Is this a good plan......?

[uksuit]

Hi

I am also new and here....and here is my plan, feel free to give me criticisum (constructive please) and feed back

I have just read Mike`s self declared rant right after I joined...And I`m guilty of having a small list but I have a new product which i will be using to first kick start a list through ad words and test the copy for convertion rates etc before I look for testomonials and JV partners...after the launch I will be more than happy to pitch others products...

Thanks for reading, any comments...?

Cheers
Tom

[Mike Merz]

Welcome, Tom.

First off, having a small list doesn't make you 'guilty' ... and I'm sorry if that's a message you pulled from my 'rant'. Just one less qualifier (reciprocation) in your immediate arsenal.

One problem I have noticed over time is that many of the newbies in this forum appear rushed ... and that may give off a negative vibe to potential partners. They jump head first into wanting potential partners to promote for them without doing much pre qualifying of themselves or their product brand.

Take a look at partners like Charles Kirkland and Chris Douthit ... I can almost guarantee you that they've made multiple positive connections since being on this forum simply due to being active and helpful ... and they are not alone.

Post your profile and current JV offer in the appropriate category (if you have not, already), start posting specific questions, reply when you can ... take your time, and do things right. I'm sure you'll do just fine. ;)

Best,

Mike

[Chris Freville]

Hey Tom,

Good to have you on board.

I must echo Mike's comments about not having a large list in order to get going. The truth is - it does not matter! You can still make an impression on a potential future jv partner by promoting their product to your list first........and the best way to get noticed and make lots of affiliate sales is to offer a powerful bonus as an extra incentive for people to buy via your link.

I did just that, and ended up coming 3rd on Matt Haslem's Optin Accelerator JV contest even though my list is quite small compared to the more established marketers.

http://optinaccelerator.com/jvblog/

Now, of course, people notice this, and then they start coming to you!

So, Tom, dont be put off starting with a small list. Just be a little creative when it comes to offering an extra bonus. If you follow the other marketers you can pick up some really good idea for bonuses. For example, personal coaching or offer one of your own products completely free. Just make it so people actually want to have it.

Keep in touch,

Chris

[simonjh]

Hi!

I have been a lurker for some time but also have a very small list.

I am looking forward to actively building my list and profits by exploiting the fantastic advantage we get as affiliates by getting in early.

I have had some good results by building SEO on sites optimized for product keywords pre launch and when launch occurs my sites are pretty high up.

Even for thoseofus with small lists, I beleive this site offers a great opportunity to get in early and get good results.

Simon

[charleskirkland]

Simon

Welcome aboard. One thing about list size. It is now how many people you have but only who they are.


Thanks
Charles Kirkland

[Jennifer Nalleweg]

ad words and test the copy for convertion rates


Hi Tom,

Your plan about using AdWords to test, I feel is a good idea. I'm doing that myself as well. That way you can have some conversion rates for your sales letter to give to JV partners to help get them on board and it allows you to tweak and split test before your big launch. AdWords is a good testing medium. What kind of split testing software are you using?

Jennifer :)

[Richard Legg]

Hey Jennifer,

If you're using Adwords you can also use their free "website optimizer" tool from inside your Adwords account.

I use this a lot myself (even for sites I don't promote with PPC) and you have the option of running A/B split tests or more complex multi-variate split tests.

Google make it really easy to see what's going on and analzye the results so you don't need to be a statistical whiz to figure it out ... "green" means it performs better, "red" means it performs worse :)

Hope this helps,

Richard

[Sean Clark]

Hi Tom,

Yes, I have to agree with Jennifer.

AdWords is great method of testing conversions for your actual site.
However, you take into account that these conversions may not
neccessarily reflect the conversions of a JV, as you are sending a
solo ad (email), rather than a cpc ad.

Definately keep testing with AdWords - I do the same all the time.
Although, you can and should test conversions of your solo ad(s).

I like to use Rent-A-List.com for my split testing needs.

To your success,
Sean

[charleskirkland]

Sean

I have never used rent-a-list. could you tell us more about this and how it works?

Thanks
Charles

[Richard Legg]

I'd be interested in a little more info on rent-a-list too.

Can you give a rough idea of what kind of results have you had?

I used to do a lot of solo ad ezine marketing but a lot of publications now just aren't working for me.

It seems publishers are inflating their numbers or the emails aren't getting through - I've had to restrict it to only ezines that use one of the top 3 autoresponders so that I know my message gets out.

Anyway... any extra info would be great. Thanks!

Richard

[Sean Clark]

Hey Richard, Hey Charles...

I would be happy to tell you of my experience with Rent-A-List.

They guarantee a 50% "click" rate and you can track your
campaign in real-time.

I recently purchased the 2,000 targeted advertising campaign to
test my new solo ad for my site (which I do often).
My campaign started on the 6th...and it actually finished today. I
paid about $200, and made about $600 ($400 profit). So in my
eyes the solo ad was effective.

Not all of my campaigns are a success of course.
If you are going to use their solo ad service, I would recommend
promoting it to a free venture...the open rate of their 400k list is
about 3-5%. It can be good for building a list, however, they mainly
like "free" products...so trying to squeeze sales out of them is hard.

Personally, I recommend sticking with the targeted advertising
campaigns. They currently have a 60% "Hump" day - basically 60%
discount on all services. So if you are going to test, today would
be a good day to start.
Are there any advertising solutions that have worked for you?

Any specific questions please don't hesitate to ask :)
Best Regards,
Sean

[Sean Clark]

ooops...It ended at 12pm today...just missed it.

Sorry,
Best Regards,
Sean

[Chris Douthit]

I agree with Sean, rent-a-list is a good service if you use it correctly. I would not recommend trying to sell straight to the list, but rather sending an offer which requires the recipient to opt-into your personal list.

Once you have the recipient in your own database, then you can try to sell.

[Sean Clark]

I agree with Sean, rent-a-list is a good service if you use it correctly. I would not recommend trying to sell straight to the list, but rather sending an offer which requires the recipient to opt-into your personal list.

Once you have the recipient in your own database, then you can try to sell.



Couldn't have said it better ;D

[Richard Legg]

Thanks for the info Sean.

That's typically the model I follow anyway - getting the optin first - so I'll definitely check them out soon.

Getting stuff to convert isn't the biggest problem for me - with a lot of ezines it's been actually getting visitors to the website in the first place.

The guaranteed clicks thing should help, although it looks like it's incentivized.

I'll give it a shot anyways :)

Thanks,

Richard

[Jennifer Nalleweg]

Thanks for the details on rent-a-list Sean!

I looked into it and it uses hits4pay.com to get the emails out, but yeah, if it's profitable for you, then it's definitely worth giving it a try.

As for using it for split testing, are you able to change your copy mid-stream to test it, or do you just run several versions of the same ad to see which was more effective (say sending one version to 1,000 people and another to another 1,000)?

Thanks,
Jennifer

[Sean Clark]

Thanks for the info Sean....
I'll give it a shot anyways :)

Thanks,
Richard


Don't be thanking me just yet...let me know how it goes for you...and if good, then you can thank me :D

[Sean Clark]

Thanks for the details on rent-a-list Sean!

do you just run several versions of the same ad to see which was more effective (say sending one version to 1,000 people and another to another 1,000)?

Thanks,
Jennifer



Hey Jennifer,

Yes, I would running two or three different versions. They can how pause a campign if you would like to change something.

:)