10 Tips for Success by Women in Ecommerce
Growing a list or database of prospects and customers can be a challenge. So many people doing the same thing online.  Write an ezine, ask people to subscribe.  Offer a free report and do the same… It can get a little boring for your intended audience. And for you.  
And while these are BOTH good ideas to leverage your expertise, they are not the ONLY WAY you can use giveaways to grow your list. In order to drive traffic to your site, you have to have something of value to offer.   Here are 10 other incentives you can use to grow your list:
1. My favorite list-building tool is the Interview. Interviews with subject matter experts can draw lots of people to leave their information and add to your list. Here is one of the Women in Ecommerce interviews we “give away.”  ~ How to Grow Your Business to a Million
2. Goal Sheets. A goal sheet (something your audience can use to plan their time, their days or their business strategies) is a tool that many people will find of interest. If you create ongoing goal sheets for different programs, you will build a loyal following that is less likely to unsubscribe the moment they get the “freebie.”
3. Create a list of Resources ~ Free Resources  that are of value to your audience. Resources that you have researched and written about add value
to your audience because you have now saved them time by doing the work for them.

4. High Value products or product “excerpts”
are sure to draw people to your list. One of the things I give away is my Quirky Marketing Calendar  (chapters 1 and 2).  It has proven to be a great way to build a list of interested followers.
5. Done-for-you Forms or FREE Templates are of great value to people and they are willing to give you their name and email to get it. That is how WordPress has built an empire and become the largest blog creator in the world!
6. Software and applications that make life easier for your audience are in great demand. You can use a designer or programmer to create these. If you do not know anyone, check out Guru.com or Elance.com for a good source.
7. Checklists and worksheets that help people retain information or shorten a process work well for building a list. Here is a good example ~ 

Daily

Social
Media Marketing Checklist by Nikki Pilkington

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
8. Coupons are a great way to build a list.  People love saving money and if the coupon has a high perceived value people will gladly leave their contact information to grab that coupon.
9. Tutorials with information that people want to learn more about make great give-aways. You can check out our list of free online Tutorials . Interestingly many of these do NOT have an opt-in box or list-building strategy.
10. eCourses are similar to tutorials except they are generally a series of learning modules that will help your audience develop a skill in a specific discipline.
Offering give-aways not only draws attention to your company it gets people into your “sales funnel” so that when they are ready to buy you are there with something to sell.  
You can create these give-aways yourself or you can partner with someone else to offer a value driven giveaway that can result in a stellar list-building campaign.
 
When you build your list keep in mind to practice safe, effective and “legal” email marketing strategies.  Don’t build your list to “spam” people. If you use the list correctly, you will build a large following of loyal customers and prospects who look forward to receiving your information. Remember, email list building requires a plan, some time and a little effort. These email marketing and opt-in list building strategies will help you build your list the right way – for the long term and grow your online business.
Women in Ecommerce uses aWeber …. to facilitate our list-building strategy. You can test-drive aWeber toda y:   (yes, this is our affiliate link)
Note: the less information you ask for when building your list the greater response you will receive. For instance the “norm” is name and email address. The more information you ask people to give you, the greater the value of the give away will be expected.