I definitely think you need to wait until you get statistically significant results whether it is from Google or if you use Kissmetrics' A/B Significance Test: http://getdatadriven.com/ab-significance-test. Don't end the test too early.
My first client was BrightLocal in Brighton, UK; I was introduced to them to run a B2B advertising campaign to acquire new users. I was working at a startup and hired my past employer, Social Fulcrum, to run Pinterest advertising for us. Unfortunately, the company I was working for had to shut its doors due to poor operational and financial decisions. A few weeks into temporary-retirement, I was contacted by Social Fulcrum about BrightLocal; they were looking for B2B advertising services and I had the experience BrightLocal was looking for but not at the costs of a top-tier advertising agency like Social Fulcrum. That introduction was the beginning of what is now Perfect Pixel Marketing.
I am a one-man shop. I was able to compete for BrightLocal's business, and future prospective clients, because I am able to keep my operational costs low while providing the same high-quality service that you'd receive from a top-notch firm. Running BrightLocal's campaign on my own - compared to working across teams - gave me more creative and strategic control but it also added a lot of extra work. Before, I had a team to create creative assets, upload and publish campaigns, and aggregate the data into formatted spreadsheets. I was now doing all of that for each project. Working on that first campaign with BrightLocal helped me realize how much time is needed for each campaign so when I make time and price estimates for prospective clients I am able to deliver realistic expectations.
The one thing that has remained the same for me from my first client to my most recent is that transparency is key. I've recently lost a client because I told them that they should discontinue advertising on that current platform due to poor sales funnel metrics. I could have easily shown them vanity metrics that made the campaign look better than it really was in hopes that they would sign on for another month or more. However, I knew that the current advertising network would not drive net-positive ROIs and I would only be doing more harm than good.
Thanks for the insight. I would have done a free trial the moment you release RM if it was an option. Concentrating on initial traffic and revenue but I know once it comes to increasing that revenue, RM is exactly what I'll need. The second I can afford the $99/mo I'm nabbing it. In fact, I'm wondering if I can split the costs with some other site owners (past clients) seeing as the licence is for 5 sites.
Yeah, there is a way forward. You need to shift from traffic generation to branding. When people search for your name they don't have to click through. It's enough they read about your whereabouts on Google.
Thank you! Take note though that I can increase font size on my browser but I can't add line breaks to your huge hunks of text. I'm not even on mobile!
Rather build relationships than "leverage connections". When people get the impression that they are used they rather won't help. Be friendly and helpful first and do not automatically ask for favors just because you know someone. When the opportunity arises you can create a win to win situation.
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I definitely think you need to wait until you get statistically significant results whether it is from Google or if you use Kissmetrics' A/B Significance Test: http://getdatadriven.com/ab-significance-test. Don't end the test too early.
My first client was BrightLocal in Brighton, UK; I was introduced to them to run a B2B advertising campaign to acquire new users. I was working at a startup and hired my past employer, Social Fulcrum, to run Pinterest advertising for us. Unfortunately, the company I was working for had to shut its doors due to poor operational and financial decisions. A few weeks into temporary-retirement, I was contacted by Social Fulcrum about BrightLocal; they were looking for B2B advertising services and I had the experience BrightLocal was looking for but not at the costs of a top-tier advertising agency like Social Fulcrum. That introduction was the beginning of what is now Perfect Pixel Marketing.
I am a one-man shop. I was able to compete for BrightLocal's business, and future prospective clients, because I am able to keep my operational costs low while providing the same high-quality service that you'd receive from a top-notch firm. Running BrightLocal's campaign on my own - compared to working across teams - gave me more creative and strategic control but it also added a lot of extra work. Before, I had a team to create creative assets, upload and publish campaigns, and aggregate the data into formatted spreadsheets. I was now doing all of that for each project. Working on that first campaign with BrightLocal helped me realize how much time is needed for each campaign so when I make time and price estimates for prospective clients I am able to deliver realistic expectations.
The one thing that has remained the same for me from my first client to my most recent is that transparency is key. I've recently lost a client because I told them that they should discontinue advertising on that current platform due to poor sales funnel metrics. I could have easily shown them vanity metrics that made the campaign look better than it really was in hopes that they would sign on for another month or more. However, I knew that the current advertising network would not drive net-positive ROIs and I would only be doing more harm than good.
Thanks for the insight. I would have done a free trial the moment you release RM if it was an option. Concentrating on initial traffic and revenue but I know once it comes to increasing that revenue, RM is exactly what I'll need. The second I can afford the $99/mo I'm nabbing it. In fact, I'm wondering if I can split the costs with some other site owners (past clients) seeing as the licence is for 5 sites.
Hey everyone - happy to answer any stat nerd questions you might have here. :)
Honestly, that's like 30% of my motivation when I put these kinda things together: cool by association (at least that's the hope). Thanks, Gigi ;-)
An embarrassment of riches (as they say)!
The NYT rocks. I love how they grew their subscriber base last year. They will stay for another 150+years.
Yeah, there is a way forward. You need to shift from traffic generation to branding. When people search for your name they don't have to click through. It's enough they read about your whereabouts on Google.
Thank you! Take note though that I can increase font size on my browser but I can't add line breaks to your huge hunks of text. I'm not even on mobile!
Rather build relationships than "leverage connections". When people get the impression that they are used they rather won't help. Be friendly and helpful first and do not automatically ask for favors just because you know someone. When the opportunity arises you can create a win to win situation.