Solo Ads...My journey

by tapiatom

Posted: 11 years ago 42 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hello Warriors!

I started my list building journey 2 weeks ago but I actually bought a solo ad like 4 days ago.

I am not sure how the results have been due to the following facts:

1. I bought a solo ad which had a universe of 18000 subscribers
2. The cost of the ad was $110
2. The regular open rate is 10% - 15%
3. The Number of clicks around 600 - 1000.
4. My tracking was supposed to be in place but during the test it got unconfigured for technical reasons and probably my lack of experience setting up the system. (I used google experiments and it was a complete mess)

In the end I ended up with 162 subscribers on my new list, probably I'll get a couple of subscribers more. Than means that every subscriber cost around $0,7. I am not sure what to think since my tracking was a total failure and could not figure out which squeeze page was my best performer.

What I have concluded:

1. Although I thought I had learned how to do experiments properly using google I still don't understand what I did wrong and therefore I'll probably stick to prosper202 as tracking system.

2. For my next test I also need a huge universe in order to track properly my squeeze pages.

The questions I have:

Since in this venture I am a one-man show with a 9-5 job, what would you do...

1. Focus on the 162 subscribers I got at the moment since to be honest I have nothing to offer them yet as an email series or something?

2. Try to grow my list and buy more solo ads?

At this point I am tempted to focus on the few subscribers I got and offer them a good series of emails and so on following good email marketing practices but still unsure to be honest.

What do you think?

Any opinions or idea would be greately appreciated.

#journey #list buiding #solo ad #subscribers #track

typoo999 11 years ago

Hey, grow your list and make relationship with your subscribers, don't try to cold sell something to them immediately, because they won't trust you and many of them will unsubscribe. Send them useful information until they trust you and then you can sell them stuff.
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RogueOne

11 years ago

to be honest I have nothing to offer them yet as an email series or something?

You are putting the cart before the horse. You should have your sales funnel set up before you start sending traffic to it.

Thanks
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tapiatom

11 years ago

Originally Posted by RogueOne

You are putting the cart before the horse. You should have your sales funnel set up before you start sending traffic to it.

Well the thing is that my funnel is ready. I don't believe that's a problem. I was just wondering if I should focus on only those list members or grow my list more.

Thanks
1 reply

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Mike Hill

11 years ago

Originally Posted by tapiatom

Well the thing is that my funnel is ready. I don't believe that's a problem. I was just wondering if I should focus on only those list members or grow my list more.

If you funnel is good to go then your marketing should be on autopilot after they subscribe to nurture the relationship (meaning, your autoresponder is loaded with emails set to be delivered on timed intervals.)

If that is the case then concentrate on getting more subscribers into your funnel and see how your emails work out.

Your emails should also be promoting offers. Give good info along with the offers as solutions to things you specifically talk about in the content of your email. I like to have at least 50 or so emails already in my autoresponder so I can concentrate on traffic.

If you have this all in place then it should only take you about 30 minutes a day to source new traffic sources, look at your stats and make small adjustments accordingly. Not every adjustment will work in your favor but then you'll know what to do and what not to do. Do this for a few months and you will have a well oiled machine...

Once you know which affiliate products sell the best turn around and create your own product to replace the affiliate offer... Keep doing that!

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tapiatom 11 years ago

Thank you guys for your replies, all very useful indeed.

I'll put them into action and will keep this thread open in order to focus on what I have to do and as a journal of my progress, and if question arise I'll post them here in case you guys are willing to give me a helping hand. :p

Cheers!
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- tapiatom 11 years ago
  
  So, my first step will be to GET content for my emails in order to create rapport with my subscribers and generate future sales.
  
  Please notice how I say "GET" instead of write or create, why? basically because English is not my first language and I would like to get this content oustsourced. Another reason is that, and I am being brutally honest here, I hate writing. :rolleyes:
  
  Do you think getting this content this way is the way to go? I mean I have read several times you have to focus on what you do best or love doing and writing is not one of those things.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  ajsmith 11 years ago
  
  Why not subscribe to the same type of lists that you are marketing to, and see what others are doing? Just keep in mind that it's important to provide value, or people will stop opening your emails. Learn how to write good headlines too, so that you maintain a decent open rate.
  
