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get the name and email address to every visitor to your site....

J

joshuamalachi

New Member
I'm looking for ideas on free information or report I can create that can be given away in exchange for someones name and email address..... I suppose this could also be some sort of special offer, figured out would bring it up to the smartest business folks...IN THE WORLD...!

I figure if enough ideas can be pulled together, it would be a nice share for those of you who would like to build an email list.


so....any ideas? what's some content people would actually be interested in?
 
CS-SignSupply

CS-SignSupply

New Member
Are you looking to target a specific demographic or base? Build a site with quality content and promote it... you will get visitors but may not get their information. They will need to opt in to subscribe for the free information/report.

I did something similar years ago with FlexiEzine.com, and hope to revive it sooner than later.

What would you be using their email and info for? Baiting them to one site, to promote another site (switch) might be considered spamming to some.
 
Malkin

Malkin

New Member
Many people, including me, use a catch-all spam address to sign up for stuff. I don't check it, and I don't give out my real address unless I really really trust you.
 
iSign

iSign

New Member
Jiarby raises a good question, and if you don't have the exact answer yet today, I would even suggest you worry about that first, & getting the addresses later.. granted, collecting email addy's from web visitors is a long process, so starting sooner than later makes sense... but once you have some, you need to have thought about what to say to them that will be well received... and speaking from experience, that also takes time..

In fact, I have hundreds of hours into my own over thought & over-developed idea to do something quite like what you speak of... and I've posted about it a few times... but after I got to where I had something of some value, ready to GIVE out to site visitors for FREE... I had also come across many deeper philosophical discussions about spam, about marketing... and about "FREE"...


In the end, I decided something is NOT free if an email address is required in exchange... so, I backed off my original plan. It didn't really die on the vine, & I suppose the link to download the guide may still require an email address.. but I have not promoted the guide, so nobody knows about it except some of my signs101 friends & the rare guy who scours a site, looking at everything...

..what I DID do is make a printed version of my "Sign Planning Guide" to help with sales discussions both in & out of my office. What I also intend to do is a mailing to advertise the website & the FREE guide, at which time I will remove any required email address... BUT... what I will try to do instead is to look like the guy with something useful to say, AND to give away, and to be the kind of knowlegable & generous source of sign related information, so that when I will ALSO have an invitation to subscribe to a sign newsletter, in all my email signatures, near my FREE guide download link, and in my promotional postcards, truck ads etc... THEN, maybe I will start to build up a database entirely from folks who KNOWINGLY opted in to an intentional desire to be kept informed of my marketing advice, promotional offers & perhaps sign related trivia & anecdotes...

and THAT is the demanding challenge that lies ahead... writing (or finding, quoting and attributing the source) relevant content, worthy of my clients subscription, attention & continued loyalty... and THAT is the much harder part of this long process...

but anyway, here is a link (containing other links) to a discussion of a similar concept:

http://www.signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56722&highlight=planning+guide
 
J

joshuamalachi

New Member
the idea is to get people to raise their hand and say hey....I want some more information. I didn't realize I needed the specifics on what I wanted to do to ask for ideas, but since the topic has come up, might as well make that into part of the question.

I'm looking for an automated way to stay in contact with my customers and prospects through automated means. Email was my first thought, but only a cog in the system. since I feel email is the easiest to get setup as an automated process, that's where I wanted to spend time first.

my initial thoughts were to use a discount (here's $20 to try us out...cost to me, $5-10 bucks), a sign planning guide (thanks isign), and an email newsletter with specific, actionable marketing activities they can use to generate business now.

because my business is largely custom apparel, signs, graphics, and vehicle wraps, I was hoping to get some ideas for information products or useful stuff that someone would actually want, thus giving accurate information when it comes to email. I mean, if I'm getting a free $20 for something I was gonna try anyway, wouldn't I put accurate info in?

No spamming here, just an attempt to use better marketing ways to stay in front of people.
 
jiarby

jiarby

New Member
well, common "opt-in" contact management techniques include:
newsletters
coupons
e-books
planning guides
white papers
lists, tips, tricks
tutorials, training

etc...

but even though people opted in, they did it for the original thing (free information) and generally are not receptive to later "harvesting"

I always create a new email forwarded when registering anywhere. If I get spam I just delete that forwarder...
such as: for ordering pizza I use "spamfrompapajohn@domainname.com" That address forwards to a real address that I check
 
iSign

iSign

New Member
jiarby said:
for ordering pizza I use "spamfrompapajohn@domainname.com" That address forwards to a real address that I check
Click to expand...

that's hilarious...

hmmm, let's spam these fools who signed our PapaJohn list... let's see.. who's addy is first... um... "spamfrompapajohn@domainname.com"? is that even real... ahh screw it... don't even waste that guy's time... next?​
 
S

Stan B

Guest
The island guy a man I openly dislike gave you a $10000 advice and you don't even bother to try to understand. That he said is the essence of the best of that's out there and it takes time brains and lots of lots of effort. Your idea of 10-20 off is spam and will work so little it is not worth trying. Reading you I also expect your emails to be shameless self promo and marketing fluff no one cares for so for 10 signups you may get you will be pressed spam button 7 times and unubscr another 3. Read that isign said 10 times every day before you really feel it. Sorry to be harsh who does not learn shall not ask


joshuamalachi said:
the idea is to get people to raise their hand and say hey....I want some more information. I didn't realize I needed the specifics on what I wanted to do to ask for ideas, but since the topic has come up, might as well make that into part of the question.

I'm looking for an automated way to stay in contact with my customers and prospects through automated means. Email was my first thought, but only a cog in the system. since I feel email is the easiest to get setup as an automated process, that's where I wanted to spend time first.

my initial thoughts were to use a discount (here's $20 to try us out...cost to me, $5-10 bucks), a sign planning guide (thanks isign), and an email newsletter with specific, actionable marketing activities they can use to generate business now.

because my business is largely custom apparel, signs, graphics, and vehicle wraps, I was hoping to get some ideas for information products or useful stuff that someone would actually want, thus giving accurate information when it comes to email. I mean, if I'm getting a free $20 for something I was gonna try anyway, wouldn't I put accurate info in?

No spamming here, just an attempt to use better marketing ways to stay in front of people.
Click to expand...
 
CheapVehicleWrap

CheapVehicleWrap

New Member
How much traffic are you really generating? Use that number and take a weee bit of .05% of the people that would respond. Now take .05% of those that you'll actually close ANY type of sale with. Now with your electron microscope, I want you to ZOOM in on the cash generated. Ohh, if by the off chance there's any left over, you know where to find me. I won't be holding my breath.
 
R

randya

New Member
iSign said:
that's hilarious...
hmmm, let's spam these fools who signed our PapaJohn list... let's see.. who's addy is first... um... "spamfrompapajohn@domainname.com"? is that even real... ahh screw it... don't even waste that guy's time... next?
​
Click to expand...


I remember chuckling when I though one of our emails lists and saw 'spamfrommutoh', knowing jiarby, I knew just what he was up to.

It certainly made me think.

We do a lot of e-blasts and I am signed up for many forums threads and discussion, so I get a lot of spam.

I try to guide our group to make responsible e-blasts and newsletters, that not only inform, but entertain and provide some useful information.

Our newsletter now contains the regular announcements, where we've been and where we are going, new products, an application tip, a tech tip and even a joke.
 
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