Solo Ads - A Business Only For Sellers !! | Warrior Forum - The #1 Digital Marketing Forum & Marketplace

William2010

11 years ago

First of all, i'm sorry to hear about your experience..but before you bought the solo's from the vendors, have you checked if they have any proven results before, any testimonials?
If you go and search here on Warrior Ads section, or on Facebook Groups..you will find a lot of testimonials, and great results from people who buy solo ads..otherwise..it wouldn t be profitable for nobody. There are some sellers, taht create a bad image for this industry, but there are people which create a bad name for each niche/industry online..so..
Hopefully next time when you decide to buy solo's you will request first some testimonials..

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natnortey

11 years ago

Testimonials are the most important things you look out for when buying solos. Don't listen to what the seller tells you and don't take testimonies like, "I'm happy for my purchase, I made some profits, thanks" etc. Look out for testimonies that give figures on opt ins and click throughs and true return on investment etc.

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by natnortey

Testimonials are the most important things you look out for when buying solos. Don't listen to what the seller tells you and don't take testimonies like, "I'm happy for my purchase, I made some profits, thanks" etc. Look out for testimonies that give figures on opt ins and click throughs and true return on investment etc.

When ur dealing in small numbers and buying from people everyone has access to, this can be true.

But I can tell you from experience that I've never had a problem selling traffic and I don't even have a website up - let alone testimonials and reviews.

Yet I've sold well over half a million clicks just in the last few months alone.

The people who buy traffic from me don't want their competition knowing where they're getting their traffic from.

If I never post a testimonial anywhere ever, it won't effect me...ever.

So it's all relative...

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

I purchased solo ads and organized ad swaps only with members who had AT LEAST 50 positive ratings.

I can not imagine what it might be to arrange things with people without rating!

I'm not a fool. I am in the internet marketing for 10 years.

No I've never seen results so bad, and most importantly I have never seen so little seriousness on the part of colleagues.

How can you send traffic like that, claiming to be top tier traffic coming from the mailing list?

Obviously these people are polluting the solo ad niche ruin the mailing list of the other solo ad sellers.

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Robert Mangan

11 years ago

well, that' safe-swap for you.

Why not search on the WF for reliable vendors with lots of positive feed back from fellow WF members?

This doesn't guarantee good service or results but you're far more likely to get better results from those advertising here on the WF rather than over at safe-swap.

When I started out building my list through purchasing solo ads and swapping I joined safe-swaps but left after just one month so, I'm not surprised when I hear myore reports like yours.

Robert

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greenowl123

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Robert Mangan

well, that' safe-swap for you.

When I started out building my list through purchasing solo ads and swapping I joined safe-swaps but left after just one month so, I'm not surprised when I hear myore reports like yours.

Robert

Wish I had been smart enough to leave after just one month... I stayed there for about 4 or 5 months...

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IanM723

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Robert Mangan

well, that' safe-swap for you.

Why not search on the WF for reliable vendors with lots of positive feed back from fellow WF members?

This doesn't guarantee good service or results but you're far more likely to get better results from those advertising here on the WF rather than over at safe-swap.

When I started out building my list through purchasing solo ads and swapping I joined safe-swaps but left after just one month so, I'm not surprised when I hear myore reports like yours.

Robert

Robert

Wow...I am very surprised by your comments. I have always heard that Safe-Swaps was THE place to go for safe, reliable solo ads. But your comments and now those of the OP are making me rethink that.

I definitely like your advice about searching right here on the WF though. I am definitely gonna take your advice. Thanks.

Ian

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

What I do not understand is this ... How you can get 100 ... 200 ... or many more positive feedback on the sale of solos or to ad swap ... with that kind of traffic???

In the case of one ad swap, even your traffic must suck ...

In case of purchase of a solo, you can leave a positive feedback if you do not understand anything about traffic and internet marketing.

I think Safe Swaps is based on that. Ignorance of its members!

The one business that you can start is the sale of clicks!

I do not believe much in the solos for this reason ... is not so difficult to reach an EPC (earn per click) of $ 0.60 / $ 0.80 per click.

If you sell your mail traffic to $ 0.25 / $ 0.35 per click is because the traffic is not worth anything (or at least not worth more than sold).

Ther is NO reason to sell the traffic of own mailing list if you can have a good EPC with marketing (which means having QUALITY traffic).

If you have a list with 50% traffic India, and have shared subscribers with other 100 people... then the only possible business is the sale of clicks (SOLO AD SELLER).

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Ben_Doyle

11 years ago

If someone owns a responsive and profitable list, why would they sell that traffic and not keep it for themselves?

Doesn't make sense to me, unless they're selling that traffic for a substantial amount.

Unfortunately, most of the time the solo ad sellers are the only ones making the money.

I wouldn't sell my lust that's for sure.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ben_Doyle

If someone owns a responsive and profitable list, why would they sell that traffic and not keep it for themselves?

Doesn't make sense to me, unless they're selling that traffic for a substantial amount.

Unfortunately, most of the time the solo ad sellers are the only ones making the money.

I wouldn't sell my lust that's for sure.

This is also my thought!

And I think that anyone who tries to argue otherwise ... is one of those clicks sellers that can not be called internet marketer!

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ben_Doyle

If someone owns a responsive and profitable list, why would they sell that traffic and not keep it for themselves?

Doesn't make sense to me, unless they're selling that traffic for a substantial amount.

Unfortunately, most of the time the solo ad sellers are the only ones making the money.

I wouldn't sell my lust that's for sure.

Some people build some lists purely for monetization purposes.

Selling off clicks has more certainty than testing offers. You get xx per click so you know exactly how much you're going to make with the traffic you deliver.

It's not the only stream for many, but a good one.

However, some solo sellers build their lists purely by buying solos from their peers or doing swaps. So essentially, as is the case for most vendors in Safeswaps and sites like it, their sharing the same pool of data. The data becomes diluted and the more diluted it becomes, the less responsive it is.

I'm even in some skype rooms where hte sellers will request swaps, then in the same room and evne in the same day will say "i have 200 clicks for sale" lol

It's funny to watch - and pathetic at the same time.

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josephwilson86 11 years ago

This is what I have wondeted. If its profitable for me to sell to these people despite the mark up why wouldnt they just sell to them directly instead of settling for the piddly spread on a few hundred clicks.

That being said I have found one so far that is profitabke for me to run through my bim funnel and a few that are not.
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RichBeck

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ben_Doyle

If someone owns a responsive and profitable list, why would they sell that traffic and not keep it for themselves?

Doesn't make sense to me, unless they're selling that traffic for a substantial amount.

Unfortunately, most of the time the solo ad sellers are the only ones making the money.

I wouldn't sell my lust that's for sure.

Ben,

That 100% correct......

If you read the bulk of "Solo Ad Seller's" sales page, they guarantee one thing...

Clicks....

In fact, right now.... I'm creating a video about "Solo Ads" for my new Coaching program.... It will be an eye opener.

All The Best,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by RichBeck

Ben,

That 100% correct......

If you read the bulk of "Solo Ad Seller's" sales page, they guarantee one thing...

Clicks....

In fact, right now.... I'm creating a video about "Solo Ads" for my new Coaching program.... It will be an eye opener.

All The Best,

Rich Beck BCIP, MCSD, MCIS

I'm with you brother!

Share here with us the link to your video!

Thanks.

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makie

11 years ago

I can agree that there are a lot of fonies out there selling solo ads but there are also some sellers that have amazing traffic to sell. I have made some good money with solo ad traffic I will admit that I have had some bad solo ads, so what I do is never give them my business again.

It sucks that that is the way your experience started with solo ads if that would have happend to me I might feel the same way. Luckily I saw a front end sale on my first solo ad and many more sales after that solo ad.

Another thing you want to make sure your lead page is good. If you page is not getting leads, it could be the traffic and it could be your page. You need to test out different pages and see what works. Also have a good sales funnel even if its just selling a product on your thank you page.

My advice would be not to give up, out of everything I tried online, Solo ads have been the way to go for me.

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Walter Cyclid

11 years ago

Originally Posted by makie

I can agree that there are a lot of fonies out there selling solo ads but there are also some sellers that have amazing traffic to sell. I have made some good money with solo ad traffic I will admit that I have had some bad solo ads, so what I do is never give them my business again.

It sucks that that is the way your experience started with solo ads if that would have happend to me I might feel the same way. Luckily I saw a front end sale on my first solo ad and many more sales after that solo ad.

Why are you saying this? StexM is absolutely right. Solo ads don't work. Placing a solo is useless.

Here is the thing. I myself fell for the solo ads pitches and claims when I first started internet marketing also. Unlike some who place an ad and then just give up when they don't make a boatload of money, I tried many different ad copy. Many were different variations of my own. Some were done by gurus I hired who are very good at ad copy.

I also tried many different solo ad ezines.

I also tried different objectives. Some to get a click to an affiliate link (not necessarily a sale), some to get opt ins, some to get to a download link for a freebie, etc.

I also did everything and followed all the advice of many of the gurus, which were things like place inexpensive ads first to test the ad or the ezine. Subscribe to the ezine first and watch what you get in your inbox, that sort of thing.

In short, I tried anything and everything with solo ads and spent quite a bit of money that could have gone to something else, and never got one sale or opt in, period.

I would say if you want traffic or opt ins, try anything but solo ads.

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M3C

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Walter Cyclid

Why are you saying this? StexM is absolutely right. Solo ads don't work. Placing a solo is useless. .

A solo add is just a term.

Solo adds can work incredibly well, people are making huge money with them.

The problem is the version of solo adds that's popularized here on the WF which amounts to a bunch of guys whoring out tired subscribers in the same niche to so many people you couldn't wring out a sale if you were giving money away.

I've rented people lists in the past and made $20 in 4 days, that's all a solo add is.

It's not the model that's the problem, it's the source and the cheer leading going on on the WF from certain parties who are doing "training" on it etc.

It's just hugely misleading.

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nicheblogger75

11 years ago

Originally Posted by M3C

A solo add is just a term.

Solo adds can work incredibly well, people are making huge money with them.

The problem is the version of solo adds that's popularized here on the WF which amounts to a bunch of guys whoring out tired subscribers in the same niche to so many people you couldn't wring out a sale if you were giving money away.

I've rented people lists in the past and made $20 in 4 days, that's all a solo add is.

It's not the model that's the problem, it's the source and the cheer leading going on on the WF from certain parties who are doing "training" on it etc.

It's just hugely misleading.

I do agree with some of the points you've made here. I think in the beginning when solo ads were just starting to become a viable means of paid traffic, they probably worked wonderfully.

And I'm by no means bashing sites like Safe Swaps when it comes to just that - ad swaps. I've added thousands of great subscribers from that site through ad swaps and also developed many relationships with marketers on there that have led to other forms of JV's like download page swaps, banner ad swaps, funnel click swaps, and even collaborations on products.

I would highly recommend a membership to that site just for the networking value alone. However, as far as the solo ad sellers on that site, I think there could be a definite problem. I know that there are many sellers over there selling 3 or more solos per day to their lists. That brings to mind the "whoring" comment someone made earlier. I think that word fits for anyone who is selling more than 2-3 solos per week.

I've just been going over my records and in the last 30 days I have purchased 23 solos from there. The results have not been very good. I bought 200 clicks just a few days ago and that solo just finished. I sent the traffic to my absolute best squeeze page which converts around 51%. That means I should have seen close to 100 new subscribers. Well, I got 11 subscribers and 0 sales. I think that says it all.

I'll continue to buy solos only because I want to try and find just a few good sellers who I can develop a regular relationship with. That's all I'm really looking for. If I could find 5 good sellers who would sell me 1 solo each per week, I could have 20 nice solos per month. This, however, is much easier said than done.

