The $10,000 Paid Content + Paid Linking Test that is 100% Google Safe

Post on 11-Aug-2014

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Content Marketing is all the rage, and I'm a believer too. But lets be honest, SEO's need to promote content and also build links and social signals these days. So I gave my team $10,000 to "play with" and this presentation shares what we learned about paying to promote content across networks & across social sites like nRelate, Taboola, Zemanta, Twitter, LinkedIn.

Transcript of The $10,000 Paid Content + Paid Linking Test that is 100% Google Safe

Google Approved Paid Links

Wil Reynolds Associate

@wilreynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6551534889/

@wilreynolds

$10,000 Dollars in “Play” Money

@wilreynolds

$10,000 Dollars in “Play” Money

@wilreynolds

$10,000 in Play Money

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Go Forth and Use $$ to Get Links

@wilreynolds

Eyeballs

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bayat/

@wilreynolds

Impressions

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bayat/

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Attention

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Prayed, HARD

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3 Outcomes

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Win

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/

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Lose

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/

@wilreynolds http://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy

Wait

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The Players

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Losses

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eole

@wilreynolds

“Not Im

pressed”

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Zemanta

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Zemanta

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HOW DO THEY GET PAID? Impressions, CPM

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HOW DO PUBLISHERS GET PAID? Content is “suggested” to bloggers

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IMPACT • 2-3 Clicks Avg • No “follow on” links • 8 Clients • $500/mo

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3 CHARACTERISTICS • Sites you would rarely visit • Low social signals • Lots of ads

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Netw

ork: nRelate

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Asset: Infographic

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Asset: Infographic (looked like this)

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“Not Im

pressed”

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@wilreynolds

Previous Successes

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I was VERY SKEPTICAL

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SPEND: $700 DAYS: 3 CPC: .30 CAPS: $50

@wilreynolds

IMPRESSIONS: 8,883,291 CLICKS: 2,335 CTR: .0277% LINKS: 1 SOCIAL SHARES: 1*

@wilreynolds

PAGES PER VISIT: 1.07 DURATION: 15 seconds BOUNCE RATE: 95.16

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Lessons:

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No “Mad Scientist” Time

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncarleton @wilreynolds

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Aggregate Traffic to Landing Page

** 6 weeks before test & 6 weeks after (June 28th –

September 30th)

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Before During After

Traf

fic

Time

+112 total visits after referral traffic ended

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COST = $700 SETUP/WATCH TIME = $300

--------------------------- $1,000

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$1,000 per link - Not Impressed

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Netw

ork: Tw

itter

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Asset: Fantasy Football Name Generator

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Previous Successes

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SPEND: $177 (Budget: $500) DAYS: 4 CPC: .49 CAPS: $100/Day

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Outcome CAMPAIGN IMPRESSIONS CLICKS RETWEETS REPLIES FOLLOWS ENGAGEMENT

#FantasyFootball 3,876 185 6 0 1 4.95%

ESPN & Yahoo FF 6,149 161 1 1 0 2.65%

@wilreynolds

LESSONS: • Low impression volume

+ 1 tweet = death • More than 1 tweet to promote • Offbrand = no new followers • $$ = Have a value of a

follower in mind • Who RT’ed it / Influencer?

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@HarrisNeifield + @AndrewMeyer8

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$177 / follower - Not Impressed

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Wins

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncarleton @wilreynolds

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Netw

ork: nRelate

@wilreynolds

Asset: Infographic

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Previous Successes

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Previous Successes

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SPEND: $700 DAYS: 3 CPC: .30 CAPS: None

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IMPRESSIONS: 8,459,796 CLICKS: 2,343 CTR: .0277% LINKS: 7 SOCIAL SHARES: 1*

@wilreynolds

LESSONS: • No time to test • Big Share Buttons at Top • A/B test asset title • Tech Gaming = Good nRelate • Get GA in order

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COST = $700 SETUP/WATCH TIME = $300

--------------------------- $1,000

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$124 per link - Not Bad

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Netw

ork: nRelate

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Asset: 3 articles w/ Infographic

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SPEND: $502.65 DAYS: 13 CPC: .15 CAPS: $50/Day

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IMPRESSIONS: 4,192,887 CLICKS: 3,351 CTR: .0799% LINKS: 11 SOCIAL SHARES: 1,000*

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3 Articles

ARTICLE CLICKS LINKS SOCIAL*

PC Gaming vs Console Gaming 304 1 --

Memes 352 1 --

DIY 1871 9 --

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COST = $502 SETUP/WATCH TIME = $300

--------------------------- $802

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$72.91 per link – Let’s Drink!

