even if you will not call it a business or a business product it's profitable. I think we are pretty much getting off topic here.

The author had the idea to use the word "FREE" and give something for free to increase the overall profit.

Seems logical and valid for me.

 

You'll generally find that the physical businesses that work with such offers are either a) trying to get you hooked onto a services by providing a free sample or a free trial of their product/serivce or b) enticing you to make a purchase by offering a freebie with it, such as a buy one get one free, or by offering a voucher on their product that can only be obtained via the first purchase. It's a concept that's already being used, and in reality it's something they are doing to push sales, mostly due to the economic climate recently

 

Yes and no. Depends on what kind of business model you got there.

 

I completely agree. The "approach" of simply giving away something for free and expecting to profit entirely on advertisement income is not in ANY WAY universally applicable, online or offline.

A retail website with little/moderate targeted traffic will make more money than a free content site with twice as much as traffic (in most cases).

Is the idea of giving away something for free appealing and "cool"..YES. Will it alone make you a lot of money..NO.

I think it is a good marketing strategy, nothing more. It's not a business model, the business model for a free content site is most likely advertising-based.

 

Its "profitable" because they had 1000s of people developing for free.

 

I swear I seen this on the title of a magazine before.. Was it wired?

 

freemium.. that is the word free+premium... search that word and it will really blow your mind!!! that is the best word invented by one of the venture capitalists to describe the whole new (or old) class of business models....

 

Yes you saw it here: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

If you really want to learn more about how you can use FREE to make money, I highly recommend
you grab a copy of the book wikinomics by Dan Tapscot & Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson

 

free is not everything. You can't run a business if you give everything away for free. Yes, google gives alot of stuff for, "free" but is it really, "free" if you have to view ads? I don't think so.

I've run both for-fee based business as well as advertising based business and I can tell you hands down that selling products is significantly more lucrative than advertising. There are tons and tons of other websites all out there competing for those advertising dollars. Right now google pays about 2-3$ per thousand views. It will only go down as more people put google ads on their sites. The people making the real money aren't putting google adsense on their sites. They are the ones buying the ads and selling products. I make about 20x as much per thousand visitors compared to if I put google adsense on it. Now I don't even have google adsense on my site, its not worth it!

For anyone trying to make money online, don't bother with advertising. Make a decent product that consumers are willing to pay for and sell it! So much more money to be made!

hahah, yes, it works wonders. I give 25% of my product away for free and the other 75%, is pay to use. Of course, the bottom line is that you have to have a product that provides great value to your customers. If you can do that, you will make lots of money guaranteed!

 

Google doesn't do things for free in reality. They track everything you do online on their site and generate ads relevant to YOU which in turn allows them to charge their advertisers even more money. There's always a reason when it comes to Google.

 

I see where you are going, but I don't recall my AdWords account being free. Google has two groups of users: searchers and advertisers. They need the searchers to get the advertisers paying, so they offer search and a bunch of other services for free to group A... and once they come, Group B pays an arm and a leg to get in front of them.

I think that it is entirely possible that your are right about movies ending up free. I think that we will see commercials within the movies just like on TV. The movie houses will love it, as their vending sales will go through the roof during the breaks. Moviegoers will love it because, well, it's free.

 

True but if you never seek profits then you are a charity and not a business. I don't know about you but I am in business to make a profit, not give stuff away for free. If you give everything away for free, trust me, people are more than willing to take it and give you nothing in return for your services. Trust me, I know.

 

nothing comes for free or remans free in the business world.

 

this is a good point.

 

It depends on the context in which it is free.

Sometimes you are attracting the wrong people by giving away something for free. Google probably isn't the best example because they made billions from advertising on their search engine but they dominated the market by being a faster engine and delivering results people were happy with, this is more of a software and coding reason.

For myself I like doing things for free to help people but if someone abuses my generosity then I will cut them off.

Some things will never be free while other things are becoming free. Overall I like what I see.

 

no one who has ever owned a brick and mortar business could ever imagine a movie house being "free"

too much risk, too much overhead, not enough revenue. (if you have ever worked with major advertisers you would also understand why this model can not work) it is NOT the same as tv because they can not generate enough eyeballs for the same price

Television has one station with about 100 employees but reaches 100s of 1000s of people PER DAY in a major city.

