Have you invested into internet advertising? What was the outcome?

[whiteeclipse]

Have you invested into internet advertising? What was the outcome?

Hi, I'm starting a website and looking to market it online, just wondering how much people spent on advertising like adchoice banners. I believe the cost on average is $2 per 1,000 banner impressions. If I spent $1,000 for 500k banner impressions, would this make a impact at all?

I'm also going to put logos of the website on my car.

 

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[Eskil]

Welcome to the forum. The first question you need to ask yourself is whether or not your website or product is suitable for display advertising. You will find that some products and services will work better with a search-based campaign, while others will outperform search via banners.

That being said - assuming your website can benefit from banner advertising - the short answer to your question is, yes it could make an impact. Your success however will be based on a few things, mainly where/how you target your banners - and the ad copy / design of the banners themselves.

Definitely make sure to have 3-4 very different banners ready in the most common IAB formats (300x250, 160x600, 728x90) - and rotate them (with tracking) so you know which ones are performing. They key to getting the most out of your ad spend is to have ads with a high click-through rate, since you are paying per view, not per click.

The flipside is, as I think I have mentioned before here on the forum, is that a high CTR isn't always everything either. Ideally you want a high CTR *and* a high conversion rate. The two aren't always going hand in hand, as you can have one without the other.

Testing is key, and testing means spending.
I suggest you start out with Google Adwords, on their display network. Find ads that work, then move on to other self-serve banner platforms such as Pulse360.

 

[TurboTT]

I am actually in this stage as well. I have been purchasing adwords, but get mixed results. I can set my limit per day at $10 and there isnt much of a difference than when I spend $75. Basically people come to my site to get a quote for shipping. At $10 I get 4 quotes I do a day. At $75 I get between 6-8 quotes day. Any suggestions? I was hoping to double with each $10 increment.

 

[Tom.V]

It is all I do at this point in time. As Eskil said, if you are paying on the CPM model, you want to test your balls off to try and find that high CTR + CR. Once you find that, run it in the dirt.

I have personally only used adwords for search, and search alone. But as for banner advertising there are hundreds, if not thousands of places where you can buy specifically targeted traffic, probably for cheaper than Adwords. Learn the basics, shop around. And test, test, test.

And yes, I do make good money back on search and display advertising. I'd also suggest you take a look at Facebook and POF, depending on what exactly you are offering.

 

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[Eskil]

I am actually in this stage as well. I have been purchasing adwords, but get mixed results. I can set my limit per day at $10 and there isnt much of a difference than when I spend $75. Basically people come to my site to get a quote for shipping. At $10 I get 4 quotes I do a day. At $75 I get between 6-8 quotes day. Any suggestions? I was hoping to double with each $10 increment.

If the keywords in your campaign are high volume keywords - then normally you would see proportionate traffic increase along with budget increases (e.g. going from $50 to $100 could roughly double your traffic). That is - only up to a certain point of course. Because every keyword reaches a point where traffic volume levels out. And you will see this much sooner with lower volume searches.

So even if you set the budget to $50, $75, $100, or $20.000 - there simply isn't any more traffic (searches) out there. If volume is your issue, I would suggest revising the keywords in your campaign. See if maybe you are using too strict targeting (perhaps not enough Broad match, or too many negative keywords), or if you really need to expand out to more keyword variations.

 

[TurboTT]

Thanks for the reply. I know there are 246,000 local monthly searches for the main keyword. So I know the traffic should be there. It is very competitive as well. So far I purchase quite a bit of leads from a lead generator, but would like to just cut them out and run with my own campaigns. My intital outlook was to set up an ad and they would come, but its not that easy Im learning.

 

[JasonR]

You need to look at the exact match (not broad match) for your keywords.

 

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[Promodo]

Have you invested into internet advertising? What was the outcome?

Hi, I'm starting a website and looking to market it online, just wondering how much people spent on advertising like adchoice banners. I believe the cost on average is $2 per 1,000 banner impressions. If I spent $1,000 for 500k banner impressions, would this make a impact at all?

I'm also going to put logos of the website on my car.

Hi!

