Remember! Not all Giveaway events are created equal. Having said that, some Giveaway events are great, some good and the others are…well, real bad. In fact, I heard recently, that a number of marketers believe that Giveaway events are beginning to become “wash outs,” or diluted in their quality, and that they won’t work like a charm any longer, like they used to. There are too many and the quality and uniqueness has been sacrificed. They have lost their impetus. But…

Now for the great news: Giveaway events are still workable and viable list building models – as long as they are done right! For the beginner, intermediate and expert marketer alike, these are great opportunities to either source new products, or build your lists. And, they cost you nothing!

It’s really only a matter of joining the right Giveaway event. So, what makes a good Giveaway event good? Some important criteria you will want to look out for, are listed below:

Giveaway Criteria 1: The Partners are Co-operative

In short, are the partners in the same event as you, willing to endorse the event to their mailing lists, as required? While it’s hard to tell, if this is going to be your first few time, giving it a try, at building your list through such events, you can usually tell whether the partners are co-operative, or not, if the partners are somewhat closely related, or working together with the host.

This substantial difference can be seen, in both of what I call “Massive” Giveaway Events and “Mini” Giveaway events.

Massive Giveaway events are usually participated in, by more than 20-30 marketers, in the same event, and it’s growth is often encouraged by the use of affiliate programs and/or contests.

Mini Giveaway events, on the other hand, are somewhat more “closed door,” whereby the host is more selective of the partners he, or she chooses to work with. These include Firesales.

While I cannot say which type of event is better than the other, from my experience, Mini events have most co-operative partners, due to bias choosing and “closed door” invitation. Incidentally, it’s harder to enter a Mini Giveaway event, as an outsider.

Massive ones may, or may not produce good signup results, depending on the partners who join in. If the event is full of unknown marketers, or free riders, you probably can tell that it might not be executed well.

Giveaway Criteria 2: There Are Some Hard-Hitting Partners in the Same Event

If there are a couple of reputable partners joining in the same event, it would be a good chance to hitch a ride.

Important tip: In many cases, I learned that some top marketers usually just join in, without putting in any effort in endorsing (which makes him, or her a free rider, too). So, if you learn that the specific marketer is that kind of person in nature, it’s probably not wise to join in with that Giveaway event… because the biggest free rider is there.

Not all top marketers are like this, fortunately.

Giveaway Criteria 3: The Event Host is Trusted & Responsible

You can tell this, if the event host regularly updates his, or her partners on the event – before, during and after.

The event host is considered responsible, if he, or she monitors the event carefully, on a regular basis, and that he, or she DOES indeed remove the free riders from the event promptly, justifying other active partners’ efforts.

Giveaway Criteria 4: The Event Has A Good Reputation

If the event has been heard of , or recognized by many, this would be another attractive reason, why you should join that Giveaway event!

Giveaway Criteria 5: You & The Partners Are All From The Same Niche

This way, the event would work successfully, with everyone sharing subscribers, of a similar nature.

It would hardly work, if all the partners come from a different background, or niche.  I mean, imagine pooling a gift, to have people sign up for your “relationship dating” e-zine, when all the other partners are referring subscribers from the Internet Marketing niche!

Giveaway Criteria 6: The Giveaway Event Is Hosted For A Limited Time Only

Giveaway events should run for a limited time only, and the model is at it’s best that way. It increases the urgency of people to sign up for your gift, while protecting the value of your gift (assuming it’s used specially for this occasion).

My idea of limited time events, are in the range of 5 to 7 days, but fewer than 14, that’s for sure. When you hear of events running for ridiculous lengths of time, like 21-30 days, or even forever… you will do well NOT to join them, because the above 2 success factors are ripped away, owing to the long time length. The host tries to drain every last drop out of the bottle and actually kills the whole event.

This is an excerpt from our e-book “A Guide To Giveaway Events,” which is due to be released shortly. Another book “JV Tactics” is also nearing completion. I’m offering a free, pre-launch copy of “Guide To Giveaway Events” to my subscribers and readers. You can get a copy here:

http://www.dersalsites.com/freebies/GuideToGiveaways.zip

and you can also get “JV Tactics” here:

http://dersalsites.com/freebies/JVTactics.zip

Derek Robson is an up and coming, South African, internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success, on the internet. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on Internet marketing, South African business, list building, affiliate marketing, the law of attraction, rugby and general topics, check his blogsite, at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness  

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Make sure you get our course on Internet Marketing. This is a comprehensive course, comprising of over 243 pages, with pictures and videos, to help explain exactly what to do. This is a fantastic e-course and is broken into 13 lessons. To get your free course, click here :  http://dersalsites.com/course/  

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