Why Use Paid Traffic - Section 1
INTRODUCTION
I was asked to provide some further information on the tools and programs and etc. that I am using in my own online marketing. This would be a VERY long post if I tried to add everything, so I will split into a bunch of smaller segments posted over time...
WHY PAID TRAFFIC
I know that Kyle sort of recommends caution when it comes to paid traffic. I do understand this because unless you really understand what you are paying for, lots of times the money is gone and you have less than expected results...But generally solo ads can be much quicker and easier to gain leads and sales than free traffic methods.
Here is the thing: It can be quite frustrating to wait for traffic as you start this affiliate marketing focusing only on content, It takes time to establish authority and to get the large quatities of traffic that will get you leads and later conversions.
People becoome affiliate marketers because most want to see some money, and that as soon as possible! Paid traffic can do that for you if done properly. Over the last week, I have seen a couple of posts here of members that are doing just that.
There are ways to get the traffic through "renting" somebody else's email subscriber list for a day. This is called an email “solo ad.” I have seen a post this week from an ambassador here who has spent $33 and made $166 so far in a few days. That is pretty good ROI!
Here is how it works: You pay the owner of the leads an agreed fee and then they will blast out your email message (ad) to their subscribers. I know the term solo ads sounds like it might be more complicated, but it isn't! There is no magic or special skills required with this sort of paid traffic...
Another type of paid ad is the banner ad – you likely have seen them all over the place, I know I use them on my own site for products that I sell as an affiliate, as well as to get subscribers (opt-ins) for my site (i.e. I use my monthly free marketing magazine).
To get these ads on others' blogs or pages, you can simply contact the website or blog owners that will take such advertising on their sites, agree to a price, pay the fee asked for, and they then will post your banner ad on one or more of their pages.
The banners are linked to your squeeze or sales page and when their visitors click on the banner, they are sent to wherever you want...Simple also huh? Of course you will need to have a banner and a squeeze page, but that is for another post!
My advice if you are going to do either of the above...start small...test to see what the results will be. Try an "A" version and a "B" version of the ad...See which is more effective, THEN scale up...
Also, a very important thing to remember with all the work you are doing right now to build your blog, with the help of WA, is that you really are building for the future...So do not forget to keep at this....This is like building a house that can be the base of all the other things you do like paid traffic...
How does this relate to paid ads, you ask? Well, let me tell you...
This real estate (your site) that has an ever increasing value over time can eventually be used to allow you to provide the above two strategies to others...As your traffic and leads grow, and you buld the site, over time you get more leads and authority...
You can become a vendor yourself, offering access to your lead list to others in an exchange or for a fee. NOTE: THis is NOT giving away your list, it is sending out offers for others to your list, again, for a fee...
Another way to monetize your site space once you have a sizeable amount of traffic is to offer banner space to others. Again as above with the use of your leads, some clarification is required. I would only open this option for products or services that realte to the niche/site...
You can also offer use your authority position in the niche to work with other authority sites/persons do a guest blog on one another's site, getting more exposure for both sites...This may not involve a money exchange, rather a payment in kind situation...You give and receive, and both sides benefit (so do the readers by the way!)...
HYBRID APPROACH
What is this you may ask...This is the approach I am taking...Note I am relatively new at all this, but I am starting to see small successes here and there...This stuff works! Let me explain more...
Let's say you do choose to use one or more of the above methods to more quickly build traffic. You work to have a successful website and also use solo ads to build your list of ubscribers and maybe make some sales.
The next step is then do the swaps, mail blast for mail blast, ad for ad and guest post for guest pot...When you do that last step, make sure that you take the opportunity to brand yourself as being an expert on your whatever you topic is....This will get you more blog followers...
This is in reality a cycle, so you can repeat it again and again, and each time you get a little smarter, you get more effective conversions and lead totals, your authority in the niche gets more and more entrenched, and overall you have more and more success at selling/making money!.
A CAVEAT
:I recommend that you track all of your results as you go along. You can tweak the system so you get the most bang for your buck or blog post, banner, solo ad, etc. Having such metrics really helps raise the efficiency and effectiveness of the hybrid system you have put together.
Use automation as much as possible, it does not have to take a large part of your day if you do...
