One of the biggest complaints that we hear from novice
Internet marketers is that they can't compete with others
in their niche because they "have no list."
One of the solutions frequently offered is to suggest that
they stop whining, and start building a list. Somewhat more
productive advice is to suggest that they join one of the
free list-building giveaways as a starting point.
Naturally, that brings us to the question of "are free
list-building giveaways" worth the trouble?"
Do they work?
Do they produce quality subscribers?
My personal answer is, "It depends."
If you do it the way that 90% of people entering those free
giveaways do it, then I think that you're hurting yourself
more than you're helping. I DO offer free items in select
free giveaways. Just one of my several autoresponder
accounts with ProfitAutomation.com is rapidly approaching
a verifiable 200,000 subscribers. Many of these subscribers
did join my list(s) as a result of free giveaways.
So, why did I answer with "it depends" then?
First of all, you need to realize that contributing a gift
during one of these free giveaways is just the first step
in a long relationship-building process. Far too many
people blow it right from the start. They offer a free
"gift" in these events that they'd be insulted if someone
offered to them. They violated "Rule #1".
Whatever you offer in one of these free giveaways, or any
gift that you offer to your customers for that matter,
should be something nice enough that you COULD sell it if
you chose to.
Starting a relationship off by offering someone JUNK, as a
bribe to get them onto your list, leaves them with a bad
first impression of doing business with you. Offering an
ANCIENT product that you have resale rights to (along with
10,000 others), or that you purchased on Ebay for 99
cents, is plain short-sighted.
To give you an idea of the quality of gift that I think
that you should offer, the most recent one that I
contributed was a free ebook entitled, " How To Keep
Digital Product Thieves From Robbing You Blind." I wrote
this ebook from scratch, consulting with several computer
security and website experts in the process, and then GAVE
it away as an subscriber bonus. That was an ebook that I
researched, wrote, collaborated on, and had some nice
graphics designed for... all so that I could give it away.
The second thing to consider is the quality of the giveaway
itself.
You need to get involved in events where the organizers
cares enough to really monitor the quality of the gifts
contributed.
You do not want to be associated with a free list-building
giveaway that "feels desperate or amateurish."
You also need to make sure that the organizer of the
giveaway REQUIRES joint venture partners (gift
contributors) to all promote the event. Ideally, those
who are discovered not promoting the event, usually by the
fact that they have made NO referrals, should be purged
from the database of those eligible to receive subscribers
fairly early in the giveaway's timeline.
I've witnessed countless free giveaways where the majority
of contributors merely contributed an outdated product and
then did absolutely NO promotion. They planned on getting a
free ride. A promotion with lot of people doing that can,
at best, have only mediocre results.
Participating in free list-building giveaways CAN
jump-start your list-building. I know numerous online
marketers who've built lists into the thousands... and even
tens of thousands with most of their early list members
being from free giveaways.
It does work. It can build you a targeted, responsive list
if you offer the right gifts, and if you select the right
giveaways. If you join the wrong ones, contribute JUNK,
and then wait for others to do all of the work, you're in
for a big disappointment. In these type of events you do
get exactly what you give.
----------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford has been teaching list-building and website
traffic generation since late-1996. His ebook, ""How I
Boosted My Ezine Sign-Up Rate By 5200 MORE Subscribers Per
Month - Virtually Overnight - And You Can Too," considered
a classic by many, is available at:
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