Have you ever wondered about those spam emails or popup advertisements? Have you ever considered the possibility that some of those offers may be legitimate? This article will empower you with information that can help you take advantage of some of these “free” offers.

Most of these incentive-based sites claim that all you have to do is enter your zipcode or email (or both) to receive some lucrative prize reward. If you read the fine text at the bottom of the page, you will see that it is a much more involved process. This article is about how to follow the fine text and claim a reward from these free offers.

Today, I will be examining www.getmyfreelaptop.com, a free laptop site that I found by Googling “free laptop.” This offer claims that you can receive one of 4 laptops and has an email entry form.

Step 1:
Register for their site. Simply selecting your desired gift and entering your email (some websites have zipcode instead) will enter you into the database as a potential sale (someone who will complete 1 or more offers). These sites earn revenue by people completing offers (sometimes up to $120 per 3rd party sale). When you register, make sure you enter an email that you don’t mind getting spammed, as they sign you up for hundreds of email lists (because under the fine text you have consented to do so).

Next, you should be asked to enter in your information (address, phone number, etc). Enter all legitimate information as this will be the contact address and shipping address (should your package get mislabeled, etc). If you enter false information, their obligation to send you your reward is void.

Step 2:
You will now begin the process of signing up for mailing lists. There are hundreds of offers (I usually am not interested in any and select the “No” option for every one; however, you can select “Yes” for as many as you’d like) that you can choose from. Sometimes there is a “Skip” option at the bottom to save you some time, so you might want to check for that.

Step 3:
For this next step, you will be directed to the offers page, where they want you to sign up and complete a series of offers (many are free trials and sometimes won’t cost you a penny). A lot of these sites require you do a set of 3, 4 or even 5 pages of offers (select anywhere from 1-5 offers on each page). Usually, the last page is the hardest offer (in terms of how much you will have to break the bank). Always, always, check the last page to see what the offer is and whether or not you are interested in completing any of the last page ones.

Your best bet: make a game plan. Find out which offers from which pages you are going to complete. I usually find out ones I’m interested, ones that have free trials, and ones that are plain the easiest to go through with. Free trials are generally offers you can cancel after a certain amount of time and not get charged at all. Some offers require you pay solely for the shipping and handling (which can be from $1 - $9, depending) for their “free trial.” Make sure you assess each of the offers fine text as to whether or not you will be committing yourself to any contract of payment obligation. Sometimes if you pay the shipping and handling and forget to cancel the trial, you will be charged a lot for something you may or may not have wanted. You may need to ship the item back, so always check for that!

After you have thought out which offers you want to complete, find out all the contract details for each offer and write them down in an Excel spreadsheet, notepad file, or on paper. Write down the 800 number if you decide to cancel the offer. If you forget, you will be charged and you won’t get that money back.

Be warned that credit card offers are usually involved processes. You will not receive instant credit for having completed this offer.

Step 4:
Once you have completed everything (and have completed the offers), proceed to the main page (or look around for a “member login” button) so that you can track your progress. Sometimes the offers will report that you have completed their offer immediately. Other times, it may take anywhere for 1 hour to 2 weeks. Just be patient. If an offer you have completed does not report, give the website a call (not the advertiser) or email them. They may require you to provide documentation of completing the offer. If you do not get credit for an offer, you will have to complete another offer from that category.

Step 5:
This is the waiting process. Once you have completed all of your offers, you will have to wait. For one of the sites I did, I had to wait around 4 months after verification to receive my $1,050.00 check. It was worth it, however. Make sure that you call them every month or so to check the status of the order and see whether or not it has been shipped (sometimes they will just send you a check for the equivalent value of your item as they sometimes don’t have it in stock).That’s it! There’s the 5 steps to receiving a free gift from those shady advertisements.

Remember: I cannot vouch for every single site, but from my experience, they have all been legitimate. Research each site before signing up and completing any offers. Do not do any offers until you have a solid strategy!

