Should you Give Away Free Information?

Ahh, it's been a while since I  posted to my blog.   Shame on me, since Internet Marketing is part of my business, I should be blogging all the time right?   Yes, Blogging can be a great way to get clients.  However, it may take sometime for a client to get to know like and trust you.  So, I have been implementing some other customer acquistion strategies.  Such as  offering FREE Marketing Consultations.   The main purpose of the Free Marketing Consultations I offer  are simply to assess the needs of my prospects.  And see if I am able to help them.  Clever. I can qualify people who I want to work with and send the " not so nice"ones on their way."  But there seems to be 1 problem, most of the people I talk to really need my help.  After all, most of them tell me the same thing in so many words; I need to increase web site traffic to my site.

Of course, I am like hell yeah I can help!  Offering a Free Marketing Consultation to assess a prospects need is fine.  But, this is where I go wrong,  instead of saying " I can help you, pay me."   I say; " I can help you and I'll send you over a  Free Suggestion Report.   When it's all said and done, I realize that my Free Suggestion Reports are actually  complete Internet Marketing Plans.  

And what do the prospects do with the information?  Say, thank you and forget about you, no matter how many times you follow up.    How's that for making a profit?    Like they say people don't value information they get for free.  Of course, you can still give free samples and  a free taste of your services, but when it comes to  doing the nitty gritty investing your time and energy into a project, you should charge.    I know it's eaiser said than done, but if you're like me and you want to grow your business into a profitable company, START CHARGING, people will value you more.      And that's what I started to do, even if it is a low $ 5.00 entry rate, I gotta charge something.  So, if you see me offering a Kick Ass Service for  Free, you need to Kick My ASS.  I give you full permisson to!    Is anyone else with me on this?  Have you been a victim of giving away information you know you should be charging for?  If so, what are you going to do to stop it?  I would love to know.