Recently, I asked Jim Daniels why he had no information about Ad Swapping at his new site. He said he did not have much experience with it and asked if I would like to write an article since I have had some very good results with it.
So, here I am sitting down to let you all know that Ad Swapping does work well. I subscribe to just one ezine, Ezine-Swap, Ezine-Swap.com, that carries nothing but ezines wanting to exchange ads. All pertinent information for the ezine is listed: circulation, target market, etc. This makes it easy to pick out a targeted market like, for me, women. Some issues I send out 5 emails requesting a swap and usually get a 98% "yes" response. This last time I only sent out one request as I did not think the other newsletters were appropriate for my product. This was a positive response, too.
I have just joined Binky's Swap Club but do not yet know how this one will work for me. I have signed up to accept 4 ads and will have my ad published 4 times. I have to send a Courtesy Copy to each person that I run an ad for which is more time consuming that just adding them to my mailing list.
Another thing I must be careful of is to not carry to many ads so that none of them are noticed.
Although the tracking system I use does not show me exactly which ezine I am getting hits from I know I am getting responses based on the dates and when the ezines are printed and the fact that "unknown" shows up as a referral. Being a fledgling site that does not yet get a large number of hits, I am pleased with the 10 or 20 hits/ezine I get from doing this. I have spent money in the past on ezine advertising and have not been as pleased. After all, this advertising costs me nothing but my time (and that isn't much) and allows me to target my ads. What more could I ask for?
Another good aspect of swapping is the fact that I can test out ads at no cost to me. If an ad does not work, I just change it until I have one that does work. Then, I use the ad for larger, paid advertising campaigns.
As far as I can see, swapping has worked as well for me as paid ezine advertising. Of course, to reach the really large numbers, you will have to use paid ezine advertising.
I highly recommend this form of advertising to you. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at Ginny@bedaisyfresh.com.
