The most successful way to generate more traffic to your web site AND have visitors provide a valid email address is to give away something of value. Its that simple.
The bottom line is: People don’t want to be taken advantage of and the only way they can get to know you, is if you “court” them over a period of time. Allow visitors time to get to know you.
The first step of this courtship is to give something of quality away to people who visit your site. They must provide a valid email address to receive the free gift. This is one of the best ways to build a large list in a reasonable amount of time. The free gift or item must have three components:
1. Quality
2. Targets your visitors
3. Promotes you and your web site
High Quality - Your item should be something that people can use over and over again.
Targets Your Visitors - Your free item or gift has to be something that pertains to the service/product you are offering. It can be valuable information, it can be an extremely valuable coupon, it can be an online tool, it can be an e-book, software program, calculation software or informational software.
The cost of the item has to fit into your budget and it has to be deliverable.
Promotes You and Your Web Site - Your free item will work best if it gives your visitors and inside peek at your services and you. This is why you see so many online services offering their service or product with a 30 day “Free” trial.
If your site or service does not fit into this category of allowing a free trial, offer information about your service/product. If your competitors will be angry because you provided too much information, then the quality of the free information is probably high.
Sit down and think about what your visitors need or could benefit from. Ask yourself if its feasible for you to fulfill the need, then ask yourself if you can deliver the fulfillment?
