Free Stuff On The Internet

Have you ever wondered what the heck is p with all of these free offers that are scattered all over the internet? It seems that you can’t land on a page anymore without seeing a big flashing banner telling you that you have won something. The keyword free is the number one keyword typed into a search engine throughout the year. It’s also one of the most expensive keywords that you can use in advertising. If you’ve been using the internet for more than a week, I’m sure you’ve come across the banner exclaiming that you are a winner. But there are some things that you must be aware of if you click on any of these ads.

There are basically two types of groups that advertise giving away free stuff on the internet. Some of these are legitimate offers that are using this method for advertisement, and some are just out to get you information or worse.

Some time back I clicked on one of these ads. I had to fill out page after page of information about myself. When I got done there was only a short blurb about how I will be notified if I was one of the selected people to get this free offer. Withing a week I was on thousands of email lists and my email address became worthless to use for anything else. This ad that I had clicked on was used for something known as email farming. I gave them information about myself and they turned around and sold it. They knew what my hobbies were, where I liked to travel and everything else about my lifestyle, and of course they knew how to get ahold of me through email. There really isn’t anything dangerous about these types of ads, but your chances of really winning are slim. If you do click on ads like these, make sure that you use a disposable email address such as something on gmail or yahoo that you can toss when it gets overly spammed.

You also have your legitimate advertises who will also give away free items. Large companies are always looking for contact details of people that may be interested in their items. The reason for this is that it is much cheaper and productive to send their fliers out only to people that are looking for what they have to offer instead of having to put them in every newspaper of every city in the country. For instance, Dell computers runs an ad like the on to the right of this page. If you were to register for that free giveaway, they know that you are interested in Dell computers. Only in this case, instead of selling off your information, they will use it for their own sales campaign. Instead of seeing a large increase of emails in your box, you may get one. You will also be on their mailing list to get those colored brochures sent through the US mail directly to your house. Apple is currently running a similar campaign for their iphones. They are giving aways some iphones as an advertising promotion.

So, how do we tell the difference between the two types of ads? The easiest way is to look at who is advertising it. If you see that it links to either a large company or a respectable advertising company, you can pretty much assume that it is for real. Either way I still recommend that you use a disposable email address just in case. Look at who is offering what. If Dell is giving away computers, it makes sense. If some unknown little website is giving away computers I’d be a little leery about it. You should also look at the size of the offer. It doesn’t cost much for Apple to give away a few iphones in exchange for some advertising. They actually save money in the long run. However, Ferrari would probably never give away an Enzo. So, before you give away your personal information, just think about it for a minute. You’ll save a lot of headaches in the long run.