There are a wide variety of opt-in incentives you can use, from written documents to audio files to videos to physical gifts mailed to your prospect’s door step. In this post I’m going to cover the top three written opt-in gifts you can use.

The Special Report
This is a written report of about 5 to 10 pages long that covers a very narrow topic. Common titles include:

• Top 5 Ways to …
• What ____ Don’t Want You To Know
• 7 Secrets to …

These titles are compelling … promising to reveal information not commonly found elsewhere. The special report can either reveal uncommon knowledge or pull together somewhat common knowledge into a concise format or with a new perspective.

The E-Book
Like the special report, an ebook used an an opt-in gift should focus on a narrow topic. However, because it is a book, expectations are that it will go into that topic a bit more deeply than a special report and will be longer.

Opt-in incentive e-books usually run between 20 and 50 pages long.

The White Paper
Like its cousin, the special report, a white paper is authoritative and focuses on a narrow topic. It often addresses and issue and provides a way to solve it.

Bottom line … the white paper isn’t much different that the special report in content. However, calling something a “white paper” instead of a “special report” attracts a more formal business market.

Written incentives tend to attract prospects

• that are readers,
• who are visual or kinesthetic learners,
• who tend to be more analytical in nature.

Although others might also sign up to get a written opt-in incentive, this type of gift is ideal for the above types of prospects.

Not having an compelling opt-in incentive is is one of the 5 Deadly Mistakes of home page design. To learn the other four, visit www.homesweethomepagebook.com and pick up a copy of Carma’s book Home Sweet Home Page: The 5 Deadly Mistakes Authors, Speakers and Coaches Make with their Website’s Home Page and How To Fix Them!