Gifts are something of value given in exchange for personal information from visitors to your website or sales page. Internet merchants offer free videos or e-books to visitors to their website in exchange for the visitor’s email address. The purpose is to increase the sales provided by the marketer’s website. In other words, increase the return on investment (ROI) of the marketer’s efforts.

Giveaways have always been an effective marketing strategy. But as of 2-3 years ago, most visitors value their privacy above the value of the free e-book or video. Visitors would rather open another tab in their browser and search for the same information featured in the Sweepstakes than give their contact information to someone they don’t know. They don’t do it out of spite, but to avoid giving their email to an unknown internet marketer.

One way to counter that tendency is to use your creativity to tap into the visitor’s self-interest. The reason behind most giveaway failures is that the Internet marketer asks the visitor to do something the visitor is not comfortable with: provide personal information. Asking your visitor for an email address is like asking for the phone number of a woman you just met at the local coffee shop. She doesn’t know you, so why would you expect her to give you her personal contact information? First you need to establish her trust in you. For marketing purposes, you can do this when the visitor visits your website for the first time. Your website must be professional. It must give a good image. Not too much emphasis should be placed on “selling products” but on “providing information that solves a problem” that the visitor has.

There are other ways to get the visitor’s contact details. You can ask them to like your article on Facebook or post a tweet on Twitter to access premium content. Ask your customer, with a popup, to show you that they can follow you on Twitter to receive great articles every time they’re posted, letting you know you’ll never miss one this way. Always assure your visitors that you will protect their information and never share it with others.

There are plugins that make this process easier. Websites can now use push alerts to send text messages or emails to their customers through their browsers or cell phones (with the user’s permission, of course).

Create sweepstakes contests on social networks

Create a simple contest that is easy for the visitor to do and enter. For example, you can ask the visitor to take a photo of their pet with a “theme” (eg Christmas if it’s December) and post it to your FB, Twitter or blog page using a certain hash tag (#) and to share it with your circle of friends with a request to do the same thing again. The person with the most shares by a given date wins the contest and the prize! Keep the steps for the contest simple but as specific as possible. Leave no doubt about what is required to enter and win the contest. Be sure to follow all the rules the social networking site has regarding contests!

Now, to get the traffic you’re looking for, you’ll need to advertise your contest. Advertising attracts quality subscribers that will help your business grow. If you can run viral contests that are targeted to your specific niche, you will see an increase in your list size (which will increase traffic to your website, resulting in increased sales).

Your contests should be geared towards increasing social engagement. You need to have well-defined goals and objectives. If you want to grow your email list using the contest method, you need to focus on that one method. If you want to get more shares for your posts, focus on that one method. Don’t get distracted trying to do too much. Be determined…be FOCUSED!

You must use your creative inspiration to create an exciting prize that is so expensive for you, but valuable in the eyes of the visitor. Remember, the visitor has a problem or they wouldn’t be looking for a solution! A person who is several times a millionaire is not going to be attracted by a free e-book that is about “How to make money online”.

Find your target audience. Direct your Draw towards that goal. Be specific. Create an avatar of the ideal person you are trying to help! Focus all your marketing efforts on that Avatar! Don’t try to be “all things to all people” thinking that’s a better marketing plan. If he “gives all to all he gives, then he has nothing more to give.”

I love giveaways! I especially love the Sweepstakes in the form of a contest! You’ll get more traffic, which translates to more sales, if you know who your target market and Avatar is!

The challenge of getting your website visitors to give you their email address is not overwhelming if you are FOCUSED on providing value to your avatar. In today’s marketing climate, you need to PROVIDE VALUE while providing an answer to the visitor’s problem. Otherwise, they’ll likely just gloss over your giveaway and move on to another marketer who’s giving away something the visitor feels is more valuable.

Giving away value > Results in larger list size > Results in more traffic > Higher ROI for your business.