SOURCES FOR SOLO ADS
Below you will see that I have compiled a partial list of some sources for paid traffic - these have been gathered from various sources across the internet and over time you can find them yourself. But I want to save you time...Remember there are MANY more out there than this, and some will work better than others...Have a look and see if any of these would fit into YOUR hybrid program!
CAUTION
Remember, I have it say this again and caution you so you do not waste money and time...Start with testing small and only when you have an effective producing/working system, go big. No fear however, this stuff does not require an advanced education degree - nor a lower level one! This is definitely NOT rocket science we are talking about!
CONCLUSION
This is a simple system to send traffic (in this case paid) to a good offer (make sure you are offering something of value) + repeat ( keep going through the cycle again and again)...As you evaluate testing results, use what works from the testing, and keep doing it using the proven producers...Over time you WILL make money online!
I hope that if you ARE considering using solo ads or similar, you do a google search and many options will show up in results...Consider them starting points and do your due diligance and see which, if any, will fit into your program/strategy for your online marketing program
Thanks and please add feedback/discussion below!
Kind Regards,
Dave : )
Recent Comments
38
A big thanks to your efforts sharing your knowledge and the list. This is such a big step but I believe to be worthwhile. In business, you need capital not only your "sweat and tears", but money too running your business. And then reap the rewards of your efforts and labor. Great blog! Very much appreciated.
Hi Coney,
No probs on sharing, that is what this place is all about! ; )
It really is a step that you need to think through and have organized before you take action....
If done properly, it reall can help ramp things up for your online marketing efforts...
Thanks for stopping by and adding your input!!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Hi Dave, I have to disagree somewhat with your post when you suggest that we may sell our own list and swap messages with someone else. What with the privacy policy that stipulate that their names will not be shared or sold to anyone else? Doesn't that take away some of one's own integrity?
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing your opinion and viewpoint...Also, a good point I might add...This is something where a little clarification will be helpful...
I do see what you are saying and need to add yet one more caveat to what I describe...As "owner" of your lead list, you are careful to only offer products or services that fit with the niche you gathered the leads from...
When I say "sell" this does not mean you are giving your list away for money. You are selling access to them through your own mail that offers whatever the person buying the blast is offering...I wish I could buy a lead list, it would make life so much easier, as long as it was a good one lol...
Let me expain a bit more about "selling" access to the leads (not selling the list, only access to the list)...
I would not offer the service to send an email offering a green technology product to my affiliate marketing list...That affiliate list was gathered from my niche site on affiliate marketing, is totally unrelated, and of no value to that list,,,...
So if I did agree to send an offer to my leads from either list for a fee, I would do so only if the ad/blast adds value for that group, and is related to the niche...
I think that if the product or service that is offered fits the niche you gathered the leads for/from, it is OK....You do the same when you offer them a product from ClickBank or JVZoo...
Again you are not giving away the list names and emails to anyone, you are simply sending them a mail.
I have added a few sentences to make this clear above...
One last time here too: I do NOT recommend selling your list, only limited access to it, as in emails from you containing the offer from the buyer of that service...And only as the offer fits and provides good value for your list members!
Cheers!
Dave : )
My bad, Dave. I totally misunderstood your meaning the first time around. I get what you're saying and it does make sense. You are enhancing the experience for your leads by offering outside elements through a third party that will complement what they already got form you. Thanks for clarifying the situation for me!
Hi Linda,
On the contrary, the way I wrote it could have been interpreted this way.That was great that you mentioned how you were thinking! I thank you because I went back in and changed it a bit (as you likely saw) to make it more clear...Teamwork!
Cheers,
Dave : )
Solo ads can be a good strategy for sure, espacially to build a list. But as a newbie... I have tried it without a good website content, an autoresponder without a good sequence answers, (most people don't buyt at their first visit on the website) and all the tools for the stats and this was kind of a hard time ....This is still not a free way... But sure. I will use it when everything else will be set-up right, that time, never twice the same mistake :) Thanks for sharing your knowledge David ! I wait for the others sections of your blogs :)
Hi Jeff,
I am pretty much sharing what I am learning as I go along. Your experience is likely the same for many I think, hence the hesitation on Kyle's part to recommend the strategy.
It is just as true that paying for solo ads will not guarantee success as it is that starting a blog on a web page will bring you traffic,leads and sales. The back end work has to be completed and in place/ready to go...
