Popularity: 9% [?]

A couple of weeks ago I thought I’d take a stab at advertising through Project Wonderful.  I’d seen it on a few sites and was really interested - because it was about bidding to get your ad seen.  How cool was that!  LOL.  So I signed up and was ready to advertise in no time.

I added my advertisement to my profile and realized that it wasn’t all that easy to get around once I was logged in.  That could have been a momentary “me” moment - but it wasn’t exactly easy to understand.  There was the buy ad and the campaign part of the site and I didn’t know where my ad was and it was a confusing… but I managed to find my way out of that dilemma and work on getting  my ad seen on sites listed at Project Wonderful.

My budget… $5

Yup, I’m the best of the big spenders.

I didn’t really want to shell out more than that to start, because you could get on some pages for as little as .20 cents (some even less than that).  So I thought it would be a way to test the waters so to speak.

I bid on ad spaces on a couple of sites I recognized.

I was accepted for the first one - and I was stoked.  It was easy enough to do.  No worries.

Then I went looking for my second ad space.  This time it wasn’t so easy - I put a bid in on a site that had a higher buy in and almost instantly I was outbid.  I guess it had to to with the max bid option on the site.  So I thought I’d try a little higher and eventually I was able to have my Ad seen on that site.

It was a little dis-heartening… only because I thought I’d get that spot for CHEAP.  Which is awesome and everything, but I ended up biting the bullet and putting more on it and my $5 was quickly on the way out the door and into the pockets of the sites that I’d scored ad space from.

Some sites on there were going for a crazy amount… crazy for me - maybe not so bad for you.

The one big thing that completely drove me crazy was that on those sites I’d placed my ad - it kept bouncing me on and off the slot due to the bidding.  I’m sure I could have changed that if I had a bigger budget.  But if you’re like me and you’re low-balling to test it out… this is maddening!

Did I get anything from the advertising.

In a word.

No.

Not a sale.  Nada.  It could have been the fact that I didn’t advertise all that long.  It could have been the sites I was advertising on… maybe paying a few more dollars would have been worth it and I would have gotten a better ROI.  As it was - it wasn’t a good scene and now my $5 is gone and I’m not sure I’d want to go that route again for advertising.   I think the idea of bidding on ad space is great… it’s the bouncing on and off the ad space due to the bid structure that almost drove me to drink.

Would I try it again.  Possibly.  I would only attempt this if I had more a budget to throw around.  As it stands - with the small sum I have… I’d pass.  It’s just too frustrating for me to see my ad go on and off a site in a few hours, doesn’t really work for the branding/people clicking - when it is there and gone.

I’m going to stick to the pay weekly/monthly idea of advertising on blogs/websites.

Popularity: 13% [?]

…. Yup. I can’t say I’m overly pleased to be feeling this way and it’s only Tuesday. Image that. I’ve been reading some blogs and wow - I’m blown away with their productivity. It’s insane. I don’t know how they have the time to do everything that they do online. I honest to God feel like I’m standing still next to them with the things that I’ve got on the go and then the crazy crazy life their leading.

See I do this to myself ALOT. I read blogs and feel like I’m not even competing. Maybe I’m not really. I am having this feeling not only with the things I’m doing online and seeing online, but also offline. I just can’t seem to get my shit together enough to actually pull it together lately. What’s wrong with me!! LOL.

I think I’m just being me and really I am motoring along, it’s just that whole “keeping up with the Jones” which can be awesomely motivating and sometimes crippling.

I’ve been working on marketing my product for the past little while and if you’ve been visiting 45n5.com, Mark’s got a new site up which is totally for advertisers/publishers over at ShowYourAdHere.com - I’ve added my site to his repetoire. We’ll see how it works out. I’m hoping you’ll be interested in buying some space - I’ve got it listed at $5 for one week and $20 for the entire 28 days. Not too shabby and it works on a beer budget (which I can so totally relate to!).

So another marketing option is available. I’m still loving that Scratchback plugin and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with Entrecard. (Um, yes it’s still here - see, told you I couldn’t figure out if it’s worth it or not… so it stayed).

I’m thinking of doing some text link ads on my own and see where that goes. Maybe re-arrange my layout a little and start focusing on things I’m into and doing at the moment rather than having one sad looking link at the top there. Times are a-changin’.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Yesterday as a very nice surprise I got paid by Scratchback. I was really happy - because, well I’m broke and the money I was sent can now buy me a week’s worth of Tim Horton’s coffee and that makes me REALLY FREAKIN’ HAPPY! Seriously!

I had honestly forgot about it… not the widget itself but the payout schedule for it. I had no idea I’d reached the payout threshold, so maybe I’ll have to step it up and be more diligent with tracking this sort of thing I’ve actually got to do that this year for all the sites I’ve got running (in one way shape or form) and be more on top of those domains that seem to lapse and I forget to renew.

I have one site that I didn’t renew and someone is now trying to sell it for $500. Yes, this makes me mad. Will they make money with that name. Very, unlikely… but who am I to say. I’m not a master domaineer. So, I’m going to keep track of it and see if it sells. I’m just morbidly curious about it. LOL.

Anyhoo - over at nichetoriches - the fun and games have started. And to those of you haven’t been by to see it and join in the fun - there is still time to do it. It’s free to sign up and all that jazz. It’s been created so we can get together and get some sites up and running making us money. So stop by and say hi!

Popularity: 14% [?]

As boring as this is I’m going to talk about… mostly because I just didn’t understand why for the last week I’ve been sitting on the same number of impression for the past week.  Early on I changed the daily spending from my super cheap ways up to an amount that I can just cover.  I’m not a millionaire, but apparently you have to be bringing in a bit of coin to make your marketing campaign take off.

This is starting to bum me out.

So this morning I log in to see if there has been any movement on the campaign I’ve been running - and no nothing has changed impressions/clicks are still at a standstill.  The same amount BUT I now see that I’ve got a link where I can check out what I have to do to increase things for the campaign by 400%.  Of course I’m interested in trying to increase the potential by 400% - who wouldn’t be.

I look at what I’d have to shell out daily to get my 400%.

It’s well out of my budget.

My sad little budget isn’t going to cut it apparently.

I’m now not too sure what I should do next.  Stick with the number I have now - and go no where with impressions or do I put it up a bit more (even though I can’t honestly afford too… and realistically I’m not going to do) .  Man this is just getting a bit frustrating here!

I’m not really sure what I should do next?  Do I start a new campaign?  Do I just keep going with what I have?  I’m just a bit in the dark as what to do next.

Popularity: 10% [?]