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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613
Top 500 Poster
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OP
Top 500 Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613 |
This place is a ghost town - it's just missing the tumbleweeds. I can't help but wonder how many people hit this forum from time to time to see if anyone else has posted anything...
Assuming folks are still lurking, I thought I'd share this recent experience.
I ordered "free" business cards from Vistaprint.com - the cards were free but it cost something like 10 bucks to have them shipped. Still, a good deal. Unfortunately I didn't pay the extra money for the glossy cards. The flat cards look... well, flat. I will probably toss them and reorder them in glossy format.
Regardless, with the cards came $50 worth of free advertising via Google Ads. I wanted to share my experience with this, in case anyone else has considered trying it.
I created a free Google Ads account, and started playing around with it. I had to search online to figure out how to enter my free 50 bucks worth of credit - it's slightly tricky to find. If anyone tries this and struggles, post and I'll go through the steps.
So I slapped up a quickie ad that said something like "Richard MacLemale - Solo performing musician doing the music of Billy Joel, Elton John, REM, and more. Reasonable rates." And then my web site address. Made it go live. Got two clicks but that was it.
The next day I got a phone call from a guy at Google. At first I was thinking it was a phishing scam - yeah, right, like Google would actually call a small fry like me. But it WAS a rep from Google. He said he looked over my ad campaign, and Google would like their team of experts to create a new ad campaign for me, for free. He wanted to know if that would be OK. So I said "Yeah, sure!" And I asked him, basically, why Google would want to put the time and energy into making an ad for me, for free. He basically said "We want your ad campaign to be successful, because then you'll come back and do more advertising with us." And I said, "Yeah, you're right - if it works, I'll keep doing it."
That night he called me again and said it was ready. He had me go in and have a look to make sure I was cool with it. I had done maybe 6 search phrases originally, and they added like 60 more. They also put in some anti-search terms (I forget what they call those) so that my ad wouldn't appear when it shouldn't. Within a week I'd gotten a phone call from a guy who wanted to book me for a hundred dollar gig.
OK, so it's only one gig and it's only a hundred bucks, but still, it's pretty cool. My Google ad only shows up for people searching to hire musical entertainment. And it is only displayed to people who live within 30 miles of my house. The ad can appear thousands of times, but I only pay for the clicks. The clicks are expensive - I'm paying about 2 bucks per click. But it's free until that $50 runs out. And I had a gig with only 8 clicks.
Time will tell if this ad campaign continues to get me gigs, or if the one I got was a fluke. But I thought I'd share the story here anyway for any folks who might be curious about Google advertising.
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,911 Likes: 1
Top 30 Poster
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Top 30 Poster
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,911 Likes: 1 |
I am watching, reading and finding the post interesting. Thanks.
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,710
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,710 |
I'm just watching tumbleweeds blow through town.
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,911 Likes: 1
Top 30 Poster
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Top 30 Poster
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,911 Likes: 1 |
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,710
Top 100 Poster
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Top 100 Poster
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,710 |
Colin, That gal sure sounds like Lucinda Williams. She's a good singer. Thanks for link.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 750 Likes: 2
Top 500 Poster
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Top 500 Poster
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 750 Likes: 2 |
I'm one of the lurkers.
I also got 500 business cards for $10 from Vistaprint. I had a choice of matte or glossy for no extra price. I chose matte and am happy with them. I like that I was able to upload one of my cartoon band drawings and it appears on all the cards in full color.
I've been getting these free Google Ads promotions off and on for at least a year now. Usually they include $100 of free ads. I haven't taken advantage of any of these offers. It's good to hear of someone's experience with them. Thanks, Richard.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 189
Serious Contributor
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Serious Contributor
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 189 |
Richard, Thank you for the info. I always wondered what the deal was with Google. Please keep us posted at the end of the free $50. How long it takes for 25 clicks and the results from those 25 clicks will be important. I am looking at it from a Musician and busness person standpoint. Thanks Papos
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613
Top 500 Poster
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OP
Top 500 Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613 |
OK, I finally finished the $50 credit. It took about a month and a half to spend it, the way I had it set up. Here's a rundown.
As stated above, the Google folks made a nice ad for me, with the appropriate key words and all. Actually they made two ads for me and I was supposed to watch them and then keep the one that got the best results, which I did. I got another gig via Google ads about a week ago - A private party for $150. In that case, my whole approach worked... they were looking for some live music for their party, my ad came up, and they clicked on it, which took them to my website. On my front page is a description of exactly what I do, along with a medley of a few of the cover songs I do. I'm marketing myself as live music that you don't have to shout over. And Elton John and The Beatles are very popular with the older crowd.
So in the end, for $50 worth of Google Ads, I got $250 worth of business. I'll take that deal all day long. These are gigs that I would not have gotten otherwise. I just put in another $50 today. But I would speculate that this approach would not work so well for an original artist. However, if you do covers, this is worth looking into.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 750 Likes: 2
Top 500 Poster
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Top 500 Poster
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 750 Likes: 2 |
Thanks for the update. Good luck with your future ads.
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,911 Likes: 1
Top 30 Poster
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Top 30 Poster
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 7,911 Likes: 1 |
Interesting - thanks for the info. Were you also selling a CD or just looking for gigs?
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613
Top 500 Poster
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OP
Top 500 Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613 |
Strictly looking for gigs. My ad says: Musician For Hire | richardmac.com Richard MacLemale - Performing The Music Of The Beatles, REM & More. www.richardmac.comWhen people go to my web site, they get a description of my show. I bill myself as live music that you don't have to shout over. I list some of the artists I cover, and I have a song medley so that people can hear what I sound like. I'll probably take out the "REM" and put in Elton John instead.
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 189
Serious Contributor
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Serious Contributor
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 189 |
Thanks for the information. Appears to be a winner. Papos
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613
Top 500 Poster
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OP
Top 500 Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613 |
Have continued to advertise on Google, and am continuing to get business, but not as much as before. I need to pay less for my ads AND make them more effective. I need to really get in there and see who's clicking on what. My goal as a solo performer covers + originals guy was to play in front of bigger audiences and be able to charge $50 per hour. I'm there now, and I am sooooo damn happy about it. Countless hours of practicing, making backing tracks, learning new songs, reading advice online from others who are doing it. I'm still playing a bunch of my own original music and I'm still selling CD's at gigs. I'm having a really good time with music right now. PS - I wish I could get down to one of your open mics. I'd love to. My problem is that although my wife gives me free reign to schedule any gigs I want any days I want, if I'm not doing a paid gig Friday night is hers to go out with her friends. But I'll mention it to her in August.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 750 Likes: 2
Top 500 Poster
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Top 500 Poster
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 750 Likes: 2 |
I had a message yesterday on my phone answering machine from someone at Google pushing their ads. I deleted it.
Getting more visits to my website isn't going to help me much and it isn't worth paying for. I'm already getting an average of 250 visits a day to my website, plus whatever I'm getting on my other sites (Facebook, MySpace, ReverbNation, Soundclick, Our Stage, etc.). With that many people exposed to my stuff, numbering in the tens of thousands a year, it should have already clicked with someone and gone viral if it was really that good. But it hasn't. So I need to be writing and recording better songs if I want to see any significant success as a songwriter.
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613
Top 500 Poster
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OP
Top 500 Poster
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 613 |
True, Google Ads won't help an original artist. But for a cover band or cover performer they can definitely help, like how I'm using them.
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"If one man can do it, any man can do it. It is true. But the real question is, if one man did it, are you willing to do what it takes to do it as well?" –Brian Austin Whitney
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