We love that word, don’t we. We fall for it all the time and will until the end of time. To Americans and the world, this is the sexiest word, the best hook. (There is something free at the end of this article.)

The older you get, the more you may resist its draw because you know there is something the other side wants. But you are drawn to it like a magnet nevertheless. You may not push the button, enter that e-mail but it’s only because you have learned restraint and you know the real price.

“Free” on the internet does have a price.

Sign up for enough free stuff and your inbox will start to hemorrhage helpful messages. Because on the internet, FREE usually means, “Let me stuff your email inbox”. The letter that enticed you to enter it sounded so nice, “I want to share my success with you”, “Lemme share my secret”, when what it really means is “Enter your e-mail so I can build my mailing list”. Now, I’m not saying this is a crime. You may want to hear regularly from this guy/gal. However, it gets overwhelming if you have signed up for lots of these.

Hey, if it didn’t work, nobody would do it. But it does. And it works REALLY well. So for the free report, you get unending twice weekly e-mails. Sometimes you can unsubscribe and sometimes that feature mysteriously doesn’t work. They have you for life to hear their unending crucial message that will draw you out of the depths of mediocrity and catapult you into the realm of butlers, cooks and valet parking.

Other times, the free item is something that was for sale at one time and is now published on all blogs. The advantage is that it’s all together in one neat and tidy report. Sometimes it’s a morsel that gives you a preview of something else. And other times people distribute something free to advertise via viral marketing. Which is nice and legal. I’ve gotten some great free things this way and it’s saved me a whole lot of trouble. So there are signups that have been wonderful additions. And some that weren’t.

I have a suggestion.

If you are chasing rainbows and grabbing free stuff like a madman on crack, then set up a web e-mail box to capture it all. It will be the storage room for your habit. You can get a fix twice daily and it won’t hurt your more visited e-mail box.

An even better suggestion (Just when you though it couldn’t get better!)

Why don’t YOU offer something free? Make it something worthwhile. If you do, make sure it advertises you or your business in some way. Make sure you find an outlet to offer it that speaks to your target market. A report on how to make your own baby food isn’t going to a big draw if you post the free .pdf on a forum about guitars.

I don’t know if I’ve convinced you guys but I’m off to go make something free. In the meantime there is something free on this page. My first giveaway? This absolutely killer .jpg. Yours free, courtesy of me. You know what to do. I made it myself so it’s copyright free. Even more FREE than you thought! Holy Cow this is a great day! I’m not even asking for your e-mail!