First, I'm going to make it clear that I am not an expert at solo ads or PPC. The point of this post is to let you know what I have done, the results I've had, and what I am planning on doing next.
It's the first of a series about using paid ads.
What I Have Done
I decided to take the plunge and use solo ads to send subscribers to an opt-in page for a free report and to add them to my list. I watched a few videos about how to use solo ads, and how to select an ad provider.
I purchased 200 clicks for $99. I selected traffic from the US only.
I placed the order at 4 in the afternoon, and was notified by 5 that the traffic was already coming in.
By the next day, at noon, I was notified that the traffic had been delivered, and that I had some extra traffic as a bonus.
I went to my stats page, and it showed that I had received around 240 visits to my opt-in page. So far so good.
The Solo Ads Results
So how did it work out? First, let me tell you about how I set up the campaign.
It was a pretty simple process. The traffic was directed to an opt-in page where I was offering a free report on how to get content ideas for free. Once someone opted in, they were sent to a thank you page that told them that their report was on its way.
After they confirmed their email address, they would receive the first email with a welcome message and a link to the free report.
After getting over 200 visits to the page, I ended up with 18 subscribers.
I had less than a 10 percent opt-in rate. And the leads cost over $5 each. Not what I was hoping for.
It may be that my opt-in offer was awful, or that the page was no good. Hard to say, because I haven't been willing to spend more money on solo ads, yet...
To make a bad situation worse,when I went into my Aweber account, I discovered that 9 people had unsubscribed almost immediately. And another 9 hadn't confirmed their email address.
After a month, no one had confirmed their email address. So my final results ended up with NO SUBSCRIBERS at all.
Does that mean solo ads don't work? They didn't for me. It could be my fault, but at this point, I have no interest in spending more money.
One thing that has been bothering me about this is that the traffic was coming in all through the late night and early morning hours. It makes me wonder if the traffic matched what I was offering.
The ad vendor said that the leads were for people interested in online marketing, but with the results and the time of day the traffic came in, I'm not so sure.
My Next Move - PPC'
Specifically, Microsoft Ads. I never thought I would consider PPC advertising, but after the results I got with solo ads, they are looking pretty good right now.
Here I spent less than $100 for 2 courses about Microsoft ads and a software app that makes keyword research and creating ads a breeze.
I've got the pages set up that I am going to be using, and I'm focused on offering a free report and getting subscribers onto my list.
I will have a special offer that gives a healthy discount on a package of 2 guides that I have.
I'm also going to use 2 different opt-in offers to see which one gets me the best results. In the next post, I'll give you an update and let you know how it turned out.