Who Said FREE Advertising Don't Work?

[captkirk]

Hi Fellow MC Members and Guests,

 

Tommie Kirkland (Captkirk) here...

 

I have been online since 2001 and have spent a lot of money online buying services and products that I seen advertised on Traffic Exchanges, Viral Mailers, FFAs, Adboards, and etc...

 

I have spent 1,000s of dollars buying stuff from FREE advertising sources and still do today.

 

Who Said FREE Advertising Don't Work?

 

[rse2free]

Hi Capt,

 

Can you explain the way it works, coz I still don't get it

[rpsmith]

I don't question the idea that free advertising does work, because it does. I only question its effectiveness vs. paid ads. It seems to me that certain types of free ads have a questionable ROI whereas paid ads seem to have a certain reliability to them. Would anyone disagree?

[davepilgrim]

A lot of the time free and paid ads are basically the same ads - it's just that you'll get more ads for less work if you pay.

[Allen Tan]

It depends on the owners of the sites. I will not disclose which sites. Fortunately not many, It's just a handful of them. They allowed free members to surf  their sites  What happen is  my ads that I advertised hardly seen by others.  I gain plenty of credits but sites are not seen/viewed. So far even if   the sites are seen I never  had sign-up as i had with  upgrades sites..

[Greg Wessels]

I don't question the idea that free advertising does work, because it does. I only question its effectiveness vs. paid ads. It seems to me that certain types of free ads have a questionable ROI whereas paid ads seem to have a certain reliability to them. Would anyone disagree?

 

No disagreement here.

 

Free ads can work but how many credits do you have to blow to get any response.  The difference is free ads are extremely untargeted while paid ads are much more targeted.  Additionally, there are varying levels of 'paid' ads.  Some think that since they paid for unlimited banner/text impressions that this constitutes a paid ad.  What you are paying for is the compensation plan not the targeted membership that will view/respond to the ad, so this belongs in the 'free' untargeted category.  Compare that to a FB ad - much more targeted and will yield a much better response.

[Guest mrclean0325]

There is an unfortunate "wordology" (may not be a real word ;P ) in IM since the meaning of "free" gets pretty ground up.

 

The definition of free pertaining to "cost" is 'not costing or charging anything'. So if you spend 8 hours working a traffic source, is it really free? If you get little results, is it still free? If it costs you time (which can NEVER be replaced) how can it be considered "free"? Most define "free" if it doesn't cost money which is not true as your time is your most valuable commodity.

 

In this venue, most every site is a "free" traffic source since you don't pay money to use it. If you upgrade it is then a "paid" traffic source and no longer "free" by most definitions since you are now paying money for it.

 

If you pay for ads that don't produce results greater than what you paid for them, what is the "cost"? Oh, but you have to pay the customer acquisition cost for anything right? Because it is more expensive to get a new customer than keep one right? If you have a one-time payment thing and it cost you more to get a customer than you make - you don't have a business. Usually "free" is trading time for money. If you look at statistics, the cost for customer acquisition online is hugely out of proportion to offline.

 

Then you come to the "targeted" traffic as mentioned.

 

What is "targeted"?

 

People who may want what you are offering right? If it is the standard biz opp you see on TEs and mailers, the people using these already know how it works. To get others involved outside of the IM community you first have to sell them on why they should even do it in the first place. So you pay to advertise on Facebook (or other sources) and "target" people who may want your product, which is people interested in a biz opp. How do you know the people aren't the same people who use the TEs and mailers that you could have gotten ads in front of for "free"?

 

With the amount of click fraud in the PPC industry, how do you know you are getting real people clicking your links you are paying for? Have you ever clicked on a PPC ad with no intention of buying but just to see what it is? How often does that happen? How many of these will you pay your hard earned money for?

 

Even getting to the proverbial "page one of Google" usually requires a tremendous investment of either time or money or both to get "free" search engine traffic. It is also not a one-time investment either since you will have to continue what you did to keep on page one. You could even get on page one for non-buying keywords and still not have any sales.

