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WATCH OUT - Guaranteed Clicks Solo Ads

by Mike Hill
33 replies
Just thought I'd mention this because a lot of people do not realize this is even happening.

When you are looking to purchase solo ads you will notice almost everyone 'Guarantees' clicks. What a lot of solo ad providers do not tell you is that they will change your solo ad to be as blind as possible to increase the clicks.

Remember, they guarantee clicks, not conversion.

So, after you buy a solo ad and they deliver on the clicks you might be thinking your landing page sucks because your conversion was poor. Not so fast... The problem isn't necessarily you at all.

The reason I am mentioning this is because I just received an email that talked about one thing but when I clicked the link it was completely different. I knew it was a paid solo ad because of the tracking elements and where it was being tracked from.

This is NOT cool... But here's what you can do about it.
1. Ask the person you're buying the solo ad from what lists he sends your ad to and make sure you subscribe so you can see if you email message has been changed and to what extent.

2. Ask if your solo ad will be changed at all.

If the person you are buying the solo ad from does not want to give you this information DO NOT buy from them.

This is one of Solo Advertising's dirty little secrets... make sure you do your due diligence.
#ads #clicks #guaranteed #solo #watch
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Thanks for the head's up. I always wondered how they were able to guarantee clicks.
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    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    Many of those make the ad as "blind" as possible because they use a rotating script to redirect traffic to a different offer once the amount of purchased clicks are delivered to the first guy.

    So if a solo ad gets 500 total clicks, the solo ad seller may have actually sent traffic to 3 or 4 different offers. As he fills one "guaranteed clicks" order, the script automatically redirects traffic to the next persons order. Thus the ad copy needs to be as generic as possible.

    Just another wonderful IM game. Thanks for the heads up Mike.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
      Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

      Many of those make the ad as "blind" as possible because they use a rotating script to redirect traffic to a different offer once the amount of purchased clicks are delivered to the first guy.

      So if a solo ad gets 500 total clicks, the solo ad seller may have actually sent traffic to 3 or 4 different offers. As he fills one "guaranteed clicks" order, the script automatically redirects traffic to the next persons order. Thus the ad copy needs to be as generic as possible.

      Just another wonderful IM game. Thanks for the heads up Mike.

      Yes that is true and a fact of the game however, when I get an email that makes specific reference to 5 ways with 5 reports and then go to the page and it's not even close.

      I do a lot of research and find this to be the case is a lot of scenarios which tells m the industry of selling 'clicks' needs to change. But, people who are buying the solo ads need to realize nothing is guaranteed.

      When a newbie buys a solo ad they think because it says guaranteed clicks that they will get sales. Obviously that's not true so I think this falls into the responsibility of internet marketers who teach internet marketing to make this absolutely clear.

      Strange world we live in when newbies want guarantees for their own performance!
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      • Profile picture of the author David Keith
        Originally Posted by Mike Hill View Post


        I do a lot of research and find this to be the case is a lot of scenarios which tells me the industry of selling 'clicks' needs to change. But, people who are buying the solo ads need to realize nothing is guaranteed.
        I am with you. But I have a strong suspicion me and you are not going to be able to change it much...lol.

        It seems as though I spend a big part of my WF time these days explaining and debunking these sort of things. Not to you, just in general.

        But these days, this sort of stuff is growing much faster than people with real experience and no conflicts of interest can educate people.

        [/rant]
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        • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
          Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

          I am with you. But I have a strong suspicion me and you are not going to be able to change it much...lol.

          It seems as though I spend a big part of my WF time these days explaining and debunking these sort of things. Not to you, just in general.

          But these days, this sort of stuff is growing much faster than people with real experience and no conflicts of interest can educate people.

          [/rant]

          I hear ya ... And that's what can be a solid selling point for you and I to our customers. Eventually things will work themselves out and folks will realize who's the real deal. Sometimes that can be a painful lesson for some.
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          • Profile picture of the author David Keith
            Originally Posted by Mike Hill View Post

            I hear ya ... And that's what can be a solid selling point for you and I to our customers. Eventually things will work themselves out and folks will realize who's the real deal. Sometimes that can be a painful lesson for some.
            well, I am not really in the IM game. I barely consider it a hobby. If I was, I would be much more ruthless. I would use every available avenue to push the scammers and cheats out. I would be reporting the nonsense to the ftc, paypal, aweber,... and all others that enables these folks or who have the authority to stop it.

