We all need some extra credit on our mobiles at this time of year

So how would you like to get your hands on a free £50 mobile topup voucher

I got mine , now it is your turn

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Win A Free iPod Touch 8GB

Simply answer 1 question for your chance to win a brand spanking new 8gb ipod touch

Courtesy of  gadgets4nowt

gadgets4nowt is the greatest freebie website on the web

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SO WHAT YOU WAITING FOR

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The marketing name of the PlayStation 3 was PLAYSTATION 3. the gaming console is also referred to by its abbreviation, which is PS3. this gaming console has been developed by Sony Computer Entertainment, and is the third in the series of vides game consoles produced by the company. It is on of the consoles of the PlayStation series, and the one before this version was the PlayStation 2. the major competitors of the PlayStation 3 are the Wii gaming console produced by Nintendo, and the Xbox 360, which has been developed by Microsoft. All these video game consoles are a part of the video game systems which belong to the seventh generation.

One of the features which sets apart the free PlayStation 3 from the gaming consoles which came before it is the PlayStation Network, which is a online gaming service. Previously, Sony had the policy of letting the game developers deal with the aspect of online game play, but that has changed with the PlayStation Network. The multimedia capabilities of the PlayStation 3 are very vigorous, and it also provides the feature of connecting with the PlayStation Portable. The primary storage medium which has been provided in the PlayStation 3 is the Blu ray Disc, which is an optical disk format of high definition. The PlayStation 3 has the status of being the first player to be available in the market which was compliant with Blu ray 2.0.

It was on November 11 in the year 2006 when the PlayStation 3 was released in Japan. It was released on the next day in North America and on March 23 in the year 2007 in Oceania and in Europe. When it was launched there where two versions available for sale, one was the basic model which had a twenty GB hard disk drive, and the premium model had a sixty GB hard disk drive. People can win a free ps3 through a number of sites which offer such promotional schemes.

Viral marketing is a very powerful tool. For well over a decade the music and video game industries has used it to advertise their products. Just think for a second how you heard about the latest video games, I’m betting for the most part it was just word of mouth, from your friends, on internet forums, magazines, and gaming websites.

But these aren’t the only ways of using viral marketing; once of the lesser known applications is referral schemes, the likes of which can be seen in any Google search along the lines of “free PS3”.

The freebie scene, as it’s known among its users, has been around for a while, but is shrouded in much scepticism. This is largely due to various people and organisations trying to take advantage of it, in often scrupulous ways.

So what is this freebie scene, and how does it work?

Well, referral schemes make promises of getting free gadgets, such as free iPods, PS3s and iPhone 3Gs; the kind of offer anyone would take up, if they could be sure it was genuine. It’s fairly easy to just shrug it off, as many did initially, labelling it the “free iPod scam”, but the scepticism is starting to subside.

This is largely due communities like the eXceem community, on which people post pictures of the free gifts they’ve got through these referral schemes.

But how can they possibly afford to send these gifts out and still make a profit? It’s actually quite simple, the system works because when you sign up, to be able eligible to get your free gift, you complete an offer with one of their sponsors. There are many offers available, including a free trial from LoveFilm, and various other offers with gambling websites, the post office, sky, and others. A lot of people are put off at this point, because to complete an offer, you need to give away credit card details. But look at the companies with which you can complete an offer and you’ll see that they’re all reputable companies, so really it’s no different from buying from amazon or using paypal. In the case of the free LoveFilm trial, you only need a credit card for verification purposes.

After completing this offer, you get some friends to do the same. The number of referrals you need varies depending on your selected gift, but for each friend you refer, the sponsoring company pays the referral site a fee for getting them a prospective customer. This fee varies in amount, but it’s usually around £30. So if you refer 9 friends, the referral site gets paid around £270, and they can then afford to send you, for example, a free iPod Touch.

It still sounds a little suspicious, even if the maths works out, so it’s natural to want some info from some reputable sources…

 What do the press have to say?

There have been various press reports on the freebie scene, from the likes of the BBC and CNN, which can be found on youtube:

There’s No Such Thing As A Free Lunch….. Or Is There ? 

If I had been asked the question just under two years ago, I would probably have just laughed or muttered something about not being born yesterday.

In recounting what has happened since, I should make it clear from the outset that I am not attempting to influence or convert anyone, just giving an honest picture of what was achievable for me and the real “cost”. 

As often happens with these things, I discovered the free gift scene totally by accident.  Christmas 2006 was rapidly approaching and I was trying to get hold of a cheap Xbox 360 console to use as a media centre.   One of the first listings I came across on eBay was offering information on how to get the console totally free; I didn’t exactly have money burning a hole in my pocket and am always up for a challenge, so decided to find out if there was a catch, expecting to get an e-book on bankrupt stock or police auctions.

Instead, I was about to enter the world of affiliate (referral) marketing.   I am sure there are volumes on the subject, some of which are no doubt labelled pyramid schemes, but for those who want a bit of detail on the specific business model employed in this instance, you might want to take a look at a short video podcast put together by the BBC’s Newsnight program or maybe my own guide how to get free stuff online.

All I had to do to get my free console was sign-up to an affiliate site, take out a free DVD rental trial and refer a few friends.  How difficult could that be?

I am a regular online shopper and knew the DVD rental company LOVEFiLM (the equivalent of Blockbuster or Netflix in US and Canada) from a recent national TV campaign, so had no problems with that part of the process. To be fair, the service they provide is actually pretty good!

The harder part was getting referrals…..and I needed 12 of those (who would each have to take up their own offer) to get the Xbox 360 console. Luckily, after running out of family and friends who were either willing to believe what I was saying or just gave in to my constant nagging, I stumbled upon eXceem forums.  They have a buzzing community of like minded freebie hunters who gave me confidence that I would get me gifts and provided tips on how to achieve that.   I have since discovered similar sites such as Anything4Free.com

To the cynics’ amazement, my Xbox 360 arrived on 2^nd December 2006 along with a second generation iPod Nano that I had also earnt…and a freebie addict was born.  I would be embarrassed to say how many other gadgets, gifts and cash have passed through my hands since!

I mentioned the real “cost” in my preamble. That has not been a financial one, far from it, you can get out as much as you put in…..and there’s where the problem lies; getting referrals can start to take up every waking hour, your whole life spent thinking about, talking about and implementing new “methods”.  Well, that is, if you are not checking your accounts for new sign-ups, waiting for account verification or delivery of your free stuff.  Getting your affiliate links out there will also almost invariably require an element of spamming and I am not proud of some of the tactics I have employed along the way.  In fact,  I could devote another who article and more to “methods”, the choice of free sites out there and how to avoid getting your affiliate account cancelled (termed “put on hold”).

Fortunately, things changed for the better when I set up my first ever websites, Simplyfreeiphone and Gadgets4nowt - my background is certainly not web coding or design but I love a challenge (did I say that before!) and now have them both ranking extremely well.   I obviously have to update the content and keep working on links but overall, it’s a fairly easy ride these days.  With the evolution of the affiliate sites themselves, I no longer get my free stuff in the form of goods, most now offer custom orders in the shape of bank transfers at £17 ($35) per referral.   My sites bring me in an average of 3 completed referrals a day, so there’s good money to be had. 

All that’s left is to decide where do I go from here?  I guess I could push some new keywords and increase traffic to my sites through rankings but there is a limit to people looking for a free games console or iPods.  Can the sites be taken in another direction or should I sell them?