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Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

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Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#21

Post by ewjordan »

JeffL wrote: post #20
mkramlich wrote: post #14

what's worked best for my game Dead By Zombie: 1. personal appearances at game conventions dressed as the mad scientist Dr. Heinrich von Hexenhammer --- NOTE: may not work for your project 2. listings on niche sites 3. astroturf forum comments on related sites paid advertising? oh that actually hasn't worked too well in comparison. funny.

What are astroturf forum comments?

Astroturfing == posting fake "grassroots" testimonials about the product/idea/company in question to make it seem like a lot of people care about it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing

I'm sure it's pretty effective, especially if you only need to get a handful of people to notice your product. But it just feels so dirty...

Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#24

Post by brlewis »

staunch wrote: post #17
il wrote: post #5

Based on several years experience optimizing Internet ad campaigns, here are a few banner advertising tips: 1. Test and track EVERYTHING. Every variation, headline,layout, domain ad is on, etc should have a unique ID, so you can see not just what gets the highest CTR but also which ad converts/backs out the best. 2. Good design does not necessarily mean good ads. I've had the highest CTR and conversions come from the…

I just want to second point #2. I spent 5 minutes creating some horribly ugly test ads in The Gimp, just so I could get our campaign started quickly. Afterwards I had our badass graphics guy create some beautiful banners. My ads performed 5x better than his over months.

I think sometimes pretty will sell better, sometimes ugly. It probably depends what you're selling. What were you selling?

(Side note for everyone: Please don't withhold useful information from your readers for fear of self-promotion. But if you must, at least fill out your profile.)

Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#25

Post by leftnode »

Advertising on forums that are specific to what you're selling. I sell firearms, firearm accessories, and ammunition, so I spend a great deal of time on forums.

One of the best is SomethingAwful. They have a sub-forum dedicated to firearms, and a very close knit community. An ad on SA costs $30 for a month (which is insanely cheap) and I started a thread advertising my company. We've done incredibly well that way, have already sponsored a competitive shooting team and met a bunch of nice people.

What you don't get, of course, is in depth tracking. You can only see how many clicks you get (just wrap the link in your ad around bit.ly or another URL shortener). But it's just as well with me, I know my advertising is hitting it's target audience and it's worked out very well.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#26

Post by pbhjpbhj »

ewjordan wrote: post #21
JeffL wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are astroturf forum comments?

Astroturfing == posting fake "grassroots" testimonials about the product/idea/company in question to make it seem like a lot of people care about it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing I'm sure it's pretty effective, especially if you only need to get a handful of people to notice your product. But it just feels so dirty...

>Astroturfing == posting fake "grassroots" testimonials about the product/idea/company in question to make it seem like a lot of people care about it.

This is actually illegal in the EU now under EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; eg http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/08/eu_consumer_protecti...

Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#27

Post by eru »

vrikhter wrote: post #7
il wrote: post #5

Based on several years experience optimizing Internet ad campaigns, here are a few banner advertising tips: 1. Test and track EVERYTHING. Every variation, headline,layout, domain ad is on, etc should have a unique ID, so you can see not just what gets the highest CTR but also which ad converts/backs out the best. 2. Good design does not necessarily mean good ads. I've had the highest CTR and conversions come from the…

Its funny you say that, because originally I posted under a completely different title with the same content and got no feedback. Guess that was my own form of ad testing.

Or maybe just (bad) luck? Make sure you have enough data (and control groups) to give significant answers, when you do your ad testing.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#28

Post by eru »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #26
ewjordan wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Astroturfing == posting fake "grassroots" testimonials about the product/idea/company in question to make it seem like a lot of people care about it. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing I'm sure it's pretty effective, especially if you only need to get a handful of people to notice your product. But it just feels so dirty...

>Astroturfing == posting fake "grassroots" testimonials about the product/idea/company in question to make it seem like a lot of people care about it. This is actually illegal in the EU now under EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; eg http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/08/eu_consumer_protecti...

You might get away with just mentioning your product in these forums, but also mention that you are related with the product. If you are humble enough and the product really fits the audience of the forum, you might generate some interest. And you don't need to fear any backlash from somebody uncovering your astroturfing.

Re: Ask HN: What kind of advertising have you tried that worked?

#30

Post by alttab »

Everyone here has been given some fantastic advice so I'll just add one little piece.

What I've seen from my own personal experience, is sites that sell advertising space have been tracking their advertising since they started because they need to know the value of their real estate.

Over time, this transfers to a fact that where ever you are doing your ad banners (a web site, a blog, a search engine), the people you are buying from know how to reach their audience best. Serious advertising firms have their own creative-content guys on the inside, and using them in those cases is way better than picking an external designer, freelancer, or using your own guys. This kind of comes down to this:

"If someone has a big yard, the kids that live there know how to play in it best."

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