What is Solo Ads ?

A solo ad is when you rent other people’s email lists for a fixed fee for one ad. Hence the name – “solo” ad. What solo ads bring to the table for marketers that no other traffic source offers is that it’s affiliate-friendly and squeeze-page-friendly strategy.

 

You can promote affiliate products or Link (or your own products that make claims advertising networks don’t approve) while building your list and no one is going to penalize you for that.

 

Solo ads give you instant access to hundreds of thousands of highly-targeted email leads, no matter who you are, no matter your budget, no matter your niche and no matter how skilled or connected you are.

 

It’s the perfect shortcut for someone without a list to get one quickly while making money. Solo advertising also have the advantage of delivering mainly email traffic. . Email leads buy things.

 

In a head-to-head performance assessment email advertising beats almost all other traffic sources and goes toe-to-toe with Organic Search, Referrals, And Paid Search. Social trails are way behind.

 

It offers fewer paying customers and 1/20th the customer the lifetime value of email.

 

Email lead pool dwarfs social media. In spite of all the attempts by the Social Media mavericks, email isn’t going anywhere.

 

We use email to share documents. We need an email address to create an Apple ID and an iCloud password to store our photos. We can’t start a Twitter or Facebook account without an email address. Compare with Social media vs Email marketing

 

No matter how you spin it – people used email, use email, and will keep using email to store and share important information with each other. So not only you’re getting a much better customer, but you’re also getting more of ‘em!

 

You can access more leads, faster and cheaper with email than you’ll ever hope to reach with social media marketing – free or paid.

 

Another reason internet marketing newbies go nuts over solo ads is the simplicity. You need more knowledge to run Native Ads or Facebook ads without wasting 90% of your ad budget on dead hits.

 

You need to understand pixel fires, meta code, lookalike audiences, demographic targeting nuances, mobile vs desktop breakdown and be familiar with roughly 74 types of different ad placements (73 of which are as useless as tits on a bull).

 

Solo ads are much simpler. Negotiate price, set up tracking, write your swipe, submit an order and watch your list grow. Unlike other methods, where driving traffic becomes the sole purpose of your day-to-day routine, solo ads take almost no time to manage.

 

It’s as easy as pushing a button. Solo ads allow you to work on your business, not in it. The leads come in even if you sleep.

 

• Solo ads are still heavily under-used by marketers.

This creates an opportunity for you to operate with virtually zero competition. But it’s also a downside because there are virtually no reliable authorities that could offer advice on the legitimate places to buy solo ads.

 

It creates an issue for beginners who would like to buy solo ads without being scammed for whatever little money they have. In this article, I’ll go over which solo ad sources you should use and which ones you should avoid, as well as the fine points of profitably purchasing solo advertisements.

 

 

Where To Buy High-Quality Solo Ads For Any Niche

Solo ads are the gasoline. The quality of the fuel is a critical component for anyone who wants to get the most oomph out of their red stallion. Here’s a shortlist of trusted solo ad sources that offer high-quality leads.

 

Having this list doesn’t shield you from getting scammed. Even the most hardcore media buyers get conned every now and again. But it dramatically lowers your risk.

 

Although I briefly mention some, you won’t find many solo ad marketplaces on this solo ad shortlist. I advise avoiding those like the plague.

 

Many of these sites are run by unscrupulous individuals who are either reselling clicks at a profit or simply sending unsolicited email. One another location to avoid at all costs. You will pay the price if you ignore these warning.

 

 

Warrior Forum

(internet marketing, biz opp, self-help, forex, dating, weight loss) – great place to buy solo ads for beginners.

 

 

As little as 50 clicks a day is possible, but it’s possible to go as high as several thousand every day.

 

You get to choose from dozens of sellers who are willing to cut each other’s throats for your money. You can even play them against each other to arm-twist them into discounting your traffic.

 

Why the fierce competition? Because the forum marketplace is relatively small and many of the sellers aren’t skilled at marketing themselves. You can say it’s the mentality of the forum marketplace – the customer always right. Besides, everything they do is viewed by all the members of the forum.

 

It’s a very transparent environment. And in any transparent setting, the customer wins by getting better service and lower price.

 

The choice can be overwhelming, though. All sellers sort of lookalike, make similar claims, and charge a similar price. It’s kind of like buying strawberries at the market. There’s almost nothing differentiating the sellers other than their attitude and looks.

 

The upside, however, is that they won’t dare mess with you, because they value their reputation more than money. If things go south, they’ll step up and make things right almost without question. Some will even volunteer to send you free traffic just to keep you happy.

