Are Solo Ads Dead?

Are Solo Ads Dead?

So many people have been asking the question, ”Are solo ads DEAD.” Many are now questioning the effectiveness of solo ads. Is this tested form of lead generation no longer working?

Are Solo Ads Dead?

Are Solo Ads Dead?

By Merv Stevens on January 29th, 2014

So many people have been asking this question….”Are solo ads DEAD.” Many are now questioning the effectiveness of solo ads. They’ve had the feeling of something was wrong for some time. They’ve not been getting the results they were hoping for. Is this tested form of lead generation no longer working?

Stuart Ross, co-founder of Six Figure Mentors (SFM) and Digital Experts Academy (DEA) usually gets asked a lot of questions by those wanting to achieve better results with their marketing. But the one question that keeps cropping up again and again is, .

"Are solo ads DEAD"

Stuart Ross, co-founder of SFM & DEA made a short video giving his opinion on this very contentious subject.

He wanted to stop people making some big mistakes when it came to solo ads or any type of marketing whatsoever. Stuart decided to step up and share his opinion on this very discussed topic.

In no way does he think solo ads are dead and he does not think they will ever be dead – for this simple reason: you will always be able to send an email promoting your products or services to a list of subscribers.

The point he wanted to make is that the solo ads to ‘make money online’ and ‘internet marketing’ lists are dead and have been for some time. That’s a bit of a ruthless statement because people do make sales with solo ads with to those kind of subscribers.

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But it’s always been hit and miss and there’s never been any consistent results from that type of mailing. Let’s dig in to what Stuart is actually talking about.

Are Solo Ads Dead? What Type of Lists are You Using?

When you’re going to a solo ad provider the first thing you’ve got to decide on is what type of readership they have. Internet marketing is often the ‘make money online’ type of people, so for many people that would be the obvious route to take.

Even if they are reaL people looking for real opportunities, what type of people do you think will optin to this “simple”, “easy”, “magic solution to making loads of money overnight” type of capture page. Probably lazy people with an entitlement attitude who are looking for a “secret system” where they have to do no work but somehow still get paid loads of money.

In Stuarts opinion, these sort of ‘make money overnight systems’ do not exist. Even if they did, they would not be sustainable and so it would be a very short term solution to anybody’s problem. Well, if you want to go and make money just for a year, all well and good. When you stop earning any income after this period it’s going to suck.

Solo Ads are Dead: Provide a Valuable Real Education

This what you DO NOT want to do. The first tip – as with everything in marketing – is to do the polar opposite to what most other people are doing.

The solo ad providers with ‘make money online’ and ‘internet marketing’ lists tend to take advantage of that marketplace as they know it consists of hyperactive, motivated, buying individuals.

They promise purchasers of solo ads that if you send a solo ad to their list you’ll get a ton of options.

The solo ad provider writes the ad copy and you get all excited at the expectation of a flood of people being added to your subscriber base.

Your ad copy comes back and it usually includes the type of wording about a “simple, easy, magic, loophole solution to making money on the internet.”

“It’s never been so easy”, they’ve “broken the code,” and all that kind of thing.

Whenever Stuart receives that type of copy from a solo ad provider, not only does he think about changing the copy, but he also considers cancelling the mailing all together. Here’s why. If that’s the type of copy they are writing to their subscribers, what type of audience do you think they are cultivating.

You are wasting your time even if it’s a short fix (I’ve never experienced a short fix myself), although I’ve heard they do exist. What you really want to be looking for yourself and to provide for other people, is as an education. An education that is sustainable and that can really have an impact and change their lives.

In other words an education that provides real solutions to real world problems. Not “magic and secret loopholes.”

If you are targeting lists of people who are looking for these type of unreal and non-existent solutions you will find that the providers are “list pimping.” That is they are just going from one solo ad provider ato another and they’re all buying each others solo ads so they can build bigger lists and so sell their solo ads for more money.

They can then go and sell their solo ads to independent marketers who are launching and promoting their “latest greatest” system. When you get ad copy back from these type of solo ad providers it can be pretty ‘cringe-worthy.’ But most people will let it be sent anyway as they think the the provider knows their list and so knows what works best.

When the solo ad goes out you get some leads coming in and it’s all very exciting. But then… ‘viola.’

Nothing! If you are lucky you may get some results on a very small scale. You’re wasting your time and it’s not the right approach.

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Try Lists in Different Niches Let’s get back to what a solo ad is. A solo ad is where somebody has built a list and provides them with a regular newsletter – it could be in the fields of cooking, business, network marketing, health and fitness, general wealth creation, etc.

The ‘spammiest’ lists where you are most unlikely to get any sort of positive result is the ‘internet marketing’ and ‘make money online’ niches. The “magic loophole” readership. So don’t go there.

So what is Stuarts’ advice? What is his solution to this obvious problem? The solution is to go to different types of lists. To lists of other people who have other interests.

If you think of the solution that Stuart offers through Six Figure Mentors (SFM) and Digital Experts Academy (DEA) – it’s an education. It’s an education that’s going to help people to be in a position to take advantage of this new ‘Digital Economy.’

It’s an education that’s really going to help people prepare themselves for the future. Now the type of people that are going to be interested in this type of education can come from all sorts of backgrounds.

