DISCLOSURE: This page may contain affiliate links, meaning I may get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links (at no cost to you).

Solo ads are often overlooked as a marketing strategy but can be quite impressive and effective if approached with the right game plan (and the right business). Solo ads are email marketing campaigns that make use of existing lists for promotion. 

Of course, nothing is free and you have to pay the solo ad seller so they’ll promote you to their email list. Because it’s paid, you need to know exactly how to do solo ads correctly.

Here’s a brief but detailed look at the best practices for solo ads so you can make the most of this marketing strategy and drive traffic to your website.

8 Best Practices for Solo Ads 

The following solo ad tips are meant to help you master the art of solo marketing, to reap the greatest ROI. You can use all the information and wisdom shared here to build a fantastic and highly effective solo ads campaign of your own.

#1. Track all your important metrics 

All the knowledge in the world will be useless if you don’t know how to track the performance of your efforts. This is likely the most important of the best practices for solo ads. Tracking metrics is essential no matter what kind of marketing you’re doing, and it should be at the top of your to-do list when building a solo ads campaign.

Effective tracking will let you know if your campaign is getting the kind of results you want. Is your ad spending justified? Do you get the kind of traffic that you were aiming for? Those are the kinds of answers that tracking your metrics will answer for you.

You can use tracking tools to keep an eye on your campaign’s performance and be certain that every penny you spend is getting the result you want.

#2. Leverage retargeting campaigns effectively 

It goes without saying that targeted solo ads will be much more effective than ads that are without specific targeting goals. But you can also make use of retargeting campaigns (with pay-per-click (PPC) or social media marketing platforms), which might just give you the highest return on investment value. 

Failing to use retargeting could lead to a loss of great potential in traffic and sales, so it’s highly recommended that you add it to your strategy.

Retargeting is useful because you use the opportunity to rope potential buyers in until the very last second, and then a little bit more. With retargeting, you can reach your audience even after they have nothing to do with you or your solo ads anymore. 

– ADVERTISEMENT KEEP READING BELOW –

---

#3. Use alert popups smartly

To add even more value to your solo ads campaign, you should use popups cleverly. Solo ads that work are about more than the ad being sent to email addresses. Although you likely won’t be able to use popups in the emails, you can add them to your landing page.

If they aren’t positioned right, popups can feel annoying to visitors so you have to plan them very well. The most annoying time to have a popup alert happen is while reading content or scrolling through a page. Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes and come up with a good time and place.

Good popups can improve sales and give you more leads as well.

#4. Work with a high-quality landing page builder

Your amazing solo ads will be directing your audience to your landing page, and although it’s not the first impression they’ll get of you and your business, it’s still vital that your landing page is spectacular.

Your landing page must be perfectly designed to welcome new visitors as well as return visitors. Use personalization strategies to make your landing page more interesting and give the visitors a unique experience. 

Up to 80% of consumers will more likely support a company that offers a personalized experience, so your extra efforts are bound to pay off.

#5. Squeeze the value from exit traffic

Exit traffic may sound like the end of the world, but you can reduce your website’s rates by making sure that you offer value to visitors.

Since solo ads aim to draw people in and get them to visit your website, your website itself has the task of keeping them interested. To do so, you need to know and understand your visitors’ behavior.

You can use website analytics and audience research (get to know your audience on a deep level) to get a comprehensive idea of what makes them stick around on a website and what drives them away. Use this information to get more out of them and incorporate exit-intent popups, for example.

As soon as it looks like your visitors are about to leave, the popups will make them reconsider. The exit popup can ask a visitor for their email address or other information or redirect them to a part of your website that will offer them more value. 

Be creative while trying to squeeze value from exit traffic.

– ADVERTISEMENT KEEP READING BELOW –

---

#6. Make the best of reviews

When searching for solo ad sellers, it’s important to look into them with great care. It will be in your best interest to not settle for the first or best-looking seller you find. Instead, dedicate time to doing thorough research.

Online reviews can often be deceiving, unfortunately, but you should still look at the reviews of these sellers. 

Are they really living up to the promises they’re making? Can they be trusted? Do the sellers make use of bots to get clicks? All of these questions are very important and you need to know the answer to them before choosing a solo ad seller to work with.

Testimonials and reviews will give you insight into how beneficial it will be to work with the sellers. If you can’t find reviews or testimonials on the seller’s website, do a Google search to find out what people are saying about them.

Related reading: Weighing Out the Pros and Cons of Solo Ads

#7. Ace your email content 

Although solo ad campaigns rely on the solo ad sellers to get you clicks, there is still a lot you can do to ensure the campaigns’ success. One of the most critical elements is to make sure that your email content is flawless. 

You should also be given control over your email campaign copy, that is, to come up with your own subject line and the body content. If not, the solo ad seller might not be a good match for you.

It won’t matter how many emails the seller sends if your content is subpar or inferior. There are many ways you can make sure the emails attract your audience and get them to actually click the links you provide.

– ADVERTISEMENT KEEP READING BELOW –

---

You should start with the subject line. If a subject line is boring or uninteresting, no one is going to see the content of the email itself. You can get as creative as you want, but just be sure to follow the KISS rule (keep it short and sweet.) An overly long subject line won’t do you any good. 

Make sure to use action verbs that stir up and inspire your readers too. All marketers know that action verbs are like little nuggets of gold and can help boost conversions when done smartly.

As for the email body itself, you should prioritize clarity over clever catchiness. The first paragraph is the most important, and it’s what will make hook your readers in and help them decide whether or not they want to know more.

As such, you have to tell the reader why they’re getting the email and what they can benefit from it. Don’t be too ‘salesy’ because that will just turn people off immediately. Be as brief as you can while still providing enough information to entice the readers.

In this solo ads example, you can see that the subject line and content are interesting enough to hook the audience:

Source: MY INTERNET QUEST

#8. Split test your solo ads 

Last but certainly not least of the best practices for solo ads, you have to do split tests to find the best approach to solo ads. You should conduct quality testing, though, so do not rush this part of the process.

It is a good idea to test different solo ad sellers with a small campaign at first and get an idea of how they operate and the success rates you get from working with them.

Start off with a small number of clicks (anything between 200 and 400) and keep an eye on the metrics. If you get the results you’ve hoped for, you can try a bigger campaign and set even broader targets with it.

It’s also a great idea to test out different ads using varying email subject lines and email content. You could go further and have different landing pages to see what your visitors interact with more.

Don’t rush your solo ad campaigns and remember that the best solo ads aren’t created overnight, they take a lot of time and effort to hone to perfection.

Perfect Your Solo Ads Today

There you have it — the best practices for solo ads. 

Now that you know how to take on this form of marketing and promotion, you don’t have any reason to doubt your chances. 

Whether you are buying or selling solo ads, get started with nailing your solo ad marketing today!