It's too bad that it's gotten so played out. I still cannot understand why anyone would resort to selling tons of solos instead of monetizing their list the right way by sending out great content and incorporating product promos into the content. That's what I've been doing with great success since I started building my list in 2008.

I was also lucky enough to have an awesome mentor who showed me what to do out of the goodness of his heart and would never take money from me even when I tried to pay him.

I know that there have also been many training products out out that teach you how to buy cheap clicks from mobile and CPA networks and then raise the click price and sell the solos on Safe Swaps. Recently they deleted a lot of accounts of people who were doing this. I believe the term used for this is "solo arbitrage". Evidently the traffic is junk and lots of buyers complained. It's these types of things that make me think that maybe Safe Swaps is not really all that "safe" when it comes to solo buying. Great site for ad swapping, however.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by nicheblogger75

I do agree with some of the points you've made here. I think in the beginning when solo ads were just starting to become a viable means of paid traffic, they probably worked wonderfully.

And I'm by no means bashing sites like Safe Swaps when it comes to just that - ad swaps. I've added thousands of great subscribers from that site through ad swaps and also developed many relationships with marketers on there that have led to other forms of JV's like download page swaps, banner ad swaps, funnel click swaps, and even collaborations on products.

I would highly recommend a membership to that site just for the networking value alone. However, as far as the solo ad sellers on that site, I think there could be a definite problem. I know that there are many sellers over there selling 3 or more solos per day to their lists. That brings to mind the "whoring" comment someone made earlier. I think that word fits for anyone who is selling more than 2-3 solos per week.

I've just been going over my records and in the last 30 days I have purchased 23 solos from there. The results have not been very good. I bought 200 clicks just a few days ago and that solo just finished. I sent the traffic to my absolute best squeeze page which converts around 51%. That means I should have seen close to 100 new subscribers. Well, I got 11 subscribers and 0 sales. I think that says it all.

I'll continue to buy solos only because I want to try and find just a few good sellers who I can develop a regular relationship with. That's all I'm really looking for. If I could find 5 good sellers who would sell me 1 solo each per week, I could have 20 nice solos per month. This, however, is much easier said than done.

It's too bad that it's gotten so played out. I still cannot understand why anyone would resort to selling tons of solos instead of monetizing their list the right way by sending out great content and incorporating product promos into the content. That's what I've been doing with great success since I started building my list in 2008.

I was also lucky enough to have an awesome mentor who showed me what to do out of the goodness of his heart and would never take money from me even when I tried to pay him.

I know that there have also been many training products out out that teach you how to buy cheap clicks from mobile and CPA networks and then raise the click price and sell the solos on Safe Swaps. Recently they deleted a lot of accounts of people who were doing this. I believe the term used for this is "solo arbitrage". Evidently the traffic is junk and lots of buyers complained. It's these types of things that make me think that maybe Safe Swaps is not really all that "safe" when it comes to solo buying. Great site for ad swapping, however.

Safe Swaps is not good even for swaps.

Is full of people who do not deliver traffic, people who deliver BOT traffic, and people that delivery third world traffic.

If you organize an ad swaps on Safe Swaps, you give away quality subscribers and you receive zero value in return (if you are lucky to get anything!).

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nicheblogger75

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Safe Swaps is not good even for swaps.

Is full of people who do not deliver traffic, people who deliver BOT traffic, and people that delivery third world traffic.

If you organize an ad swaps on Safe Swaps, you give away quality subscribers and you receive zero value in return (if you are lucky to get anything!).

I have to say I disagree with that. Some of the things you have said are in fact true. There are scammers lurking around there. However, there are scammers lurking here on this forum and just about anywhere else there is money to be made.

I have been a member of Safe Swaps for a while and in that time I have developed many good swapping partners. Just yesterday I had a swap that added almost 150 subscribers to my list and resulted in 8 OTO sales of a $9.95 product.

I can completely understand why you might feel the way you do. If you are a new member to Safe Swaps and you set up swaps with a few of the wrong people it can definitely leave a bad taste in your mouth.

However, they have put many systems in place to weed out the bots, proxies, and other forms of fake traffic. Not to mention there is a double blind feedback system in place so you can see whether or not the individual has received negative ratings from others.

Yes, you're right in saying that from time to time you are going to give away good subscribers and get bad ones in return. It certainly does happen. Just as you will get a bad solo from time to time. With solos over there I will have to admit that lately I have gotten more bad than good.

Don't be so quick to condemn ad swaps. If you take the time to develop a few good relationships and set up swaps with those individuals I think you might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

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writeaway

11 years ago

There are a lot more vendors out there. Your best bet would be to buy small lots from a wide range of vendors then comparing your results. Buy bigger lots from those that produce some results. Pick the best and buy even bigger lots. Drive the traffic to your own list.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by writeaway

There are a lot more vendors out there. Your best bet would be to buy small lots from a wide range of vendors then comparing your results. Buy bigger lots from those that produce some results. Pick the best and buy even bigger lots. Drive the traffic to your own list.

I hate to throw money.

But I guess I'll have to do to find the ideal suppliers.

I think I should stay away from safe swaps.

Right?

Thanks.

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writeaway 11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

I hate to throw money.

The problem is you can't find out which are the best sources unless you try them out or you get some sort of advanced warning courtesy of consistent negative reviews. There are many other sources out there besides safe swaps.
And it takes money to build a serious list. You have to start somewhere. My advice was only that you start in a smart, methodical, and systematic way.
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lotsofsnow

11 years ago

I tested solo ads recently.

I did buy 1 solo ad where I paid $50 for 100 clicks. I received about 200 clicks plus made 2 sales. It resulted in over 100 subscribers. So basically I got all those subscribers for free.

When I went back to the same solo ad seller I learned that he no longer is selling solo ads.

Makes sense. With a list like that he can make more money if he promotes affiliate offers or his own products.

So, I went ahead and bought solo ads from 7 different sellers.

I did not make a single sale with 350 clicks.

Long story short:

Solo ads do work but it looks like they only work if you want to get freebie type subscribers.

If a subscriber is happy to click does not mean that they are going to buy.

For the time being I am not buying solo ads. Maybe I give it another try in a couple months but for now it's not for me.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by hpgoodboy

I tested solo ads recently.

I did buy 1 solo ad where I paid $50 for 100 clicks. I received about 200 clicks plus made 2 sales. It resulted in over 100 subscribers. So basically I got all those subscribers for free.

When I went back to the same solo ad seller I learned that he no longer is selling solo ads.

Makes sense. With a list like that he can make more money if he promotes affiliate offers or his own products.

So, I went ahead and bought solo ads from 7 different sellers.

I did not make a single sale with 350 clicks.

Long story short:

Solo ads do work but it looks like they only work if you want to get freebie type subscribers.

If a subscriber is happy to click does not mean that they are going to buy.

For the time being I am not buying solo ads. Maybe I give it another try in a couple months but for now it's not for me.

If a mailing list is able to bring sales, owner hardly wants to "share" subscribers with of other sellers in the same niche!

If Nike has a list of buyers or potential buyers, hardly they'll "rent" the contacts to Adidas!

This is my thought, but I believe that everything can correspond to the truth, and the results are confirming the bad.

We're not just talking about junk traffic ... but we also talk about dishonest people who sell bot traffic or traffic that coming from who knows where!

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lotsofsnow

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

If a mailing list is able to bring sales, owner hardly wants to "share" subscribers with of other sellers in the same niche!

If Nike has a list of buyers or potential buyers, hardly they'll "rent" the contacts to Adidas!

This is my thought, but I believe that everything can correspond to the truth, and the results are confirming the bad.

We're not just talking about junk traffic ... but we also talk about dishonest people who sell bot traffic or traffic that coming from who knows where!

No, that is not the problem.

Actually a list gets better the more it is used.

And as a matter of fact you can rent mailing lists from many very large companies.

No, the problem with solo ads: They are dirt cheap.

Look, as a solo ad provider get $0.25 to $0.75 per click. That is for shitty traffic. People that just click.

But: If that solo ad provider would have a great list he can send traffic to affiliate offers and make $1, $2, $5 per click. Yes, that is what a good list can bring in. And if he has his own product he can make even more.

So, moral of the story: You can buy solo ads and pay $0.25 to $0.50 per click and you get what you pay for (if you are lucky that is).

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tanbanners 11 years ago

I have found a lot of Solo ad sellers are not very good at all.
Choose carefully who you purchase from.
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SteveSki 11 years ago

There are lots of scoundrels in the list business.

Back in 1990 I got to know a guy who made a small fortune selling peel and stick mailing labels to MLM distributors. His Unique Selling Proposition was he would give you double your money back plus postage for each undeliverable envelope returned to him. Most of his competitors at that time only offered to replace any bad addresses with several extra free names.

So JR Ditto (his real name) would ask his prospects why replace bad names and addresses with more bad names and addresses?… He tell them… Money talks and BS walks. Buy from me and I’ll refund you double your money back plus postage for any undeliverable.

People bought from him like crazy… but his dirty little trick was each of his address labels were worded like this: John Doe 123 Main Street Anytown, USA or current resident.

Bingo… 100% deliverable addresses.

Back in the early 90's he use to advertise in the classified section of USA Today... but he called it Deep Sea Fishing - Trolling For Suckers .

If you ever run across him on the Internet… Run as fast as you can… last I heard about him was someone thought they heard he was teaching a school for scoundrels and Solo Ad sellers because he discovered the Internet.

But it may not have been the traffic you purchased...

First you could have purchased only tier one traffic and paid for the mailing with a Visa card. Then if the Solo Seller didn't deliver what was promised you could call Visa and get your money back.

Never, pay a Solo Ad seller that you have haven't done business with before by PayPal… and remember… even the best traffic in the world is useless if your offer doesn't convert.

Cheers,
Steve Ski
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beasty513

11 years ago

There are some snake oil salemen lurking

in the Solo Ad space.

I agree that Safe-Swaps has mostly junk traffic and are

just as effective as a traffic exchange.

Keep testing, comparing and digging for the gold.

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htothez

11 years ago

Lots of people say it's the quickest way to build your own list, but it's highly variable on who that person is. Try to network with the person and find out a bit about who they are and what they do before putting in an order. I've had bad experiences and OK experiences, but I still tend to spend my efforts on PPC. Always test small...

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John_3771

11 years ago

To me, the solo ad industry is made up mostly of phonies. The only reason that they sell clicks is because most of their subscribers are freebie seekers and they know this. If their visitors were worth as much as they claim, they would build a good relationship with them and be an affiliate marketer. There are all kinds of highly converting products, especially in the MMO niche. It's a pump and dump strategy for a lot of these people, you build the list quickly and cheaply and sell clicks. Yeah, you maybe deliver on the click part, but that can be a meaningless stat.

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Jeff Casmer

11 years ago

Hello,

I am sorry you have not had the experience you desired with solo ads. As a provider for almost 12 years I know customer satisfaction is crucial but most importantly?

Good match with in your niche, good traffic (doesnt have to be all from one country), great product or service to promote...AND...

Good Ad Copy with a call to action....its essential.....

Best wishes!
Jeff Casmer

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Is a bit like playing roulette in short...

You have to throw to the wind a little bit of money to be able to find something good.

Not for me ... I have checked sources that can bring me good traffic constantly.

Was just curiosity, because I like to try everything.

But I do not like to throw money and time.

Thanks at all!

Thanks
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jamesmol 11 years ago

I recently bought a solo from safe swaps. "Their System" showed all the clicks delivered, but I did not get a single click.

When I complained, they basically just told me that the clicks were delivered. I must have wasted a week and tons of emails back and forth only to get no joy.

I will never buy another solo from safe swaps.
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elidean 11 years ago

Yes it took a while to find one decent provider , most of the traffic is crap
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lotsofsnow

11 years ago

There is one option though that does work: buying real solo ads.

What I mean with that is to buy solo ads from people that have real lists.

1 Million to 25 Million subscribers.

You basically pay per email send or per opened email. You can also work out a price per click.

