Blog Posts
Internet Marketing Giveaways - Do They Produce Quality Leads?
I recently received a Tweet in Twitter from my good online friend and top marketer Josh Spaulding regarding the effectiveness of giveaway events and it prompted me to do some thinking. Josh's concern was that from a listbuilding perspective, are the leads generated through giveaways really worth much in view of the fact that lots of other marketers will be getting the lead too?
I think this is a very valid point and felt that I should give it some thought and address it as best I can.
If you are not familiar with the concept you can read my post on Internet Marketing Giveaway Events here.
The question Josh poses relates to the likely responsiveness of leads collected through these giveaways. Because those who sign up to giveaway events are likely to download a multitude of free gifts and opt-in to a high number of lists, just how likely are they to be interested in your email messages? Here are my thoughts and experiences on this aspect:
1) It is true that many people will sign up to get the free gift and immediately unsubscribe.
2) It is also true that many people will use a "dump" address to subscribe and will never read any of your subsequent communications.
3) Many opt-in leads will unsubscribe due to being bombarded by aggressive marketing from other giveaway contributors immediately after signing up!
4) On the plus side not all members will download everything just because it's free - some are far more discerning and may only want one or two of the freebies on offer. They are perhaps a ittle wiser and more wary of ending up on a myriad of lists.
5) People who want free things are very often not looking to buy anything online at all, ever. They are therefore not the greatest of prospects for a marketer it's true.
So, some of that that doesn't sound so great, and would definitely support the contention that many of the leads you might generate will be of very poor quality. As to whether this makes them a waste of your time depends on a variety of things......
Let's assume that you are only just starting out with your list building ventures....you need leads, you need people to opt-in whether you are planning to use those leads as newsletter subscribers, blog readers or just as an avenue for future sales pitches. You need to think carefully about how you use your list in any case, but let's assume you are just hoping to make some product sales and are only really interested in the money! However you gather leads, this approach is invariably a mistake and will see people leaving your list in droves - there are just too many marketers sending sales letters out on a daily basis. Nobody likes that kind of thing. I know I don't. Unfortunately, these types of marketers are predominant in giveaway events.
So, using your list wisely is as important, if not more important, than gathering your opt-in subscribers in the first place.
So, considering all the above, are Josh's concerns valid? Sure they are. If you are going to use giveaway events to help build your list, you are going to have to accept all of the aforementioned downsides. If you already have a large list (meaning in the thousands) the benefits of participating in giveaway events may not be worth your time...then again, you do still stand to grow your list even further and spread your name and reputation to a wider audience.
Giveaways do have other benefits of course. If you are giving away a viral ebook for example, the more hands you put it into has to be a good thing. Even if the subscribers turn out to be a bust, you have at least given away a viral product to one more person - if that product has giveaway rights included, you have also enabled others to spread your handiwork to an even wider audience.
Because people have to opt-in to your list to get their free product, you can also take the opportunity to make them one time offers at the point of sign up. This may not be as effective as some people claim, but it is another opportunity to make sales or to send people to your blogs and websites that they may otherwise never have seen. It's all traffic and reasonably targeted if you do it right - don't offer people a free marketing ebook and then send them to your Amazon affiliate link trying to sell them a lawnmower.
Another point is that just because someone signs up to a giveaway does not neccessarily mean that they will download every single product on the site. You may not always therefore be competing with tens or hundreds of other marketers for their attention. The relevance of your gift is important. Giving away an Adwords manual and then trying to market and sell completely unrelated things as soon as you have snared an email address is another recipe for disaster. Remember what your subscribers signed up for and try to tailor your future messages to your audience's interests as much as possible.
The idea of giveways, like so much online, is a numbers game. The opt-in leads you generate will certainly not all be of the highest quality, but there will be others who will allow you the chance to communicate with them. If you refrain from sending stupid numbers of sales emails as soon as those folks have signed up, otherwise you will soon put them off. However, if you prove yourself competent and different to the herd, you will win some more loyal subscribers and have the chance to win their trust and interest in what you have to say. This is something that Josh himself is very good at, using his list wisely and invariably sending out information and updates as opposed to making every message an offer to buy something. He will for example notify his list members of his latest blog post - the effectiveness of this can be seen by the high comment activity his blog generates. People like being on his list because he provides quality information.