            Since it doesn't affect my income at all, I am ok with just educating others on the forum to the best of my ability.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
    Good reminders, I made this mistake before I learned what was going on. I now make sure the seller won't change my copy at all. And I talk to them about this before I buy. I allow changes to some small stuff to fit his style, but surely not change the whole thing to make it generic and get clicks.
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  • Profile picture of the author briankoz
    Either that, or they sometimes just have bot clicks and even bot sign-ups. I've seen quite a few solo ads, even on solo ad review sites, get lots of positive reviews only to find out later that almost all the sign ups or clicks are fake.

    Most people are happy to get a couple hundred subscribers and either A) don't track sales or even try to make sales or B) never look at the IP of where those leads are coming from.

    And it's a lot easier to guarantee clicks this way vs. blind copy...

    - Brian
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  • Profile picture of the author Kal Sallam
    Appreciate the heads up.

    I have a check-list and it goes as follows:

    How was the list built?
    Are you using any rotators?
    How can I get on your list?
    Can I provide my own copy?
    Any redirects?
    How long until you deliver?
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  • Profile picture of the author larry1113
    Good looking out! Thank you
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  • Profile picture of the author frankstar
    Originally Posted by Mike Hill View Post

    Just thought I'd mention this because a lot of people do not realize this is even happening.
    ....
    ....

    This is one of Solo Advertising's dirty little secrets... make sure you do your due diligence.
    Darn tootin right Mike...

    If you find out how/ where to join the solo-ad providers list you will see this a lot. It's a good idea to send them a swipe, and ask them to send the email if they alter it.

    I had an email the other day that basically said -"I've saved this for you, its great!" - followed by a bold highlighted link.

    If you click on it, it went to one offer. Click on the link again, goes to another offer.

    This particular provider had put the solo-ad clients on a rotator script! This is not going to make traffic as targeted as a proper dedicated email that points out some good points about your offer, and what it's about.

    You do need to be careful!!



    Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author IronMike
    Thanks Mike I was wondering about the guaranteed clicks offered. It seemed fishy and now I know why.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve L
    Thanks for the heads up Mike!

    Originally Posted by Mike Hill View Post

    Just thought I'd mention this because a lot of people do not realize this is even happening.

    When you are looking to purchase solo ads you will notice almost everyone 'Guarantees' clicks. What a lot of solo ad providers do not tell you is that they will change your solo ad to be as blind as possible to increase the clicks.

    Remember, they guarantee clicks, not conversion.

    So, after you buy a solo ad and they deliver on the clicks you might be thinking your landing page sucks because your conversion was poor. Not so fast... The problem isn't necessarily you at all.

    The reason I am mentioning this is because I just received an email that talked about one thing but when I clicked the link it was completely different. I knew it was a paid solo ad because of the tracking elements and where it was being tracked from.

    This is NOT cool... But here's what you can do about it.
    1. Ask the person you're buying the solo ad from what lists he sends your ad to and make sure you subscribe so you can see if you email message has been changed and to what extent.

    2. Ask if your solo ad will be changed at all.

    If the person you are buying the solo ad from does not want to give you this information DO NOT buy from them.

    This is one of Solo Advertising's dirty little secrets... make sure you do your due diligence.
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  • Profile picture of the author oleskool
    Thanks for the heads up. I have not purchased a solo ad yet but thinking about using them to build my list.
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  • Profile picture of the author seanpbh
    Thanks for the heads up. I am looking to buy a couple of solo ads to get my list started. Would you be able to PM me if you have any recommendations on a good person to buy solo ads from? This would help me a lot, thanks.
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    • Profile picture of the author debtreliefadvice
      As other forum members have stated, thank you for the heads up.

      I have never used solo ads as part of a marketing strategy, but I have seriously considered it from time to time. After reading the post, I am glad that I have never have used this type of advertising.

      I have also wondered about "guaranteed clicks."
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  • Profile picture of the author JustinBrooke
    I've stopped buying IM solo's all together because of this...

    We saw 50 opt-ins from the same IP within 30 minutes (BOT)

    We've seen them doing the blind emails

    And half the IM solo ad people just have piss poor service.