 

Things to consider when choosing the right vendor

• Reach out to the solo ad providers with most thread views and comments first.
• As long as the solo ad provider updates his thread with fresh testimonials – he’s also replenishing his list with new leads..
• Warrior Forum solo ad providers are expected to respond the same day. Often within the hour.
• If you need to talk to the vendor before ordering, send vendor a private message.
• Some vendors use WarriorForum as an advertising platform, but prefer to talk to customers on Facebook:
• Keep in mind the WarriorForum isn’t associated with any of the solo ad providers on the forum. But if you run into trouble, you can submit a complaint by posting to their thread and the mods may step in.

 

Arcamax

(all niches) – different from most solo ad sellers who own opt in lists they mail offers to.

 

 

 

There is a significant audience for Arcamax, a content directory. A wide range of specialty markets – large and small – are available for advertising in its content.

 

This isn’t some one-man show solo ad seller. This is a huge publishing company. Approach them as if you were buying an advertising spot in a large circulation newspaper. Because you sort of is.

 

If it’s your first time buying, you’ll need a rundown of all the options. Richard Young, the Vice President, can be contacted at ryoung@arcamax.com.

 

You’ll be able to choose from a wide variety of ad types starting from straight-up solo ads to email drops to their entire database and all the way to mini in-content text ads:

 

Udimi

(internet marketing, business opportunity) – Udimi is the Uber of solo ads. Sort of. They make money by creating and exchange of solo ads between interested parties via an online marketplace.

 

It’s possible to exchange solo advertising on Udimi, a marketplace for buyers and sellers. A high conversion rate is possible because of the merchants’ access to highly targeted email lists.

 

A buyer has the opportunity to search for vendors based on their ranking and narrow down their search to only those that meet their needs. As an all-in-one tool for affiliates and digital marketers alike, it’s a great choice for many.

 

As a result of their ‘blind rating technique,’ users can be certain that the results are accurate and honest. As a result, it ensures that buyers obtain the best possible return on their investment.

 

The suppliers provide opt-in lists that are regularly updated in order to contact receivers who are already familiar with the senders. You can expect to see a higher conversion rate because these folks have already shown an interest in your content.

Dedicated Emails

(Health, Outdoors/Survival, Political, Finance) – owned by Mike and Brian Litman (Litmans for short), Dedicated Emails are the go-to source for any major player in the survival and health niche.

 

 

 

Watch Out For These 3 Potential Solo Ad Scams

In the solo ad market, as in any business or profession, there are a few bad apples. A few are false – some are corrupt. Here are three ways solo ad sellers can scam you.

 

1. You may be a victim of being sold fake traffic

Solo ad industry is the internet’s version of the wild-wild west. It’s not regulated.

 

There’s no solo ad policy that’s going to chase and punish wrongdoers. That’s why some shady characters take advantage of solo ad beginners by selling cheap bot (fake) solo ad clicks. The bot is short for robots.

 

In other words, these aren’t real human beings. These are computer programs that are designed to create a false appearance of activity. They’re extremely difficult to spot upfront.

 

2. It’s possible that you’ll pay more than advertised

Some solo ad sellers wile people with cheap prices – usually between $0.40 and $0.60 CPC – and then send crappy clicks that result in low opt-in rate and no sales.

 

As a result, you end up paying $3.00-$7.00 per an unresponsive lead

 

3. You may be overpaying for brokered clicks

While traffic brokers are upfront about acting as a conduit between you and the solo ad provider, many aren’t.

 

So many solo ad suppliers are one-man shows with no email lists. . They sell traffic at a markup and resell it to other solo ad providers (which you may already be buying from).

 

 

8 Ways To Protect Yourself Against Solo Ad Scams

The key to apprehending solo ad con artists is in using the right tools and knowing what to look for. Here are tools and tactics you can use to protect yourself against solo ad scams.

 

1. Use HotJar

originally created to identify usability issues, HotJar records browsing sessions of your site visitors. Monitor your squeeze page, bridge page and your sales page traffic to identify unusual activity.

 

Besides being great value for money, HotJar offers video evidence you can use to confront the scam artist or to spread the word about their dishonorable way (or both!).

 

2. Ask Questions

the way you learn about a solo ad vendor is by asking specific questions and listening carefully to the answers.

 

Here’s the questions You can ask:

1. What offers work best for your list?
2. What offers don’t convert with your list?
3. What’s the sales funnel(s) you’ve used to build this email list?
4. Have you done any affiliate promotions in the last 30 days? If so, how did they go?
5. How long does it usually take to deliver <<insert number>> clicks?
6. Will you write the email swipe (creative) or will I need to supply one?
7. Are there any guarantees?

 

These 7 questions allow you to collect enough information to make a wise decision about whether or not you’d like to work with a solo ad provider.

 

Start slow. Don’t fire off the entire set in a single email. Ask one question at a time and actively listen. Use a friendly tone. Avoid creating a hostile dynamic.

