Post: #1

Say you have a product or a service that you want to promote. And say you find some blogs related to what you're doing. Is it worth advertising? I did try it some time ago but I didn't get any sales, but I guess that was because it wasn't a blog directly related to what I was doing. I'm a bit skeptical about advertising but if it works I'll do it.

So is it worth it? And how much would it usually cost? I paid $100 for a month.

Post: #2

Advertising is a bit broad of subject.

Judging by what you wrote, you bought some ad space on a site (display ads). That's generally low conversion, particularly when you're on a non-relevant site. Most people are "ad blind" anyway.

I don't think display ads are a smart way to advertise with a small budget. Better look into Facebook Ads, Google, SEO etc.

Post: #3

(03-17-2018 07:48 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  Advertising is a bit broad of subject.

Judging by what you wrote, you bought some ad space on a site (display ads). That's generally low conversion, particularly when you're on a non-relevant site. Most people are "ad blind" anyway.

I don't think display ads are a smart way to advertise with a small budget. Better look into Facebook Ads, Google, SEO etc.

I tried adwords some time ago. I got visitors but no conversions. I think adwords is a money drain. But I'll try it again soon and see what happens. Maybe I wasn't spending enough, I don't know. The thing is, if you don't get conversions / sales, it's difficult to know if it's your wording, your offer, or if it just isn't a useful system.

By the way I didn't do display ads (I always ignore them myself, I don't see the point of them). I paid the blogger directly, and sent him an image and a link. I've also tried approaching bloggers asking if they want to be an affiliate, but got almost no responses.

Post: #4

If you want to rent a display slot on a website like this, it might be better to first do some experiments on Google AdWords display network. You could set up a campaign with several different ads, say up to 10 or 20. Then it'll experiment for you and give you some insight into which ads are performing best on different demographics.

With that information you could then go and make a more informed deal on renting a dedicated ad slot. Done right you could get a much better cost per acquisition than through AdWords.

On the other hand, search advertising or affiliate marketing may be even more effective.

Post: #5

(03-17-2018 08:13 PM)yellowfever Wrote:  If you want to rent a display slot on a website like this, it might be better to first do some experiments on Google AdWords display network. You could set up a campaign with several different ads, say up to 10 or 20. Then it'll experiment for you and give you some insight into which ads are performing best on different demographics.

With that information you could then go and make a more informed deal on renting a dedicated ad slot. Done right you could get a much better cost per acquisition than through AdWords.

On the other hand, search advertising or affiliate marketing may be even more effective.

You mean use google adwords until I get some results, and then use more or less the same wording in an ad on a blog?

Post: #6

(03-17-2018 08:02 PM)Vladimir Poontang Wrote:  

(03-17-2018 07:48 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  Advertising is a bit broad of subject.

Judging by what you wrote, you bought some ad space on a site (display ads). That's generally low conversion, particularly when you're on a non-relevant site. Most people are "ad blind" anyway.

I don't think display ads are a smart way to advertise with a small budget. Better look into Facebook Ads, Google, SEO etc.

I tried adwords some time ago. I got visitors but no conversions. I think adwords is a money drain. But I'll try it again soon and see what happens. Maybe I wasn't spending enough, I don't know. The thing is, if you don't get conversions / sales, it's difficult to know if it's your wording, your offer, or if it just isn't a useful system.

By the way I didn't do display ads (I always ignore them myself, I don't see the point of them). I paid the blogger directly, and sent him an image and a link. I've also tried approaching bloggers asking if they want to be an affiliate, but got almost no responses.

How many?

Statistical variance is a bitch, you need a fairly large data set to know how you're converting.

Like, if you only got 50 clicks, then you can't say anything, but if you had 500 then you would, but it all depends on where you got those visitors.

This is all a very broad subject though.

I'd focus on creating and sharing great free content on your blog, then link to your project, look at how Roosh does it for example or any other popular product.

