“People respect trustworthiness. On the flip side, people don’t trust lucid marketers.” says Jason James in his new ebook, Giveaway Riches.
I very much doubt that Jason had me in mind when he wrote that line, but it gave me a chuckle nonetheless 
I picked Giveaway Riches out of several JV invites because the subject matter – using giveaway events to build a mailing list – interested me. These events, in their simplest form, are a collection of internet marketing related products, offered without charge. A visitor arriving at one of these websites can register free of charge and then, once they are inside the members area, they can download any of the gifts that capture their interest, in exchange for handing over their email address.
There have been many, many of these events over the last few years; you may be familiar with Mark Hendricks’ annual 12 Days of Christmas and Jason James’ own GreedyGiveaway. These days, giveaway events are less likely to receive the kind of clamorous support they enjoyed during their inception, but their enduring popularity is attested to by the steady stream of promotions, large and small, that take place all year round.
The organiser of these events, invites product owners to donate something (ebook, software, membership site access, audio series, etc..) to the collection of gifts and are permitted to place the download behind a lead capture page. Often, the contributor is required to promote the event in exchange for taking part, and a mailing list of a particular size may be an additional requirement.
The model is successful because everyone involved can see a clear benefit to taking part.
- The visitors receive free gifts.
- The contributors receive the email of each visitor that chooses to download their particular offering.
- The event organiser receives the email of every visitor sent to the website that successfully registers.
Clearly then, of all the participants, the individual that often stands to gain the most from the event is the organiser.
A contributor will receive the email of a registered member, only if that person selects their particular gift to download. Whereas the organiser receives the email address of EVERY member, at the time of registration.
An additional monetary benefit is often gained via a one-time-offer (OTO) presented after the initial registration, but before arriving at the page containing the gifts. The content of the OTO varies, but a common approach is to offer an opportunity to receive all the gifts without the requirement of handing an email address over to anyone else.
The contributors will usually still profit from this approach through an affiliate program. And it’s not unusual for contributors to present their own OTO to members who opt to receive their gift.
Giveaway Riches by Jason James
The successful organisation of a giveaway event is the primary subject of Giveaway Riches and it doesn’t take too many pages to figure out that Jason James is writing, not theoretical ideas, but advice gleaned from hard-earned experience.
And that’s “Hard” with a capital H.
Jason unabashedly shares the numerous, and often painful, mistakes he has made during previous giveaway events he managed. The honesty is sincere and refreshing and, more importantly, leads to practical solutions to avoid falling into the same traps.
The knock-on effect of this personal approach to the subject matter is a sobering one. While I expected that the administration of a giveaway event would be a tricky undertaking, having now read about the sheer number of key areas that must be carefully addressed, the challenge seems somewhat daunting.
If you are new to internet marketing and are still under the illusion that this niche will be simple to master, reading this ebook will be like taking a cold shower.
One of the closing paragraphs in the ebook reads:
“My aim in sharing this information with you was to prepare you for what can be an awesome time. It can be an awesome headache if you stuff it up – or it can be a joyful success if you do things correctly.”
I can only applaud this level of sincerity, but I can’t help wondering if some readers may begin the ebook with heady aspirations, only to finish it with the feeling that this is beyond their capabilities.
Discouraging individuals who would be tempted to make a half-hearted stab at running a giveaway event is probably a good thing, but I would have liked to have seen a little more encouragement in the closing stages of the ebook.
Something as simple as a reminder that the first steps are always the hardest and that, once you’ve accomplished one event, the second will seem very easy in comparison, could go a long way towards grounding the reader, without putting them off completely.
Jason provides a support desk for readers to use but perhaps a members forum, where budding giveaway event organisers can support each other and share ideas, would also be a useful addition.
As for the handling of the subject matter, Giveaway Riches is about as complete a guide as you could hope to find in the internet marketing sector.
This is an exhaustive and comprehensive guide to giveaway events and, considering the range of areas that needed to be covered, an excellent effort has been made in presenting the information in a logical order. The material, covering 73 pages, has been broken up into over 90 different sections, all of which are listed and hyperlinked to from the contents page.
Rarely has the label “Complete A-Z Resource” been more richly deserved.
It’s something of a cliché to say that a product is an “essential guide” to its subject, but I can’t think of a better way of summing up the content of Giveaway Riches. If you consider yourself to be a capable internet marketer, and are up for the challenge of list building through giveaway events, then you absolutely must read this ebook from cover to cover, BEFORE you begin.
Giveaway Riches – Bonuses
The obligatory bonus offerings that accompany most internet marketing products are rarely worth more than a passing mention but, in keeping with the standards set by the main Giveaway Riches ebook, the extras provided here are impressively dense.
