Email marketing is a simple and effective way to sell more books and boost your visibility as an author or writer. That’s why it’s so important that you start building a mailing list as soon as you have a website or blog. You can post a simple sign up box on your sidebar so visitors who are interested in your content can subscribe quickly and easily.
Why You Need an Opt-In
The promise of updates or news from you won’t be enough to make visitors give you their email address. Most visitors want something in exchange for sharing their contact information.
This is why you need to create an opt-in that’s so juicy, your visitors can’t wait to download it. You want them to see your free gift and instantly say, “Yes, I want that!”
Craft Your Offer
Fiction writers often find that offering a short story or the first few chapters of an upcoming novel can be enough to entice visitors to sign up. But don’t throw together some short story you’ve had laying around for years but never did anything with.
Instead, take your time to create a short story in the same genre as you normally write. This will attract readers who are already interested in your genre and more likely to buy your book.
Have your short story professionally edited. Put a beautiful cover on it. These two things will show vistiors the value of your book, making it even more desirable.
Touch on a Pain Point
Non-fiction authors should make their opt-in offer on the same topic as their books while addressing a pain point for your visitors. For example, you write books on business and leadership. So, you create an opt-in about being a leader who boosts employee morale while increasing profits.
If you’re having trouble coming up with an idea for your opt-in, search online for forums or Facebook groups in your niche. Then look for common frustrations and fears. Craft an opt-in around these topics and give it a catchy title.
Make Your Free Gift Irresistible
You have an idea for an opt-in. It might be tempting to play it small by putting together a short report with a beautiful cover. But visitors are becoming overwhelmed by the number of free PDFs and reports available for download.
You want to stand out and make your bonus gift irresistible. One easy way to do this is to turn your report into a series of videos. Simply record them on your iPhone and upload them to YouTube privately. Then send your subscribers a link to your playlist.
If you write fiction, record a reading of your book and upload it to YouTube. Each chapter or section should be a video. After you’re done, put together a playlist so visitors can listen to your whole book at once.
You could also add a workbook to your gift. Divide your report into sections and ask 3-4 questions after each section. Include space to journal so your visitors can reflect on what they’re learning.
Fiction writers can use this technique by creating a reader’s guide. Make it a journal of 10-15 questions about the book, along with space to answer. Be sure to give the reader’s guide a beautiful cover that begs visitors to open it!
Choose Your Delivery Method
After you’ve created your gift, it’s time to deliver it to your visitors. There are dozens of ways to deliver your content. One of the simplest ways is to upload the file to your website and send new subscribers this link in your welcome e-mail.
Some authors prefer to create a special page on their website that’s password-protected. New subscribers receive the password in their welcome e-mail. The advantage of using this method is that it keeps your subscribers coming back to your site.
Get Some Templates
Don’t get hung up on the details when it comes to offering an opt-in bonus to your visitors. Your gift doesn’t have to be perfect for people to subscribe. It just needs to be eye-catching and valuable in order to attract attention.
What to Do Next: Get $10 Off Our Creating Free Effective Free Offer Templates
Our Creating Effective Free Offers Template Package makes it easy for you to create effective opt-in offers designed to grow your customer and client base.
Here’s a quick video overview of the package:
The Package Includes:
Click here to grab the Creating an Effective Opt-in Offer template package.
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You can use these templates for your own business, help your clients with getting clients or even include the templates in products you provide to your customers. The choice is yours!
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