MMG - Males Marketing Group
Paid Advertising
I completely understand that when you are just starting out online you probably won't have any money put aside for a marketing budget.
There are plenty of free methods of marketing your system online. What I would recommend however is when you make those first few sales you invest some, if not all of that money back in to your business. Lets not forget this is a business you are starting and you should take it seriously and invest in the future.
There are plenty of free methods of marketing your system online. What I would recommend however is when you make those first few sales you invest some, if not all of that money back in to your business. Lets not forget this is a business you are starting and you should take it seriously and invest in the future.
Offline Advertising
Newspaper advertising - Newspaper advertising is something my team and I have had a lot of leads from. You pay for your advert in the press but it can generate some good quality traffic to your websites and opt ins to your list.
Please don't go direct to the newspapers though. You can get it cheaper than that! If you are based in the UK I can recommend the agency I use for my press adverts New Horizons Advertising. As a broker they can secure your advert for cheaper than going direct to the newspapers. They purchase lots of advertising space so get discount from the papers and they pass on the saving to you.
New Horizons also offer other paid marketing services, you can rent email lists or purchase postal leads and much more.
Check out more details on their website http://www.newhorizons.co.uk
Unfortunately I don't commission for sending you their way but I have found them very good. If you speak to Stuart there tell him Steve Males sent you!
If you are outside the UK I'm sure they have something similar in your country. If you can recommend any let me know and I will update this section.
Please don't go direct to the newspapers though. You can get it cheaper than that! If you are based in the UK I can recommend the agency I use for my press adverts New Horizons Advertising. As a broker they can secure your advert for cheaper than going direct to the newspapers. They purchase lots of advertising space so get discount from the papers and they pass on the saving to you.
New Horizons also offer other paid marketing services, you can rent email lists or purchase postal leads and much more.
Check out more details on their website http://www.newhorizons.co.uk
Unfortunately I don't commission for sending you their way but I have found them very good. If you speak to Stuart there tell him Steve Males sent you!
If you are outside the UK I'm sure they have something similar in your country. If you can recommend any let me know and I will update this section.
Pay Per Click
Pay Per Click Advertising is by far the best form of paid advertising for me. I have to put a WARNING at this point however.
Google make it incredibly easy for you to set-up an account, set-up your adwords advert and have your advert being displayed to thousands of people very quickly. This is not always good! Unless you know what you are doing you are going to give all your money to Google and not have a lot to show for it. Trust me, I learnt the hard way.
Leaving all the settings as the default and not using those advanced settings is fantastic news for Google as they will get your money off you much quicker.
I spent thousands on a Pay Per Click course ran by very experienced Internet Marketers and it has made so much difference to my business, it is something I cannot speak highly enough about. This information is currently only available in the members area of the site for people partnering with me but I can offer a few pieces of advice here for you.
1. In the Networks section, turn off the Content Network.
When starting out you should definitely turn off the content network, I would even turn off search partners, this means your advert will only appear on Google when someone searches for your keywords. It won't appear on other sites that have Google adverts on them and so puts your advert infront of the most targeted audience.
2. Don't use Broad Matching Keywords
When you are selecting your keywords for when you want your advert to be displayed, be specific. A broad matching keyword could display your advert in front of a completely different audience and if they happen to click on it, it has cost you money and you'll have nothing to show for it.
For example if you are selling footballs and use the broad matching keyword football, your advert will still display if people search for football kit, football boots, football socks etc. If you do use broad matching keywords you should keep your eye on it and use negatives.
3. Use Global Negatives
Following on from point 2 you should use negatives. So if you are only selling footballs and not football socks, boots, socks etc, you can use socks, kit, boots as negative keywords so that your advert doesn't appear when these words are in the search.
4. Capture Pages
When someone clicks on your advert you will be sending them to your capture page. Make sure you have a specific capture page for your ad campaign. You shouldn't be sending people to your home page if your home page isn't relevant to what the advert was about. A dedicated capture page with an opt in box for the person to enter their name and email is advised. You can then follow up with email marketing later.
