With super fast age of Digital Marketing and many different marketing channels out there! Is Solo Ads the right for your business?

solo ads definition:

A Solo Ad is a type of Standalone Advertising – a list rental if you will. It is a popular way for internet marketers to get their message out to large numbers of targeted prospects for a relatively low cost.

The basic idea is to find someone who owns a list of subscribers which is related or closely related to your niche. And to effectively “rent” their list by paying them to send out an email you’ve written to their subscribers.

Benefits that come from using solo ads:

1. Easy to Implement advertising Method:

You just have to find a suitable vendor related to your niche, which has a large list of active and genuine subscribers. Prepare your email and an attractive sales copy. That’s it. Of course, you will have to split test and optimize (landing page, email copy) for better results and higher ROI.

2. You get a large list of subscribers:

Solo Ads is beneficial for those promoters who have just started building their own mailing list. In fact, you get an active and ready list of subscribers at your disposal to whom you can showcase and sell your products or services.

3. You get Guaranteed Traffic to your Campaign:

you have a higher probability of getting actual extremely targeted subscribers to your campaign. You have a greater chance of visibility as the subscribers are those are genuinely interested in such a niche.

4. Flexible pricing options:

Solo Ads give you flexible pricing options. You can either choose fixed pricing or a performance-based agreement. After A/B Test you will figure which one is more profitable.

5. Cost Effective:

The ROI is pretty nice on Solo Ads/Email Marketing. Solo Ads are really a cost-effective way of Internet marketing. Having said these Solo Ads are a splendid method to reach millions of eyeballs by paying little money.

The Different Payment Options:

Like many forms of advertising, buyers get a different option of either choosing a fixed price or a performance-based agreement. The performance-based agreement could be based on a number of variables – but the most common are:

pay per click. pay per open. pay per conversion/sale. Fixed price is the most popular option which includes a minimum amount of clicks. This way you have full control over your budget. And you are guaranteed to definitely get a minimum amount of traffic reaching your landing page.

Usually, the list owner will repeat sending out your email until the minimum amount of clicks are reached. Some of them even give you extra clicks for free as a bonus.

Performance-based agreements can have their advantages but are recommended for people who have split tested their funnel and know the average of their EPC.

Solo Ads Success:

It’s extremely important to spend some time to think carefully about a catchy subject line that would stand out in your perfect prospects inbox.

Use creative language throughout the email. And be specific about what you are advertising. Be sure to track links that you are promoting to optimize your marketing campaigns for higher success.

It’s also important to make it easy for people to click on your link. The link should be visible when the email is opened. A responsive template that looks great on desktops, mobile devices & Inbox Providers.

Use a strong clear call-to-action tell them what to do & giving hints on the value they will get. NEVER use a solo ad to send them straight to an order page to buy something. Instead, send them to a standalone lead capture page designed to capture their email address. No menu bars. No content. No Ads.

Use a Link Tracking Software – with your custom domain this will to make your link pretty, short, attractive, boost engagement and most importantly increase email deliverability. The beauty of this is you’ll to be able to track clicks see where they are coming from, filter bots and no targeted clicks.

A big, fat warning!

Solo ads are typically offered by one-guy (or one-gal) sellers. In other words, you’re dealing with the list owner directly. Because of this, there’s some risk involved. There’s, even more, the risk involved. some solo ad lists were built with less-than-ideal methods. In a best-case scenario, the list might have been built by converting traffic from a website that’s in your niche. Or maybe the list owner bought advertising and converted it with a squeeze page.

Luckily, there are ways to tell if you’re dealing with a good list owner and a good list:

• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
  
• Avoid people who make big promises.
  
• Use forums, friends and an online resource you can find to verify that the list owner and their list are worth your money.
  
• Start small. DO NOT drop $1,000 on a list the first time out. Start smaller – preferably as small as the list owner will let you.
  
• Expect to test 3-5 lists in a limited way before you move ahead with a bigger investment.
  
• Not every testimonial you read online is true. Sad to say, but some sites are still posting fake testimonials. Don’t think everything’s fine just because you read 10-20 glowing reports on somebody’s site.
  
• Ask the owner how their list was built? how often they mail to that list? which type of offers do well on their list? how they process hard bounces? spam complaint rate?
  
• And finally – ask them what their list’s average response rate is?

wind-up:

Solo ads work great. They’re an affordable way to build a list fast or to blast exposure for a product launch. But there are some sob stories of people getting burned. And there are other sob stories of marketers simply not doing their homework and thus getting really bad results.

If you don’t screen a list carefully, and you haven’t picked a list that’s suited to your business, don’t complain if you lose money.

Most importantly, start slow. You won’t really know how your email/landing page creative performs until you’ve tried it across 3-5 lists. Just because your creative tanks on one list does not mean the owner is a scammer. It may just mean their list doesn’t care for your offer.

Just like any other form of advertising just keep tweaking and tracking your ads. Remove what doesn’t work. And stick with what does work.