This approach allows exposure for authors and results in sales of products or services from their web sites. The method of producing and distributing web content is an accepted means of small business exposure for little guy. Sometimes we are infiltrated by publicists and distributors of PR for large content "owners" seeking wider distribution and access to a small business market segment.

This inevitably leads to threats from publishers of "affiliate" articles for distribution. They are suddenly concerned that we are using their copyrighted articles and book excerpts for purposes other than those intended by affiliate programs they are connected with. They then threaten list and affiliates posting their "articles" (read PR pieces) with copyright violation. This is bizarre, frustrating and worrisome.

Is it free or not?

Another talk at this conference by Stewart Brand, author of "How Buildings Learn, What Happens to Them After They Are Built" who is often quoted as saying "Information wants to be free". He would be a welcome contributor at "Free-Content" list and would probably upset a lot of list participants torn between small business ecommerce, copyright issues and other business concerns about "ownership" and protecting that ownership.

Authors who contribute to free content request that their articles only be used if their "Resource Box" is maintained and a link to their site is listed. It is doubtful that any would persue violators in court if that condition were not met, simply because most lack financial resources to do so. No money, no law suit. Simple.

Is it free or not?

KEYWORD SUGGESTION TOOL GoTo.com has a great tool to help you see what search words and phrases are being used on internet. Use this in combination with Alta Vista as explained in next section and you have a powerful method for optimizing keywords on your web pages. http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/othertools.jhtml (1. Search Term Suggestion List)

MARKETING TUTORIALS FREE marketing tutorials are usually designed to lead you into purchasing main product. The two listed below are no different in this regard. However, they are different in another way. Both offer substantial content which is very valuable on its own, even without purchasing main product. Both come from Ken Evoy so they really overdeliver, in keeping with style of his Make Your Site Sell. (MYSS review: http://www.vitalstop.com/ebr-myss.htm)

1) Infoproducts In this five day course you learn how to create your own information product from scratch. Excellent suggestions are given for brain storming. Get a step by step guide on how to actually market your own product. The rewards from this program are immense as you market a product you have complete control over. mailto:timsvitalstop.com@sitesell.net

2) Affiliate Masters This five day course in my opinion is brilliant. Learn how to combine free keyword suggestion tool at GoTo.com along with searches at Alta Vista to find keywords which have maximum effect in search engines. This suggestion alone is like gold! I've used it ever since. mailto:tamsvitalstop.com@sitesell.net

JPEG WIZARD GRAPHICS CONDENSER Reduce size of your GIF or JPEG graphics files and super charge loading time for your web pages. This free tool is another gem from folks at Pegasus. http://www.jpegwizard.com

AUTORESPONDER There are many free ones out there, but many liberally sprinkle their own advertisements around your message. GetResponse keeps its own advertising to a bare minimum. The easy to use interface is crammed with features. http://www.getresponse.com

WEB SITE MONITORING Check for dead links, link popularity, browser compatibility, load time, keywords, HTML accuracy and spelling accuracy to ensure your web site is giving top performance. This free service allows for a one page check per submission. http://websitegarage.netscape.com

WEB HOST MONITORING Do you really know how what kind of service your web host is giving you? Use FREE trial service at HostWatcher to alert you whenever your web host is down, or speed is slow. Also see how long it takes for your pages to load. http://hostwatcher.com

Yes you can mine gold from FREE stuff. You can also waste huge amounts of precious time if you are not selective. Follow suggestions above and get best of best from FREE stuff.