ShoeMoney: Last week I wrote a post about using BANS to build your own niche store. I received a ton of questions about how to build traffic and many other questions. Ian contacted me at the same time to do a follow up to answer these questions
This time of year is when everyone starts to splurge money on physical items such as toys, clothing, and electronics. I have had my BadCircuit.com BANS (Build a Niche Store ) for a little over week already and I have managed to get a fast growing amount of traffic to it. But I spent a good 2 days on perfecting my BANS layout, I did not want to create a BANS look a like at all. So documented my BANS creation, I have part 1 and part 2 of my ‘building of the BANS’ video series.
Since my store is more geared towards physical electronic items, computers, laptops, televisions, etc – I find it easier to capture traffic that is non-seo or keyword content related. There is no content to help with SEO at all with an ecommerce store unless there are articles and posts within the store itself. It makes it hard to gather that traffic from search engines. This year’s traffic should be concentrated on 3 items which users are doing on a day to day basis, these 3 sources has helped my BANS grow in a short amount of days.
The 3 traffic sources I will be talking about will be Adwords or any PPC campaign, Classified Ads, and Social Media Networks, they are ordered from most traffic received to least. These 3 sources alone have helped my BANS grow over the weekend with great amounts of traffic of all which are all targeted traffic. Since this is the holiday, buyers already have a list of what they want to buy or an idea. That idea is the target item they want to buy. For example my store sells electronic items, ranging from computer pcs to ipod nanos. For a buyer that is looking for ‘electronics’ they have an idea of what they are looking for and will concentrate on that goal until it is accomplished, this makes their holiday list less cumbersome when doing some last minute shopping.
If they have a general idea they know what they are looking for which make them a niche buyer. Below is a screen shot of my traffic and you can see the growth over the Holiday weekend, though it is not much but what I did in a couple hours was worth it. If I spent a week or so on trying to gather other traffic it might have been more substantial.
I can say these are pretty good stats because my bounce rate is high. Since it is an affiliate system for ebay, a high bounce rate is good because they are exiting your website. A buyer finds what they want and exited to get more information on that product. Most of my visitors are new and spend just little over a minute on the pages with at least 2 page views. I think these stats are great for a weekend worth of quick work. If I have planned a little earlier I would have probably reached more visits, but I was slacking. But now let me talk about how I receive these traffic in such a short time.
Using Adwords
A niche buyer wants to buy something specific and at that moment that is the only thing he will be concentrating on. The first source of traffic that I have used for my BANS store is using an Adwords campaign. This is the easiest way to get targeted traffic. Simply bidding on keywords and using targeted keywords to get buyers to your store. The most important thing is to always try to get is to be on the first page on Google. I have decided to use keywords that are 3+ worded strings, because buyers this time of year are again niche buyers, the more specific the better and cheaper as well. For example this past weekend buyers may search “after black Friday sales” it is a specific audience but it is still too broad, so another search keyword I may bid on is “desktop computer sales.” This is a 3 word keyword, long tail, which may get me on the front page of Google, depending on the CPC, for that specified search keyword.
For Black Friday I spent about 300$ a day for the Black Friday Weekend and have increased it to 500$ a day for Monday (Cyber Monday). I have great impressions with great CTRs, Adwords alone proves to be my most powerful traffic source for my BANS. Another source of traffic that was very powerful was the use of CraigsList.
Using Classified Ads such as Craigslist
Craigslist is great this time of year because buyers are looking for deals, and BANS has all the great deals because its already discounted from most merchants. Almost all of my postings on Craigslist never got taken down, because I am advertising a physical item! When I first experimented with Craigslist for BadCircuit.com my first ads was taken down because I just left the domain and explained “I Have Discounted Electronics.” Craigslist HATES SPAM! So once you arrive at craigslist pick your state and city, then picking your main category under “for sale.”ÂÂ
How I bypass this was very easy, I simply posted the actual item on eBay on Craigslist. This never got my ads taken down and again it is targeted traffic because someone is actually searching for that specific TV or Desktop PC. Craigslist, to me is more for posting physical items or posting jobs (freelance work). Since it is the time of year for physical items, Craigslist to me proves to be a perfect way to gather niche specific traffic.
