Hello again! Good to have you back. Hope you have a wonderful day today.

You have decided to offer a reward or an ethical bribe to your visitor when he subscribes or signs up but what should you choose?  The one-off short report or e-book, or the series of e-letters?  Remember that the purpose of building up your list is to create a relationship and you should think carefully about how you want to maintain your relationship once it starts.

Each method has its advantages and disadvantages.

The one-off report or ebook gives instant gratification which may be more attractive to your visitor but she  might read it and then forget about your site.  When she receives a promotional email from you later on she may not remember who you are and so not bother to open your email.

To counteract this your report or ebook will need to have impact.   Although you do not want to give away your most valuable knowledge and techniques, you can afford to give away a secret or two to tease the visitor into wanting to continue her relationship with your site to find out more.

The email or e-letter series has the advantage of keeping your site in your visitor’s ken over a longer period without any direct input from you once you have scheduled them on your autoresponder.  The challenge here is to make the emails interesting enough to make your visitor bother to click on them and open them once he is up to number five or six.

To recap, offering an ethical bribe is a good tactic to use to convert a visitor into a prospect but be aware that the different methods available nurture the relationship in different ways.   And don’t forget to make sure that you deliver on the  promise made in your offer so that you maintain your credibility and can eventually convert the prospect into a buyer.