How do you setup a successful solo ad?

I just recently ran a solo email ad campaign with great results. I found a very good deal on an industry-specific email list and hired a company to send out a mass mailing.

You do have to be careful to abide by CAN-SPAM laws which basically says you have to include a way for the person to opt-out of future mailings as well as post your mailing address. Most email marketing companies like ConstantContact will abide by these laws.

If you want to build a new email list then you will need to give visitors to your squeeze page a good incentive to give you their email address. It is popular to give out a free ebook that is tailored to the type of leads you want to capture.

You can also give out a free training video, free website designs and scripts, etc.

I would recommend buying a PLR product from Private Label Rights (PLR), Master Resale Rights, Resell Rights, Private Label Right, plr ebook, video, plr articles. Worlds largest catalog. to give away to your list.

For me.....

It goes squeeze page, OTO page, product download page.....

In that order of course

Sure, I think free video training would suffice. However, make sure to include an OTO page so you can monetize your list building efforts a bit...PM me if you want the name of the guy that I buy solo ads from- he is great to work with.

Also, in my experience, yes, you will write the copy for the email itself...

Hope that helps!

Brian

I personally don't like solo ads, because the upfront cost is rarely worth it. This is especially true in the IM lists, they are just over saturated.

Hi Joey

Are you referring to banner ads? I have recently figured that out myself. This is what I did:

1. Googled what should be in a successful banner (Google knows everything so I ask for everything.) The basics I got was that the banner needs to fit well with the page that it is on (colors and so on) and that it needs to have a clear call to action.

2. Interacted with the host site owner to get the logistics out of the way; size of banner, number of impressions, payment and so on.

3. Looked up google URL builder to create a URL that I could track on Google Analytics.

4. Created banners in MS Paint (Yes, it does not have to be harder than that!)

5. Put in several variations on the advertisement program of the host site (Wine Making & Grape Growing Articles, Reviews, Videos, Forum) and installed seperate trackable URL's for each banner.

6. Remove banners that under-perform by going over GA statistics with a few days interval (Depending on traffic you might like to do this daily for a few thousand impressions.)

If you are doing a text add in a list or newsletter see if you are instead able to ask if you can provide free content, that way you can reuse content you have already used other places and you might be able to get the price down.

If you still have to pay, and are putting in a link make sure that it is trackable, and that your Google Analytics is working.

Doing anything wrong is ok, as long as you are able to track it.

Hope that helps.

Hi Joey

I simply googled "winemaking forum" and then put the first results into Home | Compete. Then I just contacted the forum owner. More than anything you need to know the traffic the site has so you can do your numbers.

Generally speaking this is the math you need to do: Impressions x 0.001 (estimated clickthrough rate) x 1% (estimated conversion, you might have different stats on your site, make necessary adjustments.)

In regard to sending an ad to a list I am going through that process at the moment. I would suggest giving away something for free, to prove your worth and then lead them onto an offer on the page. In newsletter land the recommendation I got from several copywriters is to write three emails each proving your worth by giving content.

When you negotiate with the place you want to put your once off ad I would ask the following:

1. How large is your list? You need to have an answer on this.
2. How often do you keep in contact with them? At least monthly, anything over that and the list is reduced in value and not having the same response rate.

Also, spend some time on the site/newsletter to ensure yourself that the content is good and withing you niche.

When it comes to the math it depends a lot on how relevant the list is, the more relevant the higher estimated conversion. Some say you can get as much as 10% conversion. For your own money I would suggest budgeting with the average conversion on your site, so on average 1%. So when the publisher tell you a figure, like say 3,000, you calculate 30 x net unit earnings/lifetime customer value (how much each customer spends will ever spend on your site. Only works if you have worked out a sales tunnel).

Sorry I did not reply to the solo aspect immediately, the logic is pretty much the same; check the market, do your numbers.

Did that help you?

1. create a good free offer which is unique (videos work great)

2. create squeeze page

3. create some kind of a OTO and sell it between $5 - $11 i have found price points between $5 and $11 work best but if you have a membership site you could even give away a $1 trial

4. include an upsell so after someone has bought your OTO they see your upsell. Upsells are the key to making your campaigns super profitable

5. you also have the option of including a downsell after the upsell and/also offering the downsell if they don`t buy the OTO too

6. buy a few solo ads and see your pages convert at

7. i just use aweber to track all of my solo ad campaigns by setting up a new web form and just clone my squeeze page this way when someone buys you know which solo ad they came from

7. tweak your pages as go to make your campaigns more profitable

8. buy more solo ads and build your list

with paid traffic like solo ads and ppc it all comes down to how good your sales funnel is so become "funnel focused" and you will see results

paul

Hi Joey,

Warrior Mao Flynn has a very good (and cheap) course on Solo Ads called (I think) Solo Ad Tornado.

That will save you a lot of time and hassle.

Hey Joey,

I was trainer at my last business which ran over 30 thousand affiliates into the business in a 6 month period. The main traffic we ran was solo ads and they rock. You are on the right path.

Your focus with Solo ads is this sequence:

1. Get the opt in or subscriber - You will need to split test your squeeze pages
2. Send the Subscriber to an SLO or a self liquidating offer which is below $7 so you can offset the cost of the solo ad after they subscribe
3. Send the subscriber the video course you have created after they have double opted in

So say you purchase a solo ad for $50 and you get 142 clicks. or .35c per click
and your squeeze page converts at 38%. You get 54 subscribers for $50 all you need is 7 people to take up the SLO and you have broken even.

The solo ad has cost you nothing and you now have 54 subscribers and also 7 buyers which is worth 10 times more.

Usually the Solo ad provider will write the email because they have the relationship with the list.

I hope this helps you in your endeavors.

i have just set up my first solo ad scheduled this tuesday, so will let you know the results, i hear they are a great way to build a list, we shall see.