Is Your Free Giveaway Complete?
Long ago, before I came online in 2006 it was said that people would opt in to your list just to be on your list. You didn’t have to promise them a newsletter or provide them with a short report or other opt in gift or free giveaway. All of what we now do on the internet was new and exciting and everyone involved looked forward to receiving email messages from people who had information on any of a variety of topics. Those days have gone the way of the dinosaur and you must accept that fact and move on.
There was a short period of time where people would join a list just to receive a newsletter, but these days that typically would only be effective for those who are already well known in their niche. The very first list I joined in 2006 was for a newsletter on being positive in our lives. This newsletter was from Jon Gordon, an author and speaker on the topics of leadership, sales, culture, and teamwork. I eagerly awaited each issue arriving in my inbox and took his valuable information and tips to heart. Jon had become an icon in my mind at that time.
For the rest of you who are not known to the world, you must provide something of value to the visitors whom you hope will opt in to your list. I have found two effective ways for you to make this happen.
There are several names for what you will offer people, including free giveaway, ethical bribe, and opt in gift. I will refer to it here as your free giveaway. Typically this would be a short report on a specific aspect of your overall topic, and could vary in length from five to thirty pages. The preferred length has gone back and forth over the years, and I now recommend that my students offer something that is between fifteen and twenty-five pages. You include a table of contents, an introduction, a resources sections, and information about the author at the end. It’s sort of a mini eBook in that it is self-contained and filled with excellent, helpful information.
At the end of your free giveaway you absolutely must include a call to action. This is what you want your reader to do next after they come to the end of your report. I send people to look at my author page on Amazon to see all of the books I have written, to one of my products or online courses, or to another one of my sites where they can find further information. The idea is to move them through a process that will serve their needs while also allowing you to share more about who you are, what you do, and what you have to offer.
Free giveaways can consist of audios and videos as well, but I would not create them without including a written component as well.
As you can see, there are many things to think about when it comes to creating and distributing your free giveaway to build your list. I offer a training on this called Really Simple List Building that continues to be beneficial to new online entrepreneurs who want to build a list and grow their business.
I’m Connie Ragen Green and I’ve been an online entrepreneur since 2006. If you are ready to get started on your journey to multiple streams of online income, visit my site at Online Entrepreneur Blueprint and download your complimentary training to get started today.
If you create an irresistible giveaway, will people visiting your blog, squeeze page, shy-yes page (this is a term I don’t hear much any more), or other website be more likely to join your list by opting in? In a word – yes. However, asking readers to allow you into their inbox requires an incentive worthy of their trust. Gone are the days when you could simply say, “Get our weekly newsletter,” and have a flood of subscribers. Today’s subscribers are much more discerning, and with overflowing inboxes (more on that later on) a problem for all, it’s more important than ever to create an offer that readers simply cannot refuse.