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Netw

ork: Taboola

@wilreynolds

Asset: 5 Articles, Recognized Food Brand

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Previous Successes

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SPEND: $1700 DAYS: 26 CPC: .15 CAPS: $75/Day

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IMPRESSIONS: 20,050,570 CLICKS: 11,006 CTR: .0549% LINKS: 82 SOCIAL SHARES: 1,000*

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5 Articles

ARTICLE CLICKS LINKS SOCIAL*

Beer Trend 2013 7372 10 77

“10 Best” Wine/Travel 1240 17 131

Sangria 658 9 129

Unusual Wines 472 15 166

100 Best Wine Restaurants 215 32 218

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Network: Taboola Audience knows your brand

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Network: Taboola Little impact

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Network: Taboola

Audience knows you, it doesn’t matter

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Network: Taboola

Highest Bounce Lowest PPVs Lowest Duration

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Network: Taboola

Should have paused it

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Network: Taboola

Next Time: Create a Micro-conversion

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MICRO CONVERSIONS: • Clicks on Share buttons by

Campaign (not social plugin) • Scroll to a certain point • Sign up for newsletter • Read Next Article

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Make a BUSINESS Case

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SocialC

rawlytics

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A/B Asset Testing

RESULTS FRUITY OR FIZZY? 9 SIMPLE STEPS

Impressions 1,255,492 918,096

Clicks 658 494

CTR 0.0524% 0.0538%

Spend $98.70 $74.10

@wilreynolds

Referring Sites

RESULTS OUTCOMES

USA Today 67.21% Bounce

Bloomberg 1.76 PPV vs 1.2 Site Average

MyFox(city) 98% Bounce

Buzzfeed 97% Bounce

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Before During After

Traf

fic

Time

Aggregate Traffic to Landing Page

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+15,540 total visits after referral

traffic ended

** 6 weeks before test & 6 weeks after (June 27th – October 15th)

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LESSONS: • Get more like SEM • Next Buttons At Bottom • Additional Engagement • Clicks != Links (more research

coming)

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COST = $1700 SETUP/WATCH TIME = $300

--------------------------- $2,000

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$24.39 per link – Let’s Get Wasted!

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Netw

ork: outbrain

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Education Infographic

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Previous Successes

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Previous Successes

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SPEND: $194 DAYS: 2 CPC: .30 - .23 CAPS: $150/day

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IMPRESSIONS: 480,103 CLICKS: 647 CTR: .13% LINKS: TBD SOCIAL SHARES: ??

@wilreynolds

5 headlines

ARTICLE CTR

How do employers view online degrees .21

What is the difference between an online and traditional degree .11

Are online degrees equal to traditional degrees .05

Are you employable with an online degree .04

What is the value of an online degree .04

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@wilreynolds

Testing 1,2,3 • Test Headlines before naming the

asset? • How do headlines impact

outcomes?

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You guys are ****** GOOD!

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To pull this off you need

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Well rounded

Data + SEO + SEM + Social +

Analytics + Negotiator

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Hire someone for $40,000 a year to “get links”

@wilreynolds

“Minions”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr-shtoopid

@wilreynolds Tunnel Vision

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jugbo

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Need: Data Junkies Growth Hacker

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Where Next? LinkedIn

Newsletters Banner Ads?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tripwolf

@wilreynolds

“Kill Minions”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr-shtoopid

@wilreynolds

Share, or I’m asking him to find your stuff

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr-shtoopid

About me.

@wilreynolds facebook.com/wilreynolds wilr@seerinteractive.com

Wil Reynolds Founder