Marketing Internet's Niche treasures

Freetures Further Defined    

Elements:

In order for a promotional give-away to qualify as a freeture, it must fit six of the following eight descriptive qualities: 

A freeture must be Free of charge
A freeture must be Realistic
A freeture must be Extra
A freeture must be Enhancing to the product/service
A freeture must be Tangible
A freeture must be Unused
A freeture must be Repairable/Replaceable
A freeture must be Extractable from the product/service    

The basis for any freetured item is determined by the fact that there is no charge or cost associated with the delivery of the item which would require the recipient to pay for. It must fit the true definition of "Free".
 
The item must be clearly defined. For example, if it is a book, the title should be provided, the author should be identified and the category should not be in the abstract. That is our interpretation of "Real".  

By definition, anything that is extra is something in addition to the already existing element defined as a product or service. A freeture is that item which is offered/given in addition to the existing product or service. It is "Extra".  

Promotional give-aways are generally considered to be enhancements of the products/services being sold on the open market in order to entice more prospects to bid on or purchase those products/services. We'll abide by those generalities and will go one step further. The "Enhancement" will be evaluated based upon reasonable market value or industry standards.
 
Can you hold it in your hand?, Sink your teeth into it?, Put it in a DVR and play it?, Read it?, kick the tires, so to speak, or treat it in all the ways that something real can be treated? The answers to those questions should be "Yes" otherwise it may not be a Freeture. It cannot be a promise or anything that is unidentifiable. A freeture must be "Tangible".  

For all purposes applicable to products and services offered for sale on the open market, it must be new and not previously used by other persons, unless it is a recyleable item and has in-fact been recycled, in which case it would pass our new and "Unused" test.  

Many products and services today are sold and delivered subject to warranties/limited warranties depending on the type of product or service. The reason for these assurances is to provide the purchaser with a certain amount of peace-of-mind in knowing that if anything goes wrong with the purchased item, the problem will be fixed at minimal or no cost to the new owner. The freeture must be similarly covered, thereby rendering it replaceable or at least "Repairable". 

 In every instance the item being considered for freeture determination must have the capacity to be extracted and be set apart from any package it is attached to in order that a value may be placed upon it, in and of itself. If the item cannot stand alone it does not comply with our definition of "Extractable" and therefore may not be a...

 ... "Freeture".  




Discovery


To determine if or when a Freeture has been discovered, the searcher should follow some very simple steps as listed below:  

1 - Immediately refer to the elements and description page and compare the item to each of the eight descriptions listed.
 
2 - Select six out of the eight elements which best describe the item and make a list of those elements.
 
3 - Be sure that a value can be placed on the item and that it is extractable. Those are two of the main elements of a freeture.
 
4 - Determine the approximate value of your item by utilizing the "Fair Market Value" approach or doing an evaluation on Ebay. 

 5 - Once you have determined the value of the item compare it to the price/value of the package to which it is attached.
 
6 - You're now going to determine its actual % value to the package it is being used to promote which we refer to as the IPVR. It's a simple process as is demonstrated in number 7 below. 

 7 - To determine the IPVR you must divide the Item Value by the Package Value (IV divided by PV) = Item to Package Value Ratio or IPVR  

8 - This is probably the most important step in freeture determination. An item qualifies as a freeture when it is valued at not less than 5% or more than 10% of the package which it is being used to promote.  

9 - If your item falls in this value range and fits the description of at least six elements from the elements list, you have found a freeture.  

10 - Once you have discovered a true freeture, please let us know about it by posting the item, its IPVR the source and the specific package it is being used to promote by posting it to this page along with any additional comments you may have.

Thank you.   
 
FMS
    


First Freeture Search  


The first freeture search took place between January 31, 2009 and February 25 during which a total of six web hosting companies were selected for a freeture search test review. The result yielded a total of thirty six (36) freetures which we listed on our original freetures publishing back in January. 

We have continue that effort on our "Freeture listings" page utilizing a slightly different approach to identify and add value to those freetures we find. In this approach we utilized the same list of companies, but this time, instead of measuring their product/service enhancements against our predetermined list, freetures were determined by selecting a popular product/service package offered by the provider/merchant and measure the package against the extra item(s) being offered outside of the package and in many cases not produced, created or owned by the provider/merchant but which authorization is given to offer same is clearly granted.      

Please join us in posting any freetures you may discover on your internet journey. This Freeture listings page will be our official Freeture site until further notice. Thanks.  

TPJaveton-  




     

Notes:

Information used to make some determinations on this and other pages on this site was derived from Wealthy Affiliate, a site owned and operated by Kyle and Carson. 