Swipe Files
This is a resource for giveaway event organisers and contains a sample of the main policy pages, member emails, JV partner emails, and terms and conditions that you will need to create for your event. Full permission is given for the reader to copy the samples provided and customise them with their own specific details.
These documents are all necessary parts of most commercial websites, but they are time-consuming to produce and it can be very tempting to try and get by without them. Swipe Files is a huge time-saver and is arguably the most valuable of the three bonuses.
Contributor’s Guide
If the prospect of running your own giveaway event doesn’t appeal, then you should at least consider some of the benefits of participating in these events as a contributor. As with any niche marketing medium, there is a very specific way to make effective use of giveaway events.
The Contributor’s Guide is 28 pages in length and contains some valuable suggestions on the correct techniques to use and how to identify the most valuable events.
List Care Tactics
This is a generic look at list ownership and management that has relevance to any kind of email marketing. Since giveaway events are primarily about list building, it makes sense to provide a resource that considers what to do before you get started, and what to do once the list starts to grow.
This bonus could have been satisfied with a half-hearted stab at the subject, but it comes in at an impressive 98 pages and is a thorough guide to the topic. If you’ve already studied any kind of list building course, then you’ll probably only skim through this. But if it’s a new topic for you, then this should allow you to make a very competent start.
Giveaway Riches – The Ultimate JV Giveaway Script
When reviewing a product, out of courtesy to the owner, I try to avoid revealing the contents of any OTOs or back-end offers. But the significance of the OTO presented to Giveaway Riches customers is too important not to be included in this review.
The Ultimate JV Giveaway Script is a membership site script designed exclusively to run giveaway events. Understandably, if someone is interested in learning how to organise a giveaway event, a script that automates much of the work is going to be extremely tempting.
Short of using the script to construct and run my own giveaway event, it isn’t possible for me to review every feature included, but I did take the time to install the software, study the administration area, and review the user manual.
Installation
Installing the Giveaway Script is a case of unzipping the files, uploading them to your server, and then running the setup program. If you’ve ever installed a phpBB forum, or anything similar, then you won’t find anything too challenging here.
Nonetheless, software installations can all have their own unique challenges, so it’s nice to be able to report that the installation was quick and resolutely, problem free.
Administration
The control panel is straight-forward in appearance and each customisable area is clearly labeled. Every variable of the template, the emails, the affiliate program, the gift management, and so on, can be adjusted from the administration area without any need to start digging into the code.
There is a great amount of versatility within the elements of the script, and I especially liked the automated features that can update key areas of your website as you go along. The homepage, for example, can show items such as the current gifts available, the total value, the contributors, etc, and the script will update this information in real time as more downloads are added to the members area.
Integration
The standard features you’d expect to be included (affiliate program, back-up automation, statistics, etc) are all present, but the items I always look for first, with any membership style script, is whether it can be integrated with the tools I already use.
Can the Giveaway Script be integrated with my mailing list management program, Aweber?
Yes.
Can the affiliate program be integrated with a third-party manager, such as Clickbank?
Yes.
Can I edit the member area links to pages outside of the script?
Yes.
Support
A technical support helpdesk and an online manual are available to assist you, as well as screen-capture videos demonstrating how to use the different areas of the software.
The online manual is easy to use and offers a suitable explanation of each feature. It appears that some updates are still needed as some of the screenshots of menu items are in a different order to that of the version of the script I tested. The Appendix area also appears to be a work in progress and seems to be missing a link from the menu.
But these are small gripes that don’t seem likely to become major hurdles towards using the script.
The Bottom Line
There are a lot of different elements to consider in this review, but the only question with which you really need to concern yourself is whether you’re interested in learning how to build, or increase, your mailing list through giveaway events – either as an organiser, or as a contributor.
If the answer is ‘yes’ then the Giveaway Riches package that includes the main ebook about giveaway events, and the three bonus ebooks (swipe files, contributor’s guide and list care tactics) is a fine guide to the subject and, even at the full price that will be applied after the launch window, offers good value for money.
The Giveaway Script – available through the OTO – is a step up in price, but is still very generous considering the depth and quality of the software. If you’re purchasing this package, primarily because you are interested in organising your own giveaway event, then I would recommend taking advantage of this additional offer when it’s made.
The ebook AND the script are covered by the usual 8-week, Clickbank guarantee, so there is little or no risk involved.
Jason James has constructed a fine collection of products that combine to form an effective and in-depth guide to the subject of giveaway events. If you’re up to the challenge of this model, then I consider Giveaway Riches to be no less than an essential purchase.
Click Here to visit the Giveaway Riches website.
