Blog Articles

Summertime!

Wed, 01 1 Jul 2009 13:58:27 GMT

Well school is all wrapped up for me, and now I'm out of a job! This is not a bad thing, however. I get to take the summer off and go visit family for much longer than I intended, which is nice. We haven't been out and about for over two years with the kids, we're all looking forward to it. Come September I head right back to school again, so there's really not much point in trying to find something for such a short period of time.

I've been writing articles and press releases like a madman for the site, many of which are now published and online. It's been a dry week though and I'm waiting for those all-important funds to trickle in so I can get down to some real work. I'll be keeping the cost-effective (free, haha) efforts up at all times, however. It can never hurt things, right?

At any rate, the site might sit for a few weeks while I'm on vacation. My wife is telling me I'm not allowed to work, so I think the laptop will stay at home, but you never know. ;)

Hope everyone is having a great week out there, Happy Canada Day!

Working hard on getting the word out this week

Wed, 24 24 Jun 2009 01:10:05 GMT

Hey everyone! This entry will be short, I have to study.

Hectic. I've been writing press releases and ezines like mad & getting the word out about the site this week. It's been a great learning experience for me that I imagine is just beginning. Still focusing a lot on school also so really not getting a lot of sleep... perhaps that will come later, perhaps not!

I've had lots of interested parties approach me with more questions about the site, hopefully some will grab some space so I can begin moving a little faster with the promotional efforts... put a little more punch behind the campaign, so to speak. When those funds start trickling in things will move a lot faster! Once finals and my AIT exam are wrapped up I'll be here a lot more also. Here's looking to the future!

Working hard today

Sat, 20 20 Jun 2009 16:25:03 GMT

Well I've wrapped up some exams from trade school this week, so I'm going to be spending some (a lot) of time today working on refining a few things on the site. I've decided I really hate that box on the main page, so I'm going to be moving moving most of it's content to a separate "About Us" section, and placing a link in the box instead, making it much smaller. Basically I want the homepage to be all about the images and nothing more. After that if I have some time I'll be digging into my own SEO education, and adding content content content! Although I have quite a bit of SEO experience under my belt already, I'll not be satisfied until I'm a Jedi Master (Sith Lord if you swing that way I guess...) of all things SEO!

So yeah in otherwords... *yawn* it has to be done, therefore I do it...

There's been a little initial confusion as to what exactly can or cannot be posted so I'm going to outline it here as well:

The basic premise is that anything offered for free can be advertised here on this grid. It's not simply limited to one aspect of freebies. Freebie sites (IFWs) are welcome of course, but if you have a free samples website (or section of) for your company, or you offer free downloads, free screensavers or wallpaper downloads, a free trial, perhaps... all of these things are considered eligible for advertising on this site. Free Stuff Exists is all about anything that can be obtained for free. We want to centralize this information and provide a gateway for the general public that will get noticed by all of you working together, rather than battling for exposure on your own!

The more of you that grab a space, back link to us and advertise the easier it becomes to rank higher and higher, creating more exposure as time goes by. The end goal is inevitable, simply because this site doesn't plan on going anywhere, ever! How fast or slow it happens depends entirely on you and me.

I've also been getting a lot of pricing requests via email and such, So I just want to let you know here that you can do this right through the site itself! All you have to do is register for a free account and click on "Purchase Space". Once you do, you will be able to drag your mouse and select an area of the grid, and the system will show you exactly how much it will cost. You're not obligated to pay at this point so there's no risk involved at all. Go for it, and remember, it's a ONE TIME purchase for banner space that will last forever, period. you can log in and change your banner as many times as you like, but it will never come down after a set amount of time!

Umm... I think that's about it for now, I better get to work here, lots to do today and I'm stoked because I finally have a little time to chip away at it! Be sure to check back to this blog often, I'll be posting everything that's happening on my end so you can all stay in touch with the site's progress. Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Plan

Sat, 13 13 Jun 2009 22:43:06 GMT

So as I mentioned in the last entry, the more this site gets used, the more it will become noticed. How does this work? In two ways. The first way is organically through back-links, which increase the site's pagerank on search engines such as Google which, in turn, generates more traffic to the site and, consequently, more interest, and the cycle continues...

