The Art Of Paid Traffic | Proven Online Advertising Strategies You Can Implement Today

“The riches are in the niches...”If you’ve been in the online marketing or entrepreneurship space for any length of time, then you’re probably pretty familiar with this phrase. Or at least some variation of it.By now most of us have heard industry leaders suggest that “niching down” (or focusing on solving a specific problem for a super specific target market) is the key to success.I feel like this idea comes up as a key piece of advice both to brand new entrepreneurs who are just starting out, and to more experienced business owners who are looking to take things to the next level.And that’s one of the reasons I know this week’s podcast episode has the potential to be a real game-changer for people.On Episode #111 of The Art of Paid Traffic, I talk with my friend and former student, Robb Bailey.Robb’s been in the online marketing world for over a decade and he spent nine of those years running, what he calls, a “jack-of-all-trades” marketing agency.He and his team offered everything from SEO to blog writing

When you want to create a successful Facebook ads campaign, what do you do?Well, hopefully you map your game plan and identify your exact target before doing anything… (we covered this in episode 109)Once you finish the prep work, you open up Power Editor or Ads Manager to start creating your campaign…It’s at this point you’re faced with your first (critical) decision of actually getting your ad up and running....selecting your “Campaign Objective”.With the Objective, you’re essentially letting Facebook know what kind of results you’re looking to achieve with your Ad campaign. You’re selecting an objective that aligns with your goals.But with all the options Facebook makes available, not to mention the optimization settings, it’s not surprising that a ton of people tend to get tripped up by this step.And, I gotta say, getting this step “right” is vital to the success of your Facebook Ads. Because in most cases, the options you choose for the objective and optimization have massive impact on your campaign’s ov

Hard work is, well, just that -- hard work.It's stuff we don't always like doing yet the reward on the other side is often the greatest. We all wish we had a magic button we could push, or a pill we could pop, to miraculously start seeing results from our efforts.I get it, I'm like that too sometimes.It's a mindset I often see when I work with students who want to use Facebook ads for their business.They dive right into Ads Manager and Power Editor. They take time to understand the technical side of setting up their Facebook Ads. But when their ads start running, they expect to see dollar signs flying right out of the gates.Yes, the power of Facebook Ads does make it possible to see pretty fast results. But first, it requires some critical “pre-work”.This is the stuff that needs to happen before you even begin setting up your ad campaign.On this episode of The Art of Paid Traffic, I cover all aspects of that “pre-work” and explain the three critical elements of a successful Facebook Ads ca

We all have that one thing, one skill or ability, that we’d really love to learn or improve so we can be more efficient marketers and business owners.For some people it’s systems…For others it’s strategy…For me, it’s copywriting.If you’ve been a long-time listener to The Art of Paid Traffic, then you probably know I’m always looking to get a little better at copywriting.In fact, earlier this year, and back when I first started the podcast, I interviewed quite a few copywriters on the show.Because whether it’s ad copy, sales page copy, or emails -- I know writing tends to be one of the  biggest sources of frustration for me in my business, and also for many of my students.That’s why I invited my friend and awesome copywriter Hattie Brazeley to join me on today’s episode of the podcast.Hattie and I have been working together in my business for a little while now.I decided to start working with her when I really wanted to take my ad, sales page and email copy to next level. And as we’ve been working together, I’

A couple weeks ago I hosted a live online training all about using Facebook Ads for local businesses.I hold these types of trainings from time to time, some of them for local businesses and some for online businesses, since things are always changing on Facebook.Heck...the whole world of online marketing, in general, is constantly shifting.Because of that, it’s always a ton of fun when I get to jump on these trainings and teach specific strategies to help you simplify things and see big results from your online marketing efforts.One of my favorite parts of every training I do is the Q&A.  I love seeing the types of questions people ask.And during that last training, I was so impressed with both the quality and the amount of questions that were asked during the Q&A that I decided to share a bunch of those questions (and answers) on the podcast today.(I also decided to do a LIVE ENCORE online training since so many of you asked for it --How to Grow Your Local Business With Facebook Ads This Holiday Seas

#106: How to Strategically Attract Your Ideal Facebook Ads Audience with Jasmine StarAlright AOPT listeners, I’ve got a question for you:When you’re scrolling on Facebook, what is it about an ad that makes you stop scrolling?Do the the colors catch your attention?Or maybe it’s the image?Are you someone who mostly looks at videos?The point is, we all know that the visual aspect of a Facebook Ad is important -- because it’s how the Ad actually grabs our attention in the first place.Still, when it comes to setting up our own Facebook Ads, I know a lot of people spend a ton of time focused on planning, budgeting and targeting their Ads. And the content of the Ad is sort of an afterthought.That’s why I invited my friend Jasmine Star to join me on Episode #106 of The Art of Paid Traffic...Jasmine is a marketing strategist, a branding expert and she’s also been voted one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the world.Today, she’s joining me on the podcast to share how her creative approach to Facebook Ads helped h