 

You have to look for inconsistencies in the solo ad seller’s responses.

when you ask the solo ad provider about their sales funnel, you should be able to get an answer pretty fast, because you can’t build a list without a funnel.

 

But if the seller starts acting funny, ask questions or suddenly becomes elusive – you know something’s up. You may be dealing with a broker who resells other people’s traffic but who doesn’t want you to know.

 

Or they could be someone who tries to sell you a different form of clicks – such as “funnel clicks” – but doesn’t want to admit it.

 

If they share their sales funnel – opt-in and take a look. Ask yourself if this seems like the kind of funnel that’s designed to produce sales its owner.

 

Is it a product funnel or is it just a squeeze page and an opt-in bribe without an offer?

 

Or perhaps it’s a classic reseller funnel that starts with a squeeze page and leads into 2 more?

 

Shady solo ad sellers are after a quick buck. They won’t build a product funnel just to sell clicks.

 

They’ll make an appearance of a funnel to fool customers, but in reality, they’re just buying solo ads from other providers to build their own solo ad list and sell traffic.

 

Even though they have no funnel of their own and no product that could allow them to build a buyer list, many solo ad sellers will lie about having one.

 

They’ll try to convince you their list is crammed with buyer leads. That’s when I love to ask them if they’ve done any affiliate promotions in the past 30 days.

 

This question allows to quickly separate the liars from truth-tellers, because if their list is truly full of buyers, they’ll show at least some evidence of that.

 

Like an earnings screenshot from an affiliate competition or sales stats from their own CRM software. If they can’t provide proof and they’re still claiming they’ve got a buyer list – they’re lying. Stay away.

 

Chances are this seller is building lists only to sell traffic. That’s not the sort of list you’d like to advertise to.

 

You’ll get the best results with lists that are built through selling info products, where the subscribers know, like and trust the list owner (even if they decided not to buy from them).

 

Ask how long does it take to deliver the traffic when it starts. When you get an estimate from the seller, ask if it’s guaranteed.

 

you can ask questions

 

Many sellers will say pretty much anything they think you want to hear just to sell you, but in reality, many of them can’t deliver. The solo ad providers, even the bad ones, know they can easily be held accountable to the commitments they make in writing.

 

So when you ask them about a delivery guarantee, watch how some of them drop off, act weird or try to “fine print” their way out of a commitment.

 

The above 7 questions are enough to get you started. As the dialogue unfolds, you’ll spot more opportunities for questioning.
Remember – look for those red flags. Don’t let them fool you.

 

3. Run A Small Test

If you keep asking the same questions over and over, the adept single ad con artists will find a method to get out of your interrogation.  There are also sellers who aren’t trying to scam anyone – they just sell really bad traffic.

 

Eventually, you’ll have to test their traffic to know for sure. Make sure you’ve got tracking in place throughout your entire sales funnel. A common mistake I see marketers make is to watch their opt-in rates and nothing else. Opt-in rates can be easily faked.

 

4. 1st Email Follow Up Bounce Rate

if a solo ad swindler sent you bad clicks, you’ll immediately be able to tell by assessing your email bounce rate.

 

Bounce rate is the percentage of emails that can’t be delivered. They could be full inboxes, temporarily disconnected, abandoned, or non-existent (hard bounce).

 

While email opens are subjective, because they depend on the sender’s IP address, email swipe, subject line, and a few other things – bounce rates don’t lie.

 

A healthy bounce rate should be below 3%. If you’re getting 8%+ bounce rates – you may have been scammed.

 

5. Optin-To-Sale Conversion

it’s the ultimate traffic quality test and the hardest thing to fake.

 

Of course, I’m not saying you should ditch a solo ad provider unless their traffic converts at 17%. Keep realistic expectations. Depending on what you’re selling, strive to a healthy benchmark of 1-2 sales per 100 opt ins.

 

6. Tier 1 Percentage

Amount of visitors you receive that comes from tier one countries such as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

 

You can expect a quality solo ad to contain 85% top-tier clicks. The rest should be spread all over the world. If, however, you notice one dominant non-top tier click source, you may be a victim of a scam.

 

7. Referrer URL

the page that the prospect was on right before they landed on your page.

 

If the provider sends traffic via email inboxes such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail – you’re getting 100% email and 100% legit clicks. If, however, you notice weird domains showing up, start asking questions.

 

8. Traffic Distribution

Is the traffic evenly distributed across a few days, or was it sent in a single, large burst? Is it regular and deliberate, or is it disorganized?

 

A single ad vendor may produce clicks quickly if he or she is pushing fake traffic. Often during the same day of each other. You don’t have to do anything other than switch it on for the vendor to have it start flooding your funnel.

