How alternative ads failed for us/How we failed at alternative ads/How we (didn’t) succeed in alternative ads/People don’t click on display campaigns anymore/Alternative ads are not for everyone/Now we know: People are banner blinded / Case study: Alternative ads is not a way for us / Case study: Alternative ads and banner blindness
Tired of success stories? Keep reading then. We, at mangools, decided to broaden our horizons by trying alternative advertising platforms. In this case study, I’ll show you what we tried and how we (didn’t) succeed. The plan was to go for: a social network we haven’t tried
Reddit
an ad spot on a specific SEO-oriented news portal an ad spot on an SEO/digital marketing discussion forum A social network …show more content…
Probably the biggest advantage of advertising on Linkedin is a very detailed targeting. I targeted our sponsored content only on SEO job titles and specific countries. I also picked out particular groups to influence the right people. Advertising on Linkedin isn’t a cheap way to promote content on social media. I reached the amount of $3.05 avg. CPC and $33.07 avg. CPM. I got lucky and used two or three promo codes for $50 so the overall costs weren’t that high. Results: When I look at the conversions (new paid users), it says 0. On the other hand, 0 conversions out of 148 clicks isn’t a big deal. It’s okay. And how about new registrations (free users)? The campaign generated 9 new users what means 6.08% conversion rate.
Lessons learned: Did I reach the right people? Yes and no. As I mentioned before, Linkedin ads are expensive. Despite you narrow the targeting to let’s say, 5000 users, it will take time and money to really target them.
Every PPC campaign starts performing well after a certain time, optimization, retargeting and testing. However, can I say there would be direct conversions later? I simply can’t but we’ll see how many of the registered users will …show more content…
I like reading searchenginejournal.com and with their recent redesign, it became a number one ad spot. From the listed options, I went for “300x250 Bottom Right” banner and 25k impressions. The price was $162.50.
Results Let’s skip Google Analytics this time. BSA admin panel comes with a nice interface with all necessary data. It’s a bit tricky because there isn’t much to analyze. This campaign generated 21 clicks and 0 conversions. The avg. CTR is 0.08%! I’ve been in the PPC industry for 4 years but have never ever experienced such low number.
Lessons learned Buying a spot with 680k monthly impressions but paying for only 25k isn’t a good idea. 21 clicks aren’t enough to analyze the quality of the traffic. I think SEJ is a very relevant site for our tools but the competition of advertising is high and CTRs are low. I would say these ads are great for brand awareness unless you have hundreds of spare dollars. Readers of relevant sites will recognize you and sometimes click on the banner to see what’s up with you.
An ad spot on an SEO/digital marketing discussion
Tired of success stories? Keep reading then. We, at mangools, decided to broaden our horizons by trying alternative advertising platforms. In this case study, I’ll show you what we tried and how we (didn’t) succeed. The plan was to go for: a social network we haven’t tried
an ad spot on a specific SEO-oriented news portal an ad spot on an SEO/digital marketing discussion forum A social network …show more content…
Probably the biggest advantage of advertising on Linkedin is a very detailed targeting. I targeted our sponsored content only on SEO job titles and specific countries. I also picked out particular groups to influence the right people. Advertising on Linkedin isn’t a cheap way to promote content on social media. I reached the amount of $3.05 avg. CPC and $33.07 avg. CPM. I got lucky and used two or three promo codes for $50 so the overall costs weren’t that high. Results: When I look at the conversions (new paid users), it says 0. On the other hand, 0 conversions out of 148 clicks isn’t a big deal. It’s okay. And how about new registrations (free users)? The campaign generated 9 new users what means 6.08% conversion rate.
Lessons learned: Did I reach the right people? Yes and no. As I mentioned before, Linkedin ads are expensive. Despite you narrow the targeting to let’s say, 5000 users, it will take time and money to really target them.
Every PPC campaign starts performing well after a certain time, optimization, retargeting and testing. However, can I say there would be direct conversions later? I simply can’t but we’ll see how many of the registered users will …show more content…
I like reading searchenginejournal.com and with their recent redesign, it became a number one ad spot. From the listed options, I went for “300x250 Bottom Right” banner and 25k impressions. The price was $162.50.
Results Let’s skip Google Analytics this time. BSA admin panel comes with a nice interface with all necessary data. It’s a bit tricky because there isn’t much to analyze. This campaign generated 21 clicks and 0 conversions. The avg. CTR is 0.08%! I’ve been in the PPC industry for 4 years but have never ever experienced such low number.
Lessons learned Buying a spot with 680k monthly impressions but paying for only 25k isn’t a good idea. 21 clicks aren’t enough to analyze the quality of the traffic. I think SEJ is a very relevant site for our tools but the competition of advertising is high and CTRs are low. I would say these ads are great for brand awareness unless you have hundreds of spare dollars. Readers of relevant sites will recognize you and sometimes click on the banner to see what’s up with you.
An ad spot on an SEO/digital marketing discussion