eazyfreebies blog

I live in Swindon in the area of the UK described as the “West Country”. Just turned a very young 42!

By day, I am a qualified accountant and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner, dealing with personal and business rescue and failures; administrations, liquidations, bankruptcies.

I’ve always had an interest in technology and from an early age though and expected to get a job in IT.  That didn’t work out but getting involved in the freebie scene has kept the passion alive; I now have several websites (albeit I won’t win any prizes for design or coding) and have discovered the world of HTML, CSS, SEO, PR SERPs, blogging and a whole host more.

Away from the PC I am just a regular guy who loves regular things; sport, beer and women!

I’m motivated by discovery, driven to understand how and why things work.  A bit like a dog with a bone, if I start something I have to finish it, do the job well and generally try to be the best at it.  Second place frustrates me.   “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly” as my parents would say.

Lot’s of things inspire me.  At the base level, putting a smile on someone’s face or receiving their thanks because you’ve made a difference.

Blimey, that’s four years ago!    I was looking for a way to stream music wirelessly from a desktop PC in an upstairs office to my home cinema system on the ground floor.  One of the options was via Xbox 360 and I set about finding a bargain on eBay, where I discovered a listing offering to show me how to get one free.   It turns out that the listing belonged to Claire80, who is now an eXceem moderator!

To cut a long story short, I researched the system, convinced myself that it may well work (or, at least, I really had nothing to lose) and took out the LOVEFiLM free trial through the Giveaway Network.

I don’t do things by halves and when the free Xbox 360 arrived it was an easy decision to keep going, particularly as I had also discovered eXceem by then.

My first free gift was the Xbox 360 that I’ve talked about above.   I started the process in October 2006 and, from memory, it was with me during the first week of December 2006.

The total now is around £75,000!

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives but it is worth mentioning them both:

Pros: I am now in the best financial position of my life, have a wealth knowledge to take forward and a whole newbunch of online contacts and acquaintances chew the fat with (one or two I would go as far as saying “friends” but I usually reserve that term for people I have met and socialised with).

Cons: You get out what you put in and the drain on your time can be immense, to the extent that it can have a tangible impact on family life.  You need a heck of a lot of patience and there is always a chance that it just wont work out.  So many factors are out of your control that I certainly wouldn’t recommend giving up your day job, even if things are starting to go well.

The nature of the game is to encourage people to get involved.  If you go in with your eyes open and don’t expect a quick fix, then the sky’s the limit.

Other than cry into your beer or go kick the dog?  (someone took me serious when I said that previously so please rest assured that our English Cocker Spaniel, J.D. is safe.  He’s a gem!)

I guess the first thing is not to shoot the messenger.  As a typical example, if an offer get’s revoked because the user has duffed up completion, don’t blame the freebie network, they won’t get paid either!

That doesn’t mean I won’t initially moan and mutter about it, that’s a natural reaction when something goes wrong. When the dust has settled though, there are two ways to look at it; Was the negative experience out of your control?  If so, move on, there’s nothing you can do about it.    If not, crack on and get the problem sorted so that it doesn’t happen again!

Visit one of my sites and sign-up as my referral – Gadgets4nowt |!

They are entitled to their opinion.  If they carry out their own research and decide that, for whatever reason, it’s not for them, then I respect that. My concern is finding more people who might be interested, it’s a numbers game at the end of the day.

I’ve not had any real experience of the international sites so can only comment on those that I have used in the UK. In no particular order:

Freebiejeebies | Kudos Network | As things stand, I wouldn’t add a third to the list…but watch this space

What advice or tips can you share to a Freebie Site newbie looking for referrals?

There are endless ways to get referrals.

One of the things people seem to overlook is how they were referred in the first place. Doesn’t really apply to websites but if you were referred by another “method” (say Facbook or Amazon Listmania for want of better examples), then why not try and do the same thing to get your own sign-ups.

Other than that, try to think of places where there is a large volume of users in the right demographic for the gadgets and tech you are trying to push, then find a way to get the message out.  A lot of the biggest methods are inevitably “spammy” and people need to make up their own mind what is acceptable, based on the network’s terms and conditions.  In the early days I tried all sorts of things but not since my sites took off.

Some people have tried offline methods but I personallly think online is the way to go.  You want to make it as easy as possible.

Don’t let people get you down who are non-believers, just move on and find others who are interested.

My sites have evolved over the last four years and the biggest changes have been on the iPhone side with Simplyfreeiphone.co.uk.  That had focused almost exclusively on the freebie model but as other rankings improved (so, as well as “free iPhone”, I know have good SERPS for “iPhone”, “iPhone Deals” and “Cheap iPhone” to name just a few), I tried to adapt it to also capture affiliate earnings through contract sales.

The affiliate side has, frankly, amazed me and is potentially far far bigger.  I’ll be taking a closer look but am not sure I have the time and expertise to compete.

On the freebie side, I have just bought the domain http://www.giveaway.co.uk – that was the former home of Giveaway Network, by far the biggest and best network before Freebiejeebies came along.  The business sadly failed (for the record, I was no more than a user and had no connection or involvement in it!) but I am thinking of resurrecting something similar.

Setting up a network is a huge step not to be taken lightly but is one of several options I am considering.

The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The “sure-thing” boat never gets far from shore!

There You Have It

That was Steve Elliot A.K.A Furbs, a big veteran who’s officially made hobby out of getting free gadgets, cash freebies online.  You can follow Steve Elliot on Twtter.

Until next time,

Mario Shamir

Freebiekingz