Zavose » Marketing

The Cheaters guide to Twitter.

Chuck Lockhart (Zavose) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 13:20:16 +0000

I’m not going to lie – I’m supremely jealous of Twitter. Really, I am. And to be honest who isn’t? The company came from practically nowhere, and in just four short years has become a household name, with just under 200 million users worldwide posting an average of 750 tweets per second. Entrepreneurs, naturally have tapped into this ever-expanding market to capitalize on the immense worldwide audience, and whilst using Twitter for business was initially a novel idea, now even Joe the dry-cleaner has latched on. If only there was a way to cheat the system…

Going on the assumption that you have been exposed to 21st century society post 2006, you’ll be aware of how Twitter works, so there’s no real need to go into too much detail here, only to tell you this – there is a way to dramatically speed up the process of building a Twitter follower base, without you having to do anything much at all. Let me introduce the concept of “auto-add”, where a program will automatically add targeted Twitter followers for you, up to the daily limit of 2000 followers. Yes, they really exist, and no, they’re not illegal.

The crappy part is that there is a one-time cost involved, and the even crappier part is that systems like this used to be free of charge (that awesome Greasemonkey script, anyone?) until the evil lords of the universe at Twitter waged war and shut it down. But, if you value Twitter as the business and marketing tool that it is, then this program may well pay for itself in a very short period of time.

Tweetadder: The Lazy Twitterers Salvation.

“Meet THE Ferrari of Twitter Friend Adder and Promotion Software!” is the slightly pretentious slogan one is greeted with upon visiting the cheery and colourful Tweetadder website. I am a Ferrari lover myself, and so am slightly offended that a program designed to cheat the Twitter system is being likened to my favourite brand of luxury car, but overly-zealous marketing strategy aside, the program largely lives up to the hype.

Although presented in the world’s most unimaginative interface, Tweetadder does an excellent job of finding Twitter profiles according to keywords you specify, and then promptly following the accounts, one per second, until the daily limit is reached. Compared to the “manual” way of individually adding a single Twitter profile via the main website, Tweetadder is a refreshingly easy way to build a solid, relevant follower base in a short space of time.

Twitter, apparently, doesn’t mind you using the software, as long as you are not adding ridiculous amounts of people per day and then proceed in rampant unfollowing (is that really a word?) when you are not followed in return. In my own tests, I was able to follow approximately 400 people per day, of which about 100 followed me back – one in four is a pretty good conversion rate. The only roadblock we hit is a Twitter policy that stipulates you cannot add more than 2000 people until you have 2000 followers. Once you’re past that number however, the amount of people you can follow is essentially limitless.

Tweetadder is cheating, Period. But, the amount of time saved in building a twitter follower base probably makes it very easy to oversee this small detail. If you are intending to use Twitter as a business tool, then Tweetadder is unsurpassed in regards to ease of use and practicality. Available for both Mac and Windows, this entirely legitimate program (no, it actually is legitimate) sells for US$55. In my opinion, money well spent.

Go to the Official Tweetadder Website Purchase Tweetadder (US$55)

Simple, Effective Banner Advertising – 3 Great Tips

Chuck Lockhart (Zavose) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 04:07:22 +0000

Advertising a website or business is deceptively complicated process, and those who think it’s as simple as creating a colorful box couldn’t be further from the mark. But hey, we’re here to help – here’s a simple idea for an effective banner advertisement that’ll make sure your advertising money isn’t wasted.

The aim of any website advertisement is to draw people into your website, boosting your traffic and increasing website visibility. The key phrase that most people forget when creating an advertisement is the whole idea of “drawing people to a website”, not placing your entire website into a very small box. The aim of any advertisement should not be cramming a heap of information into a very small space – instead the perfect advertisement should give viewers just enough information to intrigue them, but not enough information so that they don’t actually have to visit your site to find out more. The “ideal” advertisement should make people want to find out more by giving them just enough, but not enough. Banner advertising is essentially manipulation, but in a kinda good way.

1. Use Color (keep it simple)

Color is possibly the most underused yet most effective element in banner advertising, as it’s a big key in determining the visual impact of your banner. Try to use a vivid shade for your background, but keep it light – no dark blue or black.

As important as color is, you also have to make sure you limit it’s use – keep the background monochromatic – don’t overcrowd your banner, and make sure your colors don’t clash.

2. Differentiation Through Imagination.

The downfall of any banner advertisement is that most advertisers try to fit a thesis into a 535×100 pixel box – it never works and will make your advertisement look cheap and unprofessional. Instead, consider what is the very core of your business or website that you want to convey to your customers. What is the essential to your business? How can you help your customers? What can you offer them to make their lives easier?

In a nutshell (to use a cliche), the less words you use, and the more your advertisement makes people go “Wha….?”, the more clicks you will get. We call it differentiation through imagination – the more wild, unpredictable and radical your advertisement is the more it will be noticed, and the more it will be clicked.

Display is also important. We take the modernist approach to advertising by keeping the colors simple and uniform, however it’s really up to you here to exercise some originality. Make sure you find a font that complements your banner, and one that doesn’t clash with the background. Take a break from the generic stuff and use something different (see the resource list below)

3. The Finishing Touches

The often overlooked areas of banner advertising can make a difference to the final product. Ensure that the most important text in the advertisement is big, clear, and more obvious than anything else. Don’t overcrowd your advertisement with unnecessary images and/or text – whitespace is very important.