Post: #7

I currently got my feet in the Game of advertising... with the Goal of making it a career! You just got to crack the code on how to generate traffic with your style! Of course easier said then done... but we have guys like Testos, Weekend Casanova and Kyle Trouble who made it & discovered how to make it work. Google is not a Gazillion Dollars company for nothing. It works... just gotta find your Poontang formula! I'm Grinding to find mine! Keep Us Posted!

Post: #8

(03-17-2018 08:02 PM)Vladimir Poontang Wrote:  I tried adwords some time ago. I got visitors but no conversions. I think adwords is a money drain. But I'll try it again soon and see what happens. Maybe I wasn't spending enough, I don't know. The thing is, if you don't get conversions / sales, it's difficult to know if it's your wording, your offer, or if it just isn't a useful system.

First, check to see if there is competition for your product. Is anyone selling something comparable? Do people talk about the problems on forums or social media? Any reviews on youtube or Amazon?

If there isn't competition then there probably isn't enough demand.

If you believe there is demand, you need to split test your landing pages. Have a couple renditions to split the traffic to see if it is the landing page. Find out which converts better and then start split testing headlines, copy, colors... until you find one that works the best.

Quote:By the way I didn't do display ads (I always ignore them myself, I don't see the point of them). I paid the blogger directly, and sent him an image and a link. I've also tried approaching bloggers asking if they want to be an affiliate, but got almost no responses.

It's been awhile since I used Google adwords (I'm starting to get back into it), but the display ads can display your ads across many different websites. Once you figure out which sites are converting then you can approach those website owners directly about your ads. Let Google flush out the best sites for you.

Also look at your sales funnel. I have a product that is hard to sell with cold, direct traffic. It just does too much stuff. That means I need to approach it slower and show them how it can help them. One situation at a time.

When I was doing a lot of direct mail, I would make sure to hit a prospect no less than 7 times before giving up on them. Cold traffic won't normally convert good which is why you want to retarget them and slowly bring them back into your sales funnel.

Post: #9

In the old fashioned sense of TV, banner, mail, etc. ads the answer is not really unless you can afford enough of them to build up a substantial level of brand recognition...e.g. Geico. It's generally much more effective and cheaper to hire a good PR firm to arrange some kind of stunt that can achieve the same effect.

The trend as I understand it is that more targeted forms of advertising designed to ensure that people looking for what you provide can find you generally are effective.

Post: #10

Some anecdotal experience of mine:

Billboards work, but they are expensive, and it is a pain to work with billboard companies. Even if people don't consciously see them, they see them subconsciously, and I'm of the belief that each distinct subconscious impression they get is cumulative.

Facebook advertising also works, but you have to have your audience targeted properly, if you're trying to get people to click through to a website, the yield is very low. It would be better to get them to a facebook page or a sponsored post of yours.

Radio, is said to be cost effective, and reaches a large amount of people, only problem is a lot of old people listen to the radio.

Newspapers, again a lot of people read them, but you need good placement for your ad.

Direct mail- Can work well if you have targeted you audience well, but a lot of solicitation mail comes to people's homes.

Post: #11

I doubt that facebook advertising works very well at all. When someone is on facebook, they're not searching for anything and they're not in a buying mood.

In theory, I feel that adwords would work better because people are searching for something, and they probably understand that in some cases there might be a pricetag on the solution that they're looking for.

From my experience it didn't work well though, but maybe that's because I set a very low daily budget ($1.00). And I think it's one of those things that can only be worthwhile if what you're selling is priced high enough, which for what I'm doing now, is the case.

Post: #12

(03-18-2018 03:58 PM)Vladimir Poontang Wrote:  I doubt that facebook advertising works very well at all. When someone is on facebook, they're not searching for anything and they're not in a buying mood.

In theory, I feel that adwords would work better because people are searching for something, and they probably understand that in some cases there might be a pricetag on the solution that they're looking for.

From my experience it didn't work well though, but maybe that's because I set a very low daily budget ($1.00). And I think it's one of those things that can only be worthwhile if what you're selling is priced high enough, which for what I'm doing now, is the case.

Depends on what you're selling.

