Is Solo Ads the way to go to build my list?

Absolutely, solo ads are a great way to build your list.

I would do some poking around on the forum here to find sellers and such.

You need money to spend, a well converting lead capture page (testing it out with the first few solos), if you can do an OTO, then that helps recoup some of your cost (hopefully!). But I'm getting too far ahead here - just focus on a high converting squeeze page first!

Hope that helps!

Yeah solo ads is great way to grow your list quickly. You can also sell a product like ebook, video course or anything and grab their emails to build your list. By selling your product, you have a buyer list which is really good value list. Good luck.

check out Safe Swaps (link included below) for a place to look for solo ads. definitely read the descriptions and feel free to send questions to the sellers. i've been hesitant on jumping on solo ads, but it seems as if i might go that route just to see if i can get some potential buyers.

Ad swaps, sell solo and buy solo mailings at Safe-Swaps

solo ads are a good way to build your list but you do of course need to be careful when buying them

some are excellent but some are shockingly bad

i now have a great list of very profitable solo ads but it didnt happen overnight, i had to test and spend thousands of dollars to separate the gems from the garbage

start off buying the cheapest solo ad that is available for a particular seller and then if that performs buy another one then if that performs well again go buy a bigger package

this is what i do and its a great strategy

also make sure you have a half decent sales funnel set up because when it comes to solo ads its all about your oto and upsell, these are what will make your solo ads a massive success or a complete failure

you can still make money back further down the line thats fine but recouping some of your ad cost early on is still very important

paul

Solo ads are a good way to build a list fast, actually they're a great way to build a list fast, but how effective they are depends solely on what you are promoting. If you plan to throw anything and everything related to internet marketing at your list then solo ads are the way forward. If, however, you plan to promote a single service or program like i do, then solo ads are the least effective way to build a list. I don't only promote one product or service though, but everything I promote is related and congruent.

You have to think about this for a moment. You are getting email addresses from people who are constantly bombarded with product after product, promotion after promotion and freebie after freebie. These people have Internet marketing ADHD because they are always looking for the next new shiny thing that's going to make them money online. They are Marketing jumpers who rarely focus on one method and stick with it. This is not always the case of course, but if you stop and think about it for just a moment you'll see what I'm talking about.

So, if your plan is to throw as many internet marketing, money making promotions to your list then solo ads are great. I promote high ticket services to my list and solo ads are almost useless for these types of promotions. They're not targeted enough.

Just my 2 cents.

If you go to great solo sellers, you can get excellent results. If you go to some sellers, you can get mediocre results and lots of people on your list who never open anything.

retsced has made a good point about what you are promoting. It is important.

It is also important to know that the people you are getting on your list are coming to you from somebody else's list. This means that they have seen a lot of offers already. You need to make sure that what you are promoting is quality and that you are offering value.

If you can - go to people who offer you a solo to their 'buyers' list. More expensive, but very worthwhile!

Paul

I was thinking same , that solo ads is perfect for building fast and good list, but recently red this thread and now I am al ittle bit comfused...

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ulousness.html

If you use solo ad, don't forget to track your link because sometimes the click did not reach the number of guaranteed click. So you can claim with them if this happen. Your squeeze and oto page need to be good enough to get good conversion.

Thanks everyone! I used some solo ads for my product. I can honestly see that it is very true that you need to be careful about who you buy solos from. I bought one that gave me horrible results. (opt ins...then unsubscribes all at once....non English speaking). But live and learn I guess.

Solo ad is a great way to build your list. However, you have to be extra careful when buying one.

I once bought a 400,000 solo-ads for $139 and gotten only 22 clicks 0% conversion rate. I learn the lesson the hard way. Always ask for most recent screenshot and data if necessary. Those offer that seems to good to be true are usually not true (For instance 400,000 emails for only $139!!! Those are scams).

Nevertheless, I would not suggest you to spend your hard earned money on heavy traffic especially when you do NOT know your conversion rates. It's okay to buy 1 or 2 solo-ads to test your conversion but never spend heavily during testing period.

