#48: Offer Free Shipping – As a small business owner or entrepreneur, nickles and dimes add up quick. It’s important to stay on top of your books and profit margins, but we’ve got one glaring exception where you should bite the bullet: The cost of shipping. “Free Shipping” is a buzz phrase – It catches people’s eyes, it draws them in and it makes them spend more: “Well I can afford to get one more thing, since I’m saving money with no shipping.” The added exposure and relationship that you build with customers, just by offering free shipping, is worth the cost of the actual shipping. If you’ve got a good product (which we’re certainly assuming that you do), word will spread fast, and “free shipping” will be attached with it. In a sense, you can justify the cost of shipping, as part of your marketing and advertising budget.