Freetures Discovered at Globat

In accordance with the freetures Search Guidelines set forth in our initial post, the following items found to be included in the Globat basic web hosting are considered to be freetures per the  freeture definition outlined earlier:

Although some features listed in our Basic Web Hosting Requirement Package (User-friendly Control Panel and Web based Mail) do not appear to be offered in Globat's Basic package, the Added-value items which are included are sufficient to offset the cost of those non-included items if purchased individually. Thus freetures offered in Globat's basic package are as follows:

Blogging Software
Domain Registration
Photo Album Software
MySql Databases
Site Builder & Templates
Unlimited Domain Hosting

Locating freetures on the internet is not an exact science, but can be a method which could be utilized by internet newcomers to determine good value for their investment dollars.


The next packagewe'll look at is Host Gator.

02/05/2009

Freetures Discovered at Host Gator

The most recent visit to Host Gator's website revealed a "Green Host Package" which is a new category of tools and services a new environmental-conscious website owner may want to explore and which is also the reason it is mentioned here; but actual freetures offered in Host Gator's basic package when compared to our Basic Web Hosting Requirement Package, are as follows:

E-Commerce Features
Latest cPanel Features
Site Builder
Unlimited Disk Space
Unlimited Domain Hosting
Unlimited MySql Databases


Next package we will look at IPower

02/10/2009

Freetures Discovered at IPower

The IPower Starter Plan will be equivalent to our Basic Web Hosting Requirement Package as described above and it consists of the tools, functions and services that would be adequate to the task of getting most websites up and running smoothly and effectively. One of the items which we expected to see in this Starter Plan but didn't find was 3 email accounts. Instead of 3 email accounts which our basic plan includes, they offer 1, but we must also point out the new of "Google Custom Search Engine"  to the starter plan which it can be argued is the equivalent if not more valuable. The actual freetures found are as follows:

Blogging Software
Bulletin Board; phpBB
Customizable MIME Types
Google Webmaster Tools
File Manager
Spam Filtering


The next Package we'll look at is Lunar Pages.

02/17/2009

Freetures Discovered at Lunar Pages

Based upon our most recent visit to the Lunar pages product page (02/17/09) we find that the products/services included in their basic package compares very favorably to the web hosting packages of the previously visited company's as well as our basic package, with the exception of the email accounts and web-based mail. This web host offers a separate email hosting package so that may explain their reluctance to include that service in a basic plan. We should point out that this web host is among the few who offers a free domain name with the purchase of a "NEW 12 to 24 month plan". When measured against our Basic Web Hosting Requirement Package, actual freetures found are as follows:

Domain Name
Free Set Up
Microsoft FrontPage Extensions*
Unlimited Add-on Domains
Unlimited Bandwidth
Unlimited Sub Domains


Think Host will be the next web host we'll visit in our search for freetures.

02/20/2009

Our most recent visit to Think Host was just four minutes before the writing of this freeture search comparison. Every attempt is being made to be as fair and impartial as possible, which is the reason for the last minute revisits. On the other hand, last minute visits tend to reveal new additions to some web hosts' basic packages as in this case, but it obviously would not be fair  to include them here since any new additions that may have been added to the previous packages will not be included either. When measured against our Basic Web Hosting Requirement Package, the freetures found at Think Host are as follows:

Bonus Software/Tools
Content Management Software
Forum Software
Host Unlimited Domains/Sites
Photo gallery
Site Builder


We have elected to add a sixth web host provider to our search for  freetures because they offer two specialty plans (professional and business) that may be of interest to many website owners. The new web host we've added and at which we'll do our final freeture search is Host Excellence


02/25/2009

On the date reflected above at 5:15pm we visited Host Excellence to take a final look at that web host provider's basic package before publishing. As we indicated earlier, there are two hosting packages offered by this provider, the Professional Plan and the "Unlimited Business Plan". We consider the professional plan as the basic one for the purpose of this freeture search and therefore will provide our findings based upon its contents. After a careful examination and subsequent comparison to our basic package, we have determine that the freetures offered with the Host Excellence basic plan are as follows:

Dedicated IP Addresses
Free Site Builder
Unlimited Multiple Domain Hosting
Unlimited MySql
Unlimited Sub-Domains
URL Masking


Conclusion:

We started the Freeture Search procedure with the intention of providing another method with which to identify certain items of value found in various sales promotion packages/plans that are offered by internet merchants and affiliate marketers.

There was always a clear understanding that this exercise was never intended to identify all such items (freetures) that would be unrealistic; but rather to initiate a process which we hope others would utilize to assist them in recognizing value and making good decisions in their purchases based on same.

We have identified six freetures in each of the packages offered by the above web hosts and provided them here, but there is no doubt that more exist and they are really not very difficult to find as long as one knows what to look for, so by all means, do your own freeture search and discover the wealth of freetured products and services the internet has to offer. Go ahead! Go! Goooooooo...