With content (blog), unique and relevant information that adds value to the niche are keys, as are using keywords that searchers will use to come to your site, as is then the proper SEO so Google ranks you high enough to have them see your site/post on the first page...
With solo ads it is a similar...
Unless you have things prepared, like...
(1) A good product leads will want...
(2) An ad that you KNOW converts (well tested) and
(3) Target the ads to the people that are interested
(4) Use mediums that work best (i.e. Bing, yahoo, Google, Facebook, Twitter) based on testing, and
(5) Have all the back end tasks done properly and working properly...
Item 5 above includes
(1) Having links all set up, tested and working,
(2) Good professional and attractive landing/squeeze/opt-in pages,
(3) Your autoresponder is set up and tested with thank you or follow up mails depending on the action taken by the lead),
(4) and likely more I have not mentioned, these are just the basics...
If the above is not done, you likely will not be happy with the solo ads results, because you will not have success and will have thrown your money away....
Thanks for bringing this up, good point to add to the discussion for sure!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Thank you for this post; I was not clear on what paid traffic was and now I get it. It is definitely something I will look more into.
Glad it helped, also read all the comments and discussion, it helps even more, good points and ideas added to the post! Cheers! : )
Good question....
This is also why I put Section 1 lol! I will add to the other paid ad types out there, and also what I am using and why. I think each person has to look at what their strategy is and what they are trying to achieve, then use the method that will best get them there!
Personally, I am going to do more PPC, but only for the business that it pertains to (we have a online/offline start up that is actually selling a d product/service). To ramp up sales, targeted PPC ads are the way to go.
I have 2 other businesses that are mainly presented online but with offline support to complete the services and products I offer online. For this I am doing a targeted email campaign at no cost other than to find the leads and send them my offer(s)...
Solo ads as decscribed above MAY be a way I will consider using down the road for the affiliate marketing, because as I said it takes a LONG time normally to get this going, as in you have a sizeable list that will buy your products.
A even faster way to "pay" for leads without paying may be this:
(1) Develop a product and
(2) Allow affiliate marketers to sell it to their leads and give them 100% of the sale...
(3) You get the lead, they get the money...
Sounds counterintuitive I know...BUT think how much value a lead has...I have read somewhere that each one is worth $1 per month average. So that means in a year you can make 12 USD for each one you pick up...
For example...Let's see this in action:
Let's say you sell your product above at $18 USD...Let's say the affiliates sold 1000 of the product...
This means missed out on 1000 x $9 = $9000 (because you could let affiliates sell at 50% commission and keep half, not atypical from what I have seen)...
BUT you get ALL the emails /leads of the buyers from the affiliates that sold your product....To keep it simple we will not even go into retargeting and other tools you have that can increase your sales and leads even more, we just say 1000 sales...
Those 1000 leads are on the average going to make you 12000 USD over the next year, and the year after, etc. So the only "cost" is the product development and the cost to have it hosted/sold through JVZoo, ClickBank or similar!
The affilates win and push hard to get sales of your product because they make good money...You win because you have the leads that are buying (not lurkers), and will make far more then the 9000 USD you lost out on!
Now you may think "You would have gotten the leads with the sales anyway" and be right, BUT because you gave away 100%, you likely sold 3 x more of the product than you would have! So this makes sense to give away something now to get a lot more something down the road (in my mind)...
This is the same startegy used as when you provide something of value for free in exchange for a subscriber (name and email) on your site! It makes the receiver feek good, getting something for free motivates people for some reason, as long as they value the item...
All this is just to show you an example of how you must really think through your strategy and how best to approach this topic! Best of luck and I hope you are still awake lol!
Cheers!
Dave : )
This is awesome information. I am just starting to think about this stuff so it's perfect timing! And fab to have a comprehensive list. Thank you!
You are more than welcome! Great that you feel you can use...I do suggest doing the due diligence because some are definitely better than others...Over time you will get a feel....Good luck!
Thanks for all of the information. Another solo ad provider that I didn't see mentioned is Udimi.com
No probs at all...All of us helping one another, that is what WA is all about! Thanks also for the additional source, JUST the tihing I like to see in the discussion, added valuable information! Thanks for sharing!! : )
See more comments
Great info, David - Bookmarked for further use/review. Thanks so much!
Michael
Hi Michael! Thanks and good you can use now or later (I do the same with some of the posts here that provide info I KNOW I can use later!) Cheers! Dave : )