Thursday, November 6

Squeezing Your Advertising Dollars

Online advertising that works can be like a chameleon. It is hard to find, it's always changing ,and it eats bugs. Well the Chameleon eats bugs and advertising eats your hard earned money. In this struggling economy you need to squeeze every drop out of your advertising dollar. In this article I cover three forms of advertising Project Wonderful (PW), high traffic blog ads, and Google Adwords. The largest portion of the article is dedicated to Project Wonderful.


Project Wonderful


Everybody wins.

Project Wonderful is an online advertising broker with an innovative model that brings fairness, transparency, and profitability to the advertising process.

We're all about making online advertising more profitable and easier for everyone involved! Our own members will tell you how good we've been for them, as both advertisers and as publishers.

Here are some of our newest Project Wonderful publishers at the 100, 1000, 5000 and 10,000 hits/day levels - they're just starting out, so it's likely you'll be able to get a great deal!

What am I using PW for?

I use PW a daily basis. I run campaigns to advertise my blogs and my Etsy shop. I have Pw as boxes on 3 blogs and one Network site. I use 100% of the money from my ad boxes to pay for my ad campaigns. I started my PW account with $10 and i have not spent a dime in 10 months.

Here is the list of places you can find my ad boxes:

Timothyadamdesign I have 2 boxes open

Critiques and Reviews You will find one box there

Buried Treasury: there are 2 boxes to place ads on there

Buried Treasury Network: one box

How to run a killer campaign on Project Wonderful









Sign up for more INSIDER tips and tricks click HERE
What you are looking at here are a few of the ads that I use on a daily basis in my PW campaigns.
Some of the ads preform better than others.





Here are two examples of stats from campaigns I have run on Pw. In the first pic you can see that I spent .37 for 59 clicks and 14,564 page views. Page views are the number of times your ad was viewed on a website. For less than the cost of renewing twice on Etsy I gained 59 clicks. Now here is the SWEET part to these clicks....THEY ARE OFF ETSY TRAFFIC. Yeah sure i may be bidding on etsians blogs, that is only a small part of the campaign.


Here is my newest campaign... It is currently running.... It is set to run on all blogs with all types of traffic patterns. I have set my highest bid at .01.. and the total spending at $10. If the numbers keep up I will reach 1000 clicks for less than $10 .

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Here is a Campaign I started yesterday (11.6). I started this campaign searching for any site. The only search guideline I set was the bid amount. I looked for all sites with bids between free and .01. The search came up with 1500 sites. Below you can view the current stats...

IF you are looking to link a blog with a Etsy shop here is a list of Etsy bloggers with
PW ads: HERE


PW Question and Answer:

Q:

HelenesDreams HelenesDreams
I keep getting emails that I am outbid here or there...and I find that I honestly do not have time to login and mess around with trying to place bids every single day. Is there a way to defeat this..I need affordable advertising..but this 1 cent thing starts to feel like a game of some sort.

A:
TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns
Using the campaign option of Pw is a great way to set it and for get it. If you follow the basic steps outlined in the video, you will not have to worry about placing bids everyday. When you are using the campaign option the annoying e-mails won't be sent. I recommend trying a campaign.. you can always cancel it if you think it is not being effective.


Q:
beadifulbaublesSC beadifulbaublesSC
Is there a number as far as averages go that connects views to purchases through PW? cause some say they get 500+ views per day... but views does not always equal sales...

A:
TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns
Oh wouldn't that be nice. We have no way to track direct sales from PW. Until Etsy starts providing us with shop stats we are in the dark about a ton of great info.


Q:
JessicaC JessicaC
my question would be how many actual targeted views should I be expected to get?

A:

TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns
With the campaign system you are targeting a specific target audience. If you sell soap you won't want to advertise on a car site.... well maybe you would those guys are dirty!! You get what i mean.... When you can target your audience take advantage and DO IT!


Q:

bobnstitch bobnstitch
How do I know it is working and worth the money?