TPJaveton-
*Microsoft and FrontPage Extensions are both Registered Trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation.

INTRODUCING FREETURES

One day in January 2009
                                                            

                                                             6:43 PM 

                                                                                                                   Freetures!

You say "Enhancements", I say Freetures! You say  "Added Value", I say Freetures! You say "Free Features" I say Freetures! No, this is not about gremlins, not about anything resembling gremlins or any other animal for that matter; but it is about value. An enhancement, though it does increase value in most cases can cost a buyer more. Added value means exactly as stated and can also be tacked on to the price of an item. Free features, the parents of freeture(s) are  adornments and added benefits delivered with the purchase at no extra charge/cost to the buyer, but I rather not repeat free features in rapid succession; thus the term "freetures"

For the purpose of this page, a freeture is defined as: "anything of value that is added to a product or service in order to enhance its attractiveness to a prospective purchaser without extra costs/fees to the purchaser". Freetures are utilized on a daily basis in the sales and marketing profession to attract a larger portion of the buying public and gain better market share.

A good example of a freeture would be a printer which usually retails for $200.00 that is added to the purchase of a $1,250.00 desktop computer and delivered to the purchaser for a total price of $1,250.00. In this example the freetured value of the package would be $200.00.

It must be pointed out that any item which has traditionally been provided with a purchase at no extra cost, like a sipping straw with the purchase of a soft drink or a refrigerator with the purchase of a single family home (in most places) would not fit the description of a freeture.

In the example above, if the waitress/waiter poured an additional glass or half glass of the same soft drink in the patron's empty glass without adding it to the tab, the extra portion would be considered a freeture; or if a second refrigerator of comparable value to the first one was delivered to the home purchaser at no additional cost, the second unit would fit our "freeture" definition.

There are many instances where a freeture has made the difference between sales and non-sales of products and services. From automobile showrooms to insurance and real estate agency sales offices, and retail outlets throughout the world, freetures are making business happen and the various markets are better off for it.

The internet market has been one of the biggest utilizers of freetures but did not identify the various product enhancements and added value features as such simply because the term as it is being used here had not been introduced in such a manner, but nevertheless it remains that, based on our definition, freetures are abundant throughout the internet. We'll just have to find them.

Take websites, for example. Some websites cost money to build, and others don't. How do we recognize when a freeture is being utilized by a web host provider? Or you may ask, is it the website that costs the money or is it the hosting of the website that costs and the website is the actual freeture used to sell the hosting? Since a website is almost useless without web hosting, maybe we should explore this needed resource in an effort to answer our website freeture question.

Here's the suggested approach to searching web hosting companies for freetures. We'll will look at five companies that currently offer web hosting packages to website owners who are entering the internet marketing place. We'll compare what they offer with what we consider minimum website hosting requirements to get a website up and running satisfactorily. Then we will look for freetures in each of the web host's packaging. For the sake of clarity, we will look at only one hosting package per 72 to 96 hour interval because we then have to identify what we believe to be specific freetures when compared to our minimum requirement web hosting package as outlined above. It should be a lot fun. Join me!

Our basic web hosting package will fit the following description:

At a minimum, a web host must include in a basic package; a server space of 10 MB, CGI-BIN, Server Up-time of 99%, Three Email Accounts, FTP Access, Web-based Email, A User-friendly Control Panel, Free Scripts and an Interface to let you know your website statistics. These are the minimum requirements based upon our basic plan standards.

Although we will only look at one web host every 72 to 96 hours, the names of the five companies are being provided in order to establish a degree of continuity and keep the exercise as simple as possible. The five companies are Globat, Host Gator, IPower, Lunar Pages and Think Host. Each one can be accessed from the "Start Marketing" page on this site or simply by a click of the respective link above.

We'll start the ball rolling with Globat's package, based upon the latest information obtained from that provider.

Globat's Basic Plan includes:

Unlimited E-Mail Accounts, Free Domain Registration, Free Setup, 25 MySQL Databases - 8x More!, Free Domain Privacy Guard, Free Site Builder & Templates, Free Blogging Software, Free Photo Album Software, Free Shopping Cart, SSL, & Stats, Supports FTP, CGI, PHP, & Perl, World-Class, 24/7/365 Customer Support, 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee.

Any and all Freetures discovered in Globat's Basic Web Hosting Package will be posted here seventy two to ninety six hours from today.

Please feel free to browse this site and post any comments or suggestions you have regarding our search for Freetures as described here.


Please Note:
information regarding the minimum required to be offered by a good web host was researched by the Wealthy Affiliate team and provided to this writer as a benefit of this writer's membership in Wealthy Affiliate

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