On the podcast, we talk a whole lot about sales funnels.How to set them up…How to use them to automate leads & sales…How to track and optimize them…But if you’ve been selling a product or service online for any length of time, then you know a lot needs to happen between when someone enters your sales funnel and the point when they become a customer.Things like delivering the lead magnet, nurturing leads, segmentation and more…If you’re looking to truly automate your sales process so that leads are turning into sales on auto-pilot, then you have to pay attention to all of these things.On today’s episode of The Art of Paid Traffic, I’m talking with Greg Hickman, founder of a company called System.ly.Greg and his team work with online businesses to strategically systematize and automate their funnels from start to finish -- so that no lead gets left behind.Greg has experience working with all kinds of clients in a range of niches and industries. So no matter what sort of offer you’re selling online, you’ll d

We all want to create and run killer Facebook Ads.But if you’re using Facebook Ads as part of a marketing funnel to drive measurable leads and sales for your business (which I hope you are!),  there can be quite a few elements to strategize and optimize.For your Ad to perform successfully, you should be strategic and intentional about the image or video, the ad copy, your target audience and a lot more…And once your Ad is up and running, you’ll want to keep an eye on it and make improvements as needed to maximize your success.  Still, it can be tough to know where to start when it comes to improving your Facebook Ads. That’s one of the biggest questions we get in The FB ADvantage Facebook group -- people asking for help in critiquing their Ads.Heck, we can all benefit from having another set of eyes on our work from time-to-time.So, today on The Art of Paid Traffic, I’m going to walk you through my assessment of a Facebook Ad created by FB ADvantage student, Alex Afterman.Alex was kind enough to share things

As entrepreneurs and online marketers, taking risks is simply the nature of the beast when you want to be successful.Sometimes you have to shake things up a bit, see what works...and then keep doing more of what works.Today on The Art of Paid Traffic, I talk with one of my students who is testing what I’d say is an unconventional strategy, marketing a high-ticket live event offer to cold traffic, directly off of a webinar.Her name is Heather Hubbard of thelanguageofjoy.com and she’s a lawyer turned lifestyle entrepreneur.  She coaches female lawyers to find work-life balance without sacrificing their professional careers.Last year she hosted her first ever live retreat weekend, exclusively for female law firm partners.This year Heather is gearing up for her second annual retreat to be held at the luxury Miraval Resort in Tucson, Arizona. And tickets to her event are $3,500.I wanted to have Heather on the show because, like I said, she sort of ignored the “conventional approach” when she decided to sell her hi

We’re switching things up on The Art of Paid Traffic this week!On today’s show, you’re going to hear an episode I recorded a little over a month ago with my good friend Amy Porterfield on her podcast, Online Market Marketing Made Easy.As soon as you get into it, you’ll understand why I just had to share it with you here on AOPT.During the show, Amy and I cover one of THE most common questions we both get (sometimes multiple times a day) by our students and podcast listeners...How much should I spend on Facebook Ads if I want to have a successful webinar?In the past, Amy and I have both always answered this question on a case-by-case basis.Because the truth is, there’s a lot you have to factor in when you’re calculating an ad spend that will allow you to hit your specific revenue goals.While we still don’t have one “right” answer to this question, Amy and I were able to put our heads together and come up with a formula that makes it a whole lot easier to determine a ballpark budget for your Facebook ads.If you

On this episode of The Art of Paid Traffic, we dive into measuring the effectiveness of your sales funnels.Specifically, I walk you through how to make sense of all the stats and metrics as you take someone from being a stranger to your business all the way through to becoming a paying customer.If you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, then you’ve heard me talk about how important is to “know your numbers” so you can:Measure the success of your sales funnelsMake data-based decisions on where improvements need to be madeDo more of what’s working and…Drive leads and sales automatically every single dayBut recently I realized that a ton of people get stuck in step one because they don’t know the specific measurements to shoot for, in terms of what’s considered “successful”.So if you’ve yet to experience the fun of optimizing and automating your funnels (#2 - #4 above), the content of today’s episode is going to help you get to the good stuff.Just as a heads up, the stuff I cover on this show is a foll

Today we’re celebrating a huge milestone on The Art of Paid Traffic…Our 100th episode!I’m super pumped about this and I want to start by thanking you for listening.Regardless of whether you’ve been a loyal listener since Episode #1, or if you started tuning in recently, we wouldn’t be recording Episode #100 without your support. So, thank you!When I was trying to decide exactly how to take things up a notch in celebration of Episode #100, I kept coming back to a topic I’ve been speaking a lot about recently at live events and with my students…What’s the easiest (& fastest) way to create a high-converting sales funnel?This is one of my favorite topics -- I love talking about it because I get to share a really cool exercise that when people do it the light bulb totally goes off and I hear -- “ohhh, that was so easy!”And I’m going to walk you through this same exercise here in episode 100.You’ll discover, step-by-step, everything that goes into building a high-converting funnel that will generate leads and s

