OK, back to Free Giveaway Events…if you haven’t read my previous post, you missed a good example of aligning with others to gain more credibility and value when taking part in one.

If you’ve never done it before, it can be confusing and maybe a bit intimidating, but GutZy Women is all about stepping out with some gentle guidance and a whole lot of support and education, so let’s take it step by step.

Below are 6 steps to follow today, plus 5 more steps tomorrow, so check back. Better yet, just subscribe to my Feedburner RSS feed and you’ll get tomorrow’s conclusion.

1.       The giveaway site itself is set up by the individual or organization that decides to use the event as a marketing strategy.  They attract as many contributors (those who contribute the free gifts) and others (sponsors, advertisers) as possible to support their efforts by offering participants increased visibility and prizes through the joint efforts of ALL who take part.

2.       The contributors decide what products or services they will give away. The contributor is responsible for creating the text, graphics and link URL for their offer which will be listed and displayed in their “box” on the above website. There are as many different types of gifts, freebies, bonuses, giveaways, etc. as there are contributors. To be most successful, they must be perceived as valuable enough to warrant a person giving their name and email address.

3.       If you agree to be a contributor, then you also agree to send out to your email lists the message that has been prepared by the organizers. That message describes the event and has a link that sends the reader to the giveaway website. It’s a good idea to personalize it in a way that will better appeal to your particular market and make it unique to represent you, but it’s not essential. It is essential, however, to have the integrity to do your part in getting the word out and not just rely on others to get the job done.

4.       If the visitor decides to partake, the organizer of the event captures the site visitor’s contact information to be followed up with in the future. The visitors are given a way to get back to the site, once they leave, for future use…ometimes with user names, passwords or other ways to be exclusive.

5.       The first page of the giveaway site can either be the contributor’s giveaway itself with no purchase required or it often is designed to get the visitor to buy something first and then once purchased, will take the visitor to the contributors “giveaway boxes”.

6.       Next, the visitor decides which of the offers they want. They push a button or a text link on that item which takes them to the contributor’s website OR opt in page (often called a “squeeze page” as it “squeezes” that person’s contact information out of them before they can proceed.)

      So yes, the offers are free, but are in effect, an exchange for information. It’s the part that entices the contributor to give something away in the first place

Some people get upset about giving out their info, but they needn’t worry. The CAN Spam laws require that people be allowed to “unsubscribe” from a list, even after they have collected their free gift, so there really is no risk AND if they’ve done their due diligence, stand to greatly benefit.

Join us tomorrow to finish up with the other 5 steps of Giveaway Events and a hint of a Cool Giveaway coming up very soon.

Email marketing is an integral part of a successful online promotional strategy. If you’ve ever bought a book from Amazon, a plane ticket on Expedia, or any other product online, you may have opted to receive updates on special offers or promotions.

This is successful email marketing. You’ve opted to receive updates from these companies. You’ve given them permission to send you an email at a later date. This is how successful email marketing starts—with you as a business getting permission to send someone an email.

Your primary email marketing tasks will be to send out important information about your business niche, encourage existing customers to make more purchases with promotional emails and attract new customers with giveaways.

There’s one caveat to this… 

Don’t make every email promotional even if you stated that in your terms and conditions. Why? Most people are hit with promotional only emails everyday. Make yourself stand out by GIVING SOMETHING AWAY first.

Depending on the size of your business, you should target emails at customers based on previous purchases. Many of the larger online businesses have been successful because they’re able to offer products that match customer interests. If your product is in a well-defined niche, you may not have to worry about matching broad interests.

Your email’s reply address and subject line are extremely important. That’s because you still have to get the message opened once it’s in the recipient’s inbox. Even though you’re not spamming, you still have to overcome spam’s stigma.

You’ll find more tips here.

Choosing a good autoresponder service will help you streamline your business—saving you energy and time in the long run. But how do you define good? And how will you know if an autoresponder service will meet your business needs? Below I’ve outlined five tips that will help you not only get a good autoresponder service but get the right service for your business needs.

Ease of Use 

Every autoresponder service will have a control panel where you’ll manage your campaigns. Check the look and feel of each autoresponder’s control panel. Can you demo it before signing up?

If they don’t have a demo account, look for detailed control panel screenshots and descriptions in the help section. Either way, you should be comfortable with learning their control panel interface.

Trial Account 

As with any service, you want to know you’re getting a return on your financial investment—before you spend money. Trial accounts allow you to signup for a live account and test the service.

If you’ve never used an autoresponder service, look at providers with longer trial periods. The longer the trial period, the more time you’ll have to get comfortable with all the features.

The other 3 tips can be found on the full article here:

It is an ESSENTIAL TOOL!

If you’re starting an online business, there are a few basic but essential tools that you need to be successful. Besides a domain name, Website, and Website host, there are other tools that will increase your productivity tremendously. One of those essential tools is an email autoresponder.

What is an autoresponder? It’s a piece of software—or service—that allows you to automatically respond to customer email inquiries, send emails on a predetermined schedule, and customize your emails for each person on your list.

One other critical benefit is that it helps keep you in line with current anti-spam laws—namely by making sure those who opt-out of your list are removed automatically.

If You’re Serious About Your Online Reputation…

Most basic email clients have an autoresponder feature that you may have used before. But, if you’re serious about your online reputation, you’ll need to invest in a piece of software—or service—that can handle multiple email business functions.

When you start out, you may not see the benefits to having and using an autoresponder. But, as you build your mailing list, your autoresponder service will be key to helping you manage your list. What are some of the other benefits? Find out by reading the rest of the article here:

Monday, December 10, 2007 at NOON Mountain Time, just in time for lunch and a chat.

You see, I really wanted to include our friends in the UK in Sunday’s call, but I didn’t think they would want to come at midnight, so we decide to do another one just for them…AND YOU, if you can make it.

This time I’m JAZZED to introduce you to Diane Corriette, a GutZy Woman from “across the pond”.

She is a single mother of 3 children who runs the Women Internet Marketers alliance that includes an online magazine, membership site and social network. Together this trio works towards raising the online visibility of women running internet based businesses.

I can’t wait to tell you the story of how we met because it’s a FANTASTIC testimonial of the power of the internet to connect people across the world!

Jaime Luchuck, from Toronto, Canada, will be back on the call. Remember that she and I met in Loveland, Colorado this summer when we were both selected to compete in the worlds FIRST web based Virtual Reality Show.

Jaime WON the competition, authored a best selling book and has used her connection with the “Guru’s” to run a tele-webinar course designed to help people get a successful online business going in 12 weeks. You’ll get some NEW INSIGHTS from her on this call.

I’ll be sure to include YOUR QUESTIONS as I interview these two ladies, as well as provide a few juicy tibits myself.
But on the serious side, we’ll be talking about creating a mastermind of business women that promises to be EXTREMELY VALUABLE to all who take part!

So please join us THIS Monday AFTERNOON (or night if you’re in the UK) by clicking on the link below. The link will take you to a page where you can get the number to call if you want to call in or the methods to join us by computer.

Time is GETTING CLOSE, so click on the link below right NOW to get TUNED IN!

http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=1375824

Join this series of GutZy Web Women and get connected!