I spent most of yesterday reading over 120 pages of content from 3 different programs teaching solo ads. Wow, this is not going to be as easy as I thought it might be. Nobody provides the exact step-by-step methods that you need to get started with solo ads. Most leave something out and that something just happens to be something I am not terribly familiar with.
After reading yesterday I spent a couple of hours listening to videos. Good content but always some step missing. It might be me but some of you maybe an expert at managing your autoresponder account and getting things setup. I am not. So I was off to the knowledgebase on Aweber to lookup how to do different things. After making a concentrated effort at learning for the past 2 days, I do say that the concept is becoming much clearer to me.
Learning List Building
I know I posted earlier about avoiding the shinning object syndrome in my “Why I failed at Internet Marketing and how to Avoid My Mistakes” but this an exception. The shinning object syndrome is buying product after product and never implementing them. But I am taking massive action on learning list building so I needed some material to read on the subject to help me learn.
I am using 3 list building products. They are:
- List Frenzy
- Fast List Building Membership
- Free Case Study from Steve Brodsky
Here is my feedback on these 3 couress.
List Frenzy is a course that includes video and pdf files. Of the 3 courses this one has the best quality content. The pdf file alone is 78 pages. The videos are very detailed. This is a new product that just came out on Friday. Good timing for me since that corresponded to my journey into list building. Unfortunately the owners are doing one of these limited time deal offers. I think they are closing it down on the 10th of April so if you are want to purchase it then you need to do it before the deadline. I would recommend this course though you will have to put in some legwork to fill in the holes of what is not covered in the course.
Fast List Building Membership is by Kevin Fehey. Kevin is very well known as a master in the list building arena. Like List Frenzy this course is a combination of pdf and videos. After watching the videos and reading the very short pdf file, I was rather disappointed. If I knew nothing about listing building and my life depended on implementing list building from this material then I would be dead. I do not feel like I got a good value for my money with this course.
Free Case Study from Steve Brodsky is a free course. Yes you can get a general overview of what is involved with list building and how Steve went about making $100/day in less than a month. If you missed my email over the weekend, click the link above and get his free report. When you click on the button to download it will take you to his squeeze page where you have to enter your email address to get the free report. Creating free WSOs is a recommended way to get people added to your list and that is what Steve is doing with his free case study. The case study will not give you step by step guides of what you need to do to make $100/day yourself. Instead it shows you that it is possible if you decide to go down the same path.
Squeeze Page
Everything with list building starts with a squeeze page. If you don’t have a squeeze page then you will not be successful with solo ads. A squeeze page is where you get someone to enter their email address which you capture into your list. The goal is to get thousands and thousands of people giving you their email address to be added to your list.
Here is what I have learned about a Squeeze Page:
- You give away something for free in exchange for a user’s email address
- Short and sweet and your optin box must be above the fold
- Don’t spill the beans about what exactly is your freebie
- Video squeeze pages generally outperform non-video squeeze pages
- A full screen background image of a beach scene, fancy car or big house improves optin rates
When you start out you will need one squeeze page. If you have two squeeze pages then that is even better as you can be driving to both at the same time and technically increase your list size twice as fast. So I spent the afternoon playing around with creating squeeze pages. I own OptimizePress wordpress theme so I installed it on a new website. The funny thing is that by the time I finished creating squeeze pages I had not created one using OptimizePress but instead used straight html and a new wordpress theme that I purchased.
Here is what I would like from you guys. Here are the links to the 3 squeeze pages that I have created. I would appreciate it if you would look at all 3 and then let me know which one you like the best. When I say like the best, which one would you put in your email address to get the freebie? DON’T put your email address into any of them because they are not working – yet!
Click on the links below to view all 3 of my squeeze pages. Then vote for your favorite below.
Loading ...Next Steps
I am going to finalize the squeeze page that I will be using. Probably two that I will be using because I like the thought of growing your list twice as fast. Then I am going to learn how to do split testing on a squeeze page. Everyone recommends that you know how to do this so that you can tweak things to improve your optin rate on your squeeze page.
Then after that I am going to figure out how to track clicks. When I start buying solo ads, you will buy a certain number of clicks. I need a way to track the number of clicks that I am getting to make sure I am not getting ripped off. On the other hand tracking clicks will let me know what solo ad sellers over deliver on the promised number of clicks. If they always over deliver it pays to buy from them more often since you get all those free clicks.
That is where I am right now in my journey of learning solo ads. Don’t forget to vote on your favorite squeeze page above. If you have ever seen a killer squeeze page, then please comment below and include a link to the page. I am always looking to see what squeeze pages people like.
![](\"https://lh4.ggpht.com/w85uMftfxsFb_wbjOJXgPiFx-8L8PpEC-QEfwac6uazZlNsaPSwzZ5XN9881k6FFOQaawgWnwigMFFp4Xcss=s0\")
One caveat Jennifer – our views may not match thoise of your new traffic to your list!
Good luck!
Alex,
Valid point. I wont know how effective the squeeze page is until i start buying solo ads later this week.
Jennifer
Okay I think I may have screwed up your voting. I didn’t understand how to vote. I opened all three tabs up to see, then clicked vote and it voted for me! LOL!
Anyway I wanted to vote for Miracle Commissions but it gave my vote to the Amazon one.
Tiffany,
When i tally final vote count i will adjust it accordingly. Thanks.
Jennifer
Regarding the squeeze pages the find Miracle Commissions too slick and do not trust them. Amazon Secrets is simple and tells me what I will get from the report at a quick glance all in one place.
I need to be building a list too, will be following your progress with interest.