I think I know how to help you. Of course, I could give you more exact answer if I knew your website niche and what your goals are: whether you advertise to increase brand awareness or you want to receive orders/purchases through these ads.
1) So if your goal is just to increase brand awareness (so that Internet users have learned about your brand and then later come to your website through organic search, for example) then you can stick to CPM banners, which charge you for number of impressions, not clicks. But usually this option comes at high cost, if your banners are just showed and don’t give you conversions. Conversion rate could be improved though if you make your banners really eye-catching and attractive.
2) If you primarily goal is to receive orders/purchases through these ads, then you can go for CPC banners which will charge you for clicks, not for number of impressions.

And you can also read more about banner advertising here: Tips to run a successful banner advertising campaign

 

[Promodo]

I am actually in this stage as well. I have been purchasing adwords, but get mixed results. I can set my limit per day at $10 and there isnt much of a difference than when I spend $75. Basically people come to my site to get a quote for shipping. At $10 I get 4 quotes I do a day. At $75 I get between 6-8 quotes day. Any suggestions? I was hoping to double with each $10 increment.

Hi TurboTT!

In order to get most out of Adwords campaign you should apply some tricks.

1) Use long-tail keywords - it is a really winning strategy. For one thing, long-tail keywords are less competitive and cheaper; moreover, there are more keywords variations as keywords become longer so there is less probability that you will have to compete for them with your competitors in paid search results. Another advantage is that long tail keywords render more exact user intent which means you have much more chances to get conversion from such visit (if landing page content is relevant)

2) Be sure to exclude negative keywords from your keywords combinations (such as free, etc.) - they may drive unneccessary traffic and waste your advertising budget

3) Create ad groups - using different ad groups with different keywords and settings usually helps optimize advertising cost essentially.

There are much more tricks to apply in Adwords; usually SEO and PPC team have lots of them and can ensure your money are spent wisely.

I would recommend you to check this infographics to get more understanding of this process : First Steps in Google Adwords Infographics, Ads in Google Adwords Infographics

 

[TurboTT]

Thanks Promodo, I will make some changes and try your suggestions.

 

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[TurboTT]

One other question. When choosing and using my keywords do I want to use [ around the words] or ""? Or just use the keywords with nothing around them?

Thanks

 

[Eskil]

One other question. When choosing and using my keywords do I want to use [ around the words] or ""? Or just use the keywords with nothing around them?

Thanks

Most often you want to use both. Those are what is referred to as Exact and Phrase matches. When using Broad (just the keyword with no brackets/quotes) then see if you also need to add appropriate negative keywords.

 

[theBiz]

Anyone using adwords should either take a class, get a tutor, read a big book, or hire an expert IMO before wasting time. You spend money, so leveraging initial experience and knowledge is a no brainier or your literally throwing money away with the learning curve. Dont leave out bing and yahoo paid search traffic either!

You will find that some products and services will work better with a search-based campaign, while others will outperform search via banners.

Very Often, seems banner advertising will bring in more window shoppers which is obvious, they are clicking from visual vs. directly searching>clicking boring text.

The flipside is, as I think I have mentioned before here on the forum, is that a high CTR isn't always everything either. Ideally you want a high CTR *and* a high conversion rate. The two aren't always going hand in hand, as you can have one without the other.

Agreed, my first campaign, i had barely any clicks literally a few, but some were not bad, but then when i made the banner more attractive i had 10's of clicks every hour, literally 0 converting so its not easy. I was never successful with it but it was just one of the many many things i tried. I believe you can make big money with it as i know so people doing so, its just a different approach. I dont think you should ever use it when expecting an immediate ROI, a smart marketer uses it to build a list, and try to make money later, thats not my game but it works for sure, hard, but works.

With paid search there are two trade offs as well.... its expensive because most markets have matured, but its unbelievable how well that traffic converts sometimes. So if you made a website to sell hats, and you bid on the word "buy hats" you can bet anything, your going to get people to come to your website, your going to wake up, and hats will be sold, no question about it if you even do a decent job on your site, the only problem is you spend $200 and sell $100 worth of hats, with a $25% margin, meaning you lost $175. This is the beauty of the internet, no lack of targeted traffic, you just need to learn who you are. Either your going to be highly profitable be able to pay for expensive, targeted traffic, or your going to be the guy with thin margins, trying to get that free/cheap traffic (seo, sometimes banners, affiliates, etc) nothing is free esp not seo but you get what i mean, time cost money too.