Once you've calculated your ROI (return on investment) or how much is a visitor worth to you then you decide whether or not you want to spend heavily on traffic. It's all about your return on investment.. always invest money to make money (surprising, a lot of people are investing money to lose money).

Good luck with your IM business,
Jeremiah

Solo ads, List swaps, Safe swap you know the deal. Those still works and continue to work, but you have to realize that the person you're getting it from is has to be in the game for a long time and has a huge list.

just be careful and do some due dillegance or you could waste a lot of money on solo's. Use safe swaps as you can get lots of info on the sellers performances which is a fantastic and helps you from being scammed

Solo Ads are great for building your list but don't just limit yourself to just using this source. I use post cards, magazine ads, Craigslist, backpage, etc. The goal is to maximize traffic to your website, get opt ins and convert to sign ups and sales. Use all the sources you can to get a TON of traffic to your site. That list will be HUGE in no time.

Hello,

Very important that you find good lists that are not only targeted for your product or service but you have good ad copy.

Best of luck!
Jeff Casmer

They can be a great way to build your list, I've used them quite successfully in the past, but like others here are saying you need to track which solo ad sellers have the best targeted traffic that convert and opt in. You want to find a list that won't just opt in but will also up your OTO. Finding a solo ad that buys your OTO can mean breaking even or even profiting right away.

Solos are good but are very expensive...in my opinion I think you should start with yearly subscription safe-list sites such as List Joe, The List Auction, ViralUrl etc...

With yearly subscriptions it is much cheaper in the long run. You are able to mail the lists entire database for a whole year (every 3 days for example) plus gives you time to work on your copy writing skills by practicing writing numerous sales copy.

Solo ads are just one way to build your list.

You can also setup banner ads on forums and blogs that are on the same subject as what you are selling, and use those banner ads to drive traffic to your site, and to an opt-in form

You can also use PPC again to drive traffic to your site to get people to buy then put them on a buyers list.

If you are willing to pay to grow your list, I would recommend PPC and Banner Ads over Solo Ads anyday.

Test couple of solo ads and how they perform after you bought the solo.

Send couple of broadcasts and test the leads first before jumping to next solo....

have some sort of offers in OTO or somewhere coz you dont want to build a flat freebie list right...

In general, how many opt-ins should you get by bying OK solo-ads, lets say for 100$?

Search for crazymarketer in this forum! He is the man on solo ads!

Regards,

Ronnie

Having success with any form of advertising paid or free depends greatly on your own ability to create a solid landing page. The only way to know for sure is through testing and tracking.

For solo ads you should start with Reed Floren's Directory here.Reed Floren's Solo Ad Directory

Then you should do some research on your niche to the kinds of traffic you're looking for and find adspace available on other people's websites and track a banner ad.

Test to see which sources convert the best for you.

IMO stay away from adfly and adbrite. To find sources for Blog Advertising go look at BlogAds or something similar to find niche related sites that offer advertising.

Don't forget to track everything!

Consider this: Spending $100 on solo ads etc, getting 10-15 opt-ins (arrest me if I am far out on this). Then spending $100 on gift/price, getting AS MANY opt-ins you want! YOU deside (by making an effort) how many you "let" in. You could build your list as you make the rules.. I cant say more right now..

Definitely agree with Mike Hill. Solo ads can result in awesome conversions, but it definitely comes down to your squeeze page. Make sure to split test everything so you know your metrics in advance.

Agreed!

The consensus seems to be that solo ads are very effective but you first need the proper foundation to take advantage of the traffic. The reason solo's work so well is because the traffic is heavily endorsed and the visitors are interested in the content.

To take full advantage of this you need to make sure that you are split testing the key aspects of your squeeze page (headline, sub-headline, bullets, etc.)

Steer clear from suspiciously low priced solo ads. They'll only bring you freebie seekers.

Solo ads are a great way to build traffic but you can't stop there you have to use a few traffic methods now to keep a consistent good traffic flow

I would definitely recommend you using solo ads to build your list real quickly! However you need to have a good funnel to be able to take full advantage of it!

BTW... There are many awesome Solo Sellers here on the warrior forum! Most of them on the classified ads section. If you need help choosing one contact me and I'll recommend you the best solo sellers out there!

