I started a social network for the mental health community in January, I’m coming up on the 3 month mark. The network is kind of like a facebook, but for mental health consumers.
The site is private, which makes things a bit tricky. Here are some stats: I have 26 registered users, most of which I got from guerilla email marketing and Twitter. My average page hits (on days when no one logs in) are somewhere from 30-50 per day. Last week I had a day when I hit almost 800 in one day with no one logging in (I have no idea where that many hits came from). So, traffic has been growing some, but I don’t have enough yet.
It is apparent that I will have to advertise. My budget is low (around $500), so I am primarily stuck with Adwords, as many of the bigger niche sites have an ad minimum which is too high.
I don’t really understand Adwords that well, but I do know my niche, and my specific market within that niche. That being said, my plan is to use Adwords, but funnel all the ads through 3 of the top sites within my niche, instead of displaying ads on all networks. By doing this, I will know where my traffic is coming from, and know that it is the right kind of traffic (or close to it).
Where I need help is in the pricing. What should I set my max CPC at? Should I shoot for more click throughs at a lower cost, or fewer click throughs at a higher cost but with better keywords? I understand my market, but am having trouble developing a pricing strategy. Maybe you can help? Thanks!
In my experience (which isn’t much) I started at a low price and then looked at how often my ad was appearing and just upped the bid until I was happy with where it was sitting. Of course, others then come along and outbid you, so it is an ongoing process (and can get a bit frustrating).
One thing I don’t quite understand is how people can click through to your site if it’s “private”. Does this mean they can visit a landing page and opt to be a member?
Oh, I didn’t realize the prospect of people outbidding you, that does change things a bit. My strategy was to target the top sites within my niche, like sites getting at least 100,000 impressions a day, however now I fear that I will need to keep my bids high in order for them to appear on these sites. Would it be wiser to go with sites that have lower traffic, such as 10,000 impressions a day?
As far as my site, there is a landing page, just like facebook or any of the other social networks. They then can login or sign up. My forums and blog are public, but everything else requires a login to be seen.
I would go for low bids but with a lot of keywords/key phrases. To get enough impressions and clicks to recruit new members, but still not paying a lot for each one.
I think if the keywords are still in your niche, the quality of visitors will be high too this way.