Solo Ad Exchanges

Ad Exchanges – Exchanging Solo Ads With Other Publishers

Ad exchanges have been a bit maligned of late. They create two way traffic and some marketers object. They think that advertising should be a one-way street and traffic should only come toward their websites and never away from their websites. They are, of course, entitled to their view point. However, there is another way to look at ad exchanges. The truth is that many Internet marketers have done really well trading solo ads, and the practice remains a big builder of opt-in lists to this day.

In the real brick and mortar world, you would never see ad exchanges. For example; you will never see an advertisement for Belles’ Department Store in a JC Penny store. That isn’t going to happen. You won’t see advertising for another brick and mortar business that sells items that aren’t sold in a store. JC Penny doesn’t sell hardware but you won’t see advertisements for hardware stores on the walls of JC Penny stores either. This is the theory that those who don’t advocate ad exchanges base their opinions upon.

The problem with the theory is that Internet marketing isn’t the same as brick and mortar store marketing. Ad exchanges can work to help build opt-in lists as well as to sell products and services, provided the businesses that exchange ads have related but not identical products and services for sale. They need to be selling to the same audience but not selling the same product. For example, if you are selling pet grooming supplies, you might do an ad exchange with a business that sells dog houses or cat trees but does not sell pet grooming supplies.

The customers who are buying your products might also be interested in products sold by the businesses you exchange ads with and the customers of the businesses you exchange ads with might also be interested in the products or services you sell. Each business has the opportunity to build their opt-in list and sell products or services without taking anything away from the other business.