How I Got 1,242 Facebook Fans For Only $347.70

Posted by: Comments: 13 comments so far

Jun. 17

I’m a huge fan of Facebook advertising, especially when my goal is driving fans. I currently have three Facebook Fan Pages: my PPC Ian Fan Page (please like me, I would truly appreciate it) and two others for my top two authority sites. The main goal of my Facebook Fan Page strategy? Drive repeat visitors to my sites, communicate with my top visitors (people who can be evangelists for my brands), and of course create SEO value (social media is driving SEO and will only continue to do so more, in my opinion). I’ve had a lot of success with my newest Facebook Fan Page. I basically went from 0 fans to 1,242 in less than a week for only $347.70. That’s only $0.28 per fan! (Make sure to check out the screenshot from my Facebook account at the bottom of this post.) These are real fans, fans who are interacting with my page, fans who are helping me build my business. I feel that this point is absolutely critical because I can get 1,242 fans for cheap on Fiverr but those wouldn’t be real, quality fans the way you can drive with a paid campaign. Today I’m excited to share my strategy!

Step 1: Leverage The $50 Coupon

First and foremost, it always pays to have a coupon. My wife found one for me in the recent issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. I put it to good use immediately and this lowered the cost basis of my campaign. If you don’t have a Facebook advertising account yet, make sure to leverage this coupon or another one when you open your new account. Even if you don’t have money to spend on your Facebook Fan Page, at least the coupon will give you $50 in free spend.

Step 2: Write Great Creative

I’m sure you’ve heard this hundreds of times, but I truly can’t underscore the importance of testing creative (both text and images). Just check out the screenshot below. The second ad is the clear winner with a CTR of 0.217%. The other ads have CTRs of 0.126% and 0.080%. What’s really crazy here is I didn’t vary my text too much. I already have a winning model that starts with "Poll" and then asks a simple question. If the answer is "yes", I ask the user to click "Like". This copy has worked really well and I encourage you to try it out. Amongst the three ads, I really did vary the images. The winning image actually surprised me, it’s hard to predict the winner so I always recommend testing!

Step 3: Give Your Facebook Campaign Time

I put a budget of $250/day on this campaign from the start. It made perfect sense, I was targeting a huge audience of around 300,000 reach. However, Facebook really surprised me this time! It seems that they throttled my campaign. Despite having a good CTR and low CPC, I didn’t hit my daily budget. The frequency is lower than I’ve seen in the past and it took many days (almost a week) to hit just half of my target audience.

I almost prefer it this way. I was able to run my campaign for about a week and I’m seeing no signs of burnout yet! I’m still running it now and perhaps the Facebook Ads team is working on the burnout problem. The moral here: We don’t appear to be in a churn and burn environment right now. I used to run Facebook campaigns that would experience ad fatigue within 24-48 hours. I’m not seeing that with my most recent campaign and recommend stretching your time horizon out a bit.

My Typical Experience With Paid Facebook Like Campaigns

Over the last year or so, I’ve run a multitude of Facebook "Like" campaigns (paid campaigns with the goal of driving likes). I’ve seen truly varied results. Some verticals, despite my best efforts, come in at a lofty $5/like. In a more typical situation, I have seen likes between $1 and $2 each. For the reasons outlined in the introduction, I can’t imagine running an authority site without at least a few hundred real, dedicated likes so I’m happy to pay the price even if it is in the $1-$2/like range.

I’m truly thrilled with this campaign, however, because I’m coming in at $0.28 per like. I spent $397.70 so far, but I got that great $50 coupon so I actually only spent $347.70. $347.70 divided by 1,242 fans is a sweet $0.28 per fan. Knowing how well my website converts and the value of these fans, I will keep running this campaign until it experiences fatigue. I expect that to happen after I hit 2,000 fans since at that point I will have hit the majority of my target audience and the ad frequency should get up to the 10+ range.

I truly hope this helps you out not only with the strategy but also with some numbers so you know what to expect. Want to learn more about driving fans on Facebook? I highly recommend my post about Three Ways To Drive More Facebook Fans. Also, Acquisio’s free Facebook Webinar is truly awesome. What has been your experience? Anyone driven fans via paid Facebook campaigns for less than $0.28/fan?

Facebook Like Campaign

Image in this post © PPCIan.com

Posted in: Web Publishing | Tags: , , | Comments: 13 comments so far, join the discussion!