These lists are from companies that have larger web properties like for example greeting card sites.

The advantage: they have no time to play silly games. They send out your ad and you get what you get. Once the test buy shows good results you can roll it out to more.

The test buy is usually $1,000 to $2,500 and if you really talk to them you can get it for $500. The test buy that is.

You have to test the landing page and the offer and the subject line and the email but fake clicks are usually not part of the equation. Also you can target by demographics and you can target by country. No playing around with "70% top tier BS".

This is the type of solo ads that does work.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by hpgoodboy

There is one option though that does work: buying real solo ads.

What I mean with that is to buy solo ads from people that have real lists.

1 Million to 25 Million subscribers.

You basically pay per email send or per opened email. You can also work out a price per click.

These lists are from companies that have larger web properties like for example greeting card sites.

The advantage: they have no time to play silly games. They send out your ad and you get what you get. Once the test buy shows good results you can roll it out to more.

The test buy is usually $1,000 to $2,500 and if you really talk to them you can get it for $500. The test buy that is.

You have to test the landing page and the offer and the subject line and the email but fake clicks are usually not part of the equation. Also you can target by demographics and you can target by country. No playing around with "70% top tier BS".

This is the type of solo ads that does work.

Really a great advise!

Someone can give me the names (and URL if possibile) of companies that offer this type of service?

I remember having negotiated the price of a solo with one of these companies ... but I have not bought because the figure was far too greedy.

I'll try again.

Thanks
2 replies

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amalrichard 11 years ago

I like to tell you that. Safe swap is a Good platform for Solo ads but i like to suggest you use the keyword in Google. As per Nich. you can search in Google like this "Your nich(Product or Service) + Ezin or Newsletter) You can find n number of websites. Just contact the Site owners and request for SOLO ads. Just tell them that you are expecting the SOLO for Cheap rate. they would be ready to give you SOLO ads. Thats a Good plateform to get more clicks and sales. its Working for many Marketing Guru's. Why don you try this.
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ZedD

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Really a great advise!

Someone can give me the names (and URL if possibile) of companies that offer this type of service?

I remember having negotiated the price of a solo with one of these companies ... but I have not bought because the figure was far too greedy.

I'll try again.

PCHGamesNetwork is a massive online consumer network featuring games, contests, and surveys. Many of their customers play to win cash or expensive prizes, so their list segments are suitable for BizOpp & MMO kinda thing, but not limited to that.

Another big one is MyPoints. It's incentive email marketing with deep demographic data and extremely high response rates. Their subscribers basically wanna shop, earn & get rewards. So again, BizOpp, MMO, & trading can be a good match.

But to be frank, those traffic cost a lot & I haven't reach that level yet. Need more solid funnel

. If you're not happy with Safe-swap, other sources with almost that range of price (slightly more expensive than SafeSwap, but with better results in my experience) DedicatedEmails & Harris Fellman's IMEntourage.

My mentor sometimes use CPA networks like MaxBounty & DiabloMedia, & even DirentoryOfEzines. But I haven't finish trying the basic ones, yet. I also found many solo ad directories compiled by experienced marketers for themselves and their students.

There are also a lot of FB Groups & Skype chatrooms dedicated to solo ads & ad swap. You can use the search engine. There are plenty of sellers to try. Whatever it is, please read the testimonials carefully. Up till now I only tried sellers with rave reviews. But it turns out not all of them get me good results.

All the best

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Ben Gordon

11 years ago

I personally hate solos and would NEVER endorse them to students.

Here are my reasons:

1) It's expensive ($0.30 - $0.80 per click) - with PPC you can easily get 5 cent targeted clicks without much effort if you use proper techniques.
2) Low quality traffic - compared to PPC... extremely low quality! Most solos are basically exchanged emails between 50-100 marketers who buy solos themselves to build their list or do adswaps. When you do too many adswaps or solos, those emails end up on too many lists and become low quality and unresponsive.
3) On the run - you constantly need to keep searching for new solos, otherwise your business won't be making money.

All in all, solos are one of the world's WORST ways to build a list and drive traffic. They are a lazy marketer's way of getting around traffic generation and the steep learning curve and just "buying easy traffic".

If marketers took the hard route and steep learning curve and actually learned how to do Facebook, adwords, bing and media buys properly then they would be FAR more successful than they are now. With PPC - you can always scale.. if something works, it's gonna work for a damn long time and it's gonna work better and better with optimization.

Thanks
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ZedD

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ben Gordon

I personally hate solos and would NEVER endorse them to students.

Here are my reasons:

1) It's expensive ($0.30 - $0.80 per click) - with PPC you can easily get 5 cent targeted clicks without much effort if you use proper techniques.
2) Low quality traffic - compared to PPC... extremely low quality! Most solos are basically exchanged emails between 50-100 marketers who buy solos themselves to build their list or do adswaps. When you do too many adswaps or solos, those emails end up on too many lists and become low quality and unresponsive.
3) On the run - you constantly need to keep searching for new solos, otherwise your business won't be making money.

I got to agree with you #1 & #3. With solo ads it takes a lot of time & money to find the reliable ones. Regarding #2, I found FB ad traffic harder to convert. Tried Adwords before, but didn't get the approval.

Had better success with small media buys. Correct me if I'm wrong. If you buy banner ad space directly from the site owner, most of them are CPM, right? If not, do you know any website which offer PPC banner ad space?

Also. any PPC banner networks you recommend?

Thanks
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Ben Gordon

11 years ago

Originally Posted by ZedD

I got to agree with you #1 & #3. With solo ads it takes a lot of time & money to find the reliable ones. Regarding #2, I found FB ad traffic harder to convert. Tried Adwords before, but didn't get the approval.

Had better success with small media buys. Correct me if I'm wrong. If you buy banner ad space directly from the site owner, most of them are CPM, right? If not, do you know any website which offer PPC banner ad space?

Also. any PPC banner networks you recommend?

The reason I find solos low quality traffic is because usually the subscribers you get from solos are already on at least 10 other people's lists. Some of the marketers on those 10+ lists SPAM the hell out of these people and your subscribers therefore become immune to paid offers and also unresponsive with time.

With PPC, your subscribers are FRESH traffic and most of them are on no list or a maximum of a few lists. These subscribers are actually VALUABLE. You can make a whole lot more from the subscribers you get through PPC than solos.

Facebook is a special PPC network, and you have to target audiences appropriately in order to get good results. Using proper settings is another contribution to success. It would be impossible for me to outline everything you need to know about facebook in this post. I have courses and coaching out there to teach that.

In regards to banner ads - I don't do much of that any more. Just media buys. But those require a few grand at minimum to start off. I usually buy media buys that start with $5k and ones that go up to $50k. With banners though, it's as simple as going up to a website owner with the target audience you want and asking him/her how much they make with adsense. Then just offering them a little more to get your ad up there. Obviously that's somewhat the tip of the iceberg, but that's the idea.

Thanks

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Pandawdy

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Ben Gordon

I personally hate solos and would NEVER endorse them to students.

Here are my reasons:

1) It's expensive ($0.30 - $0.80 per click) - with PPC you can easily get 5 cent targeted clicks without much effort if you use proper techniques.
2) Low quality traffic - compared to PPC... extremely low quality! Most solos are basically exchanged emails between 50-100 marketers who buy solos themselves to build their list or do adswaps. When you do too many adswaps or solos, those emails end up on too many lists and become low quality and unresponsive.
3) On the run - you constantly need to keep searching for new solos, otherwise your business won't be making money.

All in all, solos are one of the world's WORST ways to build a list and drive traffic. They are a lazy marketer's way of getting around traffic generation and the steep learning curve and just "buying easy traffic".

If marketers took the hard wrote and steep learning curve and actually learned how to do Facebook, adwords, bing and media buys properly then they would be FAR more successful than they are now. With PPC - you can always scale.. if something works, it's gonna work for a damn long time and it's gonna work better and better with optimization.

How can someone get five cent targeted clicks?

Thanks

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Coby

11 years ago

Solo ads is like any paid traffic source - you have to test, tweak and keep records...

Many folks have said the exact same things about PPC or PPV or Media buys. Are there bad solo ad vendors? Absolutely? Are there poor converting PPC/PPV campaigns. Definitely!

Does that mean that one is better than the other? Not necessarily.

Do people make money with solo ads? You bet! Do people make money with other paid traffic sources! Absolutely! Are there people that have lost money with solo ads and PPV/PPC/Media buys? You bet!

There was a point in my career where I was purchasing a solo ad every single day - with the majority of these being through Safe Swaps... I would break even (or make a profit) on almost every single one of those solo ads because I have a really good sales funnel. Did I lose money on some solo ads, of course, but if you are keeping records then it's easy to never do business with that person again. Same as if you had an unsuccessful PPC campaign, you will likely either scrap it or tweak it to be more successful.

I do agree that the solo ad world can be very volatile and has it's share of scammers. But if you keep records of the "good" traffic and of the "bad" traffic then you will have better results in the end.

I've been a member at safe swaps for about 3 years (I don't sell solo ads though) and I've found it to be a very helpful place. Especially now as you can get a breakdown of the type of traffic being sent (by country) before you even contact the person about buying a solo ad from them.

You have to keep your traffic source in mind when you are paying for traffic. If you feel like the traffic is mostly "freebie seekers" then you should adjust your funnel accordingly. I mean we were all "freebie seekers" at some point. You have to be the person that stands out and helps get them to the next level. If you do this then they will for sure buy from you and stay a customer for a long time (at least this is true for my business).

Look at the whole picture and consider how to use the traffic effectively. That's what being a marketer is.

Good luck and sorry you had bad first experience with solo ads.

Cheers,
Coby

P.S. For solo ads outside the "IM niche" you can check http://www.arcamax.com/mediacenter/advertising

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Raydal

11 years ago

One of my copywriting clients makes some solid cash by testing
solo ads providers and then selling the information on which lists are best
while creating his own. So he gets burnt to prevent his clients
from getting burnt. Not a bad business model to follow.

So rather than the guessing on who will rip you off you know
that you are getting to use a reputable list.

-Ray Edwards

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IanGreenwood

11 years ago

Very interesting post and results.

I have a couple of comments

1. I take it you are talking about ad swaps here, and not media buying. i.e. purchasing a solo ad run in an established newsletter or ezine?

As I'm assuming it's the former, a better way to do it is to sign up the list owner as an affiliate rather than just swapping ads. Then if you fail to make any headway with their list then they fail to make any profit. Anyone who does not want to sign up as an affiliate - simply walk away from them. They obviously have no confidence in their own traffic.

Anyone with a good responsive list will gladly sign up as an affiliate before driving their list to your offer. Most list owners who have good, responsive, clean, lists wont offer any sort of ad swap in my experience. I know I don't, never have, and never will.

2. This just underlines the importance of tracking results at every stage. I know testing and tracking isn't cool, sexy, or hot, but it is required and this just underlines the importance. Testing and tracking is like the black arts. No one ever talks about it, but everyone knows they should be taking notice of it.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Very valuable IMHO :-)

Thanks

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Matthew Trujillo

11 years ago

Solo ads work, but you have to be really picky about who you work with. Most vendors sell junk traffic, and might have many many endorsements from big names, but then when you buy from them suddenly the traffic is all garbage. So they lure you into buying their junk and the only person who ends up making money is them in the end. Even if you get a bunch of opt ins, let's not forget the type of subscribers these are, these are guys that are getting constantly bombarded every single day with offers. Is this your target audience? I'd rather have a small responsive list, than a giant list of tire kickers any day of the week.

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Raimundas M

11 years ago

Solo ads do work. Yes, there are sellers with junk traffic and most of the time it's a hit or miss game, but..

You also need to think about the audience that reads these emails.

Who are they?