    So now we buy only high quality email ads...

    DedicatedEmails.com (ask for Brian Litman)
    SelfGrowth.com (ask for Joe DePalma)
    ArcaMax.com (ask for Keith Young)

    And several others. These are not cheap, but they convert
    great and it's been much easier to ROI with these higher quality lists.
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    • Profile picture of the author Manie Amari
      First off Mike, can I say thank you for this info. This is the kind of insider info I have been missing.





      Originally Posted by JustinBrooke View Post


      And half the IM solo ad people just have piss poor service.

      So now we buy only high quality email ads...

      DedicatedEmails.com (ask for Brian Litman)
      ArcaMax.com (ask for Keith Young)
      Do these two apply to the IM industry?

      Could you give use a few more places to buy email ads if your in the IM niche? Thanks


      Manie
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark72
    I've been buying solos myself recently and been tring to understand why the opt in rate varies from 19% all the way up to 65%.

    I've seen the generic swipe that is mentioned here.

    But even if you ask to opt in to thier list to check it out, they could just send you to a separate list to which they send your original swipe when they run the ad.

    Another trick they do to generate maximium traffic is to send the generic swipe with MULTIPLE links in it to different offers.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    I have even heard that some of these guys go to Mturk and pay people a nickel to subscribe to your list.

    Worthless.
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    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author icoachu
      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      I have even heard that some of these guys go to Mturk and pay people a nickel to subscribe to your list.

      Worthless.
      A nickel? The ROI might still be too low for them. I was thinking that these scammers use shadier Pay to Click which use overseas traffic. Those shady PTC programs sometimes pay as low as .001 per click. Not all PTCs support these shenanigans. Some seem aboveboard.
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  • Profile picture of the author JBanis
    Great information! Wow...good to be aware of some of this stuff.

    @JustinBrooke was sort of price point are we talking about with those providers Justin? And is the higher price point definitely worth it in terms of getting proper targeted traffic etc? Thanks for the ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr MaxIM
    This was very useful. Thank you. It is very good to know as I am just about to start using solo ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author Vadimarket
    I' ve never actually tried any solo ads before. But I really wanna try them since a lot of marketers I know say that they're good. Any tips of how to see which ads are phony and which are good? Can anyone suggest a good solo ad vendor with good reputation?

    Thanks in advance, cheers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jerimiahgunn
    Thanks that's some good advice!
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  • Profile picture of the author timb98133
    Originally Posted by Mike Hill View Post

    Just thought I'd mention this because a lot of people do not realize this is even happening.

    When you are looking to purchase solo ads you will notice almost everyone 'Guarantees' clicks. What a lot of solo ad providers do not tell you is that they will change your solo ad to be as blind as possible to increase the clicks.

    Remember, they guarantee clicks, not conversion.

    So, after you buy a solo ad and they deliver on the clicks you might be thinking your landing page sucks because your conversion was poor. Not so fast... The problem isn't necessarily you at all.

    The reason I am mentioning this is because I just received an email that talked about one thing but when I clicked the link it was completely different. I knew it was a paid solo ad because of the tracking elements and where it was being tracked from.

    This is NOT cool... But here's what you can do about it.
    1. Ask the person you're buying the solo ad from what lists he sends your ad to and make sure you subscribe so you can see if you email message has been changed and to what extent.

    2. Ask if your solo ad will be changed at all.

    If the person you are buying the solo ad from does not want to give you this information DO NOT buy from them.

    This is one of Solo Advertising's dirty little secrets... make sure you do your due diligence.
    This is great advice... Every solo ad is NOT the same. Thanks for sharing!
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Thanks Mike for the heads up.
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  • Profile picture of the author tuscan
    Great advice for anyone going into this method of list building. Let the buyer beware.
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  • Profile picture of the author julian337
    I agree with you. I typically work with publishers who allow me to use my own solo and I also optin their list so that I can see when my solo goes out and what it looks like.
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  • Profile picture of the author Resale Rights Ninja
    I used to buy solo ads and I used to even recommend it, but I take it all back. My personal opinion is that solo ads are just too expensive and then all you end up with are a bunch of freebie seekers. Now what I recommend is to try your best to build a list of buyers.
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