31GYL Day Two: Creating an Opt-In Incentive

On Day One of the "Grow Your List!" Challenge we worked on creating a squeeze page with a compelling headline, benefits/copy and a strong call-to-action.

Today's task in the Challenge is to create a must-have opt-in incentive that encourages your visitors to subscribe to your mailing list.

You'll find Day Two on pages 6-8 in the 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List

Your newsletter itself should be a big draw (and thus you should focus on the benefits of receiving the newsletter). However, ideally you should offer some sort of bonus - a freebie - to make signing up for your list a "no brainer".

Ready to get started?? Great! 😀 Let's dive right in...

What Type of Opt-In Incentive Should You Offer?

Before you brainstorm your opt-in incentive, you should consider your end objective. Why do you want to build a mailing list? What direction will you take subscribers? What action do you ultimately want them to take?

Your opt-in incentive is going to interest a certain type of person, and create a certain type of list. It will frame their expectations. Therefore you want to put a lot of thought into what you offer, and how, in addition to the copy & benefits of joining your mailing list in general.

Each step in the process is a point of communication toward an ultimate action. To turn "communication" into a valuable "relationship" you want to stay on target from one point to the next, leading the visitor strategically to and through your business funnel.

Tip: Don't redirect your subscribers straight to the download page for your bonus. Wait until they have confirmed their subscription to your mailing list and then redirect them to the download page, and also send them the download link in a follow-up email. Otherwise they may not confirm their subscription!

Here a few suggestions for freebies or bonuses you can deliver immediately when someone joins your list (page 7):

• A free ebook or report.
• A free multi-day ecourse.
• Valuable software.
• An audio interview or other audio product.
• A valuable video.
• Tools like calculators or spreadsheets.
• Useful products like blog themes, screen savers, and similar.
• A free teleseminar.
• Free access to a “private membership site.”
• A free 10 or 15 minute consultation (be careful with offering services, unless you have a good paid upsell in place).

Pre-recorded webinars are an option as well. You can do a search on Google to learn more about that model. You might also do a live monthly Q&A style webinar for subscribers only.

The most popular download type is an ebook or report. These are very simple to create. If you don't have a word processor or PDF converter on your computer already, you can download Open Office free. It has a word processor that will convert straight to PDF, keeping the hyperlinks live in the process (an issue with some other solutions).

Of course, the technical side is the easy part. Actually writing the report or guide is where most people get stumped. I highly recommend Write That Report! which is a very detailed step-by-step guide on "getting it done!" It's only $7 and after reading it myself... I *finally* got unstuck and started creating reports & guides!

If the writing or content development still doesn't come easy for you, you can always use PLR content. That's content that has Private Label Rights, which means you can edit it to suit you or even repurpose it in different formats (audio, video, etc). I usually use Easy PLR by Nicole Dean. Very affordable, good quality and a wide variety of topics.

I also recommend Nicheology. They are the authors of the guide we are following in this series, and offer top-notch quality PLR content to their members.

To give you an example, here is a PLR article I purchased and re-wrote & repurposed: PLR Article Rewrite Dissected & Exposed See? Easy!

For membership sites, there are a couple of options. You might want to create a Membernaire-style membership, as this will cover both your opt-in incentive *and* your autoresponder follow-up series. Two birds with one stone!

Another option is the popular Wishlist Member which you can create out of a WordPress install. You could easily set up a free section and also a paid section with their multiple membership levels, and use the paid section as an easy upsell. 😉

Creative Examples of a Compelling Opt-in Incentive

Your bonus doesn't have to be complicated, or a written masterpiece. It can be as simple as a one-page comparison chart, access to audios or videos that you've already done (membership style), a simple resource guide, a coupon code, etc.

Let's say you have a service-based business doing graphic design. You could offer a free generic graphics package, or a cool WordPress theme.

Have a product-based site? Offer a how-to report that compliments your product(s). Or if you have an affiliate site selling kitchen appliances, offer a simple comparison sheet on the "Top 3 Must-Have Kitchen Appliances."

The ideas are endless. This isn't as hard as it might seem.

The best place to start is with Keyword Research (that link will take you to WordTracker's free brainstorming tool). Put in a few of your basic keywords and look for informational keyword phrases your market is using, such as: how to, which, tips, etc. See my post on using keyword modifiers.

Day Two Task

I don't expect you to create your opt-in incentive in a single day. Don't worry - you'll have plenty of time to continue working on this step throughout the series as some of the steps are more simple, and some simply won't apply to your specific business model. But you definitely want to get started!

Refer to pages 6-8 in the 31 Day Guide to Growing Your List to brainstorm ideas for your opt-in incentive. If you have questions about creating a certain kind of download or file, or how to upload it etc, leave a comment below.

Best,

p.s. Elite Members: there is a new List Building section in the Private Forum where we will brainstorm and review your specific email marketing model and the opt-in incentive you are creating. I'll see you there for hands-on help! 😉

Reminder: Live Brainstorming Hour for Elite Members tonight at 8pm Eastern!