Most of the time they are either:
Completely new to internet marketing
broke
retired
have some kind of disability

Now think about what those people are looking for?
Get rich quick product
One click software
Done for you business
Automated business in a box

Stuff that doesn't require:
time
money
technical experience

If you can give them that - they will pay for it.

I have been using safe-swaps for a while and I had an offer that
I'm almost always managed to break even on the front end
and even make money (go in green).

That's just on the front end.

Offers that are targeted to already experienced marketers rearly work.
Unless the seller is using his main list, but that rearly happens.
Even though I had some solo ads that brought me insanely quality traffic.

But yes, this is a business.

For premium traffic you will pay premium price or most of the time they don't even sell solos.

Thanks

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Moneymaker2012

11 years ago

StexM,
I am really sorry to hear about you bad experience with solo ads.I know that most of the people selling clicks actually selling trash.When buying solo's first read there reviews that good review means good traffic less spam.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Moneymaker2012

StexM,
I am really sorry to hear about you bad experience with solo ads.I know that most of the people selling clicks actually selling trash.When buying solo's first read there reviews that good review means good traffic less spam.

I assure you that I bought from people with an excellent reputation.

Buying solo ads you can receive bot traffic, other times you get traffic from proxies, sometimes receive mobile or third world traffic (Africa, Indonesia, etc..).

In the best case you can get a 35% of U.S. traffic and traffic the rest of the third world.

You will understand that it is difficult to monetize this traffic, whereas if you buy 1000 clicks for $ 350 and only 30% of that traffic will be from U.S..

You'll get only 300 real clicks, clicks of people who are daily bombarded with emails and spam.

How can you monetize this traffic? How can you recover the investment

IT'S IMPOSSIBILE... now i know it!

Otherwise it explains the fact why the "big names" in this sector monetize own sales funnel (and its traffic) simply by selling their traffic!

We want to make a name?

The famous "John" who invented the solo ads industry ..

He do a free coaching to a couple of students to which resells the traffic of his list and the traffic of his sales funnel.

In turn, these poor fools will find other idiots to whom they will sell their clicks. This can go on forever ...

Almost looks like a solo ads MLM!

This is NOT an ethical business, and it is not a sustainable business.

This guys use the people on the list as a source of clicks, often they SPAM them, and delude their students to create an ethical and durable business.

Why is this "John" doesn't real marketing selling own products and services, or participating in any affiliate contest?

Meditate people ... meditate!

Thanks
1 reply

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

I assure you that I bought from people with an excellent reputation.

Buying solo ads you can receive bot traffic, other times you get traffic from proxies, sometimes receive mobile or third world traffic (Africa, Indonesia, etc..).

In the best case you can get a 35% of U.S. traffic and traffic the rest of the third world.

You will understand that it is difficult to monetize this traffic, whereas if you buy 1000 clicks for $ 350 and only 30% of that traffic will be from U.S..

You'll get only 300 real clicks, clicks of people who are daily bombarded with emails and spam.

How can you monetize this traffic? How can you recover the investment

IT'S IMPOSSIBILE... now i know it!

Otherwise it explains the fact why the "big names" in this sector monetize own sales funnel (and its traffic) simply by selling their traffic!

We want to make a name?

The famous "John" who invented the solo ads industry ..

He do a free coaching to a couple of students to which resells the traffic of his list and the traffic of his sales funnel.

In turn, these poor fools will find other idiots to whom they will sell their clicks. This can go on forever ...

Almost looks like a solo ads MLM!

This is NOT an ethical business, and it is not a sustainable business.

This guys use the people on the list as a source of clicks, often they SPAM them, and delude their students to create an ethical and durable business.

Why is this "John" doesn't real marketing selling own products and services, or participating in any affiliate contest?

Meditate people ... meditate!

You're just vomiting crap now at this point stex.

Solo ads are effective. You just need to buy good ones. Unfortunately you will run through a bunch of bad ones. Remember, there are only 4 Aces in a deck of cards. Lots of 2s, 3s, some Jacks and Jokers.

It's a numbers game.

The famous "John" you speak of did not invent the solo ad industry. lol

He just took hold of a proven business model and made the most of it for both himself and the countless people he's taught along the way.

It's not impossible to monetize a solo ad. Maybe you need to look at your marketing and your funnel.

I know enough people who PROFIT from solo ads and from my own personal experience to know they are a good channel for traffic.

But the key is that it's only one channel and not the only way to get traffic.

You're just mad.

Keep in mind, I'm not a student of this john you speak of. However, I've bought some of his solo traffic (the lowest quality he offers) and I still turned a profit.

I understand you haven't gotten the results you had hoped for, but to shit on the entire industry bc you couldn't get it to work is just irresponsible to the naive newbies who will read this thread and take what you say as gospel

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

You're just vomiting crap now at this point stex.

Solo ads are effective. You just need to buy good ones. Unfortunately you will run through a bunch of bad ones. Remember, there are only 4 Aces in a deck of cards. Lots of 2s, 3s, some Jacks and Jokers.

It's a numbers game.

The famous "John" you speak of did not invent the solo ad industry. lol

He just took hold of a proven business model and made the most of it for both himself and the countless people he's taught along the way.

It's not impossible to monetize a solo ad. Maybe you need to look at your marketing and your funnel.

I know enough people who PROFIT from solo ads and from my own personal experience to know they are a good channel for traffic.

But the key is that it's only one channel and not the only way to get traffic.

You're just mad.

Keep in mind, I'm not a student of this john you speak of. However, I've bought some of his solo traffic (the lowest quality he offers) and I still turned a profit.

I understand you haven't gotten the results you had hoped for, but to shit on the entire industry bc you couldn't get it to work is just irresponsible to the naive newbies who will read this thread and take what you say as gospel

Maybe are you a solo ad vendor???

I'm not the only people that think this bro .... and believe me ... not vomit anything ... I have very strong stomach!

I've run dozens of tests using solo ads, with the best sellers.

I think I can only go worse by purchasing off!

If I tell you that I have built up a mailing list with 3,000 subscribers in 5 days I think you can believe me?

And if I tell you that this mailing list prodced 1000 clicks, which I have, however, led to a single sale from $ 8???

This traffic is not worth anything bro.

Only one vendor can defend solo ads ... and only those who are not able to do internet marketing can not figure out which garbage is buying!

The John I am talking about, proclaims himself as the inventor of this industry ... is not my chat ... maybe we do not speak the same "John"

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Like I mentioned in previous posts, your sources may not be any good.

It's not as black and white as people only sell solos bc they can't monetize their own lists. That may be true for some but not for all.

There are plenty of solo ad providers across multiple niches who have repeat buyers because they're lists produce.

I know guys who have lists of buyers in the hundreds of thousands. They promote products and also sell clicks.

It's another revenue stream and the people who buy solos from them buy over and over again.

You need to find better sources than what you've bought so far. That's really the issue.

And no, I'm not a solo ad vendor, but I do sell traffic because it's another income stream for me. However, one of many.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Like I mentioned in previous posts, your sources may not be any good.

It's not as black and white as people only sell solos bc they can't monetize their own lists. That may be true for some but not for all.

There are plenty of solo ad providers across multiple niches who have repeat buyers because they're lists produce.

I know guys who have lists of buyers in the hundreds of thousands. They promote products and also sell clicks.

It's another revenue stream and the people who buy solos from them buy over and over again.

You need to find better sources than what you've bought so far. That's really the issue.

And no, I'm not a solo ad vendor, but I do sell traffic because it's another income stream for me. However, one of many.

The internet marketing is a job (that many have not yet understood) and is not a game.

You have to work hard on your product/service, on your websites (test/test/test and conversions), on your sales funnel, and customer support... I can not go to bet my money any day on many solo seller hoping to get good traffic and above all REAL traffic!

I've had relationships with 52 different people, including ad swaps and to purchase solo ads. I enclose the traffic swaps because it is the exact same traffic I would get from that person with the purchase of a solo.

I received thousands of clicks, a large number of optins. Only $ 8 dollars in return (a single sale). I alternated the products of course during the test, so the problems isn't the product or the sales funnel.

The problem is the QUALITY of traffic!

The solos are worth what they cost... cost little, then its value a little!

Traffic coming from top tier countries costs from $ 1 up to $ 5.

There's a reason it costs so ... ROI is obviously good.

By purchasing solos I need to hope to get REAL traffic (no bots and no proxy), I hope to get at least 45% - 50% of traffic coming from U.S.

Obviously, these people are hard to convert.

Usually they are freebie seekers, people who see their e-mail address blocked from 50-200 emails EVERYDAY.

I repeat ... this traffic worth what it costs!

And the only way to have a ROI ... is to resell the same traffic!

Does anyone have any evidence to the contrary?

Some Screenshot with conversions and a good ROI?

Obviously demonstrated that the traffic comes from solo ads.

I'm not here to talk nonsense ... I'm here to learn and to share my ideas and my experiences.

Thanks.

Thanks
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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

The internet marketing is a job (that many have not yet understood) and is not a game.

You have to work hard on your product/service, on your websites (test/test/test and conversions), on your sales funnel, and customer support... I can not go to bet my money any day on many solo seller hoping to get good traffic and above all REAL traffic!

I've had relationships with 52 different people, including ad swaps and to purchase solo ads. I enclose the traffic swaps because it is the exact same traffic I would get from that person with the purchase of a solo.

I received thousands of clicks, a large number of optins. Only $ 8 dollars in return (a single sale). I alternated the products of course during the test, so the problems isn't the product or the sales funnel.

The problem is the QUALITY of traffic!

The solos are worth what they cost... cost little, then its value a little!

Traffic coming from top tier countries costs from $ 1 up to $ 5.

There's a reason it costs so ... ROI is obviously good.

By purchasing solos I need to hope to get REAL traffic (no bots and no proxy), I hope to get at least 45% - 50% of traffic coming from U.S.

Obviously, these people are hard to convert.

Usually they are freebie seekers, people who see their e-mail address blocked from 50-200 emails EVERYDAY.

I repeat ... this traffic worth what it costs!

And the only way to have a ROI ... is to resell the same traffic!

Does anyone have any evidence to the contrary?

Some Screenshot with conversions and a good ROI?

Obviously demonstrated that the traffic comes from solo ads.

I'm not here to talk nonsense ... I'm here to learn and to share my ideas and my experiences.

Thanks.

Well the first mistake you made was going to safe swaps. I can't speak for everyone in there, but most of it is low quality traffic.

But at the same time, there are people who are buying from the same sellers as you that probably made more than $8

You may be part of the problem.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Well the first mistake you made was going to safe swaps. I can't speak for everyone in there, but most of it is low quality traffic.

But at the same time, there are people who are buying from the same sellers as you that probably made more than $8

You may be part of the problem.

Oh, sure!

It's all because of Safe Swaps! Sure!

But why did not I think of that before!

The worst sellers of junk traffic go on a portal created specifically in order to protect solo ad buyers, where the buyer can contact support and get you kicked out immediately, besides the fact that everything is traced in detail. And with the escrow system also risks of not taking their money. Oh sure...

Safe swaps is a den of scoundrels!

Is absolutely guilty of Safe Swaps!

Reliable solo sellers stay on FB, they are into the Skype rooms, where they can change unlimited nicks, where they can contact you privately.

They're in the forums. Right?

Ok.... so the good traffic is it all out Safe Swaps! Ok Ok... i understand!

But PLEASE! Here on WarriorForum I can see ads from the same people who are on Safe Swaps!!!!

Is the quality of traffic solos that we are mentioning ... not who provides it!

I repeat ... I tested solo ads with 52 different people!

Do not you think it's enough!

Oh sure! I MAYBE part of the problem. Sure.

Even the 13 buyers with whom I'm in contact and who have had bad results like mine, all are probably idiots like me.

We do not know how to sell guys!

That's why solo ads do not work!