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Warrior X 11 years ago

^^ This. And a few other things too. You should look for a good course on the subject, and learn the basics before you spend more money on solo's.
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RogueOne 11 years ago

to be honest I have nothing to offer them yet

Doesn't sound set-up to me.
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- tapiatom 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by RogueOne
  
  Doesn't sound set-up to me.
  
  Got it!...Fact is I already have a small list of subscribers, what to do with them? Perhaps get the necessary content for those and future subscribers?
  
  Thanks!
  
  Thanks
  
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sabatek 11 years ago

Look to provide value that is how you will "bond" with your list and convert(buy) as well as have them engage(click).
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gjohansson1 11 years ago

You should definitely set up some content to share with your subscribers that will help them with whatever they subscribed for in the first place.

You should also have a product to expand on that content you send. There are a ton of ways to do it. I usually send out an email explaining a problem, how to fix it, and to get the full picture I recommend a product that provides the solution.

For example, one of my lists is about the basics of listbuilding and on day 1, I teach about using squeeze pages which leads into a video training course on squeeze pages.

It's all congruent and about providing value in multiple ways to your list.
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- angela99 11 years ago
  
  tapiatom -- kudos to you for taking action. :-)
  
  Now you have subscribers, give them what they signed up to receive. Subscribers are hard to find, so once you have them, nurture them, by giving the best you can give.
  
  At the same time, you need to promote, and not be shy about it.
  
  Look on your promotions as a "... and now a word from our sponsor" commercial break. Everything is paid for in some way, and your subscribers pay you for your advice by looking at your promotion.
  
  One tip: in your "thank you for subscribing" message, ask them to tell you a little about themselves. Few list owners do this (I didn't do it either, until very recently), but any responses are valuable information.
  
  When they respond, your list members will become real people to you, and you'll discover what they want and need.
  
  In answer to your questions:
  
  1. Yes, focus on these subscribers. Create content for them.
  
  2. Yes, you should aim to grow your list. However, give it a couple of weeks until you've created some content, and have given your list a promotion or two.
  
  This will tell you a lot -- it's all feedback. Get responses, and then move forward.
  
  Again, kudos to you! Action is what counts. You took action, you've got a response, and you can build from here.
  
  Cheers
  
  Angela
  
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LOUDOU 11 years ago

Hey man,
You really need to have your email series set up already before you start sending solo`s or any traffic for that matter.

If you are list building and sending traffic to an autoresponder/optin with no sunscribers that means they are going to nothing.

What is your insentive for them to optin on the optin page? that is what you send them in the first email...You can get some good plr (other peoples products you can use) if you look around my friend...

You must fill your first 5 email follow ups at least my man... get that done first and then once its done you dont have to worry about it anymore.

As for writing, you really dont have to write a lot... Short punchy copy then offer value in the form of a free gift... thats enough...

When you promote products as an affiliate get ideas from the sales page of the affiliate. They will not kind as you are selling ther product.

Kindest regards
Louis Doughty
PS if you need a hand, send over your page and I will take a look for you
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danr62

11 years ago

So I'm guessing that you didn't even have an OTO (one time offer)or something on your thank you page so people could buy something after they first sign up, am I right?

If you had, you probably would have already made back some of your $100 before they even start getting your email series.

With an OTO optimized for conversions you could make back all of the money you spend on advertising.

Thanks
1 reply

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tapiatom

11 years ago

Originally Posted by danr62

Oh I definetely had it however decided to take it down since I did not want to start selling things to my subscribers at the very start...I might be wrong with this idea but it's just that I don't like beeing given that impression when I myself optin to a list. I feel as the person owner of that list will start hard selling things to me if you know what I mean.

Thanks
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tapiatom 11 years ago

Thanks again for your replies guys!

Ok, I am going to buy some content packages from a recognized ghostwriter...I have already done so in the past and was not disappointed.

Now, I'll break the content in parts and start sending broadcasts weekly trying to soft sell. I'll be then introducing my offer little by little so in the 3rd or 4th week I'll be presenting my first offer to my list.

How does that sound?
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writeaway 11 years ago

Learn from your mistake by using low cost providers first. Finetune your ads ad then step up to the expensive guys.
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Stuart Walker

11 years ago

1. Focus on the 162 subscribers I got at the moment since to be honest I have nothing to offer them yet as an email series or something?