Once you have chosen your state, city, and category – click on [post] in the upper right hand corner. This will bring you to a sub category listing. Once there it is simple to gather the traffic. To gather this traffic, I simply just post an actual physical item from your BANS and organize the list by newly listed. The newly listed item will be on your BANS for 7 days (if the sellers post for 7 days), so if the actual buyer is looking for that specific item they can still find that item within a 7 day period, Craigslist post your ad for about 30 days.
When creating your post you want to keep the same exact title and price of the actual item on sale. Now comes the description – DO NOT post anything that says “go to this website to get this” or “you can grab this item here”, etc. Just simply copy the specs of the item from the ebay listing and post it on Craigslist.
In my case I simply took the specs and warranties of the description and paste it within the description section of Craigslist. Simple. Once you have created your description add your URL to that specific category, just the URL. Again do not say “you can view this item and others here,” if you do it gets flagged. If you posted a Plasma TV within the Plasma Television Category of your bans, have that specific link directly associated with that item. If you just leave your domain, you will be flagged. Make it as specific as possible.
At the bottom you will notice your email address, you will need a validated email to actual publish your posting. Once you publish you are able to edit it later on as well. Also chose “do not show my email address” since you are not the actual seller of the ebay item. With Craigslist, since posting is free Craigslist also allows you to post images. Right now I only upload 1 image and since it works I will stay with 1 image per posting. I do not use a cartoon or a false image; I use the actual image from the ebay listing. Associate the description with your links and images, because they will pass Craigslist standards.
Social Networks and Bookmarks
Using social networks to capture traffic is another great tool and resource to use, this is not my most powerful way to get traffic to my BANS but it does work. Social networks are great because it becomes viral at some point. I also tend to use a follow through technique as well, assuming everyone has an account with a social media network. First I will talk about forum traffic and get into my Follow Through Traffic with social medias bookmarks.
Forum traffic is a great source for global communication and niche specific traffic. For my BANS I targeted the discount and coupon forums, with categories in electronics and computers, everyone is looking to save a dollar or so.
These types of forums have buyers that are looking for that deal or that big discount, and since it is an ebay feed – most items are already discounted. I participate as a new comer, this way I communicate with other sellers and buyers growing my post level to at least 10 before I create my own post/thread about a topic. I think this is important because then you are not looked at as an advertiser/spammer within a forum, you engage in communication and you become a resource. Of course I have already edited my signature to point to my BANS, but the best is creating a controversial issue when you start a thread and keeping that thread alive with valid communications between members. As long as the thread is fresh with content and controversial, the thread will always be bumped by other members and viewed by search engines!
Once you have reach a post of at least 10, start a thread that has a controversial topic such as “TV Brand VS TV BRAND.” Any one looking for discounts on TVs or a comparison will most likely visit this thread. Within the thread you can state you found 2 comparable TVs with the same price range but you are undecided. You can list small features and state you found these deals at YOUR BANS CATEGORY SPECIFC. This is not spam or advertising; you are simply redirecting users to check for comparison of the TVs, it is targeted traffic.
Once you have a reply usually it is a comment which the user will have a favoritism for a specific brand and will not even go to the site. Once you have that first reply – turn the user’s reply into a controversial question. When that happens, everyone will put in their opinionated answers as long as you keep your responses in question. Just do not post, “but why” “what do you mean” – actually participate as well.
Another great social media to use are social media bookmarks such as digg and stumble upon. This type of technique I use is called follow through traffic, assuming everyone has used stumbleupon and digg before. Follow through traffic is almost automated since the end user does the work and all you have to do is get the ball rolling.
Follow through is a simple system where a user found your site via digg which was found by stumbleupon, there is a middle source which is can benefit from the users interaction. Here is an example; users use the stumble button to find new websites. If stumbled on a digg link page which is linked to your website, that end user will visit your site via the digg link AND might digg the page as well, again assuming everyone uses digg and stumbleupon. The end user simply follows through their likings, if they stay on the digg page (which was stumbled upon) long enough to visit your site via digg, then it has a good chance of being dug.
The only key aspect I can give is to make sure you have a strong title and description without it sounding as spam or a commercial. The key is to sound like a normal user. Do not use words like “cool discounted electronics,” that is just boring to read.
Each of these sources is viable use to gather traffic to your BANS or even any website. If you do not want to spend money or lack the pocket change, use classified ads such as Craigslist and USFreeAds. These are great resources to post an item from your BANS, which you are technically selling.