Thanks
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William2010

11 years ago

This is starting to sound more like a hate thread...honestly..
I ve tried several times to make money from Cpa.. and i ve talked not with 13 people like you did.. but with much more, that were still trying to make money with Cpa and hadn t succeeded.. so what now?
Does that mean that Cpa sucks, and nobody should try it?
NO, it means that it's just not for me
Same thing with solo ads. Ok i understood you had problems with solo ad traffic.. but if it were as bad as you say how come a lot of people, myself included are making tons of money with it?
You want to make money with solo ads, you first need to understand how to market to that are in this lists.. you need to have a great converting sales funnel, and how to pre sell your prospect ..
Not all the traffic is the same...

Originally Posted by StexM

Oh, sure!

It's all because of Safe Swaps! Sure!

But why did not I think of that before!

The worst sellers of junk traffic go on a portal created specifically in order to protect solo ad buyers, where the buyer can contact support and get you kicked out immediately, besides the fact that everything is traced in detail. And with the escrow system also risks of not taking their money. Oh sure...

Safe swaps is a den of scoundrels!

Is absolutely guilty of Safe Swaps!

Reliable solo sellers stay on FB, they are into the Skype rooms, where they can change unlimited nicks, where they can contact you privately.

They're in the forums. Right?

Ok.... so the good traffic is it all out Safe Swaps! Ok Ok... i understand!

But PLEASE! Here on WarriorForum I can see ads from the same people who are on Safe Swaps!!!!

Is the quality of traffic solos that we are mentioning ... not who provides it!

I repeat ... I tested solo ads with 52 different people!

Do not you think it's enough!

Oh sure! I MAYBE part of the problem. Sure.

Even the 13 buyers with whom I'm in contact and who have had bad results like mine, all are probably idiots like me.

We do not know how to sell guys!

That's why solo ads do not work!

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by William2010

This is starting to sound more like a hate thread...honestly..
I ve tried several times to make money from Cpa.. and i ve talked not with 13 people like you did.. but with much more, that were still trying to make money with Cpa and hadn t succeeded.. so what now?
Does that mean that Cpa sucks, and nobody should try it?
NO, it means that it's just not for me
Same thing with solo ads. Ok i understood you had problems with solo ad traffic.. but if it were as bad as you say how come a lot of people, myself included are making tons of money with it?
You want to make money with solo ads, you first need to understand how to market to that are in this lists.. you need to have a great converting sales funnel, and how to pre sell your prospect ..
Not all the traffic is the same...

Just because Stex couldn't get solo ads to work for himself and everyone he knows couldn't either doesn't mean solo ads don't work.

It just means he needs to associate with people who ARE successful with solo ads.

Everytime I've responded with sound advice based on personal experience he shot it down based on his own personal lack of success and self imposed limitations.

They work. Period.

Just look at it this way Stex and anyone else who hasn't had success yet with solo ads or anything for that matter...

You are THAT MUCH CLOSER to success.

So quit whining, brush it off, and push forward.

You're just 3 feet from gold

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by William2010

This is starting to sound more like a hate thread...honestly..
I ve tried several times to make money from Cpa.. and i ve talked not with 13 people like you did.. but with much more, that were still trying to make money with Cpa and hadn t succeeded.. so what now?
Does that mean that Cpa sucks, and nobody should try it?
NO, it means that it's just not for me
Same thing with solo ads. Ok i understood you had problems with solo ad traffic.. but if it were as bad as you say how come a lot of people, myself included are making tons of money with it?
You want to make money with solo ads, you first need to understand how to market to that are in this lists.. you need to have a great converting sales funnel, and how to pre sell your prospect ..
Not all the traffic is the same...

Frankly I'm tired of rumors ... especially rumors by those who sells solo ads!

Here's what I see when I log on to your profile:

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/21/hck7.jpg

Who will have more interest in speaking well of the solos?

Which interest can I in speaking ill of the solos?

I have NO economic interest.

I'm just saying from my experience and the experience of dozens of other people like me.

I'm not a good marketer and I haven't a good sales funnes?

Sure, it may be. But why then if you use PPC or PPV traffic I can get a ROI of 120%?

Same sales funnel used with solo ads, but traffic 100% real, and 100% of traffic coming from U.S.

Obviously it's a traffic that has a cost of at least $ 1 per click.

P.S. Mmmmm... are you in the solo ad/list building niche???

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...per-month.html

Thanks
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William2010

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Frankly I'm tired of rumors ... especially rumors by those who sells solo ads!

Here's what I see when I log on to your profile:

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/21/hck7.jpg

Who will have more interest in speaking well of the solos?

Which interest can I in speaking ill of the solos?

I have NO economic interest.

I'm just saying from my experience and the experience of dozens of other people like me.

I'm not a good marketer and I haven't a good sales funnes?

Sure, it may be. But why then if you use PPC or PPV traffic I can get a ROI of 120%?

Same sales funnel used with solo ads, but traffic 100% real, and 100% of traffic coming from U.S.

Obviously it's a traffic that has a cost of at least $ 1 per click.

P.S. Mmmmm... are you in the solo ad/list building niche???

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...per-month.html

I ve just said i m in solo ad biz.. and this is why i have the knowledge to talk.. because i'm in this niche...not because i ve heard, or anything else..
As i ve tried to explain you ..different traffic sources, convert in different ways..
Anyway, i'm not looking to argue with you.. i just said my opinion.
Have a great day!

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StexM Banned 11 years ago

Chatter ... chatter ... chatter .... but NO concrete evidence that these solos deliver good traffic!
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infite 11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

portal created specifically in order to protect solo ad buyers, where the buyer can contact support and get you kicked out immediately,

Feels like you are that seller, who has been kicked out of Safe-Swaps recently. They did a good job by kicking you out.
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- StexM Banned 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by infite
  
  Feels like you are that seller, who has been was kicked out of Safe-Swaps recently. They did a good job by kicking you out.
  
  Ohh... really??
  
  And you seem to be the owner of Safe Swaps ...
  
  Whereas your Nick (Infite) corresponds exactly to the name of the new platform launched from Uncle Dimitry ... hey... are you? Uncle Dimitry?
  
  I can also see the site in your signature and in your "about me" page!! LOL
  
  Thanks
  
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  infite 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by StexM
  
  And you seem to be the owner of Safe Swaps ...
  
  haha.
  
  So why did they ban you?
  
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jasondinner

11 years ago

Whining whining whining...

I already told you safe swaps is not the best use of your money.

And so did many others.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Whining whining whining...

I already told you safe swaps is not the best use of your money.

And so did many others.

Ok... tell me exactly where and by whom should I buy solos.

I'll buy, i'll test your guys, and i'll report all here.

Ok? :rolleyes:

Thanks
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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Ok... tell me exactly where and by whom should I buy solos.

I'll buy, i'll test your guys, and i'll report all here.

Ok? :rolleyes:

Why would I or should I tell you my best sources of traffic?

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Why would I or should I tell you my best sources of traffic?

Ohhh .. sure! Your untouchables traffic sources! Of course!

Then I will buy a 250 clicks solo ad from YOU... ok?

So i'll test YOUR traffic.

You said that you sell traffic, and that is just one of many sources of your income... ok! Let's test your special traffic!

Can i see your solo ad sales page? Can i optin in your squeeze page?

And let me have your PayPal... we'll do a PUBLIC test

Thanks
1 reply

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Ohhh .. sure! Your untouchables traffic sources! Of course!

Then I will buy a 250 clicks solo ad from YOU... ok?

So i'll test YOUR traffic.

You said that you sell traffic, and that is just one of many sources of your income... ok! Let's test your special traffic!

Can i see your solo ad sales page? Can i optin in your squeeze page?

And let me have your PayPal... we'll do a PUBLIC test

Sorry you're not my target market. Plus I don't do business with people who cry wolf because they didn't get the results they had expected without accepting any personal responsibility.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Sorry you're not my target market. Plus I don't do business with people who cry wolf because they didn't get the results they had expected without accepting any personal responsibility.

Sure, sure, sure. I understand EVERY of your motivation bro! LOL

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jasondinner 11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Ok... tell me exactly where and by whom should I buy solos.

I'll buy, i'll test your guys, and i'll report all here.

Ok? :rolleyes:

Ok fine. You twisted my arm.

And since you're such a swell guy, I'll give you just this one... <-----
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trapybp 11 years ago

Hey Stex, I didnt have time to read every post, but I've read enough to see your problem... have you had any training in reguards to buying solo ads? Dude if you only get 30% tier 1 traffic from your solo pourchases then it is clear that you are purchasing from the worng sellers... I would be mad too If I only got 30% tier traffic... I am not a solo seller, but I have been building my list with solos for the last 2 months... I have been scammed out of a 500 click order... and I have ran across a few bad sellers, but I have also built some relationships with a few good sellers who deliver great traffic... and the traffic converts... you have to know how to market to your list when purchasing solo ads... You probably just sent the traffic to a manding page about "x" and then tried to sell them "g" which is why you didn't make many sales... the key to selling with building a list is to keep everything relevant... if your subscribers optin to learn how to make 10 a day on fb... then you deliver a product that teaches exactly that... and if they are happy when you try to sell them a product that can boost that 100 a day earning to 200 a day they will buy... but f they optin to learn fb marketing and then you try to sell them an article marketing course then you have low conversions... you aren't giving them what they are interested in... You also have to make sure you build a relationship(this is with any list) you can't just sale and sale... As was stated earlier in this thread these people are probably on 10 other lists... you have to stand out in order to get there money... so I don't think you should shit on the solo ad industry... if you shoot me a PM I'll critique your funnel and I'll send you to some good sellers that I have had good experiences with... if you still want to try out the solo ads industry... but just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean youshould say solos sucks... not cool at all... do you know how many people have lost plenty of money with PPc??? a whole lot!!! does that make ppc bad? hell no, because there are people who know how to use ppc and make a ton of money...
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yogihost 11 years ago

It's a pretty legitimate way of getting quality traffic. Most of the genuine solo sellers are ready to do swaps as well in same niche. Best way to check the quality is that you do swap first with your product and then based on the results buy their solo

I have list of almost 200+ jv's in forex niche. PM me if you are interested in doing swap or buying list of genuine JV partners
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hamzamarketing 11 years ago

Forget Safe-Swaps, instead buy your solos from the vendors of this list:

Solo Ad Sellers
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- artbum 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by hamzamarketing
  
  Forget Safe-Swaps, instead buy your solos from the vendors of this list:
  
  Solo Ad Sellers
  
  is this good for health/fitness niche?
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  GodOfCPA 11 years ago
  
  People should remember that the point of "solo ads" isn't to get cheap traffic, it's to leverage the list holder's trusted relationship with their list. Obviously if you're selling solo ads to anybody who can pay, your list isn't going to trust you for long and everything will fall apart.
  
  At minimum you need to find a vendor that is VERY selective with what offers they allow. But even better is to build up your own site with good content and start reaching out to people in your niche who have high-traffic and a list - if you can demonstrate commitment to the niche (speak the correct language) and have non-scammy offers/email sequences you can do this quite effectively.
  
  As an aside, affiliates are going to quickly find themselves pushed out of the industry if they aren't concentrating their efforts on building their own communities and relationships to leverage for advertisers. Building a list on the back of a free offer isn't enough anymore, you need to generate some degree of trust and authority if you want to push affiliate offers effectively.
  
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Max Anderson

11 years ago

Never got it, why people buy solo ads in the first place...

The price per click is similar with PPC and with PPC you can be sure that traffic quality is given.

The only arguement for solo ads are that they are a form of endorsed mailing, but that´s about it.

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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Max Anderson

Never got it, why people buy solo ads in the first place...

The price per click is similar with PPC and with PPC you can be sure that traffic quality is given.

The only arguement for solo ads are that they are a form of endorsed mailing, but that´s about it.

Why not do both?

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Max Anderson 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

Why not do both?

