Thread: 7 Reasons Why I Like Giveaways

I've been asked why I like giveaways so much and why encourage others to enter giveaways. So here goes, are you ready?

1. It builds your name recognition.

2. It helps build your brand.

3. It keeps you up to date with what others are promoting.

4. You can download products for your own personal or business use.

5. You can download products to give away and use them to promote your business.

6. You can build your own very targeted list.

7. When you upgrade, you can make money from the One Time Offers you enter. (I wish AOL would come up with a way to say "You've got money!" instead of "You've got mail!" when there's a receipt for payment in your in box. Wouldn't that be fun?)

So, how do you enter a giveaway? Here's what you need:


Create a new folder. Label it "Giveaway Records" I keep this as a main folder and add individual folders for each giveaway to this folder.

In this folder, you will keep all information you need for the giveaway. I use notepad to list all my information.

You will need the following:

For your profile, you will need to enter the email address you're using for the giveaway and the password they've given you or that you have created. You will also need to put your picture in your giveaway folder, because they'll want you to include that in your profile. They'll also need your Clickbank ID, your PayPal nickname and your Twitter username.

Your Giveaway Product:

1. Product Name

2. Product Image

3. Short Description Of Your Product (around 50 characters)

4. Product Description (up to 300 characters)

5. Squeeze Page URL

6. Direct Download URL (Here is where I put my thank you page with the download link.)

7. Support Contact (Email address is what I use.)

You'll also want in this folder:

1. Your unique link to invite contributors and the one to invite members after the giveaway goes live

2. The giveaway rules

3. The date the giveaway goes live

4. The date the giveaway ends

5. Copies of the emails to use for the giveaway

For those of you who do not have your own product to give away, go to my website on the 'find products' page. There you'll find three sites where you can access free private label rights products you may give away. Be sure to check out the license you get with the product and follow it to the letter.

Another question I often get is, "How do I promote a giveaway? I don't have a list!" I know what you mean. I had a hard time with that one, too. Here are a few ideas:

Email family and friends. Have them invite their friends. It's for a good cause, building your business. There are always products there they may find interesting.

Twitter about it.

Contact your friends on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Ning, Yahoo and others. You CAN promote without a list. Use your imagination. DO NOT spam.

Blog about it.

Squidoo it.

Twitter it.

I hope this gives you some ideas. Take the plunge, promote your business by participating in giveaways!

Marilyn Parmelee
Published author, pastor and internet marketer. Helping author's, nonprofits, and small businesses develop a web presence.

Hi Marilyn
Great post, I have not yet tried giveaways yet as a traffic generating method,But after reading your book and watching the videos, I may step out of my comfort zone and give it a go.

Speak soon and keep up the good work

Steve

Thank you Steve. I hope you give it a try, it's a great way to build a list - and meet new jv partners.

Best,
Marilyn

Marilyn

While you inferred it, the other thing you need is an autoresponder account (or software) to capture those email addresses. You should also use the double optin process to protect yourself from future accusations of spamming.

I also state in the confirmation email that the subscriber for a gift is being added to an email list but that they can unsubscribe at any time.

You can also check my signature for details of current and future giveaway events.

Neil

Wow Marilyn, a person after my own heart ;) I am a firm believer in Giveaways as a tool to build a list. I am in the process of building my list now and Giveaways have given me the biggest "bump" in sign ups...far surpassing anything else that was working for me. I also sold my first "back-end" product that I had listed with my last Giveaway, so I made some money too!
Your list is comprehensive and invaluable. Thanks!

Neil is also right on about having your autoresponder in place. Additionally you must have your "follow up" messages in place that will go out after your "thank you" email. You don't want your newly acquired list to go stagnant. Something I had to learn from experience ;)

I need my Giveaways to build a decent size list so that I can then step up to "ad swaps."