2. Try to grow my list and buy more solo ads?

So why add more subscribers and have more that you have nothing to offer?

Sort out your sales funnel before you add any more subs.

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bassem 11 years ago

you should set up your follow up emails first , a sales funnel is the road from the opt-in page to making the sale , if you don't have already this up and running you can't say my sales funnel is already made .
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- RogueOne 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by bassem
  
  a sales funnel is the road from the opt-in page to making the sale
  
  It is. More completely, it is from your ad, to your last offer. It includes any upsells, downsells, your buyers list, your follow-up series and any other segments you may create.
  
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Khemba 11 years ago

For me - The system is generally to ensure that my funnel is set up for the first 7 days, during that time I will give what I believe to be useful content whilst also offering my subscriber the opportunity to purchase a quality product.

After the first 7 days - I usually go with a series of 3 quality content emails followed by 1 product offer.

For listbuilding you can just continue with the solo ad.

Hope this helps
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J Bold 11 years ago

Originally Posted by tapiatom

Hello Warriors!

.

1. Focus on the 162 subscribers I got at the moment since to be honest I have nothing to offer them yet as an email series or something?

.

Wow.

Why did you pay money for a solo ad without a plan? You should never pay money to build a list without a clear plan and sales funnel.

You should have had an OTO after they opt-in to a freebie, and you should have a series of at least 30 messages set up to go out to them over the next 20-30 days to build a relationship and offer them products, either yours or others.

As far as the opt-ins, you got a good amount for what you paid but who knows about the quality? Even with poor quality you can at least make your money back with the preparation I just described.
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- tapiatom 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by J Bold
  
  Wow.
  
  Why did you pay money for a solo ad without a plan? You should never pay money to build a list without a clear plan and sales funnel.
  
  Yup, since almost everybody has told me so I believe I have learned my lesson now.:p However I got my reasons for having proceeded the way I did and one of them is because I have suffered all my IM life from analysis paralysis, always over planning to death, so I decided to take action which seemed a bad decision too.
  
  Anyways and as I have said several times...I already have a list of 166 subscribers and there's where I'll focus on instead of growing my list anymore at the moment.
  
  Does getting outsourced content for my email series sound right?
  
  Thanks
  
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djclark 11 years ago

Sounds like every mistake I made happened to you all at once.
No business plan.
An incomplete sales funnel.
No follow-up emails.
No stats!
It's time to start plugging leaks. But on the bright side, you have an email list!
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- danapearl 11 years ago
  
  I agree that you should grow your list and make relationship with your subscribers, but you are also have to offer them something valuable after they signup and make at least few follow ups through auotresponder. That way you will have a chance to make money immediately. If you don't have your own product yet look for a good affiliate program (JVZoo or Warrior pro). Once you will earn enough you can outsource product creation and offer subscribers your own product.
  
  Dana
  
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roley 11 years ago

Wow excellent where can i buy solo ads that are NOT in the internet marketing niche?
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- tapiatom 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by roley
  
  Wow excellent where can i buy solo ads that are NOT in the internet marketing niche?
  
  It has been explained here many times mate. Try googling this:
  
  keyword+"solo ads", or keyword "newsletter", or keyword "mailing list", etc. So you try to contact those list owners and see if they would sell you a solo ad. That's how I got my first one.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  tapiatom 11 years ago
  
  Ok, here goes and update...
  
  I just set up my autoresponder series so it's ready at least for three days. I chose these follow-ups to be sent 4 days after the confirmation date and every day after that since it's a 7-day ecourse, each lesson to be delivered every tuesday, wedensday and thursday. I put an affiliate link at the end of every message closely related to the content of the course.
  
  I'll keep on adding content and then focus all my efforts on growing my list.
  
  Let's see how it goes although I am open to suggestions.
  
  Cheers!
  
  Thanks
  
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Malcolm Thomas 11 years ago

Always have your entire sales funnel setup before you begin building your list.