Also, providing viewers with an action path, such as a button that says “find out more” or something similar will help in converting views to clicks, as buttons reassure people of where they’re going if they choose to click on your advertisement.

Creating an effective banner advertisement is all about simplicity and functionality. It’s not as complicated as you think – use color to your advantage and make it noticeable. The skills demonstrated in this tutorial extend past banner advertisements alone – any type of publication designed to be noticed will benefit. And to get you started, take a look at some of the resources we’ve listed below.

Build Internet Why Niche Banner Ads Fail
Web Design Ledger The Best Free Fonts of 2009
Inspired Magazine The Science of Whitespace in Design

BuySellAds: The Definitive Review

Chuck Lockhart (Zavose) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:00:39 +0000

It used to be social network websites. Then there was the video uploading sites. And now, apparently, we are witnessing the rise of the advertising networks, of which BuySellAds, a project undertaken by Todd Garland, is one of. But is it any good?

Just Googling BuySellAds (BSA, to those already familiar) results in a couple a’ million different reviews, all of which with a different opinion on whether the latest incarnation of a tired formula is worth your time. Regrettably, in an age where one good idea leads to a thousand second-rate copies, it’s often difficult to weed out the godawful from the genuinely good. So where does BSA fit in?

BuySellAds, as the name indicates, is essentially a service for both advertisers (a.k.a. you’re advertising a product) and publishers (a.k.a. people are buying the advertising space on your website), allowing the sale and purchase of advertising space through a sophisticated, well-rounded system that takes the hassle out of advertising.

the advantages

BuySellAds separates itself from other networks first and foremost through an incredibly intuitive and simplistic user interface. It’s clear that the aim of BSA is to simplify the process of buying and selling advertisements, and it certainly succeeds in this area.

Everything about BuySellAds is just easy, from listing your website’s advertising space (publishers) to buying advertising space (advertisers). The whole process is as easy as breathing, which is a huge plus for anyone who finds the process of selling and buying ads frustrating and time consuming.

A fully-fledged analytics program as well as support services are also a click away for both advertisers and publishers, again another huge advantage. At the moment banner ads seem to be the way to go, although BuySellAds is undergoing private beta testing of pay-per-click advertisements, which will allow both advertisers and publishers a bit more freedom in the future.

For publishers, your website is listed in the BSA directory, allowing advertisers target-specific searches to help find a compatible website. A gray place holder box that’s become a somewhat recognisable icon sits in your advertising space, potential advertisers just a click away to purchasing that space in monthly subscriptions.

We found that payouts were quick and seamless, the PayPal system very efficient. Wire transfers and cheques are also available as payout and payment options if PayPal is not your thing.

the drawbacks

Too good to be true? You know the saying, and yup… it is. Well, sort of…

Let’s start with the publishers. By using BSA, you are paying for the simplicity, and you’re paying for it big time. The BSA system will take away 25% of your earnings – for those who failed second year maths, that means BSA will take 25 cents in every single dollar you earn. Compared to the major ad networks out there, or to selling advertising space privately, the cut is unusually high, and can be quite damaging for higher earning websites.

The circumstances change depending what your website focuses on, but another aspect to consider regarding BSA is the fact that it is a very niche-specific network, meaning only websites focusing on tech, web design / development or freelancing have a chance of succeeding in this system. While this will probably change in the future considering BSA is relatively new on the scene, at the moment it’s a fairly limited community of websites all focused on specific areas. In other words, if you blog about the nutritional value of capsicum, you haven’t got much of a chance.

And because no one cares about the nutritional value of capsicum, and therefore you have no visitors, you will again be rejected because BSA requires a base impressions level of at least 100K per month, although we’ve found this figure to be very flexible. BSA is not all that welcoming to websites with little traffic and no reputation – you need to have a solid foundation of steady traffic to stand a chance of being “accepted” into the BSA system.

The Verdict

Publishers
For startups and smalltime blogs and websites, BuySellAds is unsurpassed as a well-rounded easy to use advertising network, so long as you can be accepted. BSA really does remove the stress of selling advertising space like no other service can, and for small time websites BSA is the ideal solution.

For websites commanding larger amounts of traffic (and consequently a bigger income) BSA may not be the solution you are looking for, only because of the steep 25% cut, which when you are earning thousands of dollars will severely eat into your profit. BSA provide a good service, but no one likes a company THAT much to give them a quarter of our earnings…

BuySellAds takes the pain out of selling advertising space and is certainly a service that should be considered for all web startups and small time websites focused in the design and web services area. If you don’t fit into any part of that previous sentence, Google Adsense, or privately selling your advertising space may be the smarter option.

Advertisers

For ease of use there is no service quite the same. We have yet to compare click through / impression rates compared to the other major services, but as long as you are advertising a product relevant to the design, tech or web services industry, BSA really is a no-brainer for driving targeted, specific traffic to your website. Stay tuned for the site-wide release of PPC advertising.