Yes Giveaways when done properly is a wonderful way to get good quality opt-ins.

Just like in standard list building it is very important that you target your give away to a niche. This way you can continue to give your customers good content on an on going basis.

Another important factor in GiveAways just the Same as Email Marketing you need a great software or service like Aweber.

It has to be made clear that this is what they are signing up for.

That is the essence of what you are saying.

The thing I like about the newsletter is that it allows me to assist potential customers, building trust and rapport with them, without depleting myself time-wise.

Yup.

"Giveaways-premiums, if you will-are not only good, they are simply direct marketing 101."

I agree, they’re a key to countless marketing campaigns. I don’t take issue with the idea of a giveaway, but rather with the poor targeting that’s often used when designing/implementing them.

You bring up a great question for all small businesses:

How do we differentiate our whitepapers, ebooks, free reports, etc. from everyone else’s?

For me it starts with targeting. The more qualified people are when they arrive at your landing page, the more effective your offer is going to be for them. Getting a lot of people to our websites may boost our egos, but that traffic has to be targeted to be of any real use to us.

Once you’ve identified your target audience and how to get them to your landing page, you tailor your content to their needs - like you say, your giveaway "should add value on top of what they are reading."

Mutually beneficial relationships are what we’re after, and any giveaway designed as a placebo for that aren’t going to yield the same results as a well-run email campaign that also happens to offer a free download to subscribers.

I’m of the mindset that the only bad giveaway is the one that doesn’t improve your opt-ins.

However, not giving a bonus for signing up doesn’t necessarily hurt you. What you lose in opt-ins may be more than made up by signing up prospects who may be more likely to buy from you in the long run.

REASON: They weren’t simply enticed by a free offer. They found value in your sign-up page message and wanted to continue the relationship by signing up to your ezine.

When it comes to the giveaways, I think a better question might be, "How do you make your FREE give-away stand out in a sea of Internet FREEBIES?"

In today’s over-marketed Internet, everybody and their brother is giving away a freebie report to get you to sign up for the list.

So if it were just about getting a freebie—no matter what it is—then everyone who clicked would opt-in to your list.

Since nobody gets 100% conversion, we know that free giveaway in and of itself is no guarantee of getting people to opt-in to your list.

To me, the master key to getting more opt-ins is making sure that your sign-up page exudes value for simply reading it.

I’m of the belief that the more valuable you can make your sign-up page content (by giving a way great actionable ideas) the more likely your efforts will result in a new readers.

Your free report should add value on top of what they are reading. Those who sign up are simply signing on to continue to receive this value—and not just trying to grab another freebie.

In the end, it’s not really about giveaways and or building a marketing lists. It’s about building valuable relationships.

Since my blog is tightly focused on setting and achieving personal goals people who want more end up subscribing and staying.

I’ve tried giving away goal setting ebooks and an ecourse on getting started with goal setting. Overall, the straight up "get the newsletter" link has the most staying power and response rate.