"The Money Is In the List".... Or Is It?

9 years ago

Your situation is not unique. IM, despite what some people say, is not easy. Part of the challenge is understanding where and why you're not getting sales. All the traffic, and a huge list are not enough. You need to convert that traffic into dollars.

I would look into the three following areas if I were you:

1. Market and niche. Is what you're offering in demand? It's not enough to just have an ebook on dieting and be in the weight loss market. You need to be in a specific corner of the market (niche) with a product or service that your audience really wants. There is so much competition for online dollars these days . . . it's not enough to just be in a crowded market with some solution. You need to have the solution that everyone wants.

2. Your web site and offer copy. Is it compelling? Does it remove all the risk of buying from the prospect? Is it a great value for the money? Do you have social proof that it works? Is it a professional solution? Do you have a very strong call to action? Is your pricing acceptable?

3. Are you marketing to the right audience and in a proven way? All ads are not the same. Some targeted audiences will only buy from certain credible recommendations? Do you have the voice of authority in your market? Are there competitors that are successful advertising in the same places you do? Is your advertising believable? Scammy?

Of course there are a lot of variables in marketing. Figuring out what works is a major part of the puzzle. Test and track everything you do so you will know where your strong and weak points are. Then fortify your vulnerabilities.

Good luck to you,

Steve

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ChrisBa

9 years ago

I think the key thing here is expectations..

Not everything we do in this industry will be successful, sometimes when we try a campaign, it just fails.

If you are constantly putting into (time, money, etc) something and it's not working, Perhaps you should try something else?

I'm not saying don't build a list, but there are several different ways to do this.

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jamescanz

9 years ago

Originally Posted by David T

The Money Is In The List... IF You Have The Money To Build The List

You simply just need to find other / various ways to build your list...

IF you don't have the money to build it.

There's always a way to make it work.

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Jonathan Vodini

9 years ago

did you tried to build a buyers instead a freebie? consider that a buyers list is 10-15 times more powerful and profitable then a freebie list... by the way do not give up. always test,test,test and test until you succeed

shot me a PM if you want for further info

cheers

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Robert999

9 years ago

Originally Posted by David T

(before anyone jumps the gun, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster)

So, I'm in need of a little advice, motivation, I'm not 100% sure...

I've been involved in internet marketing for several years now and up until about 2 years ago I was making enough money from my amazon affiliate sites to only work part time in a 9-5 job. This was great, I enjoyed working part time as it stopped me losing my social life to internet marketing but it also gave me the freedom of working from home..

Everything was great...

..until google decided to give my affiliate websites the mighty slap.

Rankings disappeared almost overnight.
Visitors soon went.
Earnings dried up.
Full time work resumed.

Ever since then I've been dabbling with other methods to put more control into my own hands, rather than rely on another party (eggs in one basket etc..)

List building is where I thought I'd find my success.

I've got what I think is a good funnel, converting traffic at between 46.6% and 54.3% - from reading other solo ad testimonials I'm getting a great conversion!

The trouble is..

I've invested £200 (about $300) so far into hosting, autoresponder and mainly, solo ads.

and I've yet to make anything back.

I've got my OTO in place, a solid download page, click banking partners..

My follow up sequence is hitting 32-35% open rates..

Where am I going wrong?

I've connected with some fellow list builders through facebook and the majority of them have invested at least £1,000-2,000 into solo ads and other traffic sources to build their list before eventually using that list to sell solo ads themselves..

I don't have 2K to invest, what are my options?

From what I can see..

The Money Is In The List... IF You Have The Money To Build The List

My intentions weren't to sell solo ads

And I didn't expect to make £200 back

But I did think I'd see some return by now..

Can any fellow list builders share their experiences?

If your subscribers are opening and reading and clicking affiliate links from your emails then it means that they are active but you are not able to convert them into buyers. May be your email copy is not perfect. I think your email is not so big. Keep growing your email list and keep on testing different emails. List building is working for others, it should work for you too. Don't lose hope and keep doing it.

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TakenAction

9 years ago

What are you spending per click in solo ads and what vendors?

Link us your OTO page. Or private message me it.

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The Niche Man 9 years ago
Many people have said the Money is in the List. But that's only partly true, as Steve B articulated in post #2.