You see this in the SFM and DEA community. Some are semi-professional football players, medical doctors, golfers and teachers. It’s a very diverse group of people.

The type of people who are going to go through the SFM and DEA system and take in the information, watch the bootcamp videos, and get on the phone and have a chat with one of the business coaches about their education. They are going to be motivated, committed, entrepreneurial (maybe), hungry individuals who are looking to change their lives for the better.

Now let’s think of some lists outside of the ‘internet marketing’ and ‘make money online’ niches that may have the type of people I’ve just mentioned.

Well… people who tend to look after their health and fitness, whether it be through hobbies, recreation of even at a semi-professional level, tend to be quite motivated people. They’re getting off their backsides and looking after themselves to be fit and healthy.

People who are interested in investing. For example, wealth creation through investments.

These types of people tend to have money because if they didn’t have money they would not be reading emails, newsletters or following gurus in the wealth creation niche – because you need money to invest.

Let’s start to think about other areas of your life.

Maybe you are a ‘stay-at-home mom.’ There are certain newsletters that ‘stay-at-home mom’s’ may read. It may not be ‘work from home’ type stuff but things like parenting tips.

When you look at things from this perspective, Stuart’s advice would be to choose different types of newsletters with lots of diverse people on there.

In the back-office at SFM we recommend the ‘Directory of Ezines‘ as a source that details lists in all sorts of niches.’

Send Out the Correct Type of Copy The next thing to think about is the type of ad copy that is being sent out to the lists. Let’s stick with the parenting theme at the moment. What if you were to write a solo ad telling a story. This would be one of the longer solo ad – 100 to 200 words.

The story could be about how you are a parent and how you were struggling to find a balance in life – working long hours and not having enough time to spend with the kids and put them through the schools you wanted to.

So you looked for an alternative and found one: a new education. One that has never existed before and one that prepares you to thrive in the new ‘Digital Economy.’

You could elaborate further and talk about how your situation – how you made a few sales within a few weeks of getting started (if that is the case) and provide them with a link to the solution (in this case the SFM & DEA).

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You would be engaging a certain type of person through your solo ad. The type of people (through this example) who are parents and who are likely to want to provide the best possible life for their kids. If they’re following a newsletter on parenting tips then the chance is that they are pretty good people. they are going out of their way to be good parents.

These type of people are worth a million times more (probably literally) than somebody opting in from a ‘get rich quick scheme’ type of list.

Quality of Leads Solo ads can be a very cost-effective way of advertising. But most marketing gurus will be talking about how to get the maximum option rate with figures like 62% conversions. This is something that should be stressed , especially with solo ads – it should be about the quality of the leads and not the quantity.

Even if you are only getting a 5% – 10% option rate, it could still be a great result if that 5% – 10% are individuals who are highly likely to buy your product or service. Yet so many people just focus on the getting a high conversion rate, the ‘hypeiest’ landing page, the hypes ad copy, to get the most amount of clicks, to get the most amount of people opting-in with some deluded promise of free stuff.

If you are offering free stuff all the time, what type of people are you attracting? Something that Stuart would encourage you to do when writing ad copy is to use the word ‘complimentary’ rather than the word ‘free.’

Using Common Sense

I think you would agree that it’s common sense that the type of people you want on your list are those that are willing to be educated, are committed and prepared to work hard and learn new skills. People that are motivated and prepared to invest in their future.

I think you would also agree that it’s better to generate quality leads rather than a large quantity.

Do you want 100 people on your list that are expecting the world without having to give anything themselves? Or would you rather have 10 people who are serious and want to change their lives for the better and are prepared to learn, work hard and invest in themselves to do so.

With solo ads do not worry so much about getting maximum conversion rates but focus on getting the highest quality from the right type of people. That is common sense. If there is one thing that has served Stuart well in business (and just not online) – is using common sense.

So many of the courses out there are misleading.

A lot of the internet marketing trainings are based around conversion rates but they do not put money in your bank account because of the poor quality of leads generated.

If you approach solo ads with the attitude of hyped sales by thinking you can only ask for an email address, promise loads of free ‘stuff’, and think this will result in you getting more conversions and so have more people to follow up with – good luck. Because what you will be doing is just what everybody else is doing and that’s following the ‘gurus’ – a lot of whom are not making any real money.

The only way they are making money is by creating ‘hype’ and selling that ‘hype.’ A lot of them started online so long ago that they managed to create a name for themselves. But if they started today they would have little chance of succeeding.

So, are solo ads dead? Not if you choose the right type of people to target. Do this and offer a genuine, valuable service or product that will offer a solution to peoples problems and you will build yourself a list of responsive individuals who are prepared to learn and invest in themselves. Do this correctly and you will be able to build financial freedom and also the time to spend with your family and friends.

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Merv Stevens works in internet and network marketing and is based in London, England. He is of the opinion that marketing online provides the potential for people to create a substantial income and a life filled with freedom and flexibility and believes if you provide quality products and services with integrity and ethically then you will achieve success in your business and all areas of life. It’s these values and practices that he brings to his internet marketing business. To learn more about what Merv Stevens has to offer visit his blog: www.WealthSuccessVentures.com

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