Giving away freebies on your blog is a great way to give extra value to your readers, and it can also help you grow your email list. But how exactly do you set it up? I’ll explain it in this post.
True Freebie vs. Opt-In
The first thing you’ll need to consider is whether your freebie will be truly free (where users can just click, download, and be on their merry way) or if it’ll be given freely in exchange for opting-in to your email list. Sometimes you’ll hear people refer to these “freebies” as “opt-ins”.
If your freebie is just a click-and-go PDF, you can upload it to your website and create a link to the file. If you’re on WordPress, upload the freebie to your Media Library the same way you would upload a photo.
If you want people to opt-in to a list, it gets a little bit more complicated. You need to set up 4 things:
- An email list to store the email addresses that get submitted
- A secure place to store the freebie
- A page or email they get to after subscribing, that gives them access to the freebie
- A form where people enter their email address to get added to the list
Some people like to set up a protected freebie section where people can get access to all the freebies after giving their email only once. This could work well if you have 10 or more freebies and you think people who want one would want them all.
In most cases, I like to do individual opt-ins for individual freebies.
Step 1 – Set up your email list
First, you’ll need to set up your email list. I have a post about Email Lists that explains where you can set one up.
Once have an email service set up for your blog, you should create a list specifically for the people who opt-in for your freebie. Or, you can add them to a general list of subscribers if you want.
Step 2 – Upload your freebie to a secure place
If you want people to give their email in exchange for a freebie, it’s better not to upload it to your media library. They may still be able to see it by searching for yourdomain.com filetype:pdf in google.
I like to use Google Drive to store freebies securely. People aren’t able to access the files in your drive just by searching in Google. Only people with the link to the file will be able to get to it, which is what you want.
Technically, if the link to the file were published online somewhere, people could get your file without subscribing, but since it’s just an email opt-in file, I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Step 3 – Create a page or email where people receive their download link
You can create a link to the download on the page people go to after they subscribe (or better yet, after they have confirmed their email).
I like to put the download link directly in the confirmation email people receive after they have confirmed their email, so that way they always have their download link in their inbox.
Step 4 – Create a form where people can opt-in to your list
Most email services providers (ESPs) have form-building tools that make it simple to create an opt-in form. Paste the code for the form somewhere on your website where people can easily see it, and write a good call to action (CTA) that lets people know what they get if they drop their email in the form.
Good places to put your opt-in form are: in your sidebar, on your homepage, after your posts, in your footer, and in the middle of your content. You can also make a pop-up or modal subscribe form. Personally I hate those things, but I’ve also had good success with them on my site!