Re: How do you measure success in online advertising?

From: John Gaskill <gm_at_info-central-usa.com>
Date: Thu 17 May 2001 14:55:48 -0500

MICHAEL MARTINEZ <michael_at_xenite.org> WROTE:

Yes, I'd rather put up with the ads than have to pay
for content. But I've got a Web site to promote. I
have a book to sell. For what it's worth, I stopped
paying for advertising. Why? Because I couldn't
measure the success of the advertising.

To which JOHN GASKILL <gm_at_info-central-usa.com> replied:

Could you not measure the success? Or was the
advertising not successful and you did not want
to admit it or know how to fix it?

MICHAEL MARTINEZ <michael_at_xenite.org> ALSO WROTE:

>If there is one thing I have learned how to do, it's
>drive traffic to a Web site. I had traffic coming in
>from so many quarters I couldn't tell if the
>advertising was paying for itself.

Then chances are the advertising was not
designed to do a selling job was it? It did not
sell something specific at xenite.org which you
could then monitor for a rise in sales? Unless
you are getting paid for people to visit your site,
the secret to success is not driving traffic, but
driving sales.

MICHAEL MARTINEZ <michael_at_xenite.org> WROTE:

>Keep in mind that, in addition to all my ...

<snip about how Michael is a busy guy>

>If the information I needed to determine whether the
>paid advertising was worth the money I paid for it,
>it wasn't immediately obvious to me.

What was not obvious? If your ads work, sales go
up. If your ads don't work, sales stay flat or go down.

<more snip>

>...advertising was a waste of my time and money. Or did
>it set into motion some intangible results I cannot track?
>What if "the right people" saw those ads and started a
>word-of-mouth campaign for my book?

People who see ads don't start word-of-mouth campaigns,
satisfied customers do.

<more snip>

>I am sure I'm a rotten book seller, when it comes right down to it.
>I generate thousands of click-throughs to my book page. I'm
>selling copies of my book, but not THOUSANDS (I wish!
>New York would be knocking on my door, saying, "Hey!
>We want some of that action, son!"). So, I'm losing
>a lot of people after the click-through.

<snip>

>But the bottom line for me is that I couldn't measure
>the impact of the paid advertising. I still can't. And
>I'm not fond of making shots in the dark.

Get a flashlight. Read John Caples' tome, now in its nth
edition, "Tested Advertising Methods." Learn to make your
advertising pay and be sure of how much it is paying.

Regards all,

John Gaskill



Received on Thu May 17 2001 - 14:55:48 CDT