How I Earned $4,874.36 on eBay Partner Network

Posted by: Comments: 25 comments so far

Jun. 05

In the last three months (February – May), I earned $4,874.26 on the eBay Partner Network (EPN). That’s an average of about $52.98 per day of pure margin SEO income (no media costs attached). Considering I hold a demanding full time job (that I love) and that the time I invest in my eBay Partner Network websites is low (maybe 1 hour/week on average), I couldn’t be more thrilled with the results. Since my prior posts about my EPN earnings have been so popular (Scoring Record EPN Earnings and My EPN Earnings Rock), I thought I’d do another eBay post today to share my success and a few tips so you too can build your own passive income stream while driving substantial user value. When you’re done reading my tips, make sure to check out the screen shot at the bottom of this post that highlights my earnings!

Tip 1: Focus On An Authority Website

My eBay Partner Network Earnings come from one authority website that I started back in 2007. I started this website about a topic I love! Due to my passion, I was able to write hundreds of articles that users love while really sharing my own personality and perspective with my visitors. I consistently get emails from my visitors saying they love my site and I’ve truly helped them. I invested a ton of sweat equity in the early days (mainly 2007-2008), and continue to update my website consistently to this day (although my commitment right now is about 1 hour/week). (Side note: I don’t want to give the illusion that passive income is easy. It takes a ton of up front work, it’s just that I’m now enjoying the passive aspect of my income stream because my EPN operation has matured.)

By focusing on one site, I was able to build a ton of quality traffic within a particular niche, thus having the ability to send eBay lots of qualified visitors. I have found that the large scale approach (when combined with quality) works really well! So, if you’re thinking about going the multi-site route versus the authority site route, I’d highly recommend going with an authority site.

Tip 2: Don’t Go Overboard With Links To eBay

You’d be surprised! I don’t have a ton of links to eBay on my authority website. I almost make my visitors look for them. This is really important. eBay is measuring results (in the form of account sign-ups and also winning bids) and will pay you higher EPCs if you drive higher quality traffic. In fact, they tend to over-reward their highest quality sources of traffic. (Side note: You can learn more about this in my review of eBay’s Quality Click Pricing.) For this very reason, it’s of paramount importance you don’t go overboard and you only send quality traffic. My personal approach has involved extremely long, complex, passionate articles that truly help users with maybe one link to eBay. I could send probably 5 times as much traffic to eBay as I am now, but I don’t want to compromise the quality because then my EPCs would plummet.

Tip 3: Leverage Text Links To eBay

eBay offers a ton of complex ways to link to them. They offer widgets, the ability to embed eBay results right on your website, and all sorts of options. When it comes to SEO, my strategy is one of keeping it very simple. As such, the majority of my eBay links are text links. Of course, I sprinkle in a few widgets too, but those represent the minority of my EPN clicks. My advice is to not overlook the simple, text link strategy because it works really well with Tip 2 (keeping your traffic quality high).

I hope these tips help you out! I’m super thrilled with my eBay results because of the passive income, but more importantly because I’m learning. I’m learning new skills that help my corporate online marketing career while having fun and making some extra income!

My eBay Partner Network Earnings

Image of my eBay Partner Network Earnings © PPCIan.com

Posted in: Web Publishing | Tags: , | Comments: 25 comments so far, join the discussion!

Scoring Record eBay Partner Network (EPN) Earnings

Posted by: Comments: 20 comments so far

Apr. 02

Hey everyone! Just wanted to write a quick post today about my record eBay Partner Network (EPN) earnings for March. I hope this post encourages you to continue working hard towards your own affiliate marketing goals, while seriously considering eBay Partner Network as a great affiliate program. You may recall that my eBay Partner Network earnings have been volatile in 2010. After some of the volatility ended, my EPN earnings started to rock. In late 2010, I did really well as I received big bonuses from eBay due to my year over year growth (didn’t blog about the bonuses). In March, 2011 (see screenshot below) I’m thrilled to announce that my EPN earnings came in at $1,861.86. That’s my best non-bonused month ever!