Huh? Solo ads ARE targeted traffic... if you do your homework! And don't give me the old "But these people get bombarded with solo ads and therefore are not quality subscribers" because that is complete BS.

For one thing, people on one list are in fact on multiple lists because they are interested in that niche. You cannot expect to get people on your list that aren't on other people's lists even if you don't use solo ads.

Then you say "I build my own list from targeted traffic" so I am assuming you think your particular targeted traffic source is getting people on your list and those people are on no one elses?

People... using solo ads is a good way to build your list. I cannot see why it isn't. It's your job as the advertiser to do your home work on each ad source and you are in full control with how optimized your landing page is.

Some beginners way of thinking is funny because for some reason when they get a subscriber they are expecting those people to NOT be on other marketers lists.

It's all about your own marketing skills... or lack there of that will determine your results.

solos are good, but make sure you have your SP converting well, and sales funnell optimized. Otherwise it'll cost you a fortune.

There's an art to solos.

Contrary to popular belief it's not "guarnateed" or "easy".

But, it is "fast".

Make sure you can make it profitable, and look before you leap.

Solo ads are good. You will find some good companies to purchase them from in the WSO's of many people on this forum. You may have to do some testing and tracking when trying out new services. But it's definitely a great way to build a list and get sales.

I use

1) Safe-swaps website.

2) Warrior forum classified.


Both are good, but be well aware they will bring you mixed results. Some good, some bad, and other things inbetween.

But still building that list will do wonders for you business. :-)

You really need a strong front end with a good back end to make it worth it. Solo ads are pretty expensive compared to going out and advertising on google for example.

From what I've seen posted here, most people pay around $1.50-$2.50 per email and $0.50+ per click using solo ads. That's a little on the high side. You can do it cheaper with other advertising avenues, but the real difference here is the value of each person on your list.

In theory solo ads should be better because they are people who are already targeted to specific niche, but the only way you will find out which is better is to test. Spend $100 testing on google and spend $100 testing solo ads. See which one does better and more importantly, which list buys more on the back end. Then you will know if solo ads are right for you.

It's funny, in my market (Diploma of Management : AU$12 CPC) in Australia $0.50 per click would be considered an absolute bargain!

I think the cost is irrelevant if you know your numbers, as you can "force" a positive ROI by only buying traffic that you can afford.

If possible, mitigate your risk by asking for a guarantee, or get a Cost Per Lead agreement going, so that you only pay when you get a verified lead or opt-in.

If you can't do that, then as others have said here, go as cheaply as possible to test the source.

Also, if you're selling the usual "How to make $1M in 1 day by pushing 1 button" then you're probably in the wrong market anyway.

Out of curiosity, what market are you in?

it's good to start to build your list with Solo Ads, you can get targeted traffic and sales on back-end if your sales funnel is good.

Don't forget about other means of building list, such as Forum Marketing, Blogging, Social Media ( Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc), Viral Marketing.

Solos are great for testing really... but remember the people on those lists are spammed to bits.

You must treat solo's as just ONE very small, very limited traffic source.

You must have a traffic plan involving free traffic, paid traffic, banners, media, PR and many other things in order to get a good range.

Then with analytics installed you can see which traffic sources are doing the best, and which convert, etc etc.

Solo ads are just a very small traffic source, so make sure your plan goes beyond what solo's can offer.

Hi Ctutz!

You have the chance of making your initial investment back at the "FRONT END" of your sales funnel by setting up a one time offer or OTO!

If this greatly increases the value of the FREE gift and compliments it you can make slaes right away and make some money back from your money spent on the solo ad.

You can then have an UP-SELL so you can make profits from your new set up sales funnel.

You are now building your your list for FREE depending on how good your OTO and up-sell is of course.

There are also some good and not so good Solo Ads out there and I have experienced both before!

Don't think too long and just try something first and improve from there!

All the best and take action now!

hey guy's and girls thanks for the advice I was wondering how good solo were

Also keep in mind. people that sign up for free products aren't going to buy easily from you. A buyers list is more valuable. Solo ads to buyers lists are very expencive.