CaymanHost Blog - Web Money & Marketing

11/04: Marketing GiveAway Events - Could You Benefit?

I wanted to talk briefly today about the huge increase in giveaway events and the benefits for bloggers, webmasters, and anyone trying to make money online.

If you don't know what a giveaway is, it's a simple concept. The giveaway owner uses a script to set up a website and then promotes it, asking for others to contribute a "gift" to the site - this could be in the form of an ebook, a script, software or perhaps a membership.

Why would anyone want to give away their products? Well, the benefits are several fold. The operator of the giveaway builds a list, but also gains a team of JV partners who will promote the giveaway on his/her behalf. The owner gets to grow his list, and gains access to the lists of the contributors for promotional purposes as they will be promoting his event.

The contributors, or JV partners, also benefit from the promotional efforts of all the others, and get to grow their opt-in lists too, every time somebody downloads the gift they have contributed. They also benefit from the viral effect, particularly if they are offering viral ebooks or software as a gift. The benefits of an opt-in list have been pointed out so many times, I hardly need to elaborate.

The subscribers all benefit from all the free gifts they get to download in exchange for their subscriptions. They also have the chance to promote the events and share in the profits should any of their referrals purchase things like OTO's (One time offers) and the like.

There is always an unsubscribe option in each mail a subscriber will receive from the list owners, so if you are unhappy about the numbers or content of subsequent emails it's not really a problem. Some listowners will use their lists wisely and often come up with some really good offers and information. As a subscriber of course, you get to vote with your feet as to how useful being a list member is to you. So, you get loads of free stuff, and the chance to learn about a host of new things in the future. 

This is why JV give aways have become so popular in recent months.

In my experience, they do work really well, particularly if some big names get behind the promotional aspects, and as a contributor, it is possible to grow your list in leaps and bounds - far more quickly than is otherwise the norm. It is impossible to predict how many new opt-in members you might get from a given event - it can range from a handful to literally thousands.

So, how do you get involved in a giveaway?

Contributors are usually invited in advance of a new event by email on one of the lists of which they are a member. It is then usually a simple case of signing up to the JV partnership and uploading the details of the gift you wish to contribute. There will be certain rules governing your eligibility for each event. Sometimes the owners will require that you have a list of a minimum size to promote to, but many don't, which allows the little guys to get in on the action.

The usual condition is that to participate as a contributor you must promote the giveaway in question - which of course you will want to do in order to get as many new opt-ins as possible.

The scripts used for these events make it pretty simple to upload your gift. You upload an image, provide details of the product, the URL to your lead capture page, and brief instructions for visitors on how to download your product. That's it. Promote the giveaway before and after launch, and wait for visitors to sign up to your list.

Participation as an ordinary member is simple too. You sign up for the giveaway, and you get to download whichever products are of interest to you, completely free of charge. You will have to join the double opt-in list of each contributor whose gift you want to grab.

Most giveaways are only live for a limited period of time, usually a month, but there are others that run for longer.

If you would like to take a look at some of the events on offer at the moment, here are some links to some of the latest ones. They are packed with hundreds of gifts, but, will only be open for a limited time - once they close their doors, the gifts will be gone. (That's not a sales pitch, it's just the way things work).

The Greedy GiveAway

The Niche GiveAway

The Free Viral Spiral List GiveAway

Lady Angel's GiveAway

If you like the idea of becoming a contributor to an event, you will need to be on the lists of existing participants, but by joining any of the above giveaways, you will benefit from notifications of new events as and when they are launched.

So, that's the world of giveaways in a nutshell. Some work better than others, a lot will depend on the number of people who get behind them, but as an aid to building your list, they can be very effective indeed.

Let me know your experiences and feel free to add your questions. 

TCH