In the end all of these tactics are about capturing your targeted audience’s attention for your BANS. It is about getting their attention for X seconds to react to your listing, reacting to visit and buy. Adwords – you need to have a good ad that captures, Craigslist – you need a good title to capture, Social Bookmarks/Networks – you need a good title. See the similarity; capture their attention long enough for them to follow through to your link and to buy.
When launching a website usually I tap into a cheap AdWords campaign (to inject an initial influx of traffic) and after that I will explore social media marketing techniques. The first kind of builds a background for the second.
Nice detailed writeup of how to go from idea to traffic.
These results are awesome. I’ve been using BANS a few weeks myself and, while my results aren’t this good, they’re very encouraging. BANS paid for itself within the first week and now, with very little continued effort, is earning me pure profit.
This is a good guide.
I agree 100% with the adwords section. You don’t want to use just one word because it’ll be more expensive, wont’ get you ranked high, and won’t be specific enough to your niche. You want a phrase that best describes your business and one that’ll rank you high on Google.
This is an excellent writeup. The info on Craigs list is cool. I have had trouble getting it to work. I am going to try it as you explain it.
Thanks again.
Ok, now I HAVE to buy BANS, you have given me no excuse not to:)
Thanks for the outstanding guide. This is especially good for beginners like me. And the fact that you give examples proves you are not just another blogger trying to make a buck without having the actualy know how and experience of doing it.
It is much appreciated.
Eric Dytzel aka NoviceSEO
There was a big discussion in the BANS forum about how posting affiliate links or links to websites of affiliate products was against the TOS of Craigslist. Your CJ account could get banned doing this.
Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy….for you to bring your sites out to the public is simple. You just have to post it on Shoemoney 🙂
-Mike
Excellent guide for sure. I’m generally hit and miss with PPC campaigns to my eBay store fronts ( I don’t use BANS, but roll my own ). What kind of returns are you gunning for? You’re spending some good dough on AdWords, are you seeing a good return?
Also, does your PPC strategy change depending on what type of niche store you have? For example, PPC only seems profitable on high auction items… small items, I seem to loose my shirt on the PPC game.
Do you like to do PPC only with AdWords or do you do a mix with YSM and MSN?
Thanks!
hanji
I’m about to go live with a BANS site but CL is a good tool..I use it to drive a decent amount of taffic to one of my site and it is a bit of a trail and error to figure out what gets you banned for what you want to promote.
Very nice BANS store, but there is some question as to CJ allowing you to use Craigslist to get traffic.
From CJ’s code of conduct:
Other than paid search, publishers may only promote advertisers on Web pages/sites/properties that they, themselves, own or operate. Publishers may not place affiliate links/tracking code, nor promote Web sites that contain affiliate links/tracking code, in or on third-party: forums, message boards, blog comment areas, classified advertisement services (such as CraigsList.org), etc., unless given permission from the third-party to do so.
http://www.cj.com/code_of_conduct.html
I would be careful posting ads to Craigslist
good tips. i like the bypass of craigslist standard tips.
depends on your goal. do you want to use adwords to just convert or to bring traffic initially.
Havent found Adcenter to be useful. Both adwords and YSM are good.
$1100 spend over the weekend. What was the income for that spend?
Thanks
Informative, and to the point. Good to see some honest, constructive commentary. For those of you concerned about site/product violations, keep in mind that feedfronts are a dime a dozen and come in many flavors. It’s the traffic garnering practices that are of value here. And he’s provided enough concise detail for folks to test and evaluate for themselves. A definite A+ if theres little or no time for an organic SE approach. Well done Ian.
I keep trying to add a listing to Craigslist, but it never shows up. Any ideas why?
Thanks for this great post !
a question : what was your ROI for the AdWords investment ?
You make it sound so easy …
If I had to guess … 0
Daniel, what do you mean by “I will explore social media marketing techniques”. Please explain it in more detail. I am using Adwords and after that making SEO of the site and after that the very difficult : building a link campaign.
Thanks!
I would also like to know what kind of ROI you were getting on your adwords campaign. Funny how you posted about bans a few days ago. I had just setup my store a few days earlier. You pulled a ringtones on me again 😛
Shoemoney, just wanted to say what an informative post!! These techniques can work with just about any type of storefront and you can benefit greatly from it, keep up the great work! 🙂
I wish someone would do a really good explanation on PPC because I just can’t seem to make anything with it. Google with their $10 keyword prices has me so frustrated it makes me want to scream.
thanks! I try 🙂
do you publish it? do you get an email for your flagged post?