Giveaways have been nothing but a great experience for me and I would highly recommend them as a way to build a list...particularly for the beginner. By the way, when I started I had to get past the "fear" of not having much of a list to promote to, but I just did most of same things that Marilyn suggests and I've had no problem getting traffic there.
Kathy
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I have to admit I had not taken part in a give away event but I am now involved in one and I am going to see how that works out before doing another one. I have heard good things about JV give aways and the advice contained in Marilyns post will definitely see a new folder appearing on my desk top tomorrow, great post Marilyn and thanks

Marilyn,

Good comprehensive list.

If I could add one thing it's this: depending on the amount of traffic that is going to be coming to that giveaway event, I always recommend to my readers that they take the upgrade, not only does it allow them to add more than one gift (multiple list building opportunity), but it also adds money to my paypal account when they upgrade under me.

As you said, I always like seeing the emails from paypal telling me I've received a payment...who doesn't?

Ron

Thank you all for your comments. Can you tell me, what has been your experience with the one time offers you've included?

Thanks,
Marilyn

Hi Marilyn...
So far, I haven't had any one time offers. But, I know they are in my future ;)
I would really like to hear what others have to say about it though.

You know, when I saw your picture, I thought...I know her...I've seen her before...
Seems you and I have been in some of the same Giveaways and that is where I saw your pic before ;)

I am enjoying these Giveaways but look forward to any kind of education you can offer concerning them ;) Do you also do a lot of ad swaps?
Thanks,
Kathy

That's where I've seen you before! Yes I've done some adswaps and they are a great way to build your business list as well. My only advice on them is to get on that persons list, download their offer to make sure it fits your list, and then see how they treat their customers. That way you know if you want to share your list with them. I had one I declined because after I was on their list I got 5 emails a day, every day.

Best,
Marilyn

Marilyn,
That is great information! Thanks for the heads up....
I am not sure I would have thought to do that. I am looking forward to ad swaps in the future...just need to get that list a little bigger first
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Great info here...
Kathy

Helu Marlin ,
I just love your post.
Very Generous , hehe

Great !

Thanks for sharing it with us .!

good info. I'm getting ready to start using giveaways to build my list. I'll let everyone know how it goes

Excellent Marilyn,

Clear, precise, detailed....well done. I am sure this will help a lot of our newbies.

Keep up the good work.

Kevin

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Originally Posted by Kathyd
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Marilyn,
That is great information! Thanks for the heads up....
I am not sure I would have thought to do that. I am looking forward to ad swaps in the future...just need to get that list a little bigger first
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Great info here...
Kathy

Hi Kathy,

Don't worry about trying to have a huge list before you start doing swaps. Many people have more than one list and are more than happy to swap with you using one of their lists that is approximate to the size of your list. Just make sure that you're upfront with your list size, the response you usually get from your list, etc. That way there's no misunderstandings.

Best,
Marilyn

Thanks Kevin, I appreciate that. It's info I wish I had had before I started doing giveaways.

Marilyn

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Originally Posted by marilyn808
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Hi Kathy,

Don't worry about trying to have a huge list before you start doing swaps. Many people have more than one list and are more than happy to swap with you using one of their lists that is approximate to the size of your list. Just make sure that you're upfront with your list size, the response you usually get from your list, etc. That way there's no misunderstandings.

Best,
Marilyn

Hi Marilyn...once again..right on. Another marketer just told me the other day that in Alex Jeffrey's class the students started to ad swap with 200 on their list.
But, as you said...the most important thing is honesty about your list and the response you get.
Kathy

I agree totally. Be honest and you will find that most marketer's don't care what list size you have and will be glad to swap. I know I don't. My list is a 1000 and I swap with people who's list sizes are less than half of mine.

Tom

I love giveaways though. I will be sorting out my first one soon with another Marketer called Badal Banerjee which I can't wait for.

Tom

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Originally Posted by TDHorton
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I agree totally. Be honest and you will find that most marketer's don't care what list size you have and will be glad to swap. I know I don't. My list is a 1000 and I swap with people who's list sizes are less than half of mine.

Tom

I'll remember that when I reach the 500 mark Tom
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Kathy