Affiliate Marketing Works, Even If You Have a Job

I wanted to write this post for two main reasons. First and foremost, I wanted to show that someone with a full time, demanding job can still do really well in affiliate marketing. I work super hard in my full time job (and I love it!), but have also been able to build up a really sweet affiliate marketing business. I earn monthly passive income from EPN and also other affiliate programs such as Google AdSense, Commission Junction, Amazon Associates, ClickBank, and others. The skills I learned have even helped accelerate my corporate online marketing career since I have more value to add. My strategy: Build great websites with great information that offer significant value to the user. I now own 100+ active web businesses. The money did not come easily, but now I’m receiving a good deal of free SEO traffic. My EPN earnings have basically zero cost attached to them so they’re pure margin. My advice: Stick with affiliate marketing. Even if you have a full time job, you can invest a few hours each week for a few years (I’ve been in the affiliate marketing game since 2007) and then you’ll hit gold in the long run.

You Should Seriously Consider eBay Partner Network

Second, I wanted to highlight EPN as a great affiliate network. eBay Partner Network can be volatile (just look at March 31 in the graph below and you can see that my CPC tanked on the last day of the month) but my results have been super overall and I couldn’t be happier. My strategy: Focus on niches you’re passionate about, and review and recommend products and sellers on eBay that you’re personally passionate about. Better yet, review products and sellers you’ve personally done business with! Once you build that bond with you users, the quality of clicks you send eBay will be tremendous and then eBay’s quality click pricing will reward you. eBay will over-reward those affiliates sending the best quality clicks, clicks that convert! Looking for another great affiliate network to check out? I recommend CPA Tank, a great network operated by my friend Vito.

PPC Ian EPN Earnings

Image in this post © PPCIan.com

Posted in: Web Publishing | Tags: , | Comments: 20 comments so far, join the discussion!

EWA Private Network Is Accepting New Affiliates

Posted by: Comments: 10 comments so far

Feb. 25

When I first started PPC Ian, I wrote a post about moonlighting accelerating your SEM career. Then, in my last post, I discussed how PPC jobs are changing. How are they changing? One of the biggest changes is pay per click campaign managers are now in a position where it’s almost mandatory to master skills in all online marketing channels (including SEO, social media, display, email, and others). So, how do you master these essential skills? In my opinion, there’s really only one way: Jump head first into the exciting world of affiliate marketing, immediately! Today’s post is all about getting started in affiliate marketing with EWA Private Network and Blam Ads, two of the premier networks around.

EWA Is Ideal For New Affiliates With Corporate Experience

EWA Private Network

Back in 2007, I first started building SEO websites with the goal of learning new marketing skills (beyond PPC) and earning passive income. I hard coded my sites in static HTML, wrote many articles by hand, and spent hours marketing my sites. As a result of years of hard work, I’m enjoying impressive passive income from Google AdSense, eBay Partner Network, Commission Junction, and other huge affiliate programs, but it was a long road. Why? I really had to learn all types of new skills on my own. AdSense, EPN, and CJ are big affiliate networks. They’re not really going to offer you hands-on personal tips and pointers.

Now, wouldn’t it be nice if I had a mentor holding my hand all the way? Wouldn’t it be nice if I had someone connecting me with the best affiliate offers, providing the best affiliate payouts, and basically partnering with me in the quest to dominate online marketing? Well, this is actually EWA Private Network’s specialty!

Put simply, we’re in a much different situation than 2007. If you’re getting started in affiliate marketing in 2011, you need to join forces with an affiliate network that can jump-start your affiliate marketing operations. It does not matter how much corporate experience you have. The affiliate world, especially when you’re starting from scratch, is very different. After all, that’s why you want to get started in affiliate marketing, it’s an invaluable learning experience that will end up accelerating your corporate career big time. Now, don’t get me wrong. Your corporate experience will help you dominate, and makes you the ideal candidate for a network like EWA Private Network. At the same time, there are so many new skills you will need to learn with the help of a great network like EWA.

EWA Is A Private Affiliate Network

EWA Affiliate Network

So, what’s all this talk about EWA being a private network? Easy! Most affiliate networks out there are large, public networks. As mentioned earlier, Google AdSense, eBay Partner Network, and Commission Junction have thousands upon thousands of affiliates in their networks. Most people that come along get accepted. However, EWA is a true private affiliate network. As you can see from the image on the right, EWA Private Network is currently accepting three new affiliates as of February, 20. I remember seeing this number as high as six earlier this month. When the number goes to zero, it’s hard to say when EWA will open its doors to new affiliates. So, if you’re thinking of signing up, I recommend applying now!

Now, why is EWA a private affiliate network? It all comes down to service. EWA wants to guarantee the best payouts, the best offers, the best inventory (minimal caps), and overall the best service possible. This all becomes possible with a private, exclusive network. When you’re part of the EWA Private Network, you’ve basically been accepted into an exclusive club.

