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Buy Solo Ads and Sell Affiliate Offers VS Buy PPC and Sell Solo Ads?

by MindReality
13 replies
Which is a more viable method for list marketing on the long term:

1. Buy solo ads to capture subscribers and sell affiliate offers that go to sales copies.

2. Buy PPC traffic to capture subscribers and sell solo ads that go to other people's squeeze pages.

Selling affiliate offers might make less money than selling solo ads, but result in less list dilution in the long run and hence income level can be maintained over time with the same amount of subscribers.

Selling solo ads can make more money in the short term but result in making less and less money from the same amount of subscribers in the long term due to faster declining clicks.

What do you think? Comments anyone?
#ads #affiliate #buy #offers #ppc #sell #solo
  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I'm a big mailer and have looked heavily into getting into selling solo ads, but in the end, I found that it didn't make sense to pursue..

    I found that with my existing lists that I make far more per click the overwhelming majority of the time, than I could selling clicks from solo ads. Also I don't have any of the extra work of having to find customers to buy the solo ads. So for me, solo ads pointed to less money and more work.

    However, I have no IM/MMO lists and do not promote any offers in the IM/MMO niche. So my conclusions may not be a fair apple to apple comparison.
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    • Profile picture of the author MindReality
      Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

      I'm a big mailer and have looked heavily into getting into selling solo ads, but in the end, I found that it didn't make sense to pursue..

      I found that with my existing lists that I make far more per click the overwhelming majority of the time, than I could selling clicks from solo ads. Also I don't have any of the extra work of having to find customers to buy the solo ads. So for me, solo ads pointed to less money and more work.

      However, I have no IM/MMO lists and do not promote any offers in the IM/MMO niche. So my conclusions may not be a fair apple to apple comparison.
      What niche are you in? I am in the personal development niche.

      Do you make more per click that solos by selling your own products, or also by selling affiliate products?
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I heavily promote CPA offers. The bulk of which are PPL (pay per lead), free sign-ups, free trials +s&h, etc...

    Basically I target freebie seekers, which most everyone is. I just promote offers that are going to appeal to the largest possible audience...have the greatest mass appeal.
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    20+ Years Exp . . . . . . . . . . . . Email - CPA - PPL
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    • Profile picture of the author MindReality
      Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

      I heavily promote CPA offers. The bulk of which are PPL (pay per lead), free sign-ups, free trials +s&h, etc...

      Basically I target freebie seekers, which most everyone is. I just promote offers that are going to appeal to the largest possible audience...have the greatest mass appeal.
      What are your main traffic sources for list building?
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    I buy data(email), I don't build lists for PPL offers, etc...

    If your trying to sell products / services, then it's probably wiser to build a lists, as it's much harder to get someone to take out their credit card and purchase VS promoting offers that are free.

    I buy fresh / targeted data that I know what the users are interested in and I know that there is a PPL offer that matches their interest. I generate real-time co-reg that targets very specific PPL offers and I buy aged data, but it required additional tools / resources to make work,
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    • Profile picture of the author MindReality
      Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

      I buy data(email), I don't build lists for PPL offers, etc...

      If your trying to sell products / services, then it's probably wiser to build a lists, as it's much harder to get someone to take out their credit card and purchase VS promoting offers that are free.

      I buy fresh / targeted data that I know what the users are interested in and I know that there is a PPL offer that matches their interest. I generate real-time co-reg that targets very specific PPL offers and I buy aged data, but it required additional tools / resources to make work,
      I thought you said you were a big mailer and with your existing lists you make far more per click than selling solo ads? How did you build those lists? And what are you using the lists to promote? PPL offers?
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      • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
        Originally Posted by MindReality View Post

        I thought you said you were a big mailer and with your existing lists you make far more per click than selling solo ads? How did you build those lists? And what are you using the lists to promote? PPL offers?
        Yes, I'm a big mailer and I make more per click sending PPL offers, than I could sending solo ads. As I said, I do not build lists that I'm going to send PPL offers to, I buy data/lists.

        In my previous post I explained the different ways that I acquire data/lists.

        Follow?
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        • Profile picture of the author MindReality
          Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

          Yes, I'm a big mailer and I make more per click sending PPL offers, than I could sending solo ads. As I said, I do not build lists that I'm going to send PPL offers to, I buy data/lists.

          In my previous post I explained the different ways that I acquire data/lists.

          Follow?
          So if you're buying data/lists, what email service do you use to mail to those lists?
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    Real-time co-reg and fresh / targeted data I use autoresponders.

    Aged / non targeted data, I have my own custom built self hosted mailing platform that is specially designed for this purpose. Which I use leased servers and IPs that support mailers that aren't going to terminate over some complaints, as any high volume mailing operation is bound to get some degree of..
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    • Profile picture of the author MindReality
      Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

      Real-time co-reg and fresh / targeted data I use autoresponders.