More accurately ..."The Money is in the Niche"

Because if you don't get the Niche right, the list will do you No Good - as you and multitudes of others eventually discover. In fact, you have to get your Niche Right before you can ever start building a targeted (the most profitable) list.

That's why #1 in Steve B's post is gold. It's the essence of what it takes to build a profitable business - most people 'still' ignore (scratching head)!

Think about it, All your ...
- Advertising
- Marketing
- Product offers and follow-ups
- Keywords
- Blog post
and yes even your
- Email list success ... And More!
... Depends on getting your Niche Research right.

Ironically, my research showed most people spend the least amount of time, effort and money in niche market research. (Is it any wonder why so many people fail?)

That's why I grit my teeth every time I see people in this forum encouraging others to stop researching and just start marketing a product and everything will work out (or similar advice). But never ask if they've researched their niche market or how they plan to uniquely position themselves. Result? Another victim added to the 90% I.M failure rate.

It's even double important if you're ...
- In a competitive market
- Have bigger competitors
-or-
- You're a new ...
... to know how to research your niche. (Sadly most people still don't know what a niche is ... or they confuse it with a market).

So, instead of wasting more time, money and frustration go back to the drawing board and look at ...
- Your Niche Idea - you do have one don't you? What unmet, under-served or overlooked need, problem or irritation are you targeting?
- Your Niche Market - the people you're targeting with a unique need no one else is providing or providing as well as you can.
- Your Niche Product or Service - what problem does it solve that separates it from the competition.
If you don't have those 'down cold' be prepared to spend a lot more money, time and frustration.
-Or -
If you do like most people and Ignore it, under-estimate it or try to jimmy the lock (take short-cuts) ... Game Over!
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DIABL0

9 years ago

I assume you are using a squeeze page? What was your conversion?

Are you tracking the clicks purchased from solo ads to make sure you got what you purchased, what countries they are coming from and if it was valid traffic...didn't have bots?

I assume you are redirecting your thank you page to an offer? What is the sales price?

Do you try and monetize your welcome message?

Are you providing any content on your follow ups or just promoting offers and who much is the offer you are promoting?

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David T 9 years ago

I just want to thank everyone for taking the time to get back to me

I also want to make it clear that I wasn't expecting overnight riches, as I mentioned in my OP, I used to run several mildly successful amazon niche sites, and I know it takes hard work and consistency.

The main point I was trying to get across was that building a list takes a lot of investment

..yes there are free ways, I know that, but I don't have all day to post on forums, post articles etc..

The solo ads were purchased through facebook groups from sellers who seemed to have good testimonials, $40-45 for 100 clicks

My funnel was the typical

Squeeze - OTO - Download - AR Sequence

I also tried Squeeze - Download (with OTO link) - AR Sequence
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David T

9 years ago

Originally Posted by DIABL0

I assume you are using a squeeze page? What was your conversion?

Are you tracking the clicks purchased from solo ads to make sure you got what you purchased, what countries they are coming from and if it was valid traffic...didn't have bots?

I assume you are redirecting your thank you page to an offer? What is the sales price?

Do you try and monetize your welcome message?

Are you providing any content on your follow ups or just promoting offers and who much is the offer you are promoting?

I tested several squeeze pages with results between 46.6% and 54.3%

According to my click tracker it is all genuine traffic, high 80% T1 traffic

I tried both OTO page and thank you pages with an OTO priced at $7

The follow ups all contained helpful, unique content which is all based around the OTO

...A brief how to do X in order to gain Y... for full info see my guide... with a link to OTO

Thanks
1 reply

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TakenAction

9 years ago

Originally Posted by David T

I tested several squeeze pages with results between 46.6% and 54.3%

According to my click tracker it is all genuine traffic, high 80% T1 traffic

I tried both OTO page and thank you pages with an OTO priced at $7

The follow ups all contained helpful, unique content which is all based around the OTO

...A brief how to do X in order to gain Y... for full info see my guide... with a link to OTO

Like I said above, I need to see your OTO pages. (So I can evaluate the copy)

Also, you said genuine 80% T1 traffic. That doesn't mean anything.

The traffic quality is obviously bad. I bet you don't think so because you seem super siked that you are getting around 50% optin rates but that doesn't mean anything either if all you are doing is building a broad un-targeted group of subscribers.

I wouldn't bother paying for a solo ad unless I am paying at least $.70 per click from a reputable vendor. Most of the time I pay around $1 per click because I know they are reputable and don't do many solo ads and they're subscribers are quality.

