How to Build an Asset Out of Giving Stuff Away for Free

We all do it I guess: give something away for free to stimulate interest in our online promotions, an e-book here; a report there, whatever elsewhere.

But can you really build an asset out of giving stuff away?

I believe you can and I'll tell you why.

I have dozens of small web businesses in diverse fields and one site in particular drives traffic in droves to most of the others.

That's its job. It's a portal; a catalyst and it's good at what it does.

You know what though?

I have been consistently and unwittingly underestimating the power of its innate potential to build an asset, a priceless asset.

Until recently this valuable catalyst had no opt-in facility, no newsletter.

Crazy - and it took my ten year-old granddaughter to point out the error of my ways.

Here is the 4-point action plan I implemented to persuade her I wasn't a terminally doddering old duffer.

1. I set up a dedicated subscription web page offering targeted visitors a bumper bundle of goodies to opt-in and sign up for a free newsletter I have yet to launch.

2. I emailed my existing lists directing members to the bumper bundle page.

3. I installed the script for an opt-in responder form on the home page of the portal.

4. I inserted a link in most of my other websites.

That was several weeks ago and already it's showing signs of paying off.

I am averaging around 30 sign-ups per day and my new list currently stands at 1300+

The subscription site is an ugly duckling - but so what ? the technique is working.

If you would like a sneak peek at how I'm building an asset out of giving stuff away for free, you might like to visit the site featured in the resource box below.

Jim Green is an online enthusiast and bestselling author with an ever-growing string of niche non-fiction titles to his credit. http://free-stuff-xl.com

In The News:
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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Online-Marketing-Veteran-Doug-Broujos/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257BE2D47090-C970-4CB8-998E-374D5608E8A3%257Dcid=1274361811ei=Bqs1ScTJDYKQNbTDmR4usg=AFQjCNEAk79HybGnvDSfaHic2yYJTUSaxQOnline bMarketing/b Veteran Doug Broujos Joins Blue Sky Factory as COO/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMarketWatchnbsp;-/font nobrNov 25, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Previously, Broujos served as senior vice president of client services at TIG Global, a hospitality-focused bInternet marketing/b company, where he led client b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.businessfeet.com/internet-marketing-news/items/overlaying-the-future-of-internet-marketing-1228226460.htmlcid=1276904316ei=Bqs1ScTJDYKQNbTDmR4usg=AFQjCNEtubSAnDs0C5v0yCzqpbt03UOjuQOverlaying the future of binternet marketing/b?/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBusiness Feet,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobr5 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Overlaying video with adverts might just be the future of binternet marketing/b - as well as finally generating some revenue for YouTube. b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/clickbooq-RedCart-Team-Up-Give/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B32F92F93-A0D3-4951-AD8A-B0715BE01882%257Dcid=1276873882ei=Bqs1ScTJDYKQNbTDmR4usg=AFQjCNEzf1tuWFQym0oUahGTRBcsfgs69Qclickbooq and RedCart Team Up to Give Professional Photographers b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMarketWatchnbsp;-/font nobr7 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b their business with flexible and easy to use ecommerce solutions. Media Contact Jennifer Wu bMarketing/b Manager clickbooq, inc. (310) 264-0099 Email Contact./font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.ibtimes.com/prnews/20081202/fred-waugh-assumes-role-as-vice-president-alliances-at-convio.htmcid=1276827304ei=Bqs1ScTJDYKQNbTDmR4usg=AFQjCNH5i86GU1Fm5A0YKiv3qKOLT-iEzQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=c4ecqgEjDJgJimgurl=www.ibtimes.com/data/prnews/28471.jpg width=73 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2International Business Times/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Convio-Names-Sara-Spivey-Chief/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B16F90564-418A-4139-B9CD-CA45C599B9D7%257Dcid=1276827304ei=Bqs1ScTJDYKQNbTDmR4usg=AFQjCNHekk20mcBncZEy-57pgrHCbjKVRQConvio Names Sara Spivey Chief bMarketing/b Officer/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMarketWatchnbsp;-/font nobr10 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1I look forward to working with Sara as we expand the Convio brand and empower even more nonprofits to use the bInternet/b to fulfill their missions. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Fred-Waugh-Assumes-Role-Vice/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B5FBF42B6-6DBD-4F2E-8FEA-E9F8B808EDD4%257Dcid=1276827304ei=Bqs1ScTJDYKQNbTDmR4usg=AFQjCNH8NtmfT-jJcBsK6dNCg8yuKctt3AFred Waugh Assumes Role as Vice President, Alliances at Convio/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276827304hl=ennobrall 24 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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