Free has a magical property of attracting even the most well to do in our society. People love to get free stuff. Using free giveaways is the best known strategy for businesses to build prospects and sales.

A free eBook, a free report or a white paper is the perfect promotion strategy for online businesses to attract prospective buyers. Let us see how all you can put this strategy to work for you.

A free eBook or report is an explosive viral marketing tool. Each eBook you give away will be further distributed by people who received it to friends and associates. Over a period of time you will have thousands of eBooks circulating the internet carrying your website links.

When you write and give away a free ebook you or your organization will become known as an expert. This will gain people's trust and they are more likely to buy your product or service.

You can publish your web site in eBook format. Put the eBook on a disk or CDROM then include it with your direct mail packages. This can increase the number of people that buy your product or service.

Offer your eBook as a free bonus for buying one of your main products or services. People will buy the product or service more often when you offer free bonuses.

Allow people to download your eBook for free for leaving their name and email. You can also ask for referrals of 2 to 5 friends or associates that would be interested in your eBook. This will quickly build your e-mail list.

Create joint venture with products that are complementary to your product and ask them to share part of the cost of creating your free eBook further minimizing your cost. Cross promotions and joint ventures could market you more effectively. Now more people would be giving away the eBook creating a bigger viral reach.

Create a directory or listing at the end of the eBook. List complementary businesses to your products in the directory that will agree to advertise or give away the eBook on their web site to their customers. You can also charge a small amount for the listing thereby creating instant back end revenue.

Allow any one interested to give away your free eBook. This will increase the number of people that will see your ad in the eBook. You could also include a mini catalog of all your product or services that you offer in the eBook.

Make money selling advertising space in your eBook. You could also trade advertising space in your eBook for other forms of advertising.

Keep updating the eBook and adding more information that could add value to your target audience. In the long run this could become a paid ebook which could be sold as a back end product. You can create a smaller version with sample chapters to give away for free.

This one strategy alone could be expanded and applied endlessly in hundreds of creative ways to leverage your business. Go ahead and create your viral eBook/report or white paper right away and put your business on the fast track.

R.G. Srinivasan is a certified trainer and a small business consultant. Check out his Home Business Resources Blog at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com