Interruption marketing is different and you don't need to sell right away, you can get their email with a free teaser. If you have en ebook, you can give away a "light" version for example. You can also use the advertising for your Facebook page or even better, Group, and market from there.

Post: #13

You should focus on organic marketing though when you don't have the budget. It will also teach you what sells and what doesn't.

Post: #14

seat geek did ads perfectly, get a youtuber to talk about your product and people will fly in to use it. Youtubers are actually fairly cheap IF your product is good....youtube ads are also pretty good IF your commercial is funny

Post: #15

FB advertising works if it's targeted at women, and the items you're selling are impulse buys at $25 or lower.

Instagram advertising has yielded me lots of likes, some follows, and very few actual purposes. IG ads in the US seem to be a non-starter for me, people are getting cynical regarding them, which is partially why everyone migrated to Vero for the 15 minutes that app lasted for.

The best advertising these days is word of mouth. Work with bloggers first, and pure influencers second. A lot of these mainstream influencers with five-to-six figure IG followers are started to get played out. People are seeing through their hyping and realize these guys are getting comped with items to pimp. People just mindlessly hit like and go about their way. In this case it's better to at least give a product to someone who people don't view as a shill (yet).

Highly niche-specific magazine ads can work, IMO.

Post: #16

I've used newspaper, yellow pages, and radio for a past business. I also tried Craigslist, and created my own website. I've distributed fliers, and have tried some unusual things like sponsoring Welcome Wagon and having a coupon in with the kit they give to new residents. I bet I spent $100,000 on advertising, and that was years ago when that was real money.

I had a couple of lessons from this:

-You can definitely get business from advertising. Create a product and some branding, then advertise it, and you will get some sales.

-I always looked for some kind of ratio between the money I spent on advertising and the amount I made for the business it brought, after subtracting materials expenses. If the ratio is good, you're making good money and you can scale up the advertising to make more until you hit your goals. If the ratio is bad, you're just working to put money in the advertiser's pockets. It's easy to work three days a week for the advertiser, and two days a week to put money in your pocket. Sometimes that's still enough to take home a good income. On the other hand, sometimes you only get three days of work that week, so after you pay $1,000s to the advertiser, you have nothing for yourself. What you really want it for $1 of advertising to bring in $5 or more of revenue. However, the ratio is often closer to 1:1 or worse.

-Depending on your market niche, some forms of advertising media work better than others. It's up to you to find out what works. I tried a number of things that cost more than the business they brought in, and some that were surprisingly effective.

-Even when advertising is effective, it often can take an extended period of running your ads before they start to perform. Again, it depends on your market niche, but customers often need to see your ad many times before they will select you when the time comes that they need your service or product.

-You definitely have to play around with the wording and look of your advertising, and play around with the prices you offer. You can easily get business by offering a great deal on some product or service that usually costs more. However, you might lose money if your prices are too low. Sometimes you can run with minimal overhead and make money at a lower price. Sometimes you're offering a price so low you barely make any money. Sometimes you lose money on every sale, and think you're going to make it up in volume! The best thing is to have low overhead so you still make at least some money on the advertised special, then offer other services with a better margin (around what the competition charges).

-I was in a business that was almost purely driven by advertising, because most people only needed my product every few years at best, and even their friends weren't likely to need my service very often (I'd rather not say what it was for discretion). I always spent too much money on advertising in the long run. After 5-10 years, I finally started building up a clientele, as I had enough base of previous customers that called me back, but that's a long time to build up a clientele. It would be better to pick a business where repeat customers or word of mouth can have a faster effect.

Post: #17

(03-17-2018 10:36 PM)Captain Gh Wrote:  I currently got my feet in the Game of advertising... with the Goal of making it a career! You just got to crack the code on how to generate traffic with your style! Of course easier said then done... but we have guys like Testos, Weekend Casanova and Kyle Trouble who made it & discovered how to make it work. Google is not a Gazillion Dollars company for nothing. It works... just gotta find your Poontang formula! I'm Grinding to find mine! Keep Us Posted!

I hear that Kyle guy is a scrub