All -> Thanks As for CL – I have posted multiple times on there and so far none of my post have been taking down. My first attempts though most of my post were taken until I found a viable solution – it is all trial and error – once I found what works I stick to it, and maybe doing a little testing with arrangements etc
as for my ROI – I can tell you BANS has paid over itself 3 times, the only sad part is my PPC campaigns within my BANS is not producing a lot of CTR – I am assuming because of the ebay listings and the bounce rate from them – which is fine, in hopes they purchase from ebay. Also these stats are only about a week old so I will be waiting till dec 20 for full actual stats on my ROI 🙂
lol – I know how that feels because when I made my campaign live – some keywords were only .XX cents and the day after black Friday keywords went up to almost $5! So that tick me off a little – everyday I had to adjust my keywords to what I wanted to spend and chose different more direct keywords to help keep cost down – I am not an expert in PPC but I do know something here and there
🙂
Personally.. that’s why I stick with YSM. I can get low keywords with decent traffic. Obviously you get WAY more traffic with AdWords, but with YSM, you can get your feet wet and learn about writing good ads and picking effective keywords with out losing a bunch of cash.
hanji
I’m curious about Squidoo.. could you put CJ links in there. You don’t ‘own’ the site, but you do manage your lense. I’d assume this is fine. Thoughts?
hanji
with ebays one week cookie, all you need is that one weeks data.
Yeah I publish it and when it gives me the URL, I can see the page. But then when I go to the new listings for that city, it’s not there. I haven’t gotten any emails about it being flagged either.
Now with these types of shops poppin up left right and center and Jeremy here giving a detailed how to guide I wonder if we are seeing the rebirth of a new spin on MFA (A for Afil this time perhaps) ? 🙂
i know really.
I’ve had some luck with YSM and I like the fact that I have to spend less money to figure out some things. Google is just getting too well, I’ll say it, evil!
Um who actually wrote this post? It says “Guest” and links to index. Was it Shoe or a guest blogger? No offense to the guest bloggers but I take the info directly from Shoemoney somehow more credible and trying my luck with BANS also just wanna know how seriously should I take this post 😉
And if I may I would definitely appreciate some more transparency as far as the post authors go pls.
If a site allows you to post links, then aren’t they giving you permission? I think that too many people are scared of Cj.com, if your account gets terminated, then just get another one, it is not that hard.
really nice detailed info on craigslist
yeah i’m wondering who wrote this too?
Yes, I have found the same thing. Seems that if you don’t publish through an account, your ad never really gets posted. Try posting through an account. I have found that works much better.
You never told us if the money spent on adwords paid off and how much you earned with that site.
Good Lord that is a long post! but some useful information. I have never been a fan of managing online stores because everyone has the same products and similar prices. Unless you are in a niche, you almost always get smoked by someonre
Interesting…hope BANS works better than Zlio.com does.
wow, I had no idea it could be this easy,definitely going to give this one a shot
How is the BANS going? I would love to see how the sales are coming. The reason being is the name “Shoemoney Shoes” works for us who read your blog, but what about my mom or wife who never heard of you? I run a Zappos affiliate site as well, but it is geared exclusively towards women.
Man whats up with people and BANS recently? I remember seeing bans a while ago on clickbank and forgot all about it. Last month I read on Wealthy Affiliate people talking about BANS so I thought I would give it a try. Now I am seeing BANS on every forum now even this blog. It’s good to hear you are having success with your BANS store. It’s nice of you to share your store and techniques with us to help out with our traffic.
Seriously. It seems like maybe a month ago, I’d heard it a few times.. just scattered here and there. Now it’s everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
I should relax.
It’s the American Dream.
eBay is having reporting issues now – Great timing on this one! LOL
[…] Thanks again to Shoemoney who had guest poster Ian Fernando do a pretty complete writeup on how to build traffic. I had my wife start inputting a […]
So far I haven’t spent a dime marketing my blog, but my numbers could definitely be better. Maybe at some point I’ll start a more agressive campaign, but I’m not sure when.
Great tips. Thanks for putting this up.
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Well…this place never fails in surprising me man.. LOL.. Trusting you are all doing decently today. Enjoy the day, and always keep smiling. Then stab someone in the chest as you continue to smile. LOL.
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