Good luck! Post here if you have any questions or follow up stories or advise!

Ever wanted to own your own piece of land? Ever wanted that land to be in any state of your choosing? Well, that day is today. With Own a Piece of America, you can own your own 1-inch parcel of land in any state in the United States!

According to their website: “You’ll immediately be a registered owner of your own one-square inch “parcel” of land in any state in the USA…and, as a land owner, you’ll have the option to buy an individually numbered, legal Deed certifying your ownership. The land you will be receiving, our free gift to you, was purchased one acre at a time, state by state, by American Acres Incorporated with the issuance of Deeds to one square inch parcels having been approved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.”

Click here to own your own piece of America! (oh, by the way - the land is yours and you are free to build on it, etc)

Thank you for visiting rygoBlog. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to e-mail them to ryan@rygo.net or utilize the comment form below.

Free stuff, it seems to be everywhere. From those less than amusing pop-ups on internet sites to free coupons in newspapers, free stuff is the new age. Many people have profited greatly off of marketing free stuff. The free stuff is really there, it just requires more detail and attention than most people are willing to put forth.Let’s take for example the website freeipods.com. This site launched several years ago and was the first of it’s kind - opening up a new wave of “incentive-based” freebie sites (that is, sites that offer something for nothing in turn for completing offers and referring others to do the same). FreeIpods.com has boasted millions of users and has delivered millions of dollars in free gifts (more popularly, iPods).As a matter of fact, most of those pop-ups or advertisements at the tops of pages are indeed legitimate. People are getting free gifts and prizes from these sites every day.

The question arises - how do I get my freebie?

Step One: Understand the Basics
Sites offering something-for-nothing aren’t ready to hand you that shiny new 80 gig iPod for nothing.They want something in return. Most sites (like the one featured in this article) require that you fill out your home address and phone number. This information is safe and it is against the law for these companies to sell your information without you agreeing to it. Read the terms and conditions carefully! I cannot stress this enough. Often, it is better to create a disposable e-mail address that you use for sites that you are prepared to receive a lot of spam e-mails from. Enter valid information! This is the address that your gift/prize will be sent to, so you don’t want it being shipped to some John Doe in Connecticut.

Step Two: Follow the Rules
Often, the rules are laid out in the terms and conditions of the website and often require that you complete a set of offers (anywhere from 6 to 20, depending on the price of the gift/prize). With incentive-based referral sites, you will have to refer a certain number of friends and/or complete a certain number of offers.

Doing the offers - Why?
You do the offers because that’s how they make money. Many of the offers give the companies upwards of $40+, which adds up. Even if what you are signing up for is a free trial, there is still that chance that you will keep their service. A lot of the offers are free trials, but some sites require you do at least one (1) offer that is more pricey. Never to fear, if you don’t like an offer that you signed up for (most, if not all, require a valid credit card), you can cancel (so long as that is there policy). Most of the offers I have done in the past were from very reputable companies like Napster, Blockbuster, Video Professor, Stamps.com, Visa, Mastercard, and many more.

Step Three: The Referrals
If the site requires that you do referrals (which is not required for the site that’s the main image for this article), you must keep in mind that the referral must complete an offer, not be living in the same house/apartment as you, not have the same last name as you, and have a different shipping address than any of you or your other referrals. They check this thoroughly! Finding referrals can involve paying people to signup under your “referral link,” getting the guys at the bar to do it, or convincing people on the street. Referrals can involve lots of work, but it’s well worth the reward.

Step Four: Wait
You may have to wait quite some time (1-2 months) before seeing that shiny 60 gig iPod (or whatever gift you selected or signed up for), so don’t fret when 3 days has gone by and you don’t see anything. Sometimes the offers that you have signed up for don’t show up as completed and that can take extra time.

So now you are well-enough educated to begin your journey of getting free stuff for a little bit of time and a little bit of money. Give it a shot, at least. I’ve received well over $3,000 from doing these sites. Most importantly, have fun!