Considering all the above points, your decision to allocate your own time or efforts might hopefully be made a little easier. I have generated a good number of leads using these methods and will freely admit that the "quality" of those leads can be very patchy. However, they have helped me to grow my list more quickly than might otherwise have been possible and I plan to continue with them for the time being.
Some Giveaway events are far more productive than others and new ideas are being tried all the time - a good example being sites like Profit Work From Home and AutoPilot Cash Streams who have tried to add additional income generating facets to the traditional giveaway event idea and provide a little more value to their membership base.
Most giveaways are run by marketers and populated by marketers or those wishing to learn how to become effective internet marketers, so like so much internet marketing it's a very incestuous nest to be in :-) However, if you are looking for subscribers outside of the IM arena, you might still have some luck, if you offer the right free product to the right people, or can find more specialist giveaway events. As more and more people open up giveaways, the quality inevitably suffers and some events have been a dead loss in terms of traffic and new subscribers. However, if you can find a good one or two you can maybe add a good number of new opt-ins in a matter of weeks. I think that even if only 10% of them turn out to be keepers it's been worth it. Just don't believe the hyped up claims of thousands of new people joining your list overnight because that is extremely unlikely to happen nowadays.
I hope this post will be useful to some of you and that Josh won't mind being quoted as the catalyst of my reasoning for writing it, as it was a very fair point that I thought I should try to answer. I'll also recommend that you drop by his blog, grab up the free products he is offering there and give his list a try for a while. Failing that you can also follow Josh Spaulding on Twitter.
tags: internet marketing, list building, opt-in lists, giveaways, giveaway events, lead generation Related Posts
- Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
- List Building With No Autoresponder
- Internet Marketing Giveaways - Do They Produce Quality Leads?
- Free Listbuilding Video
Auto Pilot Cash Streams GiveAway Event
As you know I'm not getting much work done at present due to limitations on my access to the internet here in South Florida.
This is just a quick post to let readers know about a new giveaway and sales funnel site launched today and called Auto Pilot Cash System. If you wish to Joint Venture with the owners as a contributor or just sign up for some of the free gifts on offer I've provided the links below. As a contributor you will not only be able to grow your own list but also benefit from promotional emails sent out by the site's owners as they will use your affiliate links in future promotions.
Contributor Sign Up - Click Here
Whichever you choose, enjoy and good luck with your efforts. The event will run indefinitely so there is no need to panic if you don't have time to get in right away :-)
tags: giveaway events, free gifts, marketing software, listbuilding, email marketing Related Posts
- LeadsLeap - A New Traffic and List Building System
- Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
- Internet Marketing Giveaways - Do They Produce Quality Leads?
- List Building With No Autoresponder
Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
Continuing with the autoresponder and listbuilding theme of recent posts, and having read Lord Matt's interesting post regarding email management software, I thought it was time to cover autoresponders in more detail.
You have various different options:
a) Sign Up For A Third Party Service (Free or Paid)
b) Buy an autoresponder script to install on your server
c) Find a Free Script To Install On Your Server
d) Piggy Back on Someone Else's System
The first option is to whip out your credit card and splash out on the services of Aweber or GetResponse or similar. Many people will recommend this to you and there is much to be said for employing these pro autoresponder services - best deliverability, tracking, ease of use, avoidance of spam complaints, commonly easy to integrate with other services and more.
I confess that I use neither but I will benefit if you order through one of the links above as I am an affiliate - this is another reason why so many are happy to recommend the services because they can earn nice commissions from doing so. I just think that is something that should be clarified. There are several other paid services if neither of the above suit you.