Because PPC can be scaled (almost) limitlessly

At a certain point it becomes a question of budget and time investment.
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- jasondinner 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Max Anderson
  
  Because PPC can be scaled (almost) limitlessly
  
  At a certain point it becomes a question of budget and time investment.
  
  Oh i know. I do both.
  
  Only i don't buy in the hundreds of clicks. I buy in the thousands.
  
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  Max Anderson 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by jasondinner
  
  Oh i know. I do both.
  
  Only i don't buy in the hundreds of clicks. I buy in the thousands.
  
  Yeah, I know everybody on the public IM forums does :rolleyes:
  
  Unfortunatly it isn´t a valid arguement...
  
  By the way, you sell solo ads yourself, am I right?
  
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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Max Anderson

Never got it, why people buy solo ads in the first place...

The price per click is similar with PPC and with PPC you can be sure that traffic quality is given.

The only arguement for solo ads are that they are a form of endorsed mailing, but that´s about it.

This is exactly what I'm trying to figure out too ...

People buy solos traffic simply because it is easy traffic!

Otherwise you should create a PPC or PPV account, choose the best keywords, create ads, build and optimize your campaign, etc.. etc..

Solo ads deliver fast traffic, but traffic is lousy in 95% of cases.

I'm not saying that ALL solo ads are useless.

I say that 95% of solo seller do not sell good traffic.

From my testing, it is often fake traffic from proxies.

Often it is bot traffic.

Other times it is traffic coming from the third world.

In the best case you can get traffic 35 % - 50% U.S. traffic.

If the traffic costs $ 0.50 per click or less, then it is not worth anything.

it is therefore more convenient for the seller to sell clicks, rather than do the marketer and sell products, services, membership, etc..

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Jonathan Mizel

11 years ago

Here's what solos have over PPC, three things actually...

1. You can promote verticals Google won't allow. Health and weight-loss offers, MLMs, Forex, Pharmaceuticals, E-cigs, Biz-opps, Gambling, Wine, etc.

2. You can build a funnel focused on conversion instead of a funnel that tried to please Google. You can use a thin content or squeeze page, you can have an exit pop-up, hell, you can even use auto-play audio and video.

3. If you are building a list, email traffic is pre-disposed to opting into another list (yours). Their past actions are indicative of future results. Virtually all the case studies where you see over 40% opt-in rate are based on email traffic. In fact we never see more than 25% from PPC or search.

To to OP wanting to know about legitimate sources, I didn't catch your vertical, but stop screwing around with swaps and just hire a legit service like Arcamax.com. There are others, but that's a damn good start, and you won't have to watch Rick Astley;-)

Jonathan

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Max Anderson 11 years ago

PPC is more than Google (Facebook, MSN/Bing...).

In the end it comes down to personal preference.
BTW. I have heared good things about arcamax, too.
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- artbum 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Max Anderson
  
  PPC is more than Google (Facebook, MSN/Bing...).
  
  In the end it comes down to personal preference.
  BTW. I have heared good things about arcamax, too.
  
  Thanks, checking out Arcamax. Talking to a sales rep. She is selling me a text ad in their newsletters of over 50 different titles, 1.7 Million emails delivered with an Average Open Rate 12%
  
  Text Based | Up to 7 lines of copy @ 80 characters / line; for $265. Seems expensive. I'd have to make 7 sales to break even. Anyone have experience with them or better ideas for working with them?
  
  What do you think?
  
  Thanks
  
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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jonathan Mizel

Here's what solos have over PPC, three things actually...

1. You can promote verticals Google won't allow. Health and weight-loss offers, MLMs, Forex, Pharmaceuticals, E-cigs, Biz-opps, Gambling, Wine, etc.

2. You can build a funnel focused on conversion instead of a funnel that tried to please Google. You can use a thin content or squeeze page, you can have an exit pop-up, hell, you can even use auto-play audio and video.

3. If you are building a list, email traffic is pre-disposed to opting into another list (yours). Their past actions are indicative of future results. Virtually all the case studies where you see over 40% opt-in rate are based on email traffic. In fact we never see more than 25% from PPC or search.

To to OP wanting to know about legitimate sources, I didn't catch your vertical, but stop screwing around with swaps and just hire a legit service like Arcamax.com. There are others, but that's a damn good start, and you won't have to watch Rick Astley;-)

Jonathan

Both PPC and Solos are great. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

With PPC, and depending on what you're driving the traffic for, you may only be able to get so much traffic. That's where solos or any other marketing channel come in. It gives you the ability to get more.

Same goes for solos. When you're getting as much traffic as is available, you go out and get more from other channels.

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dmarc

11 years ago

I guess I'm lucky, or I've got a good funnel. I'm new to list building. I recently tried safe-swaps for the first time, bought 100 clicks for 29 cents each. Got 46% opt-in. Between the sales I made from my funnel (only 50% affiliate commission on pretty low-ticket products) and some other funnel monetization, the solo ad paid for itself, and I made a few extra bucks.

I've got another solo from a different vendor on safe-swaps, scheduled to start delivery tomorrow. We'll see if I really did just get lucky the first time. I plan on testing and tracking various sellers before thinking about scaling up, but it seems pretty irrational to completely write-off buying solos.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by dmarc

I guess I'm lucky, or I've got a good funnel. I'm new to list building. I recently tried safe-swaps for the first time, bought 100 clicks for 29 cents each. Got 46% opt-in. Between the sales I made from my funnel (only 50% affiliate commission on pretty low-ticket products) and some other funnel monetization, the solo ad paid for itself, and I made a few extra bucks.

I've got another solo from a different vendor on safe-swaps, scheduled to start delivery tomorrow. We'll see if I really did just get lucky the first time. I plan on testing and tracking various sellers before thinking about scaling up, but it seems pretty irrational to completely write-off buying solos.

I truly believe that you have been lucky.

Then of course a sale at $ 7 it can also happen with a solo of 100 clicks.

Often people are happy simply because from a solo receive a high number of optins.

The business is not made with the number of optins... business is done with SALES!

If traffic does not buy products and services, then it is useless.

So here all starting to sell CLICKS.

Thanks
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adgaro 11 years ago

I had no problems with Safe-Swaps traffic. Scamms get banned very quickly. They are upgrading their system and adding new features. I like the place.
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Yliax

11 years ago

I read the whole discussion, and i agree with StexM. I tried i don't know how many solos in 2 months! I created a list of over 1000 subscribers and what was the result? No action BY THEM. I tried to monetize this list even with a pay per lead and i do not get any results, ZERO!

Besides the fact that the subscribers are from all over the world, the majority has no referrer, a lot of traffic comes from the web, this list also does not answer, when you purchase the solos come the opt-in like a rocket, then send an email and nothing more, zero results.

And do not tell me that i bought from bad people because i have a list of people from whom i purchased, that if you see the profiles they should be excellent marketers, with more than 200 feedback, then with a perfect reputation.

The problem is that you only look at the number of opt-ins, and you not see the sales, the origin of the traffic and conversions.

It is obvious that you defend the solos, otherwise there would be not this huge gain on people who do not know how to do marketing.

Thanks
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jasondinner

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Yliax

The problem is that you only look at the number of opt-ins, and you not see the sales, the origin of the traffic and conversions.

That is the problem with most amateur solo ad buyers. All they care about is the opt-in rate when what really should be first and foremost on their list of importance is ROI.

Originally Posted by Yliax

It is obvious that you defend the solos, otherwise there would be not this huge gain on people who do not know how to do marketing.

That's where you have it wrong.

People in here are defending solos because they know from personal experience how effective they can be when used correctly.

People who are bashing them have not been able to use them effectively.

Pretty black and white to me

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by jasondinner

That is the problem with most amateur solo ad buyers. All they care about is the opt-in rate when what really should be first and foremost on their list of importance is ROI.

That's where you have it wrong.

People in here are defending solos because they know from personal experience how effective they can be when used correctly.

People who are bashing them have not been able to use them effectively.

Pretty black and white to me

It is true ... there are so many inexperienced who believe that getting a 70% optin is the maximum you can get from a solo.

Nonsense. There are other things that you should look!

And I'm not a beginner, I know what I have to look.

If I can get a over 100% ROI from all reliable sources of traffic that I've tested so far (PPV, PPV, Media Buys) evidently I'm not that stupid!

I do this job for 12 years, with great satisfaction.

You can not come to tell tales to me!!

I'm sure there are many inexperienced buying solos out there, just as I'm sure Safe Swaps is not the best place to buy solos.

I'm sure there will be some good solo ad sellers, BUT...

95% of solo ad industry is based on the sale (and swapping) of TRASH traffic.

PERIOD.

Thanks
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MarkHodgetts

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

I'm sure there are many inexperienced buying solos out there, just as I'm sure Safe Swaps is not the best place to buy solos.

I'm sure there will be some good solo ad sellers, BUT...

95% of solo ad industry is based on the sale (and swapping) of TRASH traffic.

PERIOD.

I'm not really surprised with the results that you got. I'm a member at Safe- Swaps and no longer buy from there - principally because there is a conglomerate of marketers who operate out of there that use the site to sell very low grade traffic - as you found.

I don't think that Solo sellers should be judged on your results at Safe- Swaps

There are some excellent solo ad providers around that I have had good results from . Don Leadman, Rick Ling and Heather Alessandra are three that spring to mind.

Yes I do sell solos but I only sell to people who have an offer that will suit my list - I don't see the point in trashing my list to recommend something I don't believe in....

Much of the solo ad market is built on churn but there are some good solo adsellers out there

Thanks
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Brendon Zahrndt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by MarkHodgetts

I'm not really surprised with the results that you got. I'm a member at Safe- Swaps and no longer buy from there - principally because there is a conglomerate of marketers who operate out of there that use the site to sell very low grade traffic - as you found.

I don't think that Solo sellers should be judged on your results at Safe- Swaps

There are some excellent solo ad providers around that I have had good results from . Don Leadman, Rick Ling and Heather Alessandra are three that spring to mind.

Yes I do sell solos but I only sell to people who have an offer that will suit my list - I don't see the point in trashing my list to recommend something I don't believe in....

Much of the solo ad market is built on churn but there are some good solo adsellers out there

I agree that Don, Rick, and Heather are all good. And their are TONS more.

But I need to also point out that those three do tons of business on Safe Swaps.

Does that make them part of the 'conglomerate'?

Would that mess up your theory if they were?

Thanks

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Brendon Zahrndt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Yliax

I read the whole discussion, and i agree with StexM. I tried i don't know how many solos in 2 months! I created a list of over 1000 subscribers and what was the result? No action BY THEM. I tried to monetize this list even with a pay per lead and i do not get any results, ZERO!

Besides the fact that the subscribers are from all over the world, the majority has no referrer, a lot of traffic comes from the web, this list also does not answer, when you purchase the solos come the opt-in like a rocket, then send an email and nothing more, zero results.

And do not tell me that i bought from bad people because i have a list of people from whom i purchased, that if you see the profiles they should be excellent marketers, with more than 200 feedback, then with a perfect reputation.

The problem is that you only look at the number of opt-ins, and you not see the sales, the origin of the traffic and conversions.

It is obvious that you defend the solos, otherwise there would be not this huge gain on people who do not know how to do marketing.

Hmmm......

You received 1000 opt-in subscribers, bought from reputable vendors with seemingly good traffic, and you couldn't convert a single one of them into one sale?

You say 'the majority has no referrer'.........do you even know how to elaborate on what No Referrer is?

Maybe the problem isn't so much the traffic as it is your marketing?

I'm not saying you need to know how to sell ice to eskimos. But not converting any of that traffic, ever, is slightly pathetic.

What did your entire funnel look like?

What did your follow up sequence look like?

Was your copy weak?

Did you email your list asking straight away what it was they were most interested in learning?

Did you talk to each solo ad provider about their traffic at the time you bought it to see what they might be most interested in before your purchase?

