I bit the bullet about a week and a half ago, and signed up for advertising on QRZ.Com. I chose to run a 728×90 banner ad (see above) that appears at the top of the page. These ads actually cost less than the 125×125 button ads that run along the left-hand side of the page. The banner ads costs $270 for three months, while the button ads cost almost ten times more. The reason for this is that my ads share that ad space with all the other banner ads, while the button ads appear every time someone accesses a QRZ.Com page.
As I write this, my ad has had 35966 impressions, 12 clicks, for a click-through ratio (CTR) of 0.33%. That seems pretty bad, but that’s about par for the course. The ads that appear on my website, have about the same CTR. Note that the number of clicks are just that. Clicks don’t equal sales.
To reach the break even point, I would have to sell an extra book about every three days. I think that’s probably a safe bet, but of course, I would like to maximize sales. So, I asked on Twitter what I could do to make the ad better. I got the following suggestions:
- Emphasize that a free version of the Tech study guide is available.
- Change the background color from the orange of the General Class book to the blue of the Tech Class book.
- De-emphasize “KB6NU” to emphasize “No Nonsense.”
I’ve also thought about changing the text add a URL. My thinking is that some folks might not click on an ad, but instead, type the URL into a new browser window or write down the URL to visit the website later. I’ve done that myself from time to time.
Anyway, I’m open for suggestions. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear them.