The previously mentioned ebook and software giveaway has increased the size of my mailing list. It was not very big to begin with, and it still isn't.
However, as I see it, even if I'd only added just one person to my list (it's more than one, believe me!), I'd have something to work with.
And that's the point of this message - look on everything as an opportunity. A low response to any marketing effort shouldn't be seen as a disaster or a disappointment. You should think about how you can exploit the situation to make things work better in future.
There are a few things I can do with my newly-expanded list:
When I was invited to join the giveaway, I was told that the more people I bring with me using my affiliate link, the higher up the list my product would be.
So next time I'm invited to one of these events, I email everyone on my list and advise them to get a free product ready because this is a list-building exercise, and explain to them why they should follow in my footsteps.
In my email, I give them my affiliate link, so that when they sign up, it ensures that my product is higher up the list, which means that more people are likely to download it, and my list will increase by even more next time.
Secondly, the software I gave away has a link back to my website where they can find other software products to purchase, so I have the potential to make money.
But the trick then is to set up some affiliate schemes for my software products. I email my list with an offer to become exclusive affiliates for some of my software.
If they take me up on it, they'll be marketing my software, which contains links back to my site. And it is I who will get the email addresses of the new purchasers that the affiliates send to my site. So not only do I make money from the sales (as do my affiliates), I expand my list even further and use the same marketing ploys on them.
And then it's just repeat as required.
I don't expect it to make me a fortune within a month like some of the plans you read about. But using this viral marketing method, my list should start to grow exponentially.