What was the nature of your exit pop-ups?

Did you deliver on the promise you made in order to get subs to opt-in in the first place?

Did you split test any and/or all of your different metrics?

What's wrong with traffic from all over the World? Did they take the Australian dollar away from Australians?

And did you give up after your first 1000 subscribers and chalk it all up as one big loss?

How long have you been studying email marketing?

This is a serious business for some people.

I think you gave up too fast, among other things.

You have 1000 subscribers that want things.

Wouldn't you do whatever it took to find out what that might be and then begin delivering on that?

I'm not trying to be a jerk - I am serious.

No reason you can't make money - even big money - with that list. That's a lot of people.

I don't believe the traffic or the subs are junk.

I just don't believe you worked hard enough to get what you wanted.

Thanks

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rmolina88

11 years ago

I've had pretty good results from solos and quite a lot of bad ones, but the good ones do exist out there.

Always, always, always look at feedback and reviews from previous customers. There are also several resources like Reed Floren's Solo Ad directory that rate solo ad sellers.

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OnlineAddict

11 years ago

SoloAds can be a gold mine, if you find the right sources for your products, but thats the hardest part, as most people sell crap. But if you keep testing in small volumes and stay away from swap websites, you can find some really valuable ones. I found one even on fiverr...a solo ad for $5 and each mailing bring be 1-2 customers($99 per month service). But nobody will share the best sources, of course...neither would I. People only recommend their own stuff or stuff they get commission for. You have to do your own homework.

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Internet Wizard 11 years ago

I've dabbled a bit in buying solo ads, (just a couple of thousand clicks), and the results have been pretty disappointing.

However, I just want to give another perspective to StexM and others on why some people might want to sell solo ads despite having a high quality list.

I have a high quality list and I prefer not to bombard them with affiliate offers and my own products too much. If affiliate sales and your own products are the only sources of revenue from your list then your subscribers will have to buy something every time you want to make money...

Since most solo ads involve offering a free product on the front end you could send the offer to your subscribers and look like the hero for giving them something valuable for free, and still make money from it! Assuming it's a good free offer.

The problem is that:

1. Most people don't give away something truly valuable for free on the front end.

2. Most people will then spam the new subscribers they pick-up from your list to death and thereby diluting the quality of your list quickly.

If you can connect the right buyer AND seller, that have similar interests and a similar approach to how they build and care for their list, then I think it could be a win-win situation.

All that said, I have yet to sell any solo ads so this is only theory so far!
- Thanks
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HammerNiko

11 years ago

Read reviews and feedback before you buy. Although campaigns could be very effective !

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alamest

11 years ago

I have never tried solo ads but after reading your whole message i am bit scared to throw money on solo ads but after reading other people success over here which makes me understand is that some vendors are good some vendors are not...

it is same link building back links, some people provide very good backlinks and some people does not give anything..

I believe you have to leave this on luck but you have to find very good vendor, do some research on the Vendor on Google and then place an order, don't just see positive reviews over here and order it cause these positive review can me made false as well..

I hope this helps you

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Alam

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emelef

11 years ago

When you look for cheap traffic you will pay more... Number one rule in marketing - free is expensive, and cheap is expensive too.

I wouldn't set foot anywhere near safe swaps in the first place. There are amazing solo ad vendors out there. But when you constantly look for free or cheap then you can't complain. Everyone wants money for nothing - advertising is expensive, bottom line. It always has been.

If you were to hire a lawyer to defend you - would you hire the cheapest? I hope not... same goes for any professional advice or service including advertising. And same goes for solo ad vendors.

This industry will always be full of people ready to grab your money and run. Be careful who you do business with...

Thanks
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Brendon Zahrndt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by emelef

When you look for cheap traffic you will pay more... Number one rule in marketing - free is expensive, and cheap is expensive too.

I wouldn't set foot anywhere near safe swaps in the first place. There are amazing solo ad vendors out there. But when you constantly look for free or cheap then you can't complain. Everyone wants money for nothing - advertising is expensive, bottom line. It always has been.

If you were to hire a lawyer to defend you - would you hire the cheapest? I hope not... same goes for any professional advice or service including advertising. And same goes for solo ad vendors.

This industry will always be full of people ready to grab your money and run. Be careful who you do business with...

emelef,

With all due respect, this is full of stupid.

First - there are TONS of smart and savvy lawyers who don't cost an arm and a leg. You can even get some of them to do PRO BONO work - which they do ALL THE TIME, in certain circumstances.

Does this automatically put these types of lawyers in the 'not worth it' folder?

Hardly.

Second, why would you steer clear of Safe Swaps?

Just a question I would love to have the answer to. So feel free to elaborate.

Third, you suggest going for the pricier solo ad vendors on the presumption the more expensive the better.

That's just plain silly. I am going to leave it at that.

It would make sense to start developing relationships with your vendors.

Get to know these people.

Feel them out.

I don't own stock in SS and I am not sleeping with the owner.

But it's a perfectly fine place to do business at and while no system is perfect, there is no reason as I see it to never set foot by it.

To suggest that my $0.40 to $0.45 per click is better than someone running their lists at $0.30 to $0.35 per click, just 'because it is', isn't a very good suggestion at all.

Thanks

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davidaclark

11 years ago

Originally Posted by StexM

Hi at all Warriors,

I have a few comments to make about the world of solo ads.

I have always worked with different sources of traffic (PPC, PPC, Social, etc.) to build my mailing list, but I had never done the appropriate tests with solos.

Lately I've had some time to test the traffic coming from the "mailing list" of som solo ad sellers or ad swaps partners... I really have NO words!

Look your thinking, warriors, thanks!

I have used solo ads in the past. It is a very quick way of building a list. I found I got the clicks ordered and the list built quickly. This was a long while ago when my funnel to put it bluntly was crap and I sold nothing.

I think there is a lot of crap out there but you have to test, test and test again. Buy a small amount of clicks and run them through your funnel. If it it is profitable, buy some more from the same source. When the ads become non profitable move on to a different supplier.

Note: You should have tested your funnel first to ensure it is profitable with traffic you have driven to the site yourself before you test the solo ads. If your funnel won't produce results from your own traffic generation efforts, it won't produce with solo ads.

Thanks

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HammerNiko

11 years ago

Check feedback first then order !

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briankoz

11 years ago

I'll give you an interesting take on this as I see both sides of this, as I run a fairly decent sized solo ad marketplace. We have guarantees in place to prevent fake / fraud traffic (as in we provide refunds when spotted and kick the users out), and I've seen both sides of the story.

To set things straight, there ARE lots of legit solo ad sellers. Typically you won't find them selling for less than about 35 cents a click up to about $1 a click. Anything significantly less than 35 cents a click I'd be very suspicious of.

Other networks that just rely on reviews I think are flawed in that reviews are easy to fake, and most people don't know how to spot fake clicks when they happen (hint: you can fake opt-ins very easily so judging it on that doesn't work well).

I've seen over the years a lot of buzz pop up with solo ads, including others teaching others how to sell solo ad clicks, and unfortunately a lot of the teaching that they're doing is basically how to sell fake or very poor quality clicks, and lots of people are flooding the marketplace with that.

But still, there are plenty of legit sellers out there still.

And the flip side is that many of the buyers don't have a clue how to monetize that traffic, how to get a good opt-in page, etc.. If you're not selling to the leads from day 1, you're missing a ton of dough (and you need a great offer). And if you don't have an awesome opt-in offer relevant to the source of the leads, you're also losing out on a lot of leads. If you have both, you can make solo ads work well, but it's a game of testing and finding the good sources from the bad ones.

You will get burned a few times along the way with bad sellers, but it's all about eventually finding the right ones.

And don't look at just reviews, as that won't help. I can tell you that several top sources I've seen promoted here on the Warrior Forum I've found out later to be mostly fake leads or clicks, yet they still get praised.

- Brian

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hustlinsmoke

11 years ago

Lol. I really hope you learn to research next time because there are many trust worthy solo ad sellers out there.

For the mods here. I make no money on my facebook solo group. Zero so I will say this look at Facebook and some of the solo groups there. Those people are trustworthy or I wouldn't let them post hourly on my site. My group is to help the sellers cause people want to rip the good ones off.

Research and don't try to cut corners with solos.

Thanks

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nicheblogger75

11 years ago

The more solo ads I buy the more I think that people who sell their lists to others have a flawed business model. Honestly, I've had some very good solo ads, but I've had many more that weren't so good.

One thing that has me perplexed is why someone would sell their list for $.30 or $.40 per click. Most solos I buy on Safe Swaps and other places are between $30 and $40 for 100 clicks. Let's go with the higher end and say the seller is getting $40 for 100 clicks. I know personally that if I send out a good promo to my own list for a $27 or $37 product that for every 100 clicks to the sales page I'm going to make at least 3 sales, maybe more. Even only 2 sales per 100 clicks of a $37 product is $74. So why would someone want to sell 100 clicks to their list for $30 for $40 when they could be promoting products and making much more? Not to mention that they are basically watering down their leads by putting them on another marketer's list. I'm fully aware that most of those people are already on several lists but why help them get on more?

As I think about it, one reason keeps coming to the front of my mind. That is that the seller's list is no longer converting for them in terms of selling products so they have resorted to selling solos as a means of monetizing their list. If this is the case, I wonder, do I really want leads from a list like this? Are these leads going to convert to sales on my list if they are not converting on the seller's list?

I'm not saying that all solo sellers are monetizing their lists strictly through solo sales, but I know it's a fact that a good many are. If possible, I'd like to avoid buying solos from those sellers for obvious reasons. The problem is that the only way to tell is to make a purchase and test out their list. It's somewhat of a catch 22.

Speaking from my own experience, only about 1 in 5 solos have been profitable for me. By that I mean that I make enough OTO sales to cover the cost of the solo and basically get the leads for free. That, to me, is a "profitable" solo. A solo that gets leads but no sales is not necessarily a bad solo, unless of course that seller's list is burnt and full of freebie seekers.

I guess I'm asking this question: Is selling solos as a sole means of monetizing a list a flawed business model?

Thanks
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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by nicheblogger75

The more solo ads I buy the more I think that people who sell their lists to others have a flawed business model. Honestly, I've had some very good solo ads, but I've had many more that weren't so good.

One thing that has me perplexed is why someone would sell their list for $.30 or $.40 per click. Most solos I buy on Safe Swaps and other places are between $30 and $40 for 100 clicks. Let's go with the higher end and say the seller is getting $40 for 100 clicks. I know personally that if I send out a good promo to my own list for a $27 or $37 product that for every 100 clicks to the sales page I'm going to make at least 3 sales, maybe more. Even only 2 sales per 100 clicks of a $37 product is $74. So why would someone want to sell 100 clicks to their list for $30 for $40 when they could be promoting products and making much more? Not to mention that they are basically watering down their leads by putting them on another marketer's list. I'm fully aware that most of those people are already on several lists but why help them get on more?

As I think about it, one reason keeps coming to the front of my mind. That is that the seller's list is no longer converting for them in terms of selling products so they have resorted to selling solos as a means of monetizing their list. If this is the case, I wonder, do I really want leads from a list like this? Are these leads going to convert to sales on my list if they are not converting on the seller's list?

I'm not saying that all solo sellers are monetizing their lists strictly through solo sales, but I know it's a fact that a good many are. If possible, I'd like to avoid buying solos from those sellers for obvious reasons. The problem is that the only way to tell is to make a purchase and test out their list. It's somewhat of a catch 22.

Speaking from my own experience, only about 1 in 5 solos have been profitable for me. By that I mean that I make enough OTO sales to cover the cost of the solo and basically get the leads for free. That, to me, is a "profitable" solo. A solo that gets leads but no sales is not necessarily a bad solo, unless of course that seller's list is burnt and full of freebie seekers.