 

If the traffic is real, it should take the seller more preparation to get started. Plus, real email traffic spikes at first, and then delivery speed drops and eventually subsides.

 

Then they may email again, so there’s going to be another spike. It’s rare for the traffic to come in evenly over time. Only super high-level sellers can pull off such click management.

 

 

How To Negotiate Solo Ad Prices With Solo Ad Sellers

Solo ads offer a wide range of prices from as cheap as 30 cents a click all the way to two dollars a visitor. You can also get 5 cent clicks on Fiverr or 12 cent clicks from AdFly, but I can hardly call those solo ads. Hell, I can hardly call that traffic!

 

Anyway, no matter the starting point, you can almost always (with a few exceptions) haggle your way to a better price, because solo ad pricing is a lot like the stock market – it’s based purely on the belief of the seller of what their traffic costs.

 

For example, solo ad providers that offer clicks at 0.3$ obviously don’t value their list much. The only reason they offer traffic so cheaply is that they can’t monetize it any better promoting affiliate offers. So we can conclude that’s not a quality email list.

 

Traffic that converts is most often priced around the dollar mark. Either slightly below or slightly above.

 

Premium quality solo ad clicks tip over $1.50 CPC. Since you’re buying several hundred clicks at a time at least, even a 10¢ makes a huge difference.

 

Solo ad sellers expect you to haggle. They take price negotiation into consideration before listing their costs. You can shave up to 30% of the Cost Per Click simply by asking.

 

 

How To Get Solo Ad Sellers To Lower Their Prices For You

Initiate negotiation letting the solo ad seller you come with long-term intentions. Solo ad sellers are often willing to offer discounts to buyers who buy in bulk and buyers who buy regularly (once a week or once a month).

 

Often that alone will be enough to elicit a discount. Whatever the price solo ad seller names first – don’t agree to it. That’s your anchor. It can only go down from here. Decline the solo ad seller’s offer elegantly, without confronting them and without using the word “No”

 

Sometimes the solo ad seller will make you a better offer. Other times they’ll ask what are you willing to pay.

 

 

Finally, How To Write Solo Ad Swipe ( Email )

Solo ad swipe is the email you give the solo ad vendor you’re buying the solo advertising from to blast his list. Some sellers prefer to write their own email creative. Most, however, will take anything you give them.

 

The purpose of your solo ad swipe is to get a targeted & committed click to your squeeze page. It’s not to close the sale, overcome objections or build your brand.

 

Leave that to your sales funnel. Since subscribers on the list you’re mailing don’t know you or your product, use the problem-solution formula to spark their interest and curiosity.

 

It is the best way to cherry pick the most targeted leads on the solo ad list you’re working with.

 

Subject Line

the most important part of the email creative, especially if you’re running a solo ad in E-zines where you’re not guaranteed clicks.

 

If your subject line bombs – your entire solo ad goes kaput and you’ve wasted your money. The good news is you only need one solo ad swipe (or two at most) to successfully run traffic using solo ads. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.

 

Here’s 2 foolproof subject line formulas you can use:

 

1. How to get [outcome they want] without [thing they hate]

• How to make money online without previous experience
• How to make six figures without a degree
• How to start your own business without credit

 

2. For people who [are experiencing problem]

• For people who hate their boss but can’t walk away from their job
• For people who hate the sound of their own voice
• For people who suffer from lower back pain

 

Intro

The purpose of the subject line is to get the reader to read the first line of your email. Since the intro is the most precious part of your email, don’t waste it on verbal foreplay.

 

Cut to the chase by describing the problem your target market is experiencing. This will gain the reader’s attention and interest.
It will open her/him up to wanting to know more about the solution.

 

Body

tease the solution to the reader’s problem by talking about how it’s different from other similar solutions the reader has been promised in the past.

 

This, of course, requires you to know your market. You have to know what they’ve been sold in the past that didn’t work, what your competitors are selling and position your solution differently.

 

Call To Action

Tell the reader what she/he needs to do to learn more about the solution. Don’t dilly-dally. Don’t try to be funny, clever or creative. Just tell her/him where to click.

 

As long as you stick to these 4 rules, you’ll always pull maximum opens and clicks without compromising reader’s commitment and interest.

 

 

Here’s Why Solo Ad Swipe Works

The subject line isn’t wasting anyone’s time. If the reader wants to quit her day job but doesn’t know how then she’s going to open and read this email. Or at least save it for later.

 

By putting the intro into story context, the email creative immediately appeals to our deep-seated interest in people. Especially people who have something we desperately want.

 

Body explains how what I’ve got is different from similar solutions they’ve been sold before. It clearly states this is going to be different.

 

Finally, the call to action tells the reader [clearly] what she/he needs to do next.

 

 

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