8 Opt-In Offers Your Visitors Can't Refuse

Derek Gehl is Entrepreneur.com's "E-Business" columnist and the CEO of the Internet Marketing Center, an internet marketing firm that has helped thousands of people learn to start and run their own online businesses.

These days, consumers know that their personal information is gold, and they won't give it to you unless you give them a really compelling reason to opt in to your list. And it's definitely worth your while to give them the incentive because a good opt-in e-mail list will start generating profits for you immediately--and continue to do so well into the future.

Your opt-in incentive should:

• Offer specific benefits
• Relate to the reason people are visiting your site in the first place
• Give visitors a reason to look forward to your e-mails or keep returning to your site

There are tons of different incentives you can use to encourage people to give you their personal information, but not every offer will suit every website or business.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat, for instance. But for some businesses, a free newsletter just won't work. Suppose, for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You're going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant information about laundry for your free newsletter every month.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much relevant information you can deliver to your audience and how much time you have to put it together so it can be delivered regularly. If it turns out that a newsletter isn't a good fit for your business, here are eight other ways to collect your prospects' e-mail addresses:

1. Offer a free course.

If you have a lot of know-how in your field, you can turn your "expert" status into a free multipart course. Ask yourself what kind of information visitors are seeking when they come to your site and what you can teach them.

Your course can contain text, audio, graphics--even video--whatever suits the material you're delivering. Just send your subscribers a link to the web page where your course can be found. Unlike e-mail, your website doesn't put any restrictions on how much rich media you can feature.

Once you've developed the course, you can use delayed autoresponders to e-mail it to your subscribers at specified intervals, exposing them to your business and your offer repeatedly. And the best part is, you're contacting them with information they've specifically requested.

2. Offer a free e-book.

An e-book doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed e-book can be as short as eight to 10 pages and still provide major value for your opt-in subscribers.

You can also make your e-book viral by encouraging your customers to send your e-book to others. Your message can spread like wildfire--and help you attract tons of highly targeted, potential customers.