Also under the umbrella of third party services come the free autoresponders. In my opinion, a possible choice for non commercial users, not so good for business or professional use. Why? Well, the services are normally paid for by advertising, meaning unwanted ads on your messages over which you have no control. Not all services are ad supported though but other limitations can often make them of little use as a professional solution.
The other problem is that free services can attract spammers. This can have an extremely detrimental effect on the service and it's domain, which will not help you or your business in the long run. I've listed a few free services below, but it is by no means comprehensive, is in no particular order and doesn't necessarily constitute an endorsement of any of them as I have no experience of using them.
ResponsePilot (Limited Free Trial)
AutoRespondersForAll (No ads)
123Response.com (free with upgraded service available)
SendFree Autoresponders (free with upgrade available)
The next option is to buy a script and install it on your server. The upside of this is that you pay once and don't have to worry about monthly fees and will have full control over your subscriber base.
On the downside, you need to know how to install the script properly, set up a database etc. or have to get someone to do it for you. You need to be careful so as not to fall foul of your hosting company's mailing restrictions or overloading a shared server, you may run the risk of more spam complaints, and find that undeliverable mail is a greater problem than with a paid third party service.
Not strictly in this category but they offer unlimited autoresponder services for their hosting customers all run on their own servers, not yours, meaning no installation difficulties for you and all covered by your hosting costs. You can get a sneak peek in the free ebook The Absolute Beginner's Guide To WebHosting
I recommend this one as it has a lot of powerful features and is reasonably easy to install, although like any script it's easier if you have a little experience. This script is hosted on your own server and requires the following as a minimum:
1.) Catch-all email
2.) POP3 access to email accounts
3.) MySQL (version 3.23 or higher)
4.) MYSQL database
5.) PHP (version 4.2.3 or higher)
6.) Crontab
The script comes with resell rights too and includes all the sales page graphics and HTML code so it does represent pretty good value for money.
I used to sell this as a stand alone product but you can now get the script plus a lot more besides for just $10 through the above link - download the book for full details, it's free and there's no obligation to buy anything.
The third option is a free script - there are several around, some better than others. The same installation and usage issues apply of course, but if your budget is zero, and used wisely, they can be OK.
If you choose a hosting company who offer CPanel and Fantastico you could install something like PHPList which I have found useful for a couple of my mailing lists/newsletters. Even if you don't have Fantastico, you can still get the software for free but installation won't be as simple. I use it to manage things like my author newsletter from one of my article directories and would recommend it to people using Article Dashboard for example. PHPList is free and pretty configurable no matter what size of list you are managing. This means that you can control your email broadcasts without fear of overloading your server or upsetting your hosting company.
AMLM Lite - Free Autoresponder (A Newsletter Opt-In Is Required to get this one)
Finally, if you read my earlier post regarding listbuilding with no autoresponder, you could join a system that enables you to build a list through a service like MVS. The downside is that you will face certain restrictions on mailing out to your list and will not really have ownership of your own database. Full explanation in the Listbuilding Video I put up here.
These ideas will help you decide which kind of autoresponder service is going to suit your needs and budget best. Good luck with whichever solution you choose.
TCH
tags: autoresponders, autoresponder services, free autoresponders, autoresponder scripts, email marketing, autoresponder software Related Posts
- List Building With No Autoresponder
- LeadsLeap - A New Traffic and List Building System
- Make Money Online - Building A List
- Auto Pilot Cash Streams GiveAway Event
Free Listbuilding Video
Back in March I posted about the excellent My Viral Spiral free list building service. In order to explain a little more about the program I have made the following video showing you exactly how it works.
Watch The MVS List Building Video Here (Opens In A New Window may take a while to load)
Once you have watched the video you may be interested in some of the programs mentioned and used as examples and how to get the very best our of using it.
The link to the landing page used as an example in the video. There are plenty of useful reports included in the system so you are not restricted to using just this one. I have also arranged with the program owner to let you have some of my own products to use including the Beginners Guide To Web Hosting, Article Marketing Expert and The Adsense Masterplan. You will find them all in your member's area after you sign up.