The second is through paid marketing. About the only reason it costs money to list an ad here for someone offering a free product, prize or service, is to generate funds that can be placed back into the purchasing of ad campaigns such as adwords, banners, services provided by SEO firms, etc. The more revenues that come in, the more I will be able to market the site everywhere, at higher and higher levels.

Basically the potential for having your banner listed here, no matter how small it may be, is HUGE. Not only does it remain here forever, but as the site increases in alexa ranking, seachability and overall buzz, your banner will be exposed more and more. By the time this site is completely saturated and the grid is full, it will be impossible for anyone who may be out there searching to miss. This is not only due to the things I mentioned above, but to the simplicity of the domain name itself!

From my own adwords experience, the #1 term I see searched for when I'm checking into my keyword stats is simply "free stuff". You must realize that the keyword list I maintain is massive, listing everything from "online imcome" to "work at home moms", to "free ps3", you name it. If it has anything remotely to do with the freebie industry or any demographic it may touch, it's in my keyword list. This website is geared entirely towards those keywords that are used most frequently on that list. once this site is off and running, it cannot fail. If anyone is out there searching for free... well.... anything, they will find freestuffexists.com, and you will be right there on that banner grid waiting to be looked at!

I envision this place as a boost to the entire freebie industry, providing a centralized starting point that breathes new life into it, and brings in new traffic. It might take awhile to get moving, but once it does there will be no stopping it. And, at this point if you still don't believe me, go on over to The Freebie eXchange to see all the proof you will ever need that I can make this happen... again. You can find that link down at the bottom there... ;)

All we need here is a little push, a little collective effort! If you have any kind of free product, prize or service you are offering, help us and yourself by getting in on the buzz! The more people that do, the bigger this will become!

What is FreeStuffExists.com?

Sun, 31 31 May 2009 20:42:02 GMT

What I'm hoping to accomplish here is a self-sustaining, self-ranking gateway into free items and the freebie industry that not only exposes it to people who don't know these opportunities are out there to be had, but also to benefit anyone and EVERYONE involved in the industry, on any level. As more and more sites and businesses purchase pixel space and backlink to here, this site will become busier and busier and word about it will spread like wildfire. What this means is that everyone who has adspace up here will be noticed by more and more people every day, more than likely exponentially.

What can this do for freebies and the freebie industry? I think it's pretty self-explanatory. Whether you own a forum centered around freebies, an incentivized freebie site, or simply offer a free sample product. You can help yourself and gain traffic all at once by getting yourself up here on this site! As this site grows in popularity, it will also grow in rank. By the time it's finished it will be one of the highest ranking, self-sustaining powerhouse gateways to free items and the freebie industry online, and YOUR AD will be right there on the frontpage!

My plan is to keep the main grid strictly for those who are offering something for FREE, and to have a separate grid available for other ads. Be it through a freebie site or network, a free product or sample, free software, free downloads, free ringtones, you get it... ANYTHING that doesn't carry a price tag can go up on the main grid. Sure you may have to jump through a few hoops to get a free item by visiting this site, but nobody ever said "free" means "easy" right? If you have something you are offering for free, one way or another, this site is for you to advertise on, most definitely.

I don't expect a lot of action from the sponsor grid in the beginning, and that's just fine with me. At $0.05 per pixel for the main "free stuff" grid, it's pretty obvious it's not money I'm after here. What I'm looking for and hoping to attain is EXPOSURE, for anyone who might be looking to promote their free angle. If I generate some income later on through the sponsor grid, by then it will be (hopefully) pretty obvious that I earned it, and that everyone involved is benefiting from this website.

Pitch in! The potential exposure for the permanent ad you purchase here is limitless! This site can become everything I intend for it to be with your help, and for the money you spend on advertising already, a one-time cost purchase for a permanent placement, on a site that will potentially garner more targeted traffic than you've ever seen, pales in comparison. The very act of placing your ad up here will work towards boosting this site and gaining exposure for yourself!

Think of the possibilities for everyone, both new to the freebie industry or veterans. Free Stuff Exists, no joke people. Isn't it time we all started shouting it together? Let's do this!

-Sharkboy