Today’s post is written by UK-based blogger and internet marketer David Walker who wants to discuss using JV Giveaways as a method of building your list from zero. David has also hosted his own giveaways and his previous one, themed around his 30th Birthday, added 3,000 new subscribers to his list in just over a week.
Introducing JV Giveaways
If you are just starting out in internet marketing and are struggling to entice subscribers to join your mailing list, then you should give serious consideration to using JV Giveaways.
Giveaways, in simple terms, are time-limited free membership websites where marketers submit their free products and allow members to download them in return for joining their mailing list.
There are numerous giveaways taking place every month and better still, they are free to join. Therefore, you have nothing to lose by submitting your product and taking advantage of the surge of traffic that hits these sites on almost a daily basis on any given month.
Your Free Gift
As long as your free product fits in with the overall theme of the giveaway then almost anything is acceptable. Most events are themed around internet marketing products and will accept PDF reports, videos, audio files, templates, graphics, scripts, memberships and products with Master Resell Rights (MRR) and Private Label Rights (PLR).
However, make sure your gift is relevant because some events may be specific to a sub-niche, such as “Graphics Only” or “PLR Only” while others may not even be in the internet marketing niche – they could be health or self-improvement related.
I would advise everyone who wants to get involved in giveaways to create your own unique gift rather than submitting an old product you have resell rights to. This is because several people could try to submit the same gift and have them declined and even if yours does get accepted, the chances are the members looking for gifts may already have that product and will ignore you.
If the thought of creating your own product from scratch terrifies you then you could always use a PLR product but make sure you rewrite it thoroughly to add your own personality and experiences. You can also add in a few affiliate links of your own which will help you make money online during these tricky early days. Remember to invest a few dollars in getting some new graphics created for it too as the default most PLR products come with are usually awful.
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff
An important point to remember when participating in giveaways is they are not all the same in terms of quality and popularity but they will all try to sell you an upgraded membership.
An upgraded account usually allows you to submit more than one free gift, a low-price paid product and depending on what script the host is using, some banner or text adverts.
In the early days I’d recommend you enter every giveaway you come across but as a free member only. This way you will get an education in how these events work and also learn about the people who run them.
As you become more experienced, you will notice the same host names appear over and over. Some people run crappy events which don’t get many contributors or members while others run great events which have a real buzz about them and attract a tidal wave of traffic.
With this experience under your belt you will be able to make an informed decision whether or not to upgrade your membership upon signing up.
Even if the event is crappy, it’s still worth registering as a free member and submitting your gift. For a few minutes work you can still add a few subscribers to your list and appearing in as many events as possible is good exposure for your own personal brand.
Promoting Giveaways Without a List
While giveaways are a great way to increase your subscriber base, there is one unfortunate downside.
As a contributor, you are expected to promote the list and get members and even further contributors to register under your unique referral ID.
This is what drives the traffic to the events as well as the hosts themselves promoting it.
However, if you don’t manage to refer anyone to the event, the majority of giveaways will downgrade your account to that of a member and remove your gift.
This is a short-sighted approach because for marketers just starting out it is not they don’t want to promote a giveaway, it’s just they find it difficult to do so without a list already in place.
Some giveaways, like those I host, do not downgrade contributors for “non promotion”, making them extra-friendly for newbies but for the others, you will need to promote any way you can.
If you have Twitter and Facebook accounts, promote your referral links on them. Add your links to the signature files of any forums you post in frequently and for the more popular events, write a blog post about them.
As a marketer you should be making new contacts daily so round-up a few like-minded folk on Skype and register for the giveaways under each others referral links.
By using all of these methods you will be able to get a few referrals under your belt to avoid your account being downgraded and take advantage of the free traffic winging it’s way to your opt-in list!
