Creating an Effective Free Giveaway Website
If reading the headline is making you think you’re going to have to spend big bucks, think again! Generating leads doesn’t have to blow your marketing budget, and it can actually be quite easy.
The goal of a giveaway on your website is generating leads by collecting email addresses. Then, you can start to look at other ways to move your potential customer farther down the funnel and towards a sale.
Let’s look at a few different ways you can use this marketing technique to your advantage:
- Create a contest that people enter and award a prize/prizes to the winner/winners.
- Give something of value to everyone who enters their email address.
If you’re an alternative health provider, for example, you could offer one lucky winner a tangible product as a prize: nutritional supplements, a physical book you’ve written or a portable speaker—whatever you think your audience will like.
Or, you could offer something to everyone.
This could come in the form of an audio or video series you’ve recorded or a downloadable eBook you’ve written.
No matter what type of campaign you choose for landing page giveaways, you need to get set up with the right tools first.
Obviously, you’ll need a landing page!
This is where you outline what you’re giving away.
You can include information such as deadlines to enter, how to enter and so on. Keep in mind, there are different types of pages, and you’ll probably use more than one on your site.
Here’s an example of an offer on the home page from one of my clients, Katherine Hartvickson of Quantum Ascendance. She’s an HR consultant who offers a free interview guidebook packed with expert tips to people who sign up.
Since stats tell us most people do not make a purchasing decision upon their first visit to a website, having a call to action on your home page can be a great way to get people initially interested in what you have to offer.
This gives you an opportunity to continue that virtual relationship with them, building the know, like and trust factor needed for them to decide on hiring you.
It’s also a great idea to have a dedicated landing page that you can drive targeted traffic to, especially if you are using a paid campaign or from your social media efforts.
This is what we set up for Katherine where there is no chance of the user getting distracted on nothing but signing up for her free guidebook:
Here’s an example from another one of our clients, relationship expert and author Stuart Motola.
On each page within his site he has a separate place for people to land that details the benefits of his book. You’ll notice on the right-hand side he gives visitors compelling reasons to provide an email address and receive the first chapter of his book.
On separate pages, you can provide more info on what you do and the benefits of your product or services. Giving them a little taste of what they can expect can improve your chances of converting them into customers.
We can help you decide which types of pages will work best for you, so don’t worry about making that decision now!
You’ll also need an email service provider.
This is the critical part of the equation! You want to be able to collect, store and send emails to those who sign up.
This should always be integrated into your site so people who sign up are also opting-in as Newsletter subscribers. That way, you can send them drip emails, offers and weekly or monthly newsletters down the road.
It’s important to think about why you’re giving something to website visitors.
It shouldn’t just be about pushing content or your business offerings at them.
Being strategic about your efforts is the key. Whether it’s leading them to sign up for your consulting services, buy your product or call you for more information, have a clear intent and purpose before you start.