Free Giveaways or Subscriber Incentives definitely make a difference in encouraging people to sign up for your email list. I have seen stats that estimate 2 – 3 times the engagement rate … so even if you don’t have a give away now, be sure to work on one and offer it when it is ready.
In general here are some giveaways to consider:
- free ebook or report (it does not have to be long, in fact I’ve reports of 5 pages or less
- checklists
- white papers
- packages of free graphics (royalty free)
- packages of free photos (royalty free)
- an infographic
- videos
- audio files
- training course … anywhere from 3 lessons up to 50 free lessons!
- contests
What should the topic of your freebie be?
Your giveaway needs to have some match to your own website topic otherwise you will attract subscribers who have NO interest in you or your website topic.
If for example, you have a series of nonfiction books on Herbal Remedies, then your giveaway should have something to do with health and herbal remedies, for example you could give away an ebook on how to grow your own herbs from scratch. You could give away a link to a video on how to cut back a basil plant to make it grow huge, or you could create an infographic on the 10 best medicinal herbs.
Contests are great for both fiction and nonfiction writers.
Fiction writers are often challenged for ideas on what they can give away.
You can give away the first few chapters of your latest book as a PDF file. What about writing a short story that is representative of your writing style, or that gives the back story on one of your novels.
Do you have a 99cent story or book on Amazon? Give it away on your website (your Amazon version will eventually go permafree, which is NOT a bad thing). Ditto with a short story.
If you do not already have a short story or giveaway novella on Kindle, create one with the intent of it going permafree. First publish it on Kindle and price it at 99 cents, then offer it on your site for free (it will go permafree on Amazon).
Another giveaway could be an audio version of your short story. There are hundreds of voice artists on Fiverr or other freelance networks that could do this for you. Price depends on story length and the narrator’s experience, but a short story can be done for around $50.00
Think outside the box. I have a romance writer friend whose main character is a chef. She created a “cookbook” consisting of three romantic feasts. Her list grew to over 2000 subscribers in less than three months.
Here is an infographic from GetResponse with a few more incentive ideas
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