 

Will you end up with a $1000 bill and have no sales to show for it or sales less than what you spent? Oh, but I will make it up on the backside right? Do you really? Do you have a backside setup to do that and is it working?

 

Right now I am seeing everything in this venue seem to dry up since the PayPal crisis. Sites I could count on for at least a signup a day have gotten me nothing in the past few weeks since most sites dropped PayPal for Payza. The amount of mail I have received from some mailers has substantially dropped off. This may just be a temporary glitch in the road or it may be more, who knows at this point. So money and time invested are not paying out well now on either front.

 

In reality there is no such thing as "free" in this space. You are either paying with your time or you pay with cash. So what is your time worth? If it is worth more than what you spend in "free" advertising then it is costing you something. Time you could have spent doing something else - time with family, time with friends, time making money doing other things; moments that can never be replaced.

 

It all comes down to what you want to sacrifice. What you are willing to give up in your quest. There are always some kind of cost involved doing anything and you have to determine what you are willing to pay.

[rpsmith]

The one thing about "free" traffic sources like TE's is that you can get lots of hits,but no sales. I think the reason here is that you are advertising to other sellers, not buyers. I consider TE's "useless" traffic only because the other members are sellers like we are. The other issue is that many people just surf to gain credits to promote their site and are not interested in other offers. I tend to think this may be true of safelists, mailers, etc.

[Darren Olander]

The one thing about "free" traffic sources like TE's is that you can get lots of hits,but no sales. I think the reason here is that you are advertising to other sellers, not buyers. I consider TE's "useless" traffic only because the other members are sellers like we are. The other issue is that many people just surf to gain credits to promote their site and are not interested in other offers. I tend to think this may be true of safelists, mailers, etc.

 

When you watch ads on TV, see billboards, and other mass media you are not interested either.. but it works. In the case of TEs and Mailers it actually is a "targeted" audience of people all trying to make money online, all involved in online advertising.. so you know the audience already - which makes it more targeted than mass media because you can speak directly to this audience and sell things they will like. With this type of advertising you just need volume and mass exposure, and it definitely pays off. 

[captkirk]

When you watch ads on TV, see billboards, and other mass media you are not interested either.. but it works. In the case of TEs and Mailers it actually is a "targeted" audience of people all trying to make money online, all involved in online advertising.. so you know the audience already - which makes it more targeted than mass media because you can speak directly to this audience and sell things they will like. With this type of advertising you just need volume and mass exposure, and it definitely pays off. 

 

Very well said. Traffic Exchanges, Viral Mailers, Safelists, FFAs, and etc are my target market. And I'm giving them a lot of my money.

[captkirk]

I ONLY use FREE advertising but other members PAID for the same members that I use for free.

 

The same exact members you have the option to use for FREE or PAID, I prefer to use the FREE version.

 

Now that said, I do upgrade in most of the programs that I use to get more benefits and a higher commission.

 

Frankly, it always for the... Higher Commissions for me to upgrade!

[pf4edward]

It works for me.  You just hook up with a site that teaches the ropes on getting thousands & millions of leads for free.

 

Then you consider upgrading for the "viral" aspect of your "free" Advertising to really take off x10 even x100 times!

 

 

[sm62]

I ONLY use FREE advertising but other members PAID for the same members that I use for free.

 

The same exact members you have the option to use for FREE or PAID, I prefer to use the FREE version.

 

Now that said, I do upgrade in most of the programs that I use to get more benefits and a higher commission.

 

Frankly, it always for the... Higher Commissions for me to upgrade! the more you put in the more you get out

[Kevin J Timothy]

Hi Capt,

 

Can you explain the way it works, coz I still don't get it

 

Locate the free sources of advertising and work them consistently and more often than you would the paid sources. 

[captkirk]

Locate the free sources of advertising and work them consistently and more often than you would the paid sources. 

