Give you customers an incentive to join your mailing list or become a member of your forum or site. More and more consumers are reluctant to give out personal information without hesitation. Entice them with an offer they can’t refuse. Here are some opt-in offers your readers won’t be able to pass up.

• Offer a free book- eBooks are the rage these days. The book doesn’t have to be 100-200 pages long. On the other hand, it should be long enough to offer useful and beneficial information the reader visiting your site can use. It should also be information that they can’t find easily in other places on the internet. eBooks can help market your business in many different ways. You can encourage your readers to send your book to others, post the link in forums, or even use it in their own websites. News about your business will spread like wild fire on the internet, as well as, reaching an outstanding number of potential customers.
• Offer free downloadable articles- Providing short informative articles on your site is another good way to get customers to give you their contact information. If your site contains rich and informative content, providing free articles that readers must sign up to use is an excellent choice. However, your site as a whole must be well organized, cohesive, informative, and unique in order to convince that potential customers to fork over their e-mail addresses.
• Offer free online courses- Do you consider yourself an expert in your field? Use that for your business advantage. You can create multi-part online courses that incorporate text, images, video streams, and audio. Ask your readers to sign up or become a member to view the course. You can send the segments via e-mail to those who have subscribed.
• Offer other free stuff- Articles, books, and newsletters aren’t the only free downloads you can offer on your site. Depending on our business, you can offer free unique e-cards, screensavers, desktop backgrounds, or even document templates. Don’t forget that these items all must relate to your business’s product/service.
• Offer regular contests- If you sell a product or offer some kind of service, then you can offer online contests and quizzes online. Ask your customers to join in on the fun to receive a prize. Prizes can include free limited access to your services or a sample product.

Don’t forget to give your readers an action plan. Ask them join your mailing list, become a member of your site, or just ask them provide their e-mail and name when downloading your freebies. Also keep in mind that opt in offers must give your readers something different, relate to the person visiting your site, and give them a reason to come back for more or look forward to your weekly/monthly mailings. Not every method, however, is suitable for every business. Try out several different methods and choose the one that benefits your business most. Those that come to your site and have viewed your content are potential customers. It is no longer an uphill battle; they have met you half way. 

Tags: increase-sales
Posted in Sales & Marketing