So overdue I demanded two!

I have won about four dozen writing awards, but the big one has always eluded me. However, I was at the West Hollywood Halloween Festival — the largest in the world — and while I was oogling the many costumes featuring fishnet stockings, I ran straight into a couple in handsome business suits. Before I could apologize, the woman asked, “Do you want a Nobel Prize?” A button on her lapel said, “Nobel Prize Committee,” and she scribbled my name on one of the many Nobel Prize certificates on her clipboard.

This is America, after all! Anyone can grow up to be president … and win a Nobel Prize

This reminds me of something that happened about a decade ago, when people were incessantly forwarding around email jokes of the day.  A friend forwarded to me what he described as a “Hilarious” list of “31 signs that technology has taken over your life” that he thought “you could identify with.”

I responded, “I can certainly identify because this is a humor article that I wrote for American Way Magazine.” He had forwarded me my own humor piece without realizing I wrote it.  It was odd, but cool to know that someone liked the piece enough to send it around willy-nilly.

That humor piece, by the way, was stolen and posted on about 10 million web sites. Guy Kawasaki, the Apple marketing guru, did a version of my piece for an Apple magazine, listing signs that Apple had taken over your life and citing my American Way piece as his inspiration.

Would I respond to a pitch from myself? - yes!

However, the question is how should you give the material away. If you simply post it on your site, you might never know who took it — giving you no way to follow-up. The more information you require visitors to provide about themselves to download your freebie, though, the more likely they are to bypass your offer. Is this what people mean when they say, “I can’t give it away!?”

I’ve found it’s best to require the minimum amount of information. The purpose of the download, in most cases, is to start a dialogue.

David Meerman Scott, author of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR,” points out that 50 times more people will download your information if you don’t require visitors to complete a form and submit their email address. Instead, he suggests putting the material in an “ungated” area and then — here’s the key — include a “bounce-back offer” for another report that does require an email address. The theory is your potential client will be eager to get the bounce-back offer after reading the initial material and seeing its value.

What do you think?

By the way, I have completed a report on 19 ways to drive people to your web site. I am asking for an email address to get it (but allowing visitors to see a few tips from the report — which is another way to increase downloads). Take a look yourself at http://joecopywriter.com/freereport.htm