      Aged / non targeted data, I have my own custom built self hosted mailing platform that is specially designed for this purpose. Which I use leased servers and IPs that support mailers that aren't going to terminate over some complaints, as any high volume mailing operation is bound to get some degree of..
      Can data lists be used to promote to affiliate offers successfully, or should it only be used to promote to PPL offers?

      Are there data lists for the self help niche?
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    Promoting PPL offers is key to my business model.

    When you buy lists, they will never be as responsive as an opt-in list you build on your own. So you have to compensate for that with volume. Which is fine, because buying is much much cheaper and faster than building. However, you then have to segment out the responsive users from the data. So you need to always be collecting the opens and clickers and eventually you will be left with a smaller, but very responsive list. Then your making more and sending less per mailing. Which all comes back to what list builders say...the quality of a list is more important than the size of the list.

    If all I did was promote offers that required a purchase, then far less users would open and click, because free offers have have much greater appeal. Also, free offers typically convert much higher as well. So without the free offers, it's safe to say that it wouldn't be nearly as profitable.

    So I buy list, to build responsive lists of freebie seekers and then promote free offers that have mass appeal and covert / pay well. That's my business model in it's most simplest terms and I have been doing it for over 16 years. So it does work.

    While it may sound simple, there is more to it and it's not a cheap business to get into, so it's not for everyone.
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    How to Build LARGE EMAIL LISTS on a Budget and MONETIZE Like a PRO
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    • Profile picture of the author MindReality
      Originally Posted by DIABL0 View Post

      Promoting PPL offers is key to my business model.

      When you buy lists, they will never be as responsive as an opt-in list you build on your own. So you have to compensate for that with volume. Which is fine, because buying is much much cheaper and faster than building. However, you then have to segment out the responsive users from the data. So you need to always be collecting the opens and clickers and eventually you will be left with a smaller, but very responsive list. Then your making more and sending less per mailing. Which all comes back to what list builders say...the quality of a list is more important than the size of the list.

      If all I did was promote offers that required a purchase, then far less users would open and click, because free offers have have much greater appeal. Also, free offers typically convert much higher as well. So without the free offers, it's safe to say that it wouldn't be nearly as profitable.

      So I buy list, to build responsive lists of freebie seekers and then promote free offers that have mass appeal and covert / pay well. That's my business model in it's most simplest terms and I have been doing it for over 16 years. So it does work.

      While it may sound simple, there is more to it and it's not a cheap business to get into, so it's not for everyone.
      1. Does your click to open ratio going down over time? Or does it remain the same?

      2. Do you filter your list by non-openers or non-clickers? And why?

      3. What is the minimum cost for buying data lists?

      4. Is the self help or spirituality niche suitable to go into for this business model?

      5. Are you able to help clients in choosing hosts for dedicated ips and setting up mailing system on it to mail to such lists?
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      • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
        Originally Posted by MindReality View Post

        1. Does your click to open ratio going down over time? Or does it remain the same?

        2. Do you filter your list by non-openers or non-clickers? And why?

        3. What is the minimum cost for buying data lists?

        4. Is the self help or spirituality niche suitable to go into for this business model?

        5. Are you able to help clients in choosing hosts for dedicated ips and setting up mailing system on it to mail to such lists?
        1. I do not track that specific analytic.. All I look at is how much did I make today VS costs and how much did I make for the week VS costs. With the exception of when I'm mailing new data, which then I'm tracking how long does it take me to break-even on my acquisition costs. I do look at opens,clicks, epc's, etc...

        If conversions($$$) drop off significantly or appear to be on a downward trend, then I'm going to look and see where and why it's happening. I track conversions of every list and as long as an offer (all lists combined) stays within in a +/- 10% range, I don't worry about or even look at.

        2. Non Opens. Those that never open anything are 100% non responsive and that's all I care about getting out of the data.

        3. The least I have ever spent was a couple hundred dollars. But at that level, I'm usually just doing a small test.

        4. It's all about buying data to send PPL offers. I don't even know if PPL offers exist in that niche. Also, it's not about any specific niche. You want to have offers across many and you want them to all have a certain amount of mass appeal. But in the end, it's all about testing.

        5. Yes, you don't want to just use any hosting company. There are mail friendly providers that understand the intricacies that come with doing this..

        If you ever decide to do this on you own...

        Always insist on them providing the IPs upfront, so that you can test them and make sure they aren't blocked, on black lists, etc...

        If I have never done business with a company, most of the time I will be willing to pay for a server upfront. But they need to then route the IPs to the server, so I can make sure they aren't trying to provide me with garbage IPs.

        The only exception is if I'm just getting some small blocks and not spending much, then I may do it.
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