On today’s episode of The Art of Paid Traffic, we dive into the secret to TRULY understanding your customers, and how it’s the foundation of all your marketing efforts.After all, how can you serve people if you don’t fully understand them?  Their needs?  Their challenges?Whether you think you already understand your ideal customer or could use some help digging in, this episode is going to be a great resource for you.My guest today is Jason Friedman, founder and CEO of CXFormula, a company that helps entrepreneurial businesses stand out from their competition and increase sales through what he likes to call the art and science of designing a “customer experience journey”.Jason’s got an interesting background that includes being a roadie for bands like Rush and Fleetwood Mac and later working with everyone from solo entrepreneurs to major brands like Foot Locker, Adidas, Nike, Disney and more.Most entrepreneurs and online marketers understand their target customer’s age range, gender, geographic location, etc.

I’m back this week with a jam-packed Q&A episode all about marketing strategy, Facebook ads, sales funnels, optimizing for conversions, targeting and more.It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a Q&A on the podcast, and I’m pumped to dive into another one this week.I get a TON of questions every week so big thanks to those of you who have been sending them in.If you’d like to ask a question and be featured on an upcoming episode, simply email your question to support@rickmulready.com.  There’s going to be a lot more Q&A episodes coming your way.The questions I cover on today’s episode speak to a range of Facebook Ads funnel-related topics -- everything from targeting strategies to optimizing funnels for conversions, and beyond.If you’re running Facebook Ads or if you’re thinking about running them, this show will definitely give you a nugget or two that you can apply to optimize your online marketing efforts and do more of what works.Let’s get into it... On Today’s Episode, You’ll Also Learn: How

If you run a lot of paid traffic, you know that managing all the tags, pixels, tracking and analytics can be overwhelming.It’s a lot to keep track of especially when you’re using multiple platforms and making changes to your campaigns on a regular basis.Well, Google Tag Manager (GTM) may be just the solution you’re looking for.In episode 97 here on The Art of Paid Traffic, we geek out on Google Tag Manager and how it can help simplify the way you manage your paid ads.And joining me on the show to share his expertise with GTM and how he uses it in his business is Deacon Bradley from Funnelowl.com.Deacon specializes in helping entrepreneurs create systems in their business that bring in leads and sales.  He’s also a super smart guy with Facebook ads and is one of the very few who I’m willing to refer people to for Facebook ads.My goal for this episode is to help you decide if GTM is right for you and your business.  Even if you’re not at a point where you need a solution like this, it’s worth a listen just to h

If you’ve been working with Facebook Ads for a while, chances are you’ve tested out at least a few different Ad types.And, if you’re like me, you found an Ad type or two that rocked your world and produced massive results, therefore becoming the go-to Ad types you continue to use again and again.(For the record, I’d fall into the “hard-core fan of video ads” category.)And then there are the Ad types that haven't exactly produced killer results.One type that I, personally, haven’t loved is Facebook Lead Ads.Lead Ads have been out for a while now, but they were super clunky in the beginning -- mostly because 3rd party apps and software were slow to integrate. It made the process of actually following up with your leads, a pretty big headache.But I’d been hearing about Facebook’s improvements to Lead Ads, plus 3rd party tools have been rolling out integrations to make things a whole lot easier on advertisers.So, I wanted to get the inside scoop on what’s working and what’s not working with Lead Ads from som

Have you ever thought about the type of information your potential customers might need before they:Decide to start shopping for what it is you offer;Decide they’re ready to buy what you offer;And/or actually decide to buy from you?Adam Sand, co-owner of a roofing company in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and my guest today on The Art of Paid Traffic, has seen massive growth in his business recently. Growth that really started when he started using Facebook ads with a value-first marketing approach. Meaning, he leads with (free) valuable and helpful information for potential customers.Think about it…Roofing is a several thousand dollar expense.  If you own a roofing company, or sell any high-ticket product or service, you’re not going to sell directly from your adsYou have to build trust and be seen as an authority first before people will want to work with you.Using this education-based marketing approach with Facebook ads, Adam has grown his business by 40% in three months.  40% in three months selling several t

Today’s episode of The Art of Paid Traffic is part 2 in our mini-series on how local businesses can use Facebook ads to grow their business.Even if you’re not a local business owner, I know you’ll take away some awesome insights from today’s episode with local business owner (and FB ADvantage student) David Brandt.David and his wife own Sips n Splatters Art Parties. They have multiple brick-and-