Giving away something of value in exchange for an email address is a tried-and-true tactic for business owners all over the world.
In fact, on this page alone there are 5-6 different opportunities for you join my email list, presenting a couple different offers.
The challenge I ran into, and that many beginning bloggers run into, is that even with the best opt-in offer in the world, they have no traffic and so their email list grows very slowly.
And so we turn to tactics like guest blogging to get our content and our message in front of a bigger audience.
But how about thinking even bigger than guest blogging. What if you could guest blog on one of the BIGGEST sites on the planet.
You’d take that opportunity in a heartbeat, right?
That’s exactly what my guest, Nick Stephenson did to explode his email list past 15,000 subscribers in just 6 months.
The tactic?
Putting a book on Amazon and making it “permafree.” (We get into how to get this done.)
How popular is Amazon.com? According to Alexa, it’s the 3rd most trafficked site in the US and the 6th most popular site in the world. (Probably a little higher than normal due to the holiday shopping season.)
You want traffic? You want readers? You want customers? You’ll want to listen to this episode.
Your free book is essentially your epic “guest post” — only a MUCH bigger site than you could ever hope to publish on regularly. Like a good guest post, it leads readers back to more of your content, where they opt-in with their email to continue their relationship with you.
This works for authors and non-authors alike. In fact, Nick pretty much convinced me I need to be doing this as well!
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Learn:
- Why Nick says Amazon is “a search engine for books — NOT a book store.”
- How to make your book permafree on Amazon.
- The kind of content you can include in your free book, and how long it might need to be.
- The types of opt-in bonus offers that work well.
- How to use Amazon’s keyword tags to your advantage and the tools Nick uses to speed up the research process.
- Nick’s “value-first” autoresponder strategy that’s turned into a passive affiliate income earning machine.
- Nick’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.
Links:
- YourFirst10kReaders.com
- NickStephensonBooks.com
- Nick’s author page on Amazon
- Smashwords
- Draft to Digital
- Reader Magnets
- BookBub
- MerchantWords
- Kindle Spy
- Kindle Samurai
- Ubersuggest
- Mailchimp
What do you think? Could you use this strategy to drive leads to your blog or business?
I’m anxious to give it a shot!
Download the Free PDF "Highlight Reel" from this Episode
With all of my guest's top tips and resources included.
Enter your email to access it now:
Success! You just unlocked the highlight reel from this episode ... AND over 200 other subscriber-only bonuses. Check your email for details :)
(If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, check spam/promotions.)
You'll also receive my best side hustle tips and weekly-ish newsletter. Opt-out anytime.
Excellent podcast Nick. Like the perma-free concept. I appreciated the level of detail. Keep hustling…
Thanks Leo — you gonna test it out this year?
***WARNING*** – The creator of Kindle Samurai does NOT honor the refund he has on his website. Buyer beware!
I found the concept of Kindle Samurai good, but it simply didn’t work for me. Added to that it won’t work on a Mac. So, is there an alternative out there that will? Perhaps Nick Stephenson has an alternative to recommend, as he mentions it in his free material.
Kindle Samurai is working okay for me – but I have heard the latest Amazon algorithm updates are causing some issues for some people.
I’m investigating this as an alternative: http://freshkey.com.mor-e.info/video
And this: http://www.akbooster.com/
And this: http://www.kdsuite.com/
But haven’t come to any conclusions yet.
Hi Nick, I was wondering if you have come to any conclusions yet? :)
Hi Nick!
Kindle Samurai is updated and working perfect!
http://kindlesamurai.net/
Thanks!
Hi Kevin
Im the creator of Kindle Samurai, and I wanted to tell my version too…
You ask me for the refund after the 30 days guarantee has expired. I always give a refund,
Here I show you my dashboard with 1726 sales, 120 refunds ( many of them because don’t work on Mac):
http://screencast.com/t/oghXndoYYDnO
http://kindlesamurai.net/
Thanks
Ariel,
I purchased Kindle Samurai some time back and it worked for some time. I didn’t use it for a while, but now I would like to and it doesn’t work. I have been searching for a way to update the software, but you don’t seem to offer that anywhere on your site. Please tell me where/how I can update my version of Kindle Samurai.
Thank you,
K Herbel
Sure, there is a new version.
Send me an email to arielsandersemail(at)gmail.com
Thanks!
Thanks, Ariel!
And thanks for your quick response.
My Samurai is back on his feet!
You are wright!
Yes, I am Nick. I am about halfway through writing my first book, a motivational business book that I’m hoping will be my platform book. I have been a serial entrepreneur in the “offline” world and recently started business coaching and have a handful of clients. I am definitely a big fan of yours. I may end up getting help from you in the near future.
Wow, this is stunning. This is the kind of revolutionary marketing that new authors need; it’s all very well writing blogs and optimising the life out of them, but to get that initial traction without a viral post or some authority blogger giving you a break is a daunting task. This methodology offers the prospect of another, better, faster way.
Now I just need to hurry up and get my books finished!
You and me both!
Hi Nick,
Great podcast! Speaking about the frequency of emails, I think you already hit the sweet post: I receive about 20 emails I opt in every day and yours is one of the few ones that I read every time.
As regards Nick Stephenson, how can he use Mail Chimp which sets the limit to 2000 subscribers when he has 15,000 subscribers from Amazon?
Thanks Rebekah!
Mailchimp will definitely let you have more than 2000, you just have to pay after that point — that’s their free sample to get you sucked in :)
I see.
This morning another idea came in from this podcast.I haven’t tried out this method, but if I’d have a very specialized product