A mailing list is the lifeblood of your online business. If you have a targeted list of prospects to contact each time you have a new product, you will be able to save a lot of effort by marketing it to your existing list of targeted subscribers who have already shown interest in your site, and products.
You can actually build up a targeted list of subscribers that are interested in your products by offering a relevant download on your website. Your download doesn’t have to be extensive – you can attract readers and subscribers with some quality freebies such as a simple report, a free wallpaper, and so on. The important thing is that your download offers enough value for the prospect to be willing to give away his/her own email address to get it.
However, slapping together a simple download and putting a link on your website won’t be enough to attract qualified prospects. You will have to do some homework in order for your lead-generating mechanism to work well for you.
Firstly, you must place your download form prominently on your website. Preferably, dedicate a page to it and link to that page from every other page of your website. That way, there is no way your visitors cannot find the download page, and when they do, you’ll get some of them converted into your prospects! If you have sign up forms, be sure to have them in a prominent place that are easy for readers to access.
Also, you have to put a little effort into promoting your download. Explain and elaborate on the values of the download, and why your visitors should download it. You might think why would anyone want to pass on a freebie, but most of your visitors would be too lazy to take the effort to download it because most of their downloads just sit on their computer collecting virtual dust. It is important to show your visitors why they should download your freebie.