Hey everyone, I've been doing a rethink of my marketing strategy. Signups for my mailing list were really sluggish, and nothing I do seemed to be having much of an effect. I'm in the fitness “niche”, which isn't a niche at all but a damn big industry, with vicious competition. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating. But still, it's hard to get new sign-ups when your readers are jaded by dozens of other blogs with products and services offering six-pack abs, two-week super body,and other stuff like that.
Tried targeted Facebook ads, that didn't work. Nor did Google ads. I want to make this online operation my main source of income, but I do also have a day job, and that has held me back from going all-out on forums related to fitness, from posting detailed, helpful posts that could get people interested in what I'm offering on my website. Just takes too long, you know? It's a grind as is, putting out new content for my blog.
But– and I don't know how I didn't notice this before – there's also such a thing as solo ads, which is, if I understand it correctly,paying someone else to promote your product or service on their mailing list. Which sounded kind of weird and spammy to me at first,but then I found out there's a real market for this kind of stuff, in fact there are people, like Heather Alessandra at Heather's Solos(which I admit, I'm thinking of purchasing in a test regime – do any of you have any experience with this particular service?), whose main business is letting other marketers reach out to their subscribers (for a price, of course).
Anyand all guidance in the often frustrating world of paid ads would be much appreciated, though. Like, do you think I should try again with Facebook and Google ads, but after doing some serious reading on howto plan and implement a campaign, or should I try out this new thing,solo ads, which is more expensive but seems like less of a hassle to get results from? I am pretty strapped for time, but I don't have money to go throwing around on any old service either. Kind of a bind that I'm in. =/
For that matter, do you think paid ads are worth it at all? Many times I've seen people espouse the opinion that paid ads aren't worth it,that you should build your marketing around free, organic search results by creating good and useful content. I agree with the good content part, but it should probably be a bit of both – free exposure and exposure that you pay for. To get access to otherwise-inaccessible target markets, right? Listen to me rambling. I'm not an expert, but I hope some of you are. Thanks!
Tried targeted Facebook ads, that didn't work. Nor did Google ads. I want to make this online operation my main source of income, but I do also have a day job, and that has held me back from going all-out on forums related to fitness, from posting detailed, helpful posts that could get people interested in what I'm offering on my website. Just takes too long, you know? It's a grind as is, putting out new content for my blog.
But– and I don't know how I didn't notice this before – there's also such a thing as solo ads, which is, if I understand it correctly,paying someone else to promote your product or service on their mailing list. Which sounded kind of weird and spammy to me at first,but then I found out there's a real market for this kind of stuff, in fact there are people, like Heather Alessandra at Heather's Solos(which I admit, I'm thinking of purchasing in a test regime – do any of you have any experience with this particular service?), whose main business is letting other marketers reach out to their subscribers (for a price, of course).
Anyand all guidance in the often frustrating world of paid ads would be much appreciated, though. Like, do you think I should try again with Facebook and Google ads, but after doing some serious reading on howto plan and implement a campaign, or should I try out this new thing,solo ads, which is more expensive but seems like less of a hassle to get results from? I am pretty strapped for time, but I don't have money to go throwing around on any old service either. Kind of a bind that I'm in. =/
For that matter, do you think paid ads are worth it at all? Many times I've seen people espouse the opinion that paid ads aren't worth it,that you should build your marketing around free, organic search results by creating good and useful content. I agree with the good content part, but it should probably be a bit of both – free exposure and exposure that you pay for. To get access to otherwise-inaccessible target markets, right? Listen to me rambling. I'm not an expert, but I hope some of you are. Thanks!