The Power of Ad Swaps in List Building
May 19th, 2010 | 
Author: I am currently learning a lot about list building. It appears that
all the big internet gurus keep repeating that “THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST!!!”.
One of them is my mentor Alex Jeffreys. He tries to finally
put that thought into my head, and who would I be if I
didn’t listen to my mentor, right?
The technique I am about to describe is a little more advanced. So if you
are just starting out, you should put your focus on the strategies I posted
in the past, strategies that will help you to get your first couple of subscribers onto your list.
Now, Ad Swaps are actually a very easy process, but there are a couple of
prerequisites you should have to do them:
- Your list should have AT LEAST 200 subscribers. More is better, but you should start doing Ad Swaps once your list hits 250. Otherwise you are throwing cash out of the window.
- You should have at least one high converting free product to offer to prospects.
- You should have an autopilot mailing sequence for people that are new on your list, and you should know how responsive your current list is (by checking the stats in your AWeber account).
See, when participating in an Ad Swap, you are offering to
promote someone’s free product to your list. In return, this
person promotes one of your products to his list. Coming up with
a good deal here is a whole science of it own, but those are the basics.
If everything works out as planned, some people from the other persons
list join yours and vice versa. You can find people that are interested in
Ad Swaps under imadswaps.com
But how often can you do something like that?
Now that’s the great part about it. You can do it
almost every day! Since you are basically offering your
list free products, it is a nice way to strengthen your
relationship with your list.
This way you can grow a huge list, while working very little for it.
One more piece of advice though:
Documentation is key. You should always know how many subscribers you
get and how many you are sending. Plus, you don’t want to do Ad Swaps with
the same person twice (at least not for quiet some time). In order to have
power on the negotiating table, you should know all the facts concerning your
list (conversion rate in Ad Swaps, Avg. Open rate,…). Put don’t worry,
most facts can easily be taken over directly from AWeber!
Hope that was helpful for some of you. If you want more information on
list building, check out these two great eBooks from Alex Jeffreys and Matt Wolfe.
Yours,
Dieter
Hey Dieter,
This is great information my list is at 120 at the minute so I still have a little way to go but adswaps sounds like the way to put a big increase on your list.
Thans for the advice
Glyn
Hi Glyn!
It definitely is. The cool thing is that with Ad Swaps you can double the size of your list every 25 days (actually less, but for the sake of simplicity let’s say 25).
The reason for that: With every Ad Swap you make, you can expect to get 4% of the other persons list. Nice little method. Let me know when you hit the 200, maybe we can make a deal!
Dieter
Hi Dieter
You reminded me that I must work more systematically with my list. The better relationship I build with people in my list the better will the results of my email marketing in general and adswaps in particular.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
Estani
.-= Estani Chapel´s last blog ..Keeping Myself Accountable … =-.
Hey Dieter
Nice post
Yep adswaps are cool, I have built my list to 5000 subscribers just with adswaps..
There will come a time when I wanna concentrate on building a good relationship with my list but I just wanna build my list a little bigger..
I dont wanna do adswaps forever as its still bombarding my list with free offers and eventually your subscribers get annoyed with it..
Im hoping to build a list of 30k and im gonna use 20k to build great realationship with
and the other 10k ill continue to participate with adswaps, as it drives traffic through my sales funnel..
Laters
Marcus
.-= marcus passey´s last blog ..I Make Real Money Online – Plus Proof Of Income =-.
Hey,
We will definitely get something going Dieter Im doing alot of giveaways now so building and building some more.
I give you a call when I get to the 200 mark
Glyn
.-= Glyn Lafferty´s last blog ..Domain Name Secrets | How To Get The Domain Name That You Want =-.
Nice, I am also entering a lot of JV Giveaways to increase my list.
Here is something I found out when I analyzed my return in a JV giveaway where I was ranked pretty high:
At these events, you get way more subscribers when you offer something like a free software package or a bunch of books with MRR.
I also offer a nice eBook, but promotors on the same page that offered the before mentioned products had 2-3 times as many subscribers.
The only question there is the quality of the subscribers. I mean if they are just there for free software and MRR books in the first place, how responsive will they be once they are on your list?
Maybe something I will look into in the future….
Hi Marcus!
Well, there are different opinions out there on whether AdSwaps annoy your list or not.
The pros are clear: You give your subscribers free products, which is a good way to strengthen the relationship with them.
But there are some downsides to that:
1) You can’t completely control the quality of the products they get.
2) You condition them to associate your name with free products. Once you send them an offer they should pay for, there is a possibility that they get pissed, thinking that they signed onto a free product newsletter or something and now you try to sell them something.
Another positive thing is that you condition them to click on the links you send them. So once you do send them an offer, chances are they will at least check out the sales page.
Well, I guess there are many more pros and cons, but I still think it is the fastest way to build your list.
By the way: Once you hit the 30k, I think you don’t have to worry too much about AdSwaps anymore. The only problem you will have at that time is how to quit you job the fastest and what nice things to buy your wife
hey Dieter
i haven’t got into adswaps yet as my list isn’t quite at that stage
looks like a good way to accelerate your list though
some great tips here – thanks
allan
.-= Allan *OzzyAce* Riley´s last blog ..Building a List =-.
Dieter,
I rely on adswaps a lot. I find them easier and less time-consuming to do in regards to building my list than some other methods. Incidentally, if you are interested in swapping you have my email address. I am open for swaps with new people.
Cheryl
Hi Dieter
Yes this is the main way I have achieved building my list. I must say a few kind marketers help me at the start by letting me send to their list even though I really only had a very small list. Now I am repeating the process for others.
A little about me – My name is Sue McDonald and I am a student of Mark Terrell and I am actually going through the course a second time – by invitation. I love it and know if I do all he says, I will be successful. I am Australian but the US is my second home as I have family there and visit quite often. This is why I started Internet Marketing so I can travel whenever I want and have the money to do what I want.
Well I hope you are doing well and you become very successful. I would love you to come visit my blog and leave a comment.
Kind regards
Sue
Hi Dieter,
Great info. Ad swaps are coming up in my near future. My list is 115 and growing. Looking forward to building momentum using this more advanced method.
Thanks!
Lesley
Hi Dieter,
I am a student of Mark Terell’s coaching, and just learning now about adswaps,
This is a great post and I have visited at the right time thank you for the info.
I would like if you could stop by and check out my blog when you have a minute
Thanks
Karen
Hi Dieter,
Great info you have regarding adswap..
The great thing also with this adswap in list building is you will increase your profits without much extra effort from you.