EWA’s Sister Network, Blam Ads

Blam Ads

Now, I wanted to close out with another really amazing opportunity, especially if you have members only content available. Ryan Eagle, Founder and Managing Partner of Eagle Web Assets Inc., just started a brand new company called Blam Ads. (As a side note, I absolutely love their logo. It’s so catchy!) I’m especially excited about the Blam Ads Content Locking Gateway. What does this mean? Basically, the user is able to offer out simple, unobtrusive offers to then gain access to your site’s members only content.

So, there you have it! EWA Affiliate Network and Blam Ads offer two easy ways to jump head first into the affiliate marketing world, taking your online marketing career to the next level. If you’re thinking of making the move, I recommend moving now becuase there are only three spots left with EWA.

All Images In This Post © Eagle Web Assets Inc.

Posted in: Web Publishing | Tags: , | Comments: 10 comments so far, join the discussion!

Three Ways To Drive More Facebook Fans

Posted by: Comments: 18 comments so far

Feb. 10

There’s no doubt about it: Facebook has taken the Internet by storm and your Facebook Fan Page is very important to your business. Why? Just like YouTube (check out my recent post about YouTube and SEO), your Facebook Fan Page will drive SEO value to your site via a real dofollow link. More importantly, however, SEO is now being driven by social media citations (after the Google caffeine release). Your Facebook Fan Page will drive numerous citations and social buzz to your website, especially after you accumulate a lot of fans. So, how exactly do you get a lot of fans? I’ve been working very hard on my PPC Ian Facebook Fan Page and now have nearly 750 fans! Today I’m going to share three tips on gaining Facebook Fan Page fans fast!

Tip 1: Run a Paid Facebook “Like” Campaign

PPC Ian Facebook Fan Page

This just wouldn’t be PPC Ian if I didn’t start off with a tip that relies on paid traffic. There are two types of paid campaigns on Facebook: Campaigns that drive users to your website and campaigns that drive users to your Facebook Fan Page. The second type of campaign makes the most sense if you’re trying to drive likes because the ad itself will contain a like button in it and moreover the user will have the option to click like again once they land on your Facebook Fan Page. From my personal experience, you gain high quality followers (who are likely to read your updates and interact with your page) via this method for around $2 per follower (in the online marketing vertical at least).

Want to learn more about Facebook Ads? I highly recommend buying Jonathan Volk’s Facebook Ads Guide. This is where I really learned my foundation. Moreover, I’m looking forward to writing a future post with some specific Facebook like campaign tips.

Tip 2: Gain Facebook Fans With Fiverr

Have you heard of Fiverr? It’s basically a site where you can get almost anything done for only $5. One thing that a lot of Fiverr sellers can help you with is gaining more Facebook fans. It’s quite simple: You pay them $5 and they will recommend your Facebook Fan Page to all their friends. Some Fiverr sellers have as many as 13,000 friends that they’ll recommend your page to. It really comes down here to the power of personal endorsement. When someone recommends you to their friends, you can often get tremendous results.

Another benefit of Fiverr is the price. When only $5 is on the line, you only need 2.5 followers to break even with the results of a typical paid like campaign. That said, I’ll be honest here and would like to point two things out. First, results will vary by seller. Some sellers will deliver very little to no value. Others will totally hit the ball out of the park. It’s up to you to experiment with multiple sellers. Second, please keep in mind that followers you get via this method are less likely be be high quality followers that will interact with your page. But, you never know! I personally use this strategy to complement the paid strategy (but definitely not as a replacement).

Tip 3: Optimize The Conversion Rate of Your Facebook Fan Page

As my final tip today, I highly recommend spending a few hours and building a custom banner for your Facebook Fan Page. This is super easy. The maximum size of your profile image is 200×600. Leverage all that space and build an image that includes your logo, a picture of yourself, information about your social media profiles, and even some info that entices the user to like your page. If you’re going to so much effort to dive traffic to your Fan Page (especially via a paid campaign), it’s essential to have a professional looking page with a high like conversion rate. If you check out my personal Facebook Fan Page, you’ll see my 200×600 banner.

As a bonus tip: You can even create a landing page on your Facebook Fan Page that further entices users to click the like button. I haven’t done this just yet because I really like my wall being the landing page. So, there you have it! Now, it’s time to go out there and get 1,000 or more fans!

Posted in: Web Publishing | Tags: , | Comments: 18 comments so far, join the discussion!