Have you noticed your own web browsing habits? How long do you usually stay on any given website especially if you are just browsing around? Does less than five minutes a good estimate? Studies have shown that people generally stay for just a few couple of minutes on any website. This can especially be true if that person is just like flipping through pages and does not really have any specific purpose or goal in mind when hopping from one site to the next.

Now to a serious online entrepreneur, this should not be the case. As much as possible every website visitor should be converted into a customer to whom you can make business offers in the future. But experience shows that this is not very easy to achieve. To grab hold of a visitor’s interest and create a lasting impression on him, one that is so effective that he will readily give you his contact details, is so much easier said than done. But rest assured that this is far from impossible. Listed below are three proven ways to start your own list building campaign.

1. Give a white paper

This is better if offered in an ebook format. When you give people an ebook, they know that you are giving them something of value, something that is almost tangible that represents your good intentions in helping them with their problems or any concerns. So if you are a web designer for example, you can create a how-to-guide on creating an attractive logo. Of course people can only get it if they give their contact details.

2. Offer an ebook

Software, applications, tools, website themes, plug-ins are just a few of the commonly distributed free products that can easily entice people to list themselves on your site. The great thing with these products is that when people use these and truly improves their lives or whatever process they are into, they can spread the word about your free product and therefore, also your website.

3. Offer a free software or tool

You can invest some money into hiring a software developer and create a certain software or tool that can be very useful for other people. One such example will be the various plug-ins that are offered to bloggers. All that a person needs to do is to sign up and leave their emails in exchange for that plug-in which in turn will give a specific benefit to that person. It will cost you a bit of money to create such a tool but the rewards that you can reap from it will be worth every cent.