A:
TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns
With the powerful stats that PW provides you will know every 30 mins if your ads are worth it. You may not know if the views are turning into sales in the short term...but track your ad campaigns long term and you will notice the difference.


Q:

Waterrose Waterrose
I would be curious to know if buying for just a couple of days gets results. I'm thinking that running a campaign for a couple of months, since the costs are usually pretty low, makes the most sense.

A:
TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns

I like to run ads for about a week. That way I am spreading my ads out over a broad spectrum. I have seen great results in running campaigns for only a few days.

Q:

TheBrassHussy TheBrassHussy
I'd like to know your opinion on the value of a $.01 click, versus a $1.00 click.

A:

TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns

I have advertised on sites ranging from free to $15 per day. I have found that the best BANG FOR YOUR BUCK is running campaigns on the lower priced ads. Sure you can get lots of page views for the $15 ads but that still does not guarantee the clicks, so why not diversify over hundreds of sites.

Q:

bondagetea bondagetea

What type of graphics work best as ads? Animated? Text only? Text + picture? Picture only?

Should we advertise our shop (using our logo, avatar, something recognizable as representing the creator or online presence as a whole) or specific products? Does it depend on where we advertise?


A:
TimothyAdamDesigns TimothyAdamDesigns

The animated ads are the best and most effective. With an animated Gif ad, you can display more than one pic!

<<<>>>



High Traffic blogs/sites ads


List of blogs/sites to place ads on. These are some high traffic sites that i have not placed ads on, but most of the big players have ads here.




Indiepublic : Indiepublic is an independent art and design community. If you're an artist, designer, retailer, blogger, or just someone who gets giddy when they buy indie, we've saved a seat for you!
This is a Ning site with just under 10,000 member which puts their page views up there. They have Project Wonderful ads and normal 125X125 ads. The cool thing about the 125 ads is they will show up on most every page that is loaded. The PW ads are only on the front page. I have not personally placed ads on this site, but all the major players do.


Craft Bits Is a high traffic site with 1.5 million page view per month.. the cost is high but with that kind of traffic it may be worth it... I have not personally paced an ad on this site. Click here to see the ad info.



majaba : This site is a high traffic sire used by Etsy shop owners to check views to their shop and number of hearts.



Cuteable: This is a very popular site.. Etsy even has an ad on the side! Click here for their ad info.


Modish
: Very popular site... this is a must see.. HERE is the ad info

Here are a few more:

Bloesem

Creature Comforts

decor8

design*sponge

Poppytalk

Purple, Pink and Orange


Google Adwords

I have used Google Adwords in the past and did not have success....but this is a very powerful advertising tool. I have searched for the best articles on this topic and here is what I found.


Tips for Success (straight from Google)

10 Worst AdWords Campaign Mistakes byTyler Huston

Mastering Google AdWords byHerman Drost

How to Set Up a Successful Google AdWords Campaign byHerman Drost


Here is a list from SmartAds.info. This is an amazing resource for all online marketing.


» Make Money with Google Adwords
» Effective Ads that create higher click rates
» What's the best way to organize my ad campaigns and groups?
» How to improve bottom line when using AdWords and AdSense PPC?
» AdWords compare to other ways of getting traffic
» Released At Last - (Google Adwords to Turn Traffic ) Perfectly Legal
» Internet Millionaire Club - Make Money Fast with Adwords
» Organize Your Adwords Account to Get More Visitors, Lower Your Cost Per Click and Increase ROI
» Increase Sales and Make Money Using Google's Adwords
» 4 Quick and Easy Insider Tips To Turbo-Charge Your Google Adwords Sales
» Using Google Adwords to Sell Products
» Overview of Google Adwords
» Some Adwords Basics for Beginners
» Top 7 Ways to Make Sure Google Adwords is Making You Money
» Affiliate Marketers Will Never Make a Dime Using Google Adwords
» Lower Cost and Increase Conversion of Your AdWords Ads
» 10 Inside Secrets to Google Adwords - Part 3
» So you want to run a Pay-per-Click Campaign?
» What The Gurus Didn't Tell You About Google Adwords
» 10 Inside Secrets to Google Adwords - Part 2



Thanks to all the Etsians who participated in the Q and A section.

