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Ad Swapping

One way to build your list is by ad swapping. In its simplest terms, ad swapping means two marketers trade ads and cross promote each other to their respective email lists.

The greatest benefits to ad swapping are that there's no charge for this type of cross promotion and you have the potential to reach many more people in your target audience. However, not all lists are created equally so you need to do some research before entering into a cross promotion agreement.

As with any marketing plan, the purpose of ad swapping is to extend your reach to your target audience. You want to spread the word about your business and drive those potential subscribers to your squeeze page (or any webpage with your email opt in form located clearly on it), where they will sign up for your list.

In turn, as you build your relationship with your list, they will know, like and trust you enough to purchase your products or your recommended affiliate products, thus earning you money.

Even though this form of passive income is hugely dependent on your relationship with your list, it stands to reason that the larger your list, the larger the potential to earn big money. One way to grow your list is to cross promote your business to a similar list with new names who might not have heard of you before.

There are no limitations as to who can participate in an ad swap.

These are usually personal arrangements between two marketers and both new and experienced internet marketers can benefit from this type of arrangement. However, you will most often find ad swaps are most successful when peers with equal levels of success join together in cross promotion; very rarely will you find a guru cross promoting someone who's brand new.

Let's examine how this arrangement would work for a brand new online business owner. Imagine that you've been in business for about four months. You've got your website up and you've been promoting your business online  but you still only have about 20 friends and family members who have signed up for your list.

Even though you want to dream big and 'reach for the stars', don't contact an online business guru who has been in business 7+ years and has a following of many thousands. Sure, YOU would have everything to gain by this hotshot promoting your list to his many thousands of followers but what would this guru get in return from the swap? If you only have 20 names on your list, that certainly doesn't equate to his many thousands. Chances are high that your email offering the ad swap wouldn't even get answered because the guru wouldn't have heard of your before.

Instead, do some research about your competitors and also companies who offer complimentary services or products. If you're a work at home mom with a service-based business, join some work at home forums or chat rooms and find another mom with a service business.

Use your social media connections to find partners and don't forget to do some local research into area businesses.

For instance, if you bake organic dog treats, contacting local dog groomers and kennels about an ad swap would make sense.

The groomers and kennels will likely have different names on their lists than you have and vice versa. Sending an ad for your organic dog treats to the groomer's customers makes sense because you're trying to reach the same dog-loving audience. The same holds true when you send out the ad for the groomer. If done correctly and both businesses have lists of a similar size, both should see a rise in email sign ups.

Even more established and well-known business people can benefit from an ad swap. After all, your list can never be too big and marketing your list and business should always be a part of your ongoing marketing plan.

Both businesses might offer the same type of product or service but to different target niches. If they like the other's products and business model and think it will benefit their audience members, it makes sense that Marketer A would promote Marketer B's list, especially if Marketer B has an affiliate program in place. Offering an affiliate link even just for email sign ups increases Marketer A's chances of earning passive affiliate income for every name they pass along to Marketer B while Marketer B earns extra money and paying customers from Marketer A. - make sense?

For example, the world of cheap Private Label Rights content seems inundated with competition. But if one established owner writes content related to family and hobbies while another PLR site offers content about health, it makes sense to do an ad swap. This way the family PLR site will be exposed to those who purchase the health content and vice versa. You never know when a blogger will want to write a blog series or eBook about family health and they can purchase the PLR content from both sources, all because they were introduced via an ad swap.

Smart business people will always ask, “What's in it for me?” After all, they're in business to make money so that will be the underlying question.  When you approach your potential ad swap partner, make sure you talk about the benefits THEY will receive from this agreement.

Deciding when to do your ad swap really depends on a few variables, namely your schedule and your partner's schedule. For instance, if either you or your partner is launching a new product, all your energy and focus will be on the launch, not on an ad swap which could easily get lost in the shuffle. Choose a slower time period when you both can put some thought into your ad copy and craft a solid promotional email to send to your list.

Research your market to determine a season or month when they are most receptive to new offers. Most people are extremely busy during the Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday season so new offers might get ignored. But have you thought about what your target market is doing in January to fight the holiday blues? Maybe that would be a good time to do an ad swap, when your market wants something new and exciting to read.

If you're timing your ad swap with a season or event, make sure your freebie that you're giving away as a “thank you for signing up for my newsletter” gift is relevant to the season. If you're trying to reach parents of school-aged children and your ad swap is near the end of the school year, a special report about doing things with your kids during the summer would be extremely relevant and would entice those mums and dads to sign up for your newsletter.

Successful ad swaps are those where the ad swapping partners have done their research. Find out about your ad swap partner, how big is their list, who is their target market, how long have they been in business??? Just because an ad swap is free doesn't mean it's OK to waste your time and if you send out an ad to someone's list without doing your homework, then you might be reaching hundreds of thousands of names but your opt-in conversion rate for the ad will be very low.

In addition to researching complimentary businesses on your own, there are some websites that promise access to other people who want to participate in ad swaps. These sites could be a good starting place for your own research but keep in mind that searching these lists will also take time. Some sites might even charge an access fee or membership fee, which might defeat the purpose of participating in a free ad swap. As always, do your research and enter into these membership sites with caution.