How I used FREE PPC Ads to Land $145 in Audiobook Sales
For the first 5 months of 2015, I sold 55 units and generated $94.74 in royalties and a $50 bounty from the sale of my audiobook Becoming Generation Flux by running pay-per-click ads on LinkedIn Ads and Bing/Yahoo PPC Ads.
What I love most about driving traffic to my audiobook on Audible is that Audible pays to re-target traffic to your product page.
If you don't know how retargeting/remarketing works, then I will explain it briefly.
When some visits a particular website page, in this case, my specific audiobook page on Audible.com, a tracking cookie is placed on that computer, and for 2-3 months after, that specific webpage visitor will see a banner/display ad for my audiobook almost everywhere on the web they go afterwards.
So if they don't buy today, they will be reminded to purchase it a later point in time.
Normally, I would have to pay extra to retarget people, so this is an awesome bonus that ACX/Audible.com does for you!
What I love most about driving traffic to my audiobook on Audible is that Audible pays to re-target traffic to your product page.
If you don't know how retargeting/remarketing works, then I will explain it briefly.
When some visits a particular website page, in this case, my specific audiobook page on Audible.com, a tracking cookie is placed on that computer, and for 2-3 months after, that specific webpage visitor will see a banner/display ad for my audiobook almost everywhere on the web they go afterwards.
So if they don't buy today, they will be reminded to purchase it a later point in time.
Normally, I would have to pay extra to retarget people, so this is an awesome bonus that ACX/Audible.com does for you!
I received the $50 bounty payment from ACX, since someone downloaded Becoming Generation Flux as their first audiobook with a new Audible subscription. Pretty sweet!
So, how did you do it, Miles?
Quite simply...with a little skill and a little luck.
Click "READ MORE" to find out how I did it...
So, how did you do it, Miles?
Quite simply...with a little skill and a little luck.
Click "READ MORE" to find out how I did it...
I received emails from LinkedIn Marketing Solutions offering me $50 in free ads credit 8 different times. I suspect that I got these emails by having a company profile page and a paid personal account. 8 times $50 equals $400 in free ad spend, and I only spent $1.85 of my own dinero!
$400 in FREE LinkedIn Pay-Per-Click Ads
With the free $400 and $1.85 of my greenbacks, I achieved over one million impressions and 95 clicks which allowed me to reach quite a large (yet targeted) audience.
I mainly focused ads to target recent college graduates and millennial career-focused groups.
I mainly focused ads to target recent college graduates and millennial career-focused groups.
Bing & Yahoo Pay-per-Click Ads
Bing Ads show up on both Bing and Yahoo search engines, so you kill two birds with one stone.
I spent $46.61 of my own greenbacks and obtained $75 in free ad credit from Bing.
I achieved 201,768 impressions and 225 clicks to my product page on Audible.com
I spent $46.61 of my own greenbacks and obtained $75 in free ad credit from Bing.
I achieved 201,768 impressions and 225 clicks to my product page on Audible.com
LinkedIn, Bing, & Yahoo Combined
I got 1.2 Million impressions and $475 in FREE ads.
I spent $48.46 of my own money and got $144.74 in royalties which tripled my money.
"But, wait", you may say. "If you had spent the $475 of your own money, you would've lost money.
And you would be absolutely correct in that statement. I am showing you a way to legitimately hack nearly free traffic that turned into sales for my audiobook. Your results might be better or worse.
Now, it did take me some of my time, which is valuable, but I see this as a long term investment into building my brand which is super important to have success these days. "Build it, and they will come immediately" is dead. If you are in this for the short term gain, you will likely get discouraged and disappointed.
I spent $48.46 of my own money and got $144.74 in royalties which tripled my money.
"But, wait", you may say. "If you had spent the $475 of your own money, you would've lost money.
And you would be absolutely correct in that statement. I am showing you a way to legitimately hack nearly free traffic that turned into sales for my audiobook. Your results might be better or worse.
Now, it did take me some of my time, which is valuable, but I see this as a long term investment into building my brand which is super important to have success these days. "Build it, and they will come immediately" is dead. If you are in this for the short term gain, you will likely get discouraged and disappointed.
Why Didn't You Use Google Adwords?
Isn't Google the largest search engine in the world?
Yes, it is.
I highly recommend using Google Adwords, since if you search on the web, you can find a coupon code to get $50-$150 in free ads if you spend the first $50. I had already used a free code a couple of years ago, so I wasn't able to run Google Adwords for this campaign.
But you certainly could and should apply the same tactics to Adwords.
Yes, it is.
I highly recommend using Google Adwords, since if you search on the web, you can find a coupon code to get $50-$150 in free ads if you spend the first $50. I had already used a free code a couple of years ago, so I wasn't able to run Google Adwords for this campaign.
But you certainly could and should apply the same tactics to Adwords.
Bonus Tip: Which Ad Copy Performed Best?
I paid close attention to which ads were performing the best (highest click-through-rate), and you can see below that there were 3 ads that performed the best on LinkedIn, Bing, and Yahoo.
Not only does this help me by directing more of my campaign spend to the top performing ads, but it helps me understand what words people respond most to.
This is a great way to hack keywords that convert the best; then you can use them for other campaigns outside of PPC.
Not only does this help me by directing more of my campaign spend to the top performing ads, but it helps me understand what words people respond most to.
This is a great way to hack keywords that convert the best; then you can use them for other campaigns outside of PPC.
LinkedIn Ad Copy Performance
So What Do You Think?
I thoroughly enjoy hearing what you think, so please leave your comments below. Perhaps you have additional or disagreeing insights. Cheers!
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