If you have any comments or tips to add please leave a comment here on the blog or in the forum on Etsy. HERE

Sign up for more INSIDER tips and tricks click HERE

Etsy modern jewelry Twitter metal project wonderful traffic tips

24 comments:

Nicole said...

PW really does work!
I found this blog though it!

timothy said...

There's the proof nicole!!!

ThreadBeaur said...

I love using the PW campaigns. They are easy to set up and I usually get a few extra clicks in my etsy shop. I have not had those clicks turn over into sales, but I guess if no one is clicking there is no way to make sales!

TiLT said...

write up! I just started with PW and have noticed increased traffic to my site. But like you said - no way to know how it realtes to etsy from there, I can only hope.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for such great info! I've been considering a PW campaign and now feel much more informed!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great info! I'm working on a "facelift" and an ad campaign is ceratainly part of that. I hope to use PW soon.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for another useful article. I'll be back to read in more detail. It's great to have all this information in one place.

Additionsstyle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Additionsstyle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Additionsstyle said...

Thanks for the video, I am a visual person and it was nice to see how to set up a campaign rather than read about it.

timothy said...

me too valerie .. that's why i made the video!

Anonymous said...

Wow. This is helpful and very informative. Thank you for sharing this!

New England Quilter said...

PW is a fun way to advertise. I just made a new ad this morning for the Holidays. I probably wouldn't have remembered to without seeing your post. Thanks for all of the info!
Amy

http://newenglandquilter.blogspot.com/

Mark Baker-Wright said...

While I haven't given up entirely on Google Adsense yet, in the short time I've been using PW, I've been very impressed with it. As far as my usage is concerned, I think Adsense's days are numbered.

Kathryn V. Crabbe said...

Once again, thanks for all the tips - you are a wealth of information and we're lucky to have you in the Etsy Community!

http://SoulReaderBlog.blogspot.com

Pam Hawk said...

Brilliant post. I actually found your blog through an ad you placed on one of my own sites.

I've been singing the praises of PW as well and have a constant 1-cent campaign running on a handful of specific keywords. My CPC averages 1 cent as well.

Designing the ads were tricky for me until I figured out how to do it through flickr and now it's so easy to make a decent ad without fancy software. I put together a tutorial (on two of my blogs) to help my readers quickly get their ads designed and up and running.

Thanks Timothy for the post. Subscribing tonight so I don't miss anything else!

Anonymous said...

Excellent explanations and excellent video! I just signed up to PW so I really needed this help.

Thanks a lot!! :)

modmoxie said...

Thanks so much for this tutorial! Cute dog too...reminds me of my little JRT. :D

Breezie said...

One of the best PW tutorials I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

I subbed to your RSS feed.

Arizona Skies said...

I'm slow at getting started. I just today set up a PW campaign. Do you think now that we have stats at Etsy it will be easy to know if I got sales from Project Wonderful?

Anonymous said...

OK, I have signed up with PW; been accepted as a publisher; watched your video twice and have my ads ready...my question is...if I sign up for an ad campaign, what exactly am I being charged for? If my ads are accepted on say 20 blogs for .02/each for 7 days will my charges be $5.60. .02 x 2 ads - $.04 x 20 blogs = .80 x 7 days = $5.60. Or am I thoroughly confused. Thanks for any insites.

Anonymous said...

Tim, I don't even know what to say, such amazing articles, you are a gem.

grupo de apoyo para mamás said...

your becoming my How-To-sell-on-the-internet-with-succes GURU!!

thank youuuuu!

José Carrilho (Go Detail) said...

Hi Tim,

I've been using PW for a while but never explored it well.
The campaign instructions look really promissing and effective.
Like you, I also use the profits to advertise and until now I'm still using the first $10.
Congratulations upon your excellent blog.

Best regards,

José

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