 

Yep, the net is loaded with FREE ways to generate traffic. Being consistent is one of the factors in being a success with FREE advertising methods or PAID advertising methods.

[Clare Bowen]

When I had time to compete in referral contests, I joined a lot of Text Ad Exchanges, and I took the time to go and add every single ad available to me in my "free ad pack". Banners, traffic links, hot links, login ads, ptc links, all of it. I was getting referrals months after the contests finished. In some of those sites, you can get maybe a handful of clicks on a solo ad, but the other ads stay in them for ages. Also, I loved using solo header and footer ads. I'd either upgrade and use credits for those (once off upgrades are normally cheap in those sites and come with a monthly ad pack too), or I'd just buy them. In some of those TAEs, those ads were set to rotate for the number of clicks on them, not for the amount of times they were viewed, and those were particularly attractive to me. I'm hoping to clear all the backlog that developed over the year when I concentrated almost solely on Zubee listed sites, and go through my files and revisit the TAEs that have survived (if any), to see how they're working these days.

[incomeskills]

What you are advertising makes all the difference.

 

How you advertise makes all the difference?

 

Are you promoting a replicated affiliate page for a biz opp?

 

Good luck.

 

You should be using a personalized splash page and unique ad copy that centers around solving a specific problem or fulfilling a need.

 

Are you promoting an advertising resource?

 

You stand a much better chance of Success.

 

My advice: If you want to spend WAY less time than you are now for free traffic, and be getting an actual conversion rate, start using YouTube.

[mistracy39]

The 6 Step Online Marketing Strategy Every Small Business Should Follow in 2015

Posted By Guest Blogger 26th of January 2015 Blog Promotion  34

This is a guest contribution from Jawad Khan.

2013 was the year when people started taking content marketing seriously. The momentum grew in 2014 and thousands of corporations, small businesses and startups invested heavily in content creation. 2015 will see this trend grow even further. Thousands of new blogs and millions of new blog posts will be created over the next 12 months.

Perhaps the biggest revelation is the way local bricks and mortar businesses have taken up content marketing. From search results to social media, the internet is getting more and more local. Many local businesses have realized that content is the cheapest way to build trust and attract customers from online channels. And the way people are turning towards Google for suggestions about their local outlets, means that more local businesses will start investing in different online marketing activities.

But with increased competition, content creation alone is not be enough to win you customers, especially if you own a local bricks and mortar business. You need to come up with a comprehensive promotional strategy to make your business stand out.

To simplify this for you, I’ve divided this strategy into six key activities. In 2015, you need to stay focused on these six areas to get ahead of your competitors and boost sales.

1. Content Marketing

Content marketing is the foundation of this strategy. Creating high-quality, actionable, and useful content is not an option anymore, it’s a necessity. If you want to be perceived as a company with in-depth knowledge and expertise of your industry, you need to create high quality content that addresses the problems and questions of your target customers.

This includes creating content for your own blog, guest blogging on other established blogs in your niche or a niche that complements your industry. Target the blogs where you can engage your potential customers.

Take your content right where your audience is. Get active on forums and discussions websites like Quora, LinkedIn groups, Twitter and any other platforms where you can talk directly to your customers. Share your content on social networks, create engaging and educational email courses, and write eBooks and Whitepapers on industry issues.

Make sure everything you know about your industry is out there in the form of your content.

2. Reputation Management

You’ve created a great blog with high-quality content. You have also been featured on high-traffic blogs in your niche. You have traffic flowing in to your website from different sources.

But when a customer decides to visit your outlet or buy from you online, what does he do first? He looks for reviews about your company.

[captkirk]

I have been online since 2001 and have spent a lot of money online buying services and products that I seen advertised on Traffic Exchanges, Viral Mailers, FFAs, Adboards, and etc...

 

I have spent 1,000s of dollars buying stuff from FREE advertising sources and still do today.

[weblord]

i guess newbies will do that, because they paid a lot of money and wasted a lot of money online.