I guess I'm asking this question: Is selling solos as a sole means of monetizing a list a flawed business model?

Is exactly what I think too ... is the reason why I started this thread.

People are lazy.

People take a squeeze page, we throw in traffic, squeeze money from the people by setting a follow-up full of affiliate products.

Nothing value.

Zero communication.

After this process people will begin to sell clicks (SOLO ADS).

If you're lucky you'll be able to recover your advertising cost selling some ridiculous product for $ 14.

If you're not lucky you'll end to have in list a few tens (or hundreds) of freebie seekers (who are already subscribed in dozens of different mailing lists).

In the meantime, however, the "internet marketer" was able to make SAFE money from the traffic produced from his useless traffic.

I seem to have adequately summed up how this "business" works.

Thanks

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Not So New

11 years ago

I totally agree ... Seems like it's just more and more of the freebie seekers getting passed around from list to list.

Plus when you throw in the fact that a lot of solo ad sellers are using generic swipes, it really makes those leads less and less valuable.

This is reason I stopped buying from places like safe swaps

-Shawn

Originally Posted by nicheblogger75

The more solo ads I buy the more I think that people who sell their lists to others have a flawed business model. Honestly, I've had some very good solo ads, but I've had many more that weren't so good.

One thing that has me perplexed is why someone would sell their list for $.30 or $.40 per click. Most solos I buy on Safe Swaps and other places are between $30 and $40 for 100 clicks. Let's go with the higher end and say the seller is getting $40 for 100 clicks. I know personally that if I send out a good promo to my own list for a $27 or $37 product that for every 100 clicks to the sales page I'm going to make at least 3 sales, maybe more. Even only 2 sales per 100 clicks of a $37 product is $74. So why would someone want to sell 100 clicks to their list for $30 for $40 when they could be promoting products and making much more? Not to mention that they are basically watering down their leads by putting them on another marketer's list. I'm fully aware that most of those people are already on several lists but why help them get on more?

As I think about it, one reason keeps coming to the front of my mind. That is that the seller's list is no longer converting for them in terms of selling products so they have resorted to selling solos as a means of monetizing their list. If this is the case, I wonder, do I really want leads from a list like this? Are these leads going to convert to sales on my list if they are not converting on the seller's list?

I'm not saying that all solo sellers are monetizing their lists strictly through solo sales, but I know it's a fact that a good many are. If possible, I'd like to avoid buying solos from those sellers for obvious reasons. The problem is that the only way to tell is to make a purchase and test out their list. It's somewhat of a catch 22.

Speaking from my own experience, only about 1 in 5 solos have been profitable for me. By that I mean that I make enough OTO sales to cover the cost of the solo and basically get the leads for free. That, to me, is a "profitable" solo. A solo that gets leads but no sales is not necessarily a bad solo, unless of course that seller's list is burnt and full of freebie seekers.

I guess I'm asking this question: Is selling solos as a sole means of monetizing a list a flawed business model?

Thanks

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Daniel Szalok

11 years ago

Originally Posted by nicheblogger75

The more solo ads I buy the more I think that people who sell their lists to others have a flawed business model. Honestly, I've had some very good solo ads, but I've had many more that weren't so good.

One thing that has me perplexed is why someone would sell their list for $.30 or $.40 per click. Most solos I buy on Safe Swaps and other places are between $30 and $40 for 100 clicks. Let's go with the higher end and say the seller is getting $40 for 100 clicks. I know personally that if I send out a good promo to my own list for a $27 or $37 product that for every 100 clicks to the sales page I'm going to make at least 3 sales, maybe more. Even only 2 sales per 100 clicks of a $37 product is $74. So why would someone want to sell 100 clicks to their list for $30 for $40 when they could be promoting products and making much more? Not to mention that they are basically watering down their leads by putting them on another marketer's list. I'm fully aware that most of those people are already on several lists but why help them get on more?

As I think about it, one reason keeps coming to the front of my mind. That is that the seller's list is no longer converting for them in terms of selling products so they have resorted to selling solos as a means of monetizing their list. If this is the case, I wonder, do I really want leads from a list like this? Are these leads going to convert to sales on my list if they are not converting on the seller's list?

I'm not saying that all solo sellers are monetizing their lists strictly through solo sales, but I know it's a fact that a good many are. If possible, I'd like to avoid buying solos from those sellers for obvious reasons. The problem is that the only way to tell is to make a purchase and test out their list. It's somewhat of a catch 22.

Speaking from my own experience, only about 1 in 5 solos have been profitable for me. By that I mean that I make enough OTO sales to cover the cost of the solo and basically get the leads for free. That, to me, is a "profitable" solo. A solo that gets leads but no sales is not necessarily a bad solo, unless of course that seller's list is burnt and full of freebie seekers.

I guess I'm asking this question: Is selling solos as a sole means of monetizing a list a flawed business model?

I've been also thinking about this, so why would someone sell solo ads? Then I found two reasons:

1) It's easy money. You know your list, and you know that you can deliver, let's say, 200 clicks with one email. You'll get 80 bucks for the clicks, and it takes only 5-10 minutes to write the email. If the free offer you advertise is a great information source, then you can count the email as an "info" mail, and you've just provide value to your subscribers.

2) It can help filling the gaps between your emails. According to many list building experts, you need to email your list each day. And you may run out of products to advertise.

When I buy solo ads (or when I'm just doing a "market research"), I consider the offers only where I can see that people actually made money after purchasing the solo ad. If there were, let's say, 3-4 sales out of 2-300 clicks, I would assume that the list of the seller still converts.

Thanks

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WillR

11 years ago

Most solo ads sellers are doing so because they can't monetize the lists themselves. So doesn't that tell you something? The worst solo ads you can get are the ones advertising their services because it means their lists are being pimped out daily and their list is being pounded with offers.

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M3C

11 years ago

Cue solo add WSO sellers chiming in about how much they "make" and all their successful students ....(who can't be named) or have 1 post on the WF , which is saying how much they made from the WSO ....

People with decent lists don't whore them out to a dozen people a day , anybody who believes that is out of their mind.

They use the list effectively for their own purposes by pushing people into a proper funnel and generate long term revenue to offset the initial cost of the lead.

Or if they're in the churn and burn marketplace they will use the list until it's mainly crap, then whore it out to unsuspecting WSO buyers.

People with decent lists in any real niche will charge you proper money to use their list and have strict conditions under what can be done.

Thanks
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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by M3C

Cue solo add WSO sellers chiming in about how much they "make" and all their successful students ....(who can't be named) or have 1 post on the WF , which is saying how much they made from the WSO ....

People with decent lists don't whore them out to a dozen people a day , anybody who believes that is out of their mind.

They use the list effectively for their own purposes by pushing people into a proper funnel and generate long term revenue to offset the initial cost of the lead.

Or if they're in the churn and burn marketplace they will use the list until it's mainly crap, then whore it out to unsuspecting WSO buyers.

People will decent lists in any real niche will charge you proper money to use their list.

GREAT!

And certainly not only $ 0.30 - $ 0.40 per clicks for only U.S. traffic!!

Thanks

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tyronne78

11 years ago

Taking nothing away from doing solo ads but I'd rather do paid marketing with Facebook PPC or Google PPC. Send cold traffic from Facebook to a squeeze page and then relationship build on the backend. I know a guy the other day who got over a 2,000% ROI running ads on Facebook.

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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Originally Posted by tyronne78

Taking nothing away from doing solo ads but I'd rather do paid marketing with Facebook PPC or Google PPC. Send cold traffic from Facebook to a squeeze page and then relationship build on the backend. I know a guy the other day who got over a 2,000% ROI running ads on Facebook.

WOW!

2,000% ROI is really huge!

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M3C

11 years ago

I think what's happened at the WF is that' there's been a kool-aid microcosm built around solo adds and safe swaps in particular as it's focussed on in a number of the WSO's and "guru training".

There's an entire world outside of Safe Swops and in fact if you're really wanting to rent a list (which is all solo adds is doing) then many of the owners of lists of any real value aren't on sites like SS.

Like everything else, you have to go seek congruent partners in your niche .

I can access well in excess of 1.5 million double opt in's at least from a half dozen individuals in my vertical , all who I could "rent" the list from for a solo, but it would cost real money and I would expect to pay real money because the results are viable, the subscribers have been fed quality information and done so on a sane basis, not force fed a combination of mediocrity every 24 hours or less.

I think it's a problem with the WF at times that everybody think's there's only one way to skin a cat because everybody is driven by the same repeated advice on a topic without looking at anything which falls outside of that remit.

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nicheblogger75

11 years ago

Originally Posted by M3C

I think what's happened at the WF is that' there's been a kool-aid microcosm built around solo adds and safe swaps in particular as it's focussed on in a number of the WSO's and "guru training".

There's an entire world outside of Safe Swops and in fact if you're really wanting to rent a list (which is all solo adds is doing) then many of the owners of lists of any real value aren't on sites like SS.

Like everything else, you have to go seek congruent partners in your niche .

I can access well in excess of 1.5 million double opt in's at least from a half dozen individuals in my vertical , all who I could "rent" the list from for a solo, but it would cost real money and I would expect to pay real money because the results are viable, the subscribers have been fed quality information and done so on a sane basis, not force fed a combination of mediocrity every 24 hours or less.

I think it's a problem with the WF at times that everybody think's there's only one way to skin a cat because everybody is driven by the same repeated advice on a topic without looking at anything which falls outside of that remit.

Yes I have begun looking elsewhere for sellers. I have found a few good sellers through Facebook groups and I have also been writing to a few marketers whose lists I am on who have impressed me with their content. I've received a few replies. Some aren't interested and some are. The one thing I've noticed is that people with good lists want considerably more than .30 or .40 per click. I am totally fine with that as long as the traffic is good and produces the result I'm looking for.

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M3C 11 years ago

Originally Posted by nicheblogger75

The one thing I've noticed is that people with good lists want considerably more than .30 or .40 per click. .

I would fully expect to pay 3x that for a quality list.

I would also, expect to lose money on the front end.

I'm not expecting to break even , I'm building a list that I then build a relationship with and I can often turn a one off blast into profit at a rate of 15x initial cost over a 5 month period or less.

When I rent a list or "buy a solo" as is the vernacular around the WF, I'm fully expecting a loss on the front end because I only buy a very certain type of list, one I'm actually ON myself , I seed the list owners I'm interested in so I know exactly what the audience is being fed and how.

I would never participate in the crazy that passes as a "solo add" around here.
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StexM

Banned 11 years ago

Few days ago I bought a solo ad from one of the most famous solo ad sellers here on WF.

I purchased 300 clicks to test the quality of the traffic outside of Safe Swaps.

Disastrous results... Or better....

... great optin rate of 52% (I can do my job well) but... NO SALES!

A product that, with other traffic sources, converts up to 10% - 11%!

We're talking about a $17 product (the price is affordable to reach greater number of conversions) with a really great sales page.

Damn... NO one sale!!!

This is not possible if the traffic is QUALITY.

I wanted to subscribe to the mailing list of this super-rich solo ad seller (I do not have the courage to call he marketer!) to see what and how he sells to the list.

What I could see? A sales funnel FULL of banners to monetize with "Sales funnel clicks".

And in follow-up?

Obviously free offers (squeeze pages) of people who have bought space in the follow up!!!

It's ridiculous.

Not even an attempt to sell products to the list, even to new subscribers.

We're talking about one of the TOP 5 solo ad sellers in this industry.

And the saddest thing is that he charge thousands of dollars for a coaching program to teach other people how to repeat this business!

Better informing on the web, I found out that this person, periodically, recycles own mailing list, recovering also unsubscribed.

Download the entire list, and the charge it on a new mailing server.

When this ends up in the blacklist, it starts again with a new server.

By doing so squeezes every last penny, even by people no longer subscribed.

I do not want to imagine what can do all the other "marketers" with less fame!

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