You have all seen it and probably participated in it. That is, the freebies in exchange for the subscription to a newsletter. In fact, sometimes it is 99% about the giveaway and as an almost aside, there is a request for the email address. We are so accustomed to providing our email address in exchange for a free download, they we tend to think nothing of it. It is now considered a legitimate way to build a list. Fortunately, you can do the same thing in your list building, with minimal effort on your part.
Even colleges get into the freebie game, with offering free laptops. That may be a bit pricey to offer to your subscribers, but you could consider something like a giveaway. One blogger who does well with giveaways, and gives away cool gadgets, even laptops, is Justin Germino, of dragonblogger.com.
Giveaways
Giveaways are one way of building your list. Some people have a knack for that and are almost gifted. For those people, they should focus on giveaways. If you find that you are good at giveaways, then this may be a method for you.
The challenge with offering giveaways is promoting the giveaway. It can take a lot of time to perform these promotions. And, if you want to build your list, you have to be successful at promotion of the giveaway.
Another thing that helps is having a giveaway platform that gives you an opportunity to build your list. You could build your list by having a newsletter subscription form in the vicinity (same page) as the giveaway code and use a service like rafflecopter or giveawaytools.com. If you want to have the list building opportunity built into the giveaway code, then you may have to shell out some money and do the upgraded version of one like gleam.io (aff link). In the case of gleam, there is a free version available without the list-building component.
Also, with this type of promotion, you need to keep in mind that there are laws governing the contest or giveaway. This is where it is helpful to use a contest promotion platform (like those listed, above), but also do your research to ensure that you are complying with the laws. It is highly recommended that you consult with your attorney before running your giveaway.
Gift with Subscription
By far, the easiest giveaway is just that, a giveaway without any sweepstakes or contest attached. Many people shy away from doing this because they don’t feel they have anything to giveaway. But, that isn’t true.
One of the easiest ways to do this is to create a presentation. You can use your favorite presentation software, like PowerPoint. You can also create one via Google Slides, for a free version of a presentation. Ideally, after you create the presentation, you find a friend with Adobe Acrobat to create an acrobat version of the presentation and use that as a free downloadable ebook. You may even be able to print to PDF with some software programs.
Now, for the content. That part can be fairly easy, too. What is it that you know? What is your expertise? That is what you put in your presentation. You can even add graphics (assuming you have license to do so) to augment your presentation (free ebook) and to make it even more appealing. Be sure to include a promo for your own services, within your ebook (at the end). That way, you can gain a subscriber and maybe even gain a customer.
Now it is your turn. Go create your presentation and convert it to a downloadable ebook. You can put the link to your ebook in your confirmation email of the newsletter provider so that that welcome email provides the link to the free download. Now, go out and promote your freebie!
