By Terry Dean

FREE is the magic word.

Always include a free bonus to go along with whatever product or service you're selling. If you don't, you won't be able to use the MAGIC word.

It is a proven fact that if you add Free Bonus offers to your advertising, you can increase your sales by 300% or more!

This means if your ad would have brought in $1,000, then it could bring in $3,000 or more with the right free offer to go along with it! Is that worth the few extra bucks or little extra time it costs to include these free bonuses?

How many times have you seen someone have 5 Free Bonuses attached to their item that are worth MORE than the actual product you're purchasing?

It is used constantly, because it works! People will often buy a product JUST because they want the free bonuses which come along with it.

What makes a good Free Bonus? There are a couple of things to remember with Free Bonuses:

1. It should go along with and complement the main product you're selling!

In other words, don't give a bonus ebook about Internet marketing along with your Arizona boating report. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't fit the market.

If you're teaching people how to make money from online auctions, then the Internet marketing ebook bonus would fit the situation. It would be a subject those customers are directly interested in.

2. It should be low cost and easy to reproduce!

Ebooks make a perfect bonus item...since they have zero cost in reproducing. They are instantly downloadable by your customers...and they can have a great value.

Audio tapes, videos, special reports, and other information products can also make great bonus items. An audio tape, for example, can be reproduced for under $1 each, but has a value of $25 - $200!

A Free Report is similar. It is very cheap to reproduce and can have an extremely high value because of the information contained in it.

Some companies prefer to offer advertising specialties as free bonuses. These are pens, hats, coffee mugs, shirts, etc. with the companies name and logos on it.

I personally prefer free reports and audio's, because they have a higher perceived value. Advertising specialties do have one advantage though. They actually give you an element of viral marketing, since you can print your company logo and web site address on them...and your customers end up advertising for you.

3. It should have a HIGH perceived value

Free Consultations make a great bonus item. If you're good at what you do (which you should be if you are selling it), you can offer a FREE Consultation along with your packages at a value of anywhere between $100 - $1000 an hour or more depending on your expertise and your industry.

The beauty of free consultations is that rarely do more than 10% of your customers ever use them. So you don't have to afraid of being overwhelmed by too many requests for your time.

The consultation you include won't cost you a penny...and the majority of your customers will never take advantage of it. The ones who do though will be getting a wonderful value for their money!

- Special Warning -

Don't just include anything as a bonus with your product. It has also been proven that including an item nobody wants can actually decrease response to your overall offer.

The real way to pick a good bonus is to decide if you could sell the bonus on it's own. Are people willing to buy the bonus or bonuses even if there isn't a main product attached.

If so, then you're right on track for increasing your sales exponentially.