Grow Your List with an Effective Client-Capturing Device

Copyright (c) 2007 Donna Gunter

You may have heard the saying that "the gold is in your list" for your online business. I've found that to be the case, despite any number of social marketing techniques like blogging, MySpace, etc. It's always extremely helpful to have a list of people to whom you can market.

How do you develop that list and keep adding people to it? You create a client-capturing device. A client-capturing device is a free giveaway that is of value to your target market and serves as a solution to a big problem that challenges your target market.

Once upon a time, the offer for a free ezine was sufficient to capture a visitor's contact info. Alas, that is no longer the case, so you have to up the ante and provide even greater value to your visitor. Your client capturing device can take any of several formats -- an ebook, a recording of a teleclass, a 6- part ecourse, a short downloadable video.

Here is a list of 8 qualities that your free giveaway must contain in order to capture the most clients:

1. Compelling title. Make sure the title of your client-capturing contains a solution to a major problem with which your target market struggles. My title strategy is to use a number and a solution, like 5 Secrets to.... or 7 Mistakes Made By.... When your visitor sees the title, you want him to think, "I've got to get that!"

2. Benefit to visitor. In addition to your compelling title, create 3-4 sentences to describe the content of your client-capturing device. Making an offer is not enough -- you need to convince your visitor that you have the perfect solution to his problem and that he can get that solution very quickly by providing his name and email address to you.

3. Graphic enhancement. A picture is worth a thousand words, and people like to "see" what they're getting. Have a cover or graphic image of your giveaway created that matches the look and feel of your website or blog.

4. Format. You want your client-capturing device to be as easy to use as possible. Therefore, if you're giving away an ebook or special report, create a PDF file that anyone can download and open. If it's an audio file, save it in mp3 format, which can be opened by any audio player. If you want to share videos, embed them into your site using a player that is compatible across both the PC and Mac platforms.

5. Relevant and useful content. Don't hold back in your giveaway. Provide a complete solution to your visitor that can be implemented immediately. Limit the amount of upselling that you do in the content, and save the bulk of that for any followup autoresponders that the visitor receives.

6. More information. Create a page with all the pertinent info about your giveaway. Some visitors will request their copy of your giveaway immediately when they see the offer on your opt-in form, while others will require a bit more convincing.

7. Testimonials. What have previous users said about your download? Add to the excitement and the desire of getting your giveaway by listing how beneficial others have found your information.

8. Put a price on it. To accentuate the value of your giveaway, put a price on it. Make it reasonable for your target market and not completely outrageous. If it sounds too good to be true, most visitors will believe just that and leave your site without requesting your giveaway.

In whatever form it might take, your client capturing device needs to provide some solid information to help your target market solve a pressing problem and not simply be a piece of fluff that advertises your business. If your giveaway is all fluff and no substance, you will have lost this prospective customer for good.