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Best Practices Guide

By: Dejan Bizinger, Sat Dec 10th, 2005 12:41:32 PM

Ad swap is one of the best ways to get new subscribers for your email newsletter if you have a limited budget for online marketing. Swapping ads is a great free technique. If you make good ad swap partnerships with email newsletters or web sites that focus on similar target audience like yours you will get quality (targeted) subscribers. Different Internet marketing studies show that most of your visitors will come to your site from links on other sites.

1) How to find swap resources

You will have to spend some time in finding ad swap partners. It can be time-consuming but if you find the right partners it is well worth it. You have to find partners that have similar businesses like yours, but not the same. It is not recommended to advertise your competitors. For example, if you offer web hosting services you can make ad swap partnerships with email hosting companies. You have to add only those ad swap partners in your email newsletter that will provide value-added services for your subscribers.

Several sites and services will make your job of finding swap resources easier.

Ad swap web sites and email newsletters

Link Partners - Free link exchange with searchable directory. http://www.linkpartners.com

Link City - Reciprocal link directory with a number of categories. http://www.link-city.com

Swap Resources - Free email newsletter where subscribers can post their swap requests. join-swapresource s@texaslists.net

Services

LinksManager.com - Links management application service which automates links page management. It also promotes your website through a reciprocal link exchange which increases link popularity and web site traffic. http://www.linksmanager.com

Link Exchange Experts - Paid service that finds ad swap sites for your site. http://www.linkexchangeexperts.com

Zeus Internet Marketing Robot - Reciprocal link robot generates reciprocal links by automatically finding web sites he is trained to find, and building a link page or directory. http://www.cyber-robotics.com

2) How to arrange ad swaps

When you contact webmasters for possible ad swap cooperation it is recommended that you personalize your message. So instead of: "Dear Webmaster..." you should write: "Dear Mr. Last Name or First Name..."

After that, you will introduce yourself and your web site or email newsletter and tell them why you are interested in making link exchange with them. It is important to persuade them, to tell them "what is in" for them. It is best if you exchange links with email newsletters with similar number of subscribers. However, quantity is not the most important thing. The most important thing is quality. Both parties have to be sure that their ads will appear on reputable web sites and email newsletters.

If you want to advertise in email newsletters you should send them your ad, preferably max. 5 lines and formatted with 65 characters in each line. You have to ask them to let you know when they will place your ad in their email newsletter and to forward you a copy. You will do the same. If you want that your ad appear in HTML format you can make a special section on your site where you will place your banners in several formats and to place HTML codes so that you will make your ad swap partner's job easier.

It is also important to discuss about ad placements and how many other ads will be in that issue. It is not the same if your ad will be at the beginning of the issue, in the middle of an article or at the end of email newsletter. Also, it is better that your ad be the only one in that particular issue.

If you want to advertise in email newsletters that have more subscribers than yours, you can give them special deals like "3 for 1" so that you will place 3 times their ad for one placement of your ad.

Swapping ads is time-consuming but can bring very good results. Also, this way you can make some good online friends that can be of help for your business development.

About the author: Dejan Bizinger is a Contributing Editor for Infacta. Infacta is email messaging services company providing powerful, yet easy-to-use award-winning Group Mail, software for sending highly-personalized email messages and Group Metrics, software for email tracking. For more information visit: http://www.infacta.com

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