Related Podcast Link: Listen to Episode 119!

When it comes to bringing in new folks into your web site you would be willing to try just about anything and everything, right? One thing that you might have not of considered is the idea of developing something for the public and then giving it away for free. A perfect example of this would be making a free layout for your users to use.

If there is one thing that gets attention it is free MySpace or free WordPress layouts. Those two seem to be the hot search items these days, and you should cash in on the benefits as well. First thing you need to do is find a designer or learn some basic design skills yourself.

The next thing you should do is decide on what audience you want to target. I mentioned both WordPress and MySpace themes earlier, but you could just as easily develop a basic template and design for anybody to use for a standard static web site.

Lastly you need to find a way to release this theme out to the public. Put it on your web site, and then ask some of your blogging buddies if they will mention something about it. Going down the chain there, hopefully you will get the friend tells a friend effect. Before you know it, you might have the Web’s hottest new design.

One good place you can see this type of marking in action is Lunarpages. They have just released three free WordPress themes for anybody to use. Notice the use of ads on the theme preview pages. Your watching a Lunarpages commercial and you didn’t even know it.

Now where to you reap the rewards? Well with all of these people coming back to you to check out the theme, you get page views and hits. For folks inside of the web hosting business (web host or not) this makes a perfect combination of supply meets demand.