Solo Ads Compared
Solo Ads are my favorite form of email marketing next to ad swaps. Before you can do ad swaps, you will probably have to start off with solo ads to build a good subscriber base. As a matter of fact, one can argue that solo ads are probably the most lucrative way list owners and ezine owners make money on their lists. My two favorite places for getting solo ads are:
The key difference between these two sites is whether or not you want to do list building outside of the Internet Marketing niche. If that’s the case than the Directory of Ezines is the way to go as Safe Swaps is primarily focused on the IM community.
All in all, I’d recommend the DoE first and Safe Swaps after you are more established.
Wait – I’m a Newbie. What is a Solo Ad?
Alright! Let’s start off with the basics of what a solo ad is first. A solo ad is an email sent to the entire list that contains only your offer (and is written by you from start to finish). It isn’t an ad contained with an email and it doesn’t even have to come across like an ad. With a solo ad you’ve approached a list owner and they’ve agreed to let you email their list.
Why is this so much more effective than other forms of email marketing?
Because you control the process from start to finish. You’re not competing for the reader’s attention with other ads embedded in the email. And honestly, when you look at your own inbox and look at some of the mailing lists you’ve subscribed to – which ads do you typically respond to?
Because it’s up to you to design a catchy subject line that results in a high open rate (that’s the number of people actually opening your email to read the contents).
What are some tips for doing effective solo ads?
Probably the most effective method for solo ads is to start with a strong subject line. I’ve noticed the following types of subject lines have excellent open rates – (you’ll notice none of them are salesy and all of them are very conversational in approach).
- Controversial Subjects that contain words like “Warning”, “Caution”, “Scam’, “Alert”
- ex. “CAUTION: This email is ridiculous”
- Ridiculous sounding subject lines like:
- WTF did he do now??
- stupid YouTube video I can’t stop watching
- Subject lines with numbers in them
- 5 tips for growing your list
- 3 traffic sources that are better than google
Once you’ve got a good subject line – you can shift gears entirely to talk about your offer. Since I view list building as a long term investment I don’t really advise that you start off with high priced items in your solo ads.
Just use your solo ads to get people to opt into your own list. Offer them a free report etc. to help close the opt in and once they are on your list you can have an auto-responder sequence that can eventually lead up to an affiliate product.
I’d also say that in spite of the up front cost the The Directory of Ezines is also much cheaper than Safe Swaps in the long run.
Great post I use DOE regularly and they are awesome. Safe-Swaps I checked out for the first time maybe a week ago i’ll probably test an ad with them soon. Good info thanks for your post! What do you think of the warrior forum solo ad offers?
Chris – I’m not doing much list building in the IM niche but if I were the Warrior Forum would be a great place to start!