Research your cost before you move forward, also the competitors.... its amazing how many people go into it without doing this.... when your trying to compete in the same niche as a guy selling $100 items and converting 25% on his traffic, then you come in and try to sell something for $10 and your converting 10%, its just not enough to compete.....

So before going forward with any advertising focus on how to be more profitable, research competitors business models, dont guess, really research it, you would be amazed at how profitable some of these experienced guys are... they may sell something for $1 but then 2 months later sell them via email again for $500..... hell they may pick the phone up and re-sell them for $500....and while your wondering how they are bidding $6 per click, thats how.

 

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[TurboTT]

So, why is it when I place my budget low in Adwords I get clicks etc, but when I place it higher I get nothing hardly at all?

For example, I put $10 on the campaign and had 4 quotes through my site and a few calls. I placed $25 on and I get a bunch of calls and still around 4 quotes through my site. At $75 I get no quotes and no calls at all. I dont get it.

 

[Eskil]

For example, I put $10 on the campaign and had 4 quotes through my site and a few calls. I placed $25 on and I get a bunch of calls and still around 4 quotes through my site. At $75 I get no quotes and no calls at all. I dont get it.

That's probably more a fluke I would imagine. Unless this is something consistent you're now seeing day after day. In that case, I would contact Google to see if something is wrong with your actual account.

 

[TurboTT]

Eskill, any chance you may be able to help me? I gave up purchasing leads this weeks to concentrate on this campaign and now that I up my budget I have had nothing happening. I was hoping to run this to get ahead.

 

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[Eskil]

Eskill, any chance you may be able to help me? I gave up purchasing leads this weeks to concentrate on this campaign and now that I up my budget I have had nothing happening. I was hoping to run this to get ahead.

I'm a bit overloaded working on my projects these days, but if you pm me with some more details about what you have or haven't tried up to this point - I will try to respond to you as soon as I find some time.

 

[Promodo]

Eskill, any chance you may be able to help me? I gave up purchasing leads this weeks to concentrate on this campaign and now that I up my budget I have had nothing happening. I was hoping to run this to get ahead.

Hello TurboTT,

I would be glad to help you! If you need professional advice on Adwords campaign specifically for your business, you can email me to e.ruchko@promodo.com or give me your email.

Regards, Elena

 

[Stu_Hefner]

Thanks for the reply. I know there are 246,000 local monthly searches for the main keyword. So I know the traffic should be there. It is very competitive as well. So far I purchase quite a bit of leads from a lead generator, but would like to just cut them out and run with my own campaigns. My intital outlook was to set up an ad and they would come, but its not that easy Im learning.

Why would they just come?

Do you click and visit every ad you see? My guess is you don't.

Theres a whole thought process behind advertising (especially in the performance advertising and direct response). It deals with getting an action out of a prospect.

Its not just something you throw money.at and hope for results.

Educate yourself first.

Learn more about marketing psychology and how to apply it.

Research yyour target audience and know more about them then your competitors do.

Learn how to write compelling headlines for your banners.

Use your research to make your offer irresistable to prospects. Whats so great about uyour product compared to joe blow competing with you? Make a USP that sells the sizzle not the sausage.

All in all, you should be tracking how well all your marketing is converting. (your ads, banners, sales pages ect.)

To succeed you need to put in the effort, not a half assed one. Nobody succeeds in anything if you're strictly focused on the result without the whole process.

Otherwise, like thebiz suggested - find someone thats an expert. It'll most likely save you money, time and get you the better results.

 

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[TurboTT]

Thanks everyone for the input. I did go ahead last night and hire an expert and wow she already has leads rocking to my site. I made triple my investment today. We will see if it continues

 

[nope327]

Agreed, my first campaign, i had barely any clicks literally a few, but some were not bad, but then when i made the banner more attractive i had 10's of clicks every hour, literally 0 converting so its not easy. I was never successful with it but it was just one of the many many things i tried. I believe you can make big money with it as i know so people doing so, its just a different approach. I dont think you should ever use it when expecting an immediate ROI, a smart marketer uses it to build a list, and try to make money later, thats not my game but it works for sure, hard, but works.

What do you mean by building a list? What kind of list are you trying to keep track of? Referring sites?

 

[Eskil]

What do you mean by building a list? What kind of list are you trying to keep track of? Referring sites?

This refers to gathering email addresses of prospects into an email list, for marketing to them later with followups, offers, newsletters, etc.

 

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