I just posted this on my website Online Marketing 101, and felt it was worth reposting here.  I see a huge trend in those free but lucrative opportunities that's only going to increase especially given the current economy.  I believe we Internet marketers ignore those free opportunities at our own peril.

I recently started using Facebook more heavily to network with others who are involved in both Internet marketing and network marketing.  Networking this way on Facebook has already shown some promise of profitability for me and it's been fun meeting people and finding out what they do.

I've also come to some conclusions about the future of both Internet marketing and network marketing.

The advantage of being relatively new to both fields (I've barely touched network marketing and I've been involved in Internet marketing for just under one year) is that I don't have as many entrenched assumptions as someone who has been successful in it for a long time.  This means I can see new things and I'm not attached to old assumptions.

Here's what I see.  First, it doesn't take much of a rocket scientist or an economist to see that we live in a time where wealth is rapidly getting concentrated into the hands of large entities--corporations, governments, individuals who are already worth millions.  On the flip side, the rest of us are slowly getting squeezed.  You have people losing their jobs and finding it difficult to find a new job because so many jobs have moved overseas.  We're starting to experience inflation (thanks to the Fed's runaway money printing) so the money we do have doesn't go as far as it used to.

I mention these not to complain but to give a bit of a backdrop towards a huge trend I see.

The trend is towards those opportunities where you do not have to pay to join and yet you can earn a commission from referring others.  In other words, the free ones.

When people have less and less money to spend, this means it gets harder and harder to sell products.  People don't buy what they don't feel they can afford.  This also means it's going to be more difficult to recruit people into those network marketing opportunities where you have to pay monthly to be involved.

And yet people need ways to make money more than they ever did.  They're just going to be more gun shy about paying for the privilege.

If you have a free but lucrative opportunity people can join, I don't think you will need to try too hard to get referrals.  If the opportunity looks legit, people will be ok with registering for it just to see where it goes.  They won't be as willing to try it out if they have to pay.

It is becoming my opinion that to succeed today, you need to have at least one or two good free opportunities to promote along with all the affiliate products you are selling.  This is going to be especially true in the make money online niche.

People searching for ways to make money online today want the free ways.  They have time but no money.  You are going to miss out on the earning potential they provide unless you offer them a way to make money for free.

Here are a few excellent ways to make money online for free that you can promote not only to your friends but also in your Internet marketing efforts.

1.  Varolo You've seen the banner ads and I've already written several articles about it.  This is the free opportunity where you opt in to watch television commercials in exchange for points and jackpot entries (Varolo will hold its first drawing February 13!), and you earn cash on the ads your referrals watch.  You can also earn residual commissions when you refer advertisers.  The earning potential is unlimited but it will take a lot of referrals to get there.

2.  The Customer Advantage This company opened up for its beta run just two months before Varolo did.  The simple but beautiful premise is that business owners can no longer afford to spend thousands of dollars on antiquated marketing techniques that no longer work.  Instead they need to spend those dollars on offering irresistible discounts that people will want to tell their friends about (and post on Twitter and Facebook and so on).  When you join you receive notices of when local businesses in your area are offering deep discounts and you get to save money when you take advantage of those deals.

When the people you refer (down to potentially five levels) spend money on the deals, you earn 5% of what they spend.  The best part is that not only is it 100% free to join, it's also 100% free to advertise on.  If you own a business, you can easily and freely offer a deep discount and increase your exposure by doing so.  And when you refer your customers (so they can learn of your great deals) you will earn a commission wherever they happen to shop!

You don't have to own a business to refer people and start earning when they take advantage of the deals.  Join The Customer Advantage today!

3.  Big Crumbs This is where you earn cash back when you shop at recognized online retailers such as Ebay, Gap, and other big names.  You also earn commissions when your referrals shop at those places by first logging into their Big Crumbs accounts.  You earn on single level referrals so in this way it works more like a traditional affiliate sale, except it's free to join and you will earn every time one of your referrals makes a purchase through Big Crumbs, so there is the potential to earn residual income, which is what everyone wants these days.

When you offer these programs and people join them through your link, you have the potential to earn money over and over from those people's actions.  Not only that, you have just given them a way to both save money and earn money by turning around and getting referrals of their own.

If you also provide them with a bit of help to actually succeed in any of these opportunities, guess what?  Not only will they trust you and be happy to buy from you when you do have a product to sell, but they will actually have the means with which to do so!

No matter what type of network or Internet marketing you do, be sure to include these free opportunities among your offerings.  You will then have a way to earn money even from those who will not buy anything but who are looking for free but lucrative opportunities.