by Sarah Bolme
Everybody loves a bargain. Free is the best bargain. Offering free material on your website will increase your web traffic and overtime can result in more customers.
Freebies can take a number of forms while still inviting visitors to connect with your material. Free products can range from a sneak preview of a book on your website all the way to including a free product with an order. There are no rules about freebies, just ideas to help get your creative processes flowing about what might work with your target audience.
Previews
Many companies use sneak previews of products to entice customers to purchase. Publishers can offer a preview of a nonfiction books through posting one or two chapters from the books on their websites. (This freebie is comparable to Amazon.com's® "Search Inside™" program which was developed to encourage customers to purchase books.) Publishers of fiction books can offer five or six chapters free on their website to "hook" readers into wanting to finish the book, creating a sale.
Free Ebooks
Giving away an ebook on your website is a great way to increase traffic to your website. However, the ebook that you are offering for free should not be a book that you are actively trying to sell. Instead, make it a related item. Short stories or novellas by an author whose novel you are promoting are good draws. A discontinued title offered in the form of an ebook from an author whose more recent books are available for purchase also work well. Music producers can offer one song from a CD as an ipod download to entice consumers to purchase the entire CD.
Free Product with Purchase
Offering a free product with the purchase of a book can increase your web sales. Your free product can be as small as a bookmark or as large as an additional book. Offering a free book with a purchase is a great way to clear out titles you are phasing out and want to clear out of your backstock or a way to use your "scratch and dent" books to increase sales. A free product can also be a "buy one get one free" sale. Where you offer two books for the price of one encouraging your customers to use the free book as a gift - again spreading the word about your books.
Promoting Your Freebie
Once you have decided on the freebie(s) you will offer on your website, the next step is letting the world (or just your target audience) know that the free product is available. There are a number of ways to go about doing this. First, place the free product information prominently on your home webpage. Then, include the information in newsletters you send to your customer base. Write and distribute a press release about the free product. Finally, submit the free product to "freebie" directories on-line such as www.freebies.com.
Summary
These ideas are just a beginning of potential freebies. Offering free downloadable audios of an author's talk at a speaking engagement can help increase your fan base. Having a gallery where fans receive a free book related product such as a screen saver based on a book also entices fans to "come back for more." Hopefully, the ideas listed here will spur your imagination to bigger and better thoughts on what you can offer your current and potential customers to increase your website traffic.
Sarah Bolme, is the author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace (http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com) and the director of Christian Small Publishers Association (http://www.christianpublishers.net). ©2007
Everybody loves a bargain. Free is the best bargain. Offering free material on your website will increase your web traffic and overtime can result in more customers.
Freebies can take a number of forms while still inviting visitors to connect with your material. Free products can range from a sneak preview of a book on your website all the way to including a free product with an order. There are no rules about freebies, just ideas to help get your creative processes flowing about what might work with your target audience.
Previews
Many companies use sneak previews of products to entice customers to purchase. Publishers can offer a preview of a nonfiction books through posting one or two chapters from the books on their websites. (This freebie is comparable to Amazon.com's® "Search Inside™" program which was developed to encourage customers to purchase books.) Publishers of fiction books can offer five or six chapters free on their website to "hook" readers into wanting to finish the book, creating a sale.
Free Ebooks
Giving away an ebook on your website is a great way to increase traffic to your website. However, the ebook that you are offering for free should not be a book that you are actively trying to sell. Instead, make it a related item. Short stories or novellas by an author whose novel you are promoting are good draws. A discontinued title offered in the form of an ebook from an author whose more recent books are available for purchase also work well. Music producers can offer one song from a CD as an ipod download to entice consumers to purchase the entire CD.
Free Product with Purchase
Offering a free product with the purchase of a book can increase your web sales. Your free product can be as small as a bookmark or as large as an additional book. Offering a free book with a purchase is a great way to clear out titles you are phasing out and want to clear out of your backstock or a way to use your "scratch and dent" books to increase sales. A free product can also be a "buy one get one free" sale. Where you offer two books for the price of one encouraging your customers to use the free book as a gift - again spreading the word about your books.
Promoting Your Freebie
Once you have decided on the freebie(s) you will offer on your website, the next step is letting the world (or just your target audience) know that the free product is available. There are a number of ways to go about doing this. First, place the free product information prominently on your home webpage. Then, include the information in newsletters you send to your customer base. Write and distribute a press release about the free product. Finally, submit the free product to "freebie" directories on-line such as www.freebies.com.
Summary
These ideas are just a beginning of potential freebies. Offering free downloadable audios of an author's talk at a speaking engagement can help increase your fan base. Having a gallery where fans receive a free book related product such as a screen saver based on a book also entices fans to "come back for more." Hopefully, the ideas listed here will spur your imagination to bigger and better thoughts on what you can offer your current and potential customers to increase your website traffic.
Sarah Bolme, is the author of Your Guide to Marketing Books in the Christian Marketplace (http://www.marketingchristianbooks.com) and the director of Christian Small Publishers Association (http://www.christianpublishers.net). ©2007
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