Tom
tom
I have the same sentiments as you. I am thinking of doing the amazon one but offer miracle commissions as an oto.
Jennifer
Hey Jennifer,
The Miracle Commissions looks more graphic intensive, but looks a little Cluttered.
You’ll only know which ones will be more effective by split testing. I would bet the last two would be the best to start with. Once you you find one converting better, you’ll make that your control page. You will then want to save a copy of that page and test a different headline.
Our assumptions can be wrong and we want to leave the final decision making to thorough testing.
– Bryan
Bryan,
You sound like an expert at list building so my question is where have you been all my life? I was up till 1:30 am last night building my sales funnel and setting up aweber. This is a challenge for me. Stayed up so late woke this morning at 8:25 am and i am suppose to be at work at 8!!!
Jennifer
I liked the Amazon because it told me what to expect. The Amazon page was pretty traditional and could be upgraded a bit to make it stand out. I disliked the Rat Race on because I don’t like autostart on videos and audio because I share office space and I don’t want to interrupt my wife. The other one was just to slick and busy. I just didn’t feel like trying to figure out if there was anything of value.
BTW, I will probably never bother to post another comment on you blog due to the requirement to provide a URL. Not only does you URL checker not recognize valid URLs its a pain the butt when it doesn’t.
Gary,
It seems that you and most others like the Amazon version the best. As part of learning how to split test my squeeze page, I will be trying to upgrade it and improve it to see what works the best.
Sorry the wordpress plugin I am using for comments would not accept your url. Make sure you keep reading the content even if you chose to never post a comment again. My content is quality and it works even if the plugin does not.
Jennifer
I liked all three, all for different reasons. If I wasn’t basing off the product, I would probably pick the ratrace one.
Jim,
That is why I picked all three because they were different. Thanks for your feedback.
Jennifer
I too did not vote right, but my vote would be for Amazon, its clean and not screaming of upsells.
Marilyn,
Thanks for the feedback. Seems like the majority agree e with you about the amazon design. I am going to use this one.
Jennifer
It may just be my monitor size, but Rat Race is the only one that fit the screen. On the other two I had to scroll to see the box for entering my email.
Kathy,
Thank you for pointing that out to me. I did not think to test this on different size monitors or mobile devices. I will start trying to figure out how to make this happen. Thanks again.
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer – I voted for the Amazon page simply because I detest hype. The Amazon page seems to be the most understated of the three and that’s the one I would be most likely to respond to.
– Neill
Neil,
I think you are on to something about the lack of hype with the Amazon one. It is quite interesting in that I work in the training department at work with some of the most amazing graphics people. I showed the 2 guys all 3 squeeze page and they both adamantly picked the miracle commissions one. They were judging based on the graphics of the page and had the exact opposite comment about the amazon one. Even so the amazon one is the one I am using right now.
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer,
I met you on the LF Skype group where you mentioned your challenge. Awesome that you set yourself this goal.
I really love your Squeeze pages. I liked the Amazon the least because looked something you see a lot. I got he greatest WOW factor from the Miracle but I was mostly taken by the graphics which seemed to detract me from the offer a bit. But this could be because I always look at other people’s squeeze pages to see how they did them.
The rat race one I liked as well or perhaps better from a buying point of view (which is what you are trying to achieve) because it was more about the product than the visual yet the visual was captivating.
Wishing you the best of luck with your challenge,
Dita
Dita,
Thanks for the feedback on the squeeze pages. I purchased miracle commissions from we, the amazon one I created myself and the ratrace one I borrowed from online. I agree that the simple amazon one provides more trust.
Jennifer
I liked the MC best but I would assume the Amazon would convert best.
Like Brian said only A/B/C split testing will show the final results.
Good luck to you.
Nick,
I bet you are a right brain person? They tend to gravitate more to the MC version because it is so well designed. The Amazon page is more generic though well layed out so it appeals to a good range of people.
After split testing this has been my best designed page with highest optin rate http://jenniferbland.com/3.html
Jennifer
Hi Jennifer I was doing a search for solo ads and found my way to your blog and then started looking through your posts and I have a few questions for you about your sales funnel..
Let’s say that if you’re in the MMO/IM niche would it make more sense to create a more targeted squeeze page that targets a sub niche within the MMO niche? For example your OTO is Amazon affiliate bible ( a guide on making money as an Amazon affiliate) would it make more sense to have a squeeze page that gives away a free report about making money as an amazon affiliate? Since you are casting a more targeted and narrow net you’ll get a lower opt in rate from your solo ads but maybe the number of OTO sales you get will be slightly higher… VS a squeeze page that says make $100/day this free report shows you how (in this case you cast a very wide net in a large niche) you’ll get a higher opt in rate from solo ads but the number of OTO sales might decrease because the free report offered here is not very targeted to your amazon affiliate bible OTO..
I know that you’ve probably done some split testing on this so what are your thoughts on this?
Squeeze page and free offer > related to OTO
or
Squeeze page and free offer > Does Not have to be related to OTO
Which of the two above would yield a higher number of OTO sales for you? Personally I would take a 30% opt in rate with one or 2 oto sales over a 65% opt in rate with 0 oto sales any day..
Kenny,
Let me answer all your questions. I agree that you need to give away something closely related to the topic covered in your OTO. For example if you give a way a free report on how to train your dog and then your OTO is on being an Amazon affiliate then people will not buy. Don’t forget the make $100/day online report is generic enough to show how you can make money via affiliate marketing promoting other people’s products. An OTO that shows you how to implement affiliate marketing with Amazon would still be a good combination.
I would chose this option every day of the week
Squeeze page and free offer > related to OTO
Jennifer