In addition to your free efforts to build your list, you have paid options. Buying exposure to your opt in offers is a great way to build your list, but it’s certainly not guaranteed.
You definitely have the guarantee of exposure when you pay for the ad space, because the seller will have to show your ad to a certain number of people. But that doesn’t mean they’ll act on it.
You want to watch your budget carefully and never assume you’ll make back your money right off the bat. Plan for both success and failure so that if you don’t get any opt ins or any loyal buyers from your subscribers, you won’t be fretting about being out your ad money.
Solo Ads
Solo ads are one shot advertisements that get your message in front of targeted individuals for a set fee or a performance-based fee, such as pay per click, pay per opening of the email, or pay per action, like an opt in – depending on the arrangement you set up with the person emailing out for you.
You have the opportunity to buy space in other marketers’ newsletters where they regularly contact their list and your solo ad goes in on a scheduled day and time.
Some mix the ad in jus like it’s a regular part of the newsletter. Others use a special “Sponsored by” section, which alerts the user to the fact that it’s a paid advertisement they’re seeing.
Cross promotion is one way to do solo ads if the other marketer would like to do a simple exchange email instead of a paid one-way email. It’s up to you if you want to expose your list to this other marketer.
You can either offer specific things, such as advice and tips with a link to a particular download page – or you can whip up a good solo ad and then link back to your blog or website and hope the end user takes the action you want him or her to take.
When you’re trying to build a list, it’s much better to drive that traffic to a freebie offer that entices them to sign up for your list, rather than to a sales page or general page on your site.
Where do you find solo ad offers? There are directories and you can also use search engines and word of mouth to find a solo ad opportunity. It’s not impossible to get the chance to email someone’s list if you simply ask for it, too.
Some newsletter owners want you to provide everything in terms of content for the ad. Others will want to write it themselves so that their newsletter tone, style and voice stays uniform throughout.
Blog Space
Blogs are a great place to buy ad space on in order to expose your opt in offer to prospective subscribers. The first thing you want to do is make sure the blogs you investigate for ad buys are active and flourishing with an audience that comments and takes action.
You don’t want to advertise on a stale blog where content might be going up, but the audience isn’t feeling a connection to the blogger or the messages. There are plenty of good blogs to choose from.
Sometimes, you’ll notice that a competitor of yours has blog space for sale. Other times, you may have to go out and look for the right place to do your promotions. There are directories of blogs that have ad space for sale.
Where is the space usually set for on a blog where ads are running? There are a variety of places, and sizes of ads that you can run. Each blogger is different in how they do things.
The top of the sidebar is a prime advertising hot spot. Usually, the blogger will divide the space up into small squares, allowing each ad buyer to own a button-sized block.
The lower you get in the ad space, the cheaper that block becomes. The top spaces are the most obvious and most expensive of the blog ad buys you can do.
If you see a blog that you know you want to advertise on, but the spots are all filled, contact the blogger and ask when a new spot in his or her sponsored ad area will open up.
They may have a waiting list. As a buyer, you can also book the ad space several months out in some cases if you want to – but some bloggers won’t allow you to do that.
Plus, you want to see if the blog ad is even going to pan out for you before you start pouring money into it for months at a time. The sidebar area isn’t the only ad space you can purchase, either.
Under the header of a blog, but before the content, there is often space enough for a full sized banner ad. This space can either be placed on the blog’s home page, on individual blog posts, or both. Find out ahead of time where your block will be showing.
Some bloggers will have strict guidelines about the ads being placed on their site. Here are a few examples of things you might have to abide by aside from the size restrictions:
- Color palettes so the ad matches the site (or complements it)
- Animation restrictions (some bloggers want static only ads and others give you the choice)
- Topics (some might force the ad to be relevant to the blog topic, others might not)
- Ratings (G, PG, R, etc.)
Make sure you carefully look at the blog rules and see what others who are already advertising there are doing. Which ad catches your eye and why? Emulate the things you see working.
Another type of ad on a blog is a paid review. This is when the blogger writes up a review about your product in return for a fee. Some bloggers will write all positive reviews, and some will give an unbiased real review, including information that may not be so flattering.
What should you place in the ad? Since your goal is to build your list, advertise your freebie in the ad. The word FREE stands out, so come up with an ecover or text that’s clearly visible in whatever space you have to work with.