Anyways, let me see your squeeze page and OTO page and from there I can do some actual help.

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aizaku 9 years ago

sounds like you get most of your solo ads from these facebook solo ad sellers.

Have you tried other traffic sources like PPV, facebook ads etc..?

I'm only saying this because you might be just sending recycled freebie seekers to your offers. These individuals might be on dozens of lists with other marketers chucking offers at them daily, creating a kind of email offers white noise.

To me, you've tested this source of traffic long enough. try some other ones.

I'm in the baby shower niche and I learned my lists demographic quickly (gender, social economic status, religion etc...). Sales for baby shower goods where few and far between.

After TESTING dozens of offers (sale & cpa) I found that my list responded well to a particular type of cost per lead and Ive been making money ever since.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
- Albert Einstein
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DIABL0

9 years ago

I'm kind of with TakenAction in that it would be good to see your squeeze / OTO.

Maybe there is a problem with the OTO, since the lack of conversions is what this whole conversation has really boiled down to.

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Randall Magwood

9 years ago

Yeah, the money is still in the list. At least in my business. Are you selling in the "internet marketing" niche?

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Janice Sperry

9 years ago

If it is in the IM/MMO market you should not be surprised. Everybody and their cousin is told to buy solo ads, build a big list and then SELL solo ads. You were probably getting clicks and sign ups from people that are on a dozen other lists and are getting hammered with multiple offers every day. Unless you build a huge, huge list of these recycled people or have the most innovative product on the face of the earth you will never get many sales. Even when a solo ad vendor says it is a "fresh" list that only means to him/her (if it is true at all). It still could be people already on dozens of other lists. People keep signing up and staying on lists just hoping a miracle shiny object will someday appear in their email box. They start out buying sometimes then quit when they are not making any money. After they quit buying they start getting used for solo ads so the owner of the list can squeeze a little more money out of them.

This is the unvarnished truth about IM/MMO solo ads in the majority of cases. Specifically targeted solo ads can work great for other niches but you still need to do what others have mentioned above.

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Tim Alwell

9 years ago

The money is not in the list.

The money is in the relationship you build with that list. All the responses above about the quality of solo ad traffic are correct.

Assuming you're getting quality leads from those vendors, it still boils down to the relationship you have with your subscribers.

Use your blog/video content to pre-sell yourself and survey your list to find out what they're struggling with.

It's hard not to focus on the money, but when you shift your focus to helping them, the money likes to follow.

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visimedia

9 years ago

have you tried to promote other people's email list in return they promte your mailin list?
in short, adswaap

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Sarevok

9 years ago

If you're not making money with your traffic...

You must not be targeting your traffic well enough.

Or maybe you're just not selling frequently enough.

If you want to buy Biz Op-ish solo ads, and it's imperative that you get a quick return...

Then you have to sell frequently.

Just my $.02.

(Been around the solo ad block).

Later

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Andre Slater 9 years ago

Does your list like you?

Are you providing value and solving your list's problems?

Are you giving more value then anything you offer?

Have you tried the products you promotes? Have you purchased them???

Does what you offer really help them in their life?

Have you asked what your list wants and needs are? (SURVEY)???
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BradGB

9 years ago

There's a lot of gold in Janice Sperry's post.

if you got a list that just likes to click stuff and dream, your odds of them buying IM/MMO products through you are pretty slim. You can make some money off of PPL programs with a list like that though...

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talfighel

9 years ago

Originally Posted by David T

..until google decided to give my affiliate websites the mighty slap.

So the lesson is:

Never rely on the search engines to get you traffic>>>sales.

You need to have multiple streams of internet traffic sources that do work well for you. Test a few places to see what works best and what doesn't. Then when you know which traffic sources are working well for you and are making you sales, you will do really well and never rely on ONE source for traffic.

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wgrogers 9 years ago

A list is the closest thing to a push button money system but that depends on the quality of your list and your relationship with that list, nothing else.
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internetmarketer1

9 years ago

To be honest, not all the lists I've seen people with lists of 5,000 people with zero activity. It doesn't make a difference. There IS money to be made from an email list, but a lot of it is because they PROVIDE VALUE and give their readers what they want,

In the end, it all depends on what you do with your list, not how much people there are.

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"The Money Is In the List".... Or Is It?

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