Movie theatre has the same employees but can only reach 1000s of people in a day. Advertisers will pay for "market share" or "reach"...the capacities won't add up for a movie theater to be able to charge enough.

Real business is nothing like affiliate marketing. You can make a ton as an affiliate giving things away for free, but once you have

rent
insurance
electric
licensing
payroll
equipment
furnishings
fixutres
repairs
advertising
supplies
etc etc

you see how quickly it wont work.

Here is an excerpt from a startup business plan for a SMALL BAR- this is what they are looking at doing BEFORE OPENING:

Start-up

Requirements

Start-up Expenses
Legal $2,000
Stationery etc. $500
Consultants $0
Insurance $1,000
Rent $4,000
Research and Development $0
Interior Refit $30,000
Expensed Equipment $20,000
Air Cond. Upgrade $5,000
Audio/Lighting $10,000
Bar Equipment/Supply $10,000
Fees and Permits $7,000
Bathroom Upgrades $5,000
Initial Marketing $3,000
Opening Salaries Deposits $15,000
Other $0
Total Start-up Expenses $112,500

Start-up Assets
Cash Required $77,500
Start-up Inventory $0
Other Current Assets $0
Long-term Assets $20,000
Total Assets $97,500

Total Requirements $210,000
Start-up Funding
Start-up Expenses to Fund $112,500
Start-up Assets to Fund $97,500
Total Funding Required $210,000

Assets
Non-cash Assets from Start-up $20,000
Cash Requirements from Start-up $77,500
Additional Cash Raised $0
Cash Balance on Starting Date $77,500
Total Assets $97,500


Total Planned Investment $210,000

Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) ($112,500)
Total Capital $97,500


Total Capital and Liabilities $97,500

Total Funding $210,000


=here is an example of some of the stuff they need to get==

❑ Glassware $_________________
❑ Compartment sinks $_________________
❑ Drain boards $_________________
❑ Speed racks (also known as “rails”) $_________________
❑ Overhead glass rack $_________________
❑ Glass chiller/mug froster $_________________
❑ Beer taps and dispensing system $_________________
❑ Cooler for beer kegs $_________________
❑ Freezer (for ice cream) $_________________
❑ Ice bins $_________________
❑ Ice machine $_________________
❑ Ice pick $_________________
❑ Ice scoops $_________________
❑ Liquor wells $_________________
❑ Dishwasher $_________________
❑ Storage racks $_________________
❑ Display shelves $_________________
❑ Storage cabinets $_________________
❑ Soda/mixer guns $_________________
❑ Condiment trays $_________________
❑ Tongs $_________________
❑ Plastic juice containers/dispensers $_________________
❑ Coffee maker $_________________
❑ Cream dispensers $_________________
❑ Sugar and spice dispensers $_________________
❑ Espresso machine $_________________
❑ Blenders $_________________
❑ Refrigerators $_________________
❑ Ashtrays $_________________
❑ Straw and napkin holders $_____________
❑ Serving trays $_________________
❑ Wood muddler $_________________
❑ Funnels $_________________
❑ Bar spoons $_________________
❑ Pour spouts $_________________
❑ Beer bottle openers $_________________
❑ Can openers $_________________
❑ Corkscrews $_________________
❑ Ice buckets $_________________
❑ Floor mats $_________________
❑ Pouring mats $_________________
❑ Trash cans $_________________
❑ Check holders $_________________

OFFICE AND RELATED EQUIPMENT
❑ Computer $_________________
❑ Laser printer $_________________
❑ Calculators $_________________
❑ Fax machine $_________________
❑ Copier $_________________
❑ Telephones $_________________
❑ Cash registers $_________________
❑ Credit card system $_________________

MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT
❑ Cleaning equipment (brooms, mops, etc.) $_________________
❑ Fire extinguishers $_________________
❑ First-aid kit $_________________
❑ Knives $_________________



=======THIS

is the reality of brick and mortar business.....you START OUT in the hole....no way you could support such a venture with "advertising only" and GIVE your product away.

 

Free brings more traffic but you have to make strategies for successful business.

 

I totally agree. Figuring out how to deliver true value for free (without going broke in the process or incurring outrageous costs) will have people eating out of your hands and begging for (more) paid stuff. The real challenge here is figuring out how to give out valuable freebies on a sustainable basis without going broke before a profit is made.