Best and smart long term way to monitize a "freebie seeker" mailing list?

Create books that explain how to do a certain method for free. Then apply your affiliate ID *to sites applicable* into it.

Best is they will join the sites and possibly upgrade making you money.

We find that work-at-home offers convert on just about any traffic, especially in the current economic climate.

Mooble,

First off, congrats are in order just for a having a list at all, that puts you ahead of the vast majority of people already.

The next thing is don't fall into the trap that you don't have a "buying" list. There is no such thing. What there is, is a list that is unmotivated or motivated. Everyone wants something, and the vast majority of people are willing to dig into their wallet once the price and offer motivate them to do so. Your job is to find where those things are for this particular list.

While you're figuring that out, one thing you can do to generate a bit of cash from them is by selling ad space in your broadcasts. I have no idea how big our list is, or the niche, but there are plenty of people looking to buy solo ads, or even ads in your newsletters. If you don't have a gigantic list, you probably won't make a fortune. You also need to be selective about what, and how often, you send things to them, but this can be a good way to make a little change.

In addition to getting a bit of cash, it could very well help you determine what they are looking for, and how much they are willing to pay to get it. You will no doubt hear from your list and your advertising partner when something works or fails miserably. Use the information from that and begin finding offers that match what your list has been motivated to purchase.

My .02 for what its worth.

Hi Mooble,

Just curious as to what freebie offer they initially signed up for? This may help formulate a better answer for you. I think the few suggestions already given are a great step in the right direction, though.

Also keep in mind if you are using one of the pay to use autoresponder services then the freebie seekers are actually costing you money and if you continue to grow your list eventually it will cost more in time and fees.

There's nothing wrong with sending them a low cost ebook offer that is somewhat related to what they initially signed up for. Just my .02 cents. Best of luck.

Chris Creighton

Yep, craft something closely related to whatever freebie they signed up to receive. Do a classic upsell. The more closely related, the more conversions you'll get, as long as the offer has value. If you're going to offer something affiliate instead of your own creation, same idea. Find something as closely related as possible. That's the key with a freebie list.

John

Depends on your niche, I guess.

I have two Danish lists from freebies. On the first, I give away tips about computers, the Internet, homepages and stuff. I write five tips a week and send an appetizer for each tip. They have to go to my homepage to read the rest of the tip - and on that page, I have AdSense. Make an incredible good living that way.

Occasionally, no more than once a week, I send them an extra email with an offer from an affiiate bureau. This could be an ad for a computer magazine, or something else IT related. Or it could be for one of my own IT products. I have written books, made video courses etc.

The other big list is about how to make money online. I monetize this list by recommending a few, well chosen affiliate products, or with my own products in that niche.

well. providing freebies without ask for name and email could be a great start I think. They will truly appreciate that.

Just started a freebie seeker list so this thread has really helped me, in the free book I tried to say how you can succeed without money for me personally, I didn't see results until I started spending a fair amount, which is true and will hopefully show my list that you should speculate to accumulate.