Do Free List-Building Giveaways Work?

One of the biggest complaints that we hear fromDigital Product Thieves From
novice Internetmarketers is that they can't competeRobbing You Blind." I wrote this ebook from scratch,
with others in their nichebecause they "have no list."consultingwith several computer security and website
One of the solutions frequently offered is to suggestexperts in theprocess, and then GAVE it away as an
that theystop whining, and start building a list.subscriber bonus. Thatwas an ebook that I researched,
Somewhat moreproductive advice is to suggest thatwrote, collaborated on, andhad some nice graphics
they join one of the freelist-building giveaways as adesigned for... all so that I could giveit away.
starting point.The second thing to consider is the quality of the
Naturally, that brings us to the question of "aregiveawayitself.
freelist-building giveaways" worth the trouble?"You need to get involved in events where the
Do they work?organizers caresenough to really monitor the quality of
Do they produce quality subscribers?the gifts contributed.
My personal answer is, "It depends."You do not want to be associated with a free
If you do it the way that 90% of people entering thoselist-buildinggiveaway that "feels desperate or
freegiveaways do it, then I think that you're hurtingamateurish."
yourselfmore than you're helping.You also need to make sure that the organizer of the
I DO offer free items in select free giveaways. Justgiveaway
one of myseveral autoresponder accounts withREQUIRES joint venture partners (gift contributors) to
israpidly approaching a verifiable 200,000 subscribers.allpromote the event. Ideally, those who are discovered
Many ofthese subscribers did join my list(s) as a resultnotpromoting the event, usually by the fact that they
of freegiveaways.have made
So, why did I answer with "it depends" then?NO referrals, should be purged from the database of
First of all, you need to realize that contributing athoseeligible to receive subscribers fairly early in the
giftduring one of these free giveaways is just the firstgiveaway'stimeline.
step in along relationship-building process. Far too manyI've witnessed countless free giveaways where the
people blowit right from the start. They offer a freemajority ofcontributors merely contributed an outdated
"gift" in theseevents that they'd be insulted if someoneproduct and then didabsolutely NO promotion. They
offered to them.planned on getting a free ride. Apromotion with lot of
They violated "Rule #1".people doing that can, at best, have onlymediocre
Whatever you offer in one of these free giveaways,results.
or any giftthat you offer to your customers for thatParticipating in free list-building giveaways CAN
matter, should besomething nice enough that youjump-startyour list-building. I know numerous online
COULD sell it if you chose to.marketers who'vebuilt lists into the thousands... and
Starting a relationship off by offering someone JUNK,even tens of thousandswith most of their early list
as a bribeto get them onto your list, leaves them withmembers being from free giveaways.
a bad firstimpression of doing business with you.It does work. It can build you a targeted, responsive list
Offering an ANCIENTproduct that you have resaleifyou offer the right gifts, and if you select the
rights to (along with 10,000others), or that yourightgiveaways. If you join the wrong ones, contribute
purchased on Ebay for 99 cents, is plainshort-sighted.JUNK, andthen wait for others to do all of the work,
To give you an idea of the quality of gift that I thinkyou're in for a bigdisappointment. In these type of
that youshould offer, the most recent one that Ievents you do get exactlywhat you give.
contributed was a freeebook entitled, " How To Keep