5. Track Conversion
Google will tell you how many impressions your advert has had and how many clicks, they will also tell you the cost of these clicks and your cost per click. This is all good information but what you really want to know is the cost per conversion (Conversion being someone entering their name and email on your capture page). This is much more relevant. You may be getting the Cost Per Click for 40p but if no one is entering their name and email when they get to your capture page you are wasting your money. If you can, leave your campaign running for a few days and experiment with weekdays and weekends, between £2-£3 per conversion is a good bench mark, I do notice different results on different days so you have to look at the average.
6. Be Careful With Google Recommendations
Google will make recommendations on how you can make changes to tweak your ad campaign. Be careful!! The recommendations will involve suggesting more keywords for example. These may not be specific to your campaign so although it will get you more traffic and clicks it will probably not lead to more conversions / sales. Other suggestions might be to increase your keyword bid to rank higher. Some keywords are more expensive then others so if you want to start off slow and get to grips with it, choose another keyword.
7. Google Adwords isn't your only option.
Often overlooked are the other search engines. Although Google is the leader and you will get the most traffic from this search engine you can also use Yahoo and MSN PPC. Traffic is less but cost per click and conversion can often be up to a third cheaper as there is less competition.
Google make it incredibly easy for you to set-up an account, set-up your adwords advert and have your advert being displayed to thousands of people very quickly. This is not always good! Unless you know what you are doing you are going to give all your money to Google and not have a lot to show for it. Trust me, I learnt the hard way.
Leaving all the settings as the default and not using those advanced settings is fantastic news for Google as they will get your money off you much quicker.
I spent thousands on a Pay Per Click course ran by very experienced Internet Marketers and it has made so much difference to my business, it is something I cannot speak highly enough about. This information is currently only available in the members area of the site for people partnering with me but I can offer a few pieces of advice here for you.
1. In the Networks section, turn off the Content Network.
When starting out you should definitely turn off the content network, I would even turn off search partners, this means your advert will only appear on Google when someone searches for your keywords. It won't appear on other sites that have Google adverts on them and so puts your advert infront of the most targeted audience.
2. Don't use Broad Matching Keywords
When you are selecting your keywords for when you want your advert to be displayed, be specific. A broad matching keyword could display your advert in front of a completely different audience and if they happen to click on it, it has cost you money and you'll have nothing to show for it.
For example if you are selling footballs and use the broad matching keyword football, your advert will still display if people search for football kit, football boots, football socks etc. If you do use broad matching keywords you should keep your eye on it and use negatives.
3. Use Global Negatives
Following on from point 2 you should use negatives. So if you are only selling footballs and not football socks, boots, socks etc, you can use socks, kit, boots as negative keywords so that your advert doesn't appear when these words are in the search.
4. Capture Pages
When someone clicks on your advert you will be sending them to your capture page. Make sure you have a specific capture page for your ad campaign. You shouldn't be sending people to your home page if your home page isn't relevant to what the advert was about. A dedicated capture page with an opt in box for the person to enter their name and email is advised. You can then follow up with email marketing later.
5. Track Conversion
Google will tell you how many impressions your advert has had and how many clicks, they will also tell you the cost of these clicks and your cost per click. This is all good information but what you really want to know is the cost per conversion (Conversion being someone entering their name and email on your capture page). This is much more relevant. You may be getting the Cost Per Click for 40p but if no one is entering their name and email when they get to your capture page you are wasting your money. If you can, leave your campaign running for a few days and experiment with weekdays and weekends, between £2-£3 per conversion is a good bench mark, I do notice different results on different days so you have to look at the average.
6. Be Careful With Google Recommendations
Google will make recommendations on how you can make changes to tweak your ad campaign. Be careful!! The recommendations will involve suggesting more keywords for example. These may not be specific to your campaign so although it will get you more traffic and clicks it will probably not lead to more conversions / sales. Other suggestions might be to increase your keyword bid to rank higher. Some keywords are more expensive then others so if you want to start off slow and get to grips with it, choose another keyword.
7. Google Adwords isn't your only option.
Often overlooked are the other search engines. Although Google is the leader and you will get the most traffic from this search engine you can also use Yahoo and MSN PPC. Traffic is less but cost per click and conversion can often be up to a third cheaper as there is less competition.
