I run www.pictpicture.com and I'm trying to figure out how to get more people to sign up for the newsletter, that way I have a list of potential visitors for launch day. Any, ideas on how to get more people to sign up? I have no incentive yet, and it's hard to have good content since the site is still under construction. Should I add a blog, and do all the normal things until the site is up and ready to go? Any advice would be appreciated
A sign up page will be fine before you launch, but you need to drive people to that sign up page AND persuade people to sign up when they get to that page. In terms of traffic, you can do press release and joint venture with authority figures in your field. In terms of conversion, you need to make a short flash video which outline the benefit of joining your site, like a sales pitch. Famous IMer John Reese is creating this site income dot com and I think it'll be a good inspiration for you in terms of making people want to sign up.
I'd say yes to giving people an exciting reason to sign up, and no to saying a flash intro is the vehicle for it.