Oct 11
19
Hey Peeps!
Only a few short months ago I thought I would never “PAY” for traffic… Now I’m starting to realise I’d be silly not to – at some point. WHY??? I hear you scream… Why pay when there are free ways to drive traffic??
Because the honest truth is– its not really free! WHAAAAA???
Don’t look so surprised. Think about this…. You could spend time online leaving links back to your optin/sales page, you could spend time on facebook setting up a fan page and getting people to like it and you could spend time on all the other free methods to drive traffic… But TIME is MONEY people!
We all know this… and so I realised that at some point (not right away) but at some point I will choose to pay for high quality targeted leads that I can convert in to sales (Traffic).
So that’s how I ended up finding out about, and attending, Ben Bradshaw’s Internet Marketing Masterclass which was focused on Google Adwords and Facebook ads.
Ben’s rise to fame came after his entrepreneurial friends asked him how he got his Magician business to rank 1 on google. He then naturally set up an agency called SponsoredLinX teaching other people how to run google AdWords and offering the service to other business.
Since then Ben has been able to grow his business by a staggering 300%, and it is now Australia’s largest Australian owned AdWords Management Company. He has received to BRW (business review weekly – a leading Australian Business Magazine) awards including the Smart Company Awards 2010, presented at Googleplex in Sydney and has recently released his first book dedicated to the subject of online marketing (and luckily for me he has agreed to give me a free eBook version).
So what did I learn (and this is my excuse why I’ve been so busy and not posted for a while – I’ve been learning heaps and will make up for it by sharing what I’ve learned with extra posts over the next week)…
Heaps so I’ll just highlight my favourite parts: (I’ll speak in the context of advertising campaigns but you will see how this applies to all aspects of your business)
Don’t Guess
What this means is exactly what it says. When your setting up your business, running your business or even running an ad campaign don’t guess.
– Research (keywords)
– Monitor and track (which ad keywords get you clicks and which don’t? Apply the 80/20 rule to your advertising campaign. Find the 20% of the keywords that get you 80% of your sales and then…)
– Do more of what you know works and cut what you know doesn’t work.
Guessing will mean you end up becoming a statistic – In 2002 the US Small Business administration indicate that there were more closures then startups! Don’t be one of them. (Source: http://sbaer.uca.edu/research/asbe/2004/PDFS/23.pdf)
Find and use a proven strategy (based on the above), track, measure and adjust!
GRGR rule
Genuine Relevance Gets Results !
Basically don’t be sneaky/unethical and try to get sales by trying to trick google in to thinking your page is relevant for something like books when really you sell cars. If you’ve been online a bit you will have an idea of how this is done… But in the end you won’t keep customers for repeat business and its easier and cheaper to have repeat customers than find new ones. I know I’ve landed on sites that had nothing to do with what I searched for. I shut them right away.
Its always easier to keep repeat business and google is always refining its search to weed out the scammers. So GRGR means that you may not get as much “traffic” but you should get higher quality traffic leading to higher conversion rates.
Did you know the average online sales conversion rate globally is around 2% (Source: Clickz)
By employing genuine relevance you can achieve above average conversion rates. Create content pages for (and relevant to) your best converting keywords. This will help you rank higher in Google and bring you higher quality leads. This leads me to…
SEO Tips
Including some of the following SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) tips on your site will help your Google ranking:
- Contact page
- Contact details
- Privacy Policy
- Age of domain name (older are more trust worthy in Google’s eyes – just like any established business)
- Number of keywords on a page – Too many will just confuse Google = Lower rankings
Basically the more genuine your page is (and looks) then the higher ranked you will be. So having all the elements of a normal business will help you rank better (eg: Contact page with location, contact form or email etc. – I think I better add a privacy policy soon)!
Facebook Ads
For Facebook ads to be successful you really need to build a target audience. Because people are generally not on facebook to shop your ads need to be able to attract their attention. You can do that by making the ad:
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Humorous
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Shocking
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Unusual
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Interesting
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Curious
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or Highly relevant to the target group
Facebook mistakes include:
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Poor images
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No offer
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No calls to action
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Not testing your facebook ads
Facebook is generally cheaper than Google AdWords however don’t be afraid to test both and see what works best for your product.
Oh and while I’m on the topic of facebook ads if anyone is interested in $125 Facebook Ads voucher go here and register ASAP (limited numbers available). I just registered as effectively it’s “free” advertising and there is a cool challenge involved.
http://www.facebook.com/market
There was heaps more packed in to the 2.5 hr conference and as usual the best bit was the networking! I met some great people which I really hope to keep contact with and the best part is they are local (till now everyone I’ve personally met from in the industry are overseas).
I also spoke to Ben about doing business with him in future, so that is pretty exciting too. I definitely recommend these kind of events if you can go… and did I mention it was free!
As promised earlier in the post I’ll write about some of the other things I’ve been learning including my tests with safelist advertising (and how I track this) and also how I’m making my site more accessible to mobile (Cell) phones! So stay tuned.
Tell me below about your experience with paid advertising.
Nick Lawless
