One of the best ways to induce a web site visitor to giving you their email address is to give them something free in return. The problem is about ?immediacy.? You want to be able to give them free right away. That means it has to be something you can deliver to them over the internet.

An ebook is one of the easiest premiums you can use to solicit an email address. It doesn't have to be very big, it's inexpensive (or even free if you create it yourself), it can be focused on specific topics, it has value, AND it can be downloaded electronically. But where do you get the ebook? Well of course, you can obtain one at one of the various self-publishing sites. But it's going to cost you. So why not create one yourself?

If you're going to prepare your own ebook, try to keep a few things in mind. First, keep it a reasonable size ? perhaps 40 to 60 pages. Generally, ebooks are in the range of 40-150 pages. Second, make sure it has enough ?protein? to be useful. It doesn't necessarily have to be your protein but do make sure if you use someone else's that you are not violating any copyright laws. It is possible, for example, to compile a useful ebook as a collection of articles or short whitepapers by different people. Lastly, give the ebook a value ? perhaps $5.95 for a small book, up to $14.95 for a longer one. There's no incentive if there's no perceived value!