The most important thing to do with your subscribers is to set proper expectations.
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bluebrain 11 years ago

Why wait 3 week until presenting them your offer? In one list building course I read there was this theory that you should make an offer in the first email... that's when they are the hottest after just having opted in... in other courses it says to establish a relationship first... so I don't know which route is best cause I'm just starting with list building myself. I will test it out I guess.

Anyway 3 weeks sounds like too much I think. Besides if the offer is a really good one and it will give them results(which is the whole point of a legit offer right?) why make them wait so long for it?
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greenowl123

11 years ago

Try to get your e-mail series done for the next 3 months if possible. Offer soft sells in your messages. A good soft cell would be giving your subs a free ebook which has your affiliate link(s) in it.

Keep building your list with solo ads, YouTube videos to your squeeze page, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

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tapiatom

11 years ago

Originally Posted by greenowl123

Keep building your list with solo ads, YouTube videos to your squeeze page, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Exactly!...I'll focus first on mastering solo ads, I will then try to promote my squeeze page using other methods such as forum marketing as well.

Thanks
1 reply

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tapiatom

11 years ago

Hello guys!

I already have 184 active sign-ups from my first solo ad, meaning $0,6 per subscriber. Not sure how good is that, however if I counted in users that have not activated their subscription the cost would be even less since there are like 50 people that still are to activate although I don't believe they are going to now.

I am adding more content on the weekend and I am about to buy my next ad which isn't exactly a solo ad but more like a display ad at the top of my provider's newsletter.

At this point I have 2 questions: Would it be more effective a solo ad over a newsletter display ad? and finally what tracking system would you recommend that is free and rotates squeeze pages? For this I have tried google but not sure about it's effectiveness and simplicity of use, and prosper202 which I am more familir with.

Any ideas warriors?

Thanks
1 reply

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tapiatom

11 years ago

Originally Posted by tapiatom

Hello guys!
Would it be more effective a solo ad over a newsletter display ad? and finally what tracking system would you recommend that is free and rotates squeeze pages? For this I have tried google but not sure about it's effectiveness and simplicity of use, and prosper202 which I am more familir with.

Any ideas?

Thanks

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christiangrey Banned 11 years ago

Use low cost providers at the beginning and then look for something different.
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FitMarketer 11 years ago

Great to read about your journey so far

I would suggest looking here on the WF for sellers. There seems to be alot of people selling at review prices.

Also you may be able to read some honest and true reviews here
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mpbiz 11 years ago

If you are having trouble with google experiments then I would just go back to using prosper202, but if you can afford it switch from p202 to cpvlab. Once you get the hang of cpvlab you'll never look back.

Also, before you buy more solo ads, you need to get your autoresponder sequence setup and figure out how you're going to monetize those subscribers. If they subscribe and you don't initiate contact with them then they will become worthless over time and then when you finally do have something to send them they won't even remember who you are.

Good luck.
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MoneyKattz 11 years ago

What is the best way to set up a sales funnel of great emails that build a list? Does anyone have any thoughts?
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- tapiatom 11 years ago
  
  Thanks for your replies guys and for the suggestions. Since my niche is not really IM there aren't many solo ads I can find here in the WF I'm afraid.
  
  UPDATE:
  
  I finally inserted my clickbank affiliate link on today's newsletter and so far have had 13 hops with no sales yet.
  
  I have bought another solo ad which is more like an ad displayed in my provider's newsletter. I was told it has a reach of 60K users and on average 10K people open the emails daily. The ad is to be posted for 5 days starting next monday. The ad cost $100.
  
  THE PLAN:
  
  Next saturday when I have some time I'll add more content to my autoresponders and also today hopefully I'll set up my prosper202 to finally track and decide what my best converter squeeze page is.
  
  Let's see how it goes.
  
  Thanks.
  
  Thanks
  
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alvinchua91

11 years ago

I also have this problem, of getting constant hops on my clickbank affiliate offers or my own product, but there seems to be little to no conversion. hm. How should we improve this?

Thanks
1 reply

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tapiatom

11 years ago

Originally Posted by alvinchua91

I also have this problem, of getting constant hops on my clickbank affiliate offers or my own product, but there seems to be little to no conversion. hm. How should we improve this?

Well in my case, since the offer is a proven converter and since my list is too small it all comes down to a numbers game so I definetely need a lot more subscribers. That and lots of tracking and testing.

Thanks

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