The system used for OTO pages and redirects. This free program makes it easy for anyone to set up OTO's and I highly recommend it. This is also the tool behind the second redirect page shown in the video - Passive Profit Robot
The power behind the system - My Viral Spiral
Third Party Autoresponders from GetResponse and Aweber
I apologize for my hesitant speaking style, but I hope the information will inspire you to start building your own list.
TCH
tags: listbuilding, building a list, email marketing, opt-in email lists, free listbuilding Related Posts
- List Building With No Autoresponder
- Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
- Make Money Online - Building A List
- Free Listbuilding Video
List Building With No Autoresponder
Since publishing a few thoughts and suggestions on listbuilding with free services a short while ago, several people have emailed me and asked if there is anything that is more effective than others, and whether it's really possible to build and use a list without the services of a professional autoresponder.
I've been testing various systems for a while now and there is definitely one system that stands head and shoulders above the rest.
The system utilizes the power of My Viral Spiral which, if you can afford the price tag, is an awesome viral listbuilding tool. Having said that, it's probably not within reach of many.
However, the way MVS works can still benefit you, even if you can't justify buying the system for yourself. How? Well, the MVS system works on the basis of helping others to build lists while you build your own, and you can pass on the list love as a means of growing your own list. It is viral marketing taken to another level in effect.
So, how can you benefit? Well, if you are prepared to join my list, all will be revealed!
Sorry, just kidding, I'll tell you how it works. If you join the mailing list by filling in your details in my right sidebar (The $47 dollar value offer which is well well worth reading in any case), you will become a member of the viral listbuilding machine and have access to various free products to aid you in your own list building. Or you can sign up by clicking on the link below if you prefer
Get your Free Listbuilding System Here
Whenever anybody signs up to your list, they in turn become part of the viral list building process and will be helping you to build a list ten levels deep.
You don't need an autoresponder for this to work for you, as you an email your list every five days through an online mailer. However, if you do have an account with Aweber, Get Response or Email Aces, you can fully integrate your autoresponder with this system.
This is about as easy as listbuilding gets, trust me. I can't guarantee that it will bring you thousands of subscribers, but it's a great place to start if you're thinking of doing so. It's very easy to implement as you'll see when you sign up. There are lots of bonus benefits such as integration of your own product or affiliate landing pages, easy to use sign up forms and squeeze pages, rebrandable viral digital products and it's all free.
Yes, that's right, you can use this system entirely free of charge. You don't have to have an autoresponder. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised :-)
It's never too early to start building your list!
TCH
tags: listbuilding, email marketing, email lists, free listbuilders, autoresponders, building a list Related Posts
- Internet Marketing Giveaways - Do They Produce Quality Leads?
- Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
- Make Money Online - Building A List
- List Building With No Autoresponder
LeadsLeap - A New Traffic and List Building System
Having just posted about listbuilding, I thought I'd share another free traffic and leads generation system called LeadsLeap.com.If you have not yet heard about this service, you can register for a free LeadsLeap account while the program is in its infancy and take full advantage. Bookmark the page and go back on JANUARY 17 TO REGISTER.LeadsLeap is an ingenious system that combines the power of contextual advertising and network lead generation.
In this system, you are allowed to post ads to 10 levels of network you have built. However, unlike traditional network lead generation methods, LeadsLeap only allows members to post their ads in the form of contextual ad.
This means your leads do not receive obtrusive ads from their uplines, which is a good thing because no one likes to receive junk ads.
They also publish a very informative and useful newsletter.
This is a free service, although early respondents will have the opportunity of a paid membership if they choose.
Obviously at this stage, I can't comment on the effectiveness of the system as it is brand new, but I'm always open to new promotional ideas and thought on an initial look, this one was worth sharing.
tags: list building, LeadsLeap, website promotion, markting tools Related Posts
- Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
- Free Listbuilding Video
- List Building With No Autoresponder
- LeadsLeap - A New Traffic and List Building System
Make Money Online - Building A List
At this point in the ongoing make money online series, it's time to talk about building a list of opt-in email leads. Before you switch off and think...."I've heard all that before", I'm going to try and give everyone, from pauper on up, some great tips, tools and ideas to get you started in the world of list building.
Depending on the kind of marketer you are, your options are manifold. I'm going to start, once again, with those who don't really want to make much of an investment in the process. There are numerous choices for you, so I've listed a few below, along with my thoughts on each.
The Freedom List - this system was developed by Tim Brockelhurst and can work really well for those looking to build a list in the simplest way possible. You won't need an autoresponder as you can mail your collected leads direct from a web interface at the membership website.
It's actually a bit unfair to call this a list builder because it's really a whole lot more than that. If you visit the site you'll see that it comprises a whole system to help you start building a profitable online business. It's free to join and it's worth it for the free bonuses and e-course alone. I recommend this wholeheartedly for those just starting out.
Like most things you will need to do some promotion if you want it to work for you, but, as I say, it need cost you nothing or very little to start benefiting from everything at your disposal as a member.
My List Builder is the brainchild of Chad Van Norman and comes with an excellent set of tools to help you get started. Again, it is free, and relies on your ability to effectively promote the service. It works in conjunction with many other free list building services to help you collect leads in a variety of programs. After signing up, you will receive a short email course to help you get the best out of MLB.
Ideally, you will need access to an autoresponder of your own - there are several free autoresponder services available but most serious online marketers prefer the services of someone like Aweber autoresponders for managing their email campaigns and newsletters. I personally manage fine with the Supersponder service provided by my hosting company which provides unlimited pro autoresponders with all the bells and whistles I need. A little more involved than the first option but it's still a good lead generation system and well worth a look.
My Viral List is another favorite of mine and if you use the system correctly it is a both a powerful list and profit generating idea. You won't need an autoresponder as mailing is again done through a web interface all hosted by the program itself. You won't end up with an overflowing inbox. The program provides a good selection of easy to implement lead capture templates offering free bonuses to entice people to join your list. All you have to do is get the word out, and if you complete all the steps in the free signup process you'll have the potential to earn some good money too.
There are plenty of free listbuilding programs available online today, all work in various different ways and some are more effective than others. Listed below are some of the better known programs, each of which are designed in slightly different ways. All offer both free and paid options and you will probably find that some work better than others, some will build your list more quickly and some will take a little more time.
It is wise to use an email address specifically for your list programs as some, although not all, will send you a lot of mail.
ListJoe.com - this is one of the better programs in my opinion. It works on a credit system, which means you need to click on links inside the emails from other members to earn the right to send your own mails. The good thing is that you will get to send a lot of emails soon after joining and they stand a good chance of being read as others will want to earn their own mailing credits. It's a bit like a credit based safelist in that respect. There is also a good downline builder at the site to help grow other list building programs of which you are a member.
UPDATE: Conclusion. Basicallya credit based safelist. Set up a specific account for emails as you will get quite a few (around 20 a day). Provided you click the links in your mails you can soon build enough credits as a free member to mail out to 2500 members once a week. At least your advertised site will get seen. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether any of those members will be interested in what you are advertising. Still one of the best of its kind though.
Triple Your List - is another good program although the free membership has its limitations. It's cycling system generates leads quickly though so it's worth a look. Ideally you need an autoresponder to make the most of the leads you collect, but, if you don't have one yet, it's still a good place to start collecting some opt-in subscribers.
UPDATE: Conclusion. Producing leads as promised. Responsiveness still to be determined.
The List Machine - This one provides a web based mailer to send mail out to other list members. In a way this type of system might be easiest for a lot of people but there is always the doubt that any of your mails will actually get read. Many users of these types of program simply divert their list mail to a blackhole or just delete them without ever opening them. Not a bad program but others are better. They don't pay commissions to free members either.
UPDATE: Conclusion. Still a bit early to criticize this one for me, but so far very little success in persuading others to join and still doubtful of its potential.
Your Lucky List - The comments made above, apply to YLL too. It does generate leads, even if you never refer anyone yourself - but mailing from the site mailer is restricted for free members and you don't get to actually see your leads. Each time the matrix is rebuilt your available leads change - up or down in numbers - and many users probably never even see the emails being sent by others. Could be better, but then again, it's free. Results might disappoint, but only giving it a test drive will tell.
UPDATE: Conclusion. Just another safelist. Even though the matrix does allow you to mail a varying number of members eacch week, it's unlikely any of your mail will be seen, let alone opened. No incentives for members to read other member's offerings which basically leaves it dead in the water. A list builder for the program owners, but beyond that, unlikely to provide any results. Sorry YLL.
ListLotto - This is entirely different and as the name suggests, offers members the chance to "win" a mailing to the entire membership database as well as the tools to gather prospects. It's different, but as to how effective it is, the jury is still out. Worth a free test drive.
UPDATE: Conclusion. Not really sure this is particularly worthwhile. The word Lotto should have been a clue. Chances of developing any meaningful contacts or customers a game of chance at best but at least they don't bombard you with tons of email. I'll give it more time before any praise or criticism.
List Dot Com - another offering that allows members to use a system mailer to contact their leads. Free and paid memberships available as with most of the other programs and of course, upgrading gives you far better features. I've not used this for long enough to truly judge its worth so you'll need to see for yourselves!
UPDATE : Conclusion. ListDotCom is another safe list and little more. Unlikely to produce results as members have no real incentive to read list mails from other members. Too easy to set up a specific email account and bulk delete - I have to say that would be the best idea as my inbox was bombarded with mail from the list, most of it rather amateur and annoying in nature. I have since deleted my account. The most useful list is being built by the program owner(s). Sorry LDC, but unlikely to produce any worthwhile results for members.
List Bandit - List Bandit has been all over the web in recent times and offers both free and paid levels of membership. Mailing is based on another random matrix which is rebuilt daily meaning that everyoine gets to send mail at least occasionally. Concerns over the likelihood of your mails being read exist here too, but it includes a downline builder for other programs, one of which is the incomparable Kiosk.ws, so I'm naturally a member.UPDATE: Conclusion. List Bandit is little more than a safelist and consequently suffers from all the associated downfalls. There is little incentive to read member's emails and most savvy users probably divert all list mail to a dump address specifically created for the purpose and either auto trash them or mass delete them with the click of a mouse. Not likely to bring much in the way of results I'm afraid, aside from for the program owner(s) who are building a worthwhile list. Does however offer a reasonable downline builder by way of consolation, but not the best listbuilding solution - Sorry LB.
OK, those account for a pretty large chunk of work so I'll leave it there for the freebies. As I have said, some will be more effective than others, but if you're definitely not prepared to open your wallet I'd make a start with the top four listed above.
Now, just to end on my usual note - building a decent list that is yours to keep is better achieved with your own hosting account and autoresponder tools which will enable you to set up your own squeeze pages/lead capture templates and really have ownership of an opt-in list. If you're just lacking a professional autoresponder, give Aweber a try as it's widely regarded as the very best out there.
If you already have your own hosting but are still struggling with list building, you can now get a free copy of the ListSpawner script which you will find very useful. All you need to do to get a free copy is refer four subscribers and you will be able to download this viral tool.
These programs are all well and good, but there are of course better ways to build opt-in lists - building sites requiring member subscriptions is probably one of the most effective. More about that another time.
There's a lot more to listbuilding, but I hope these ideas will get you started. The series will continue and in 2008 I will be offering regular free marketing tools for download, so please remember to subscribe to my feed and you won't miss any of the many giveaways I have planned.
tags: opt-in list, build a list, listbuilding, email marketing Related Posts
- Choosing An Autoresponder Service Or Software - Free Or Paid
- LeadsLeap - A New Traffic and List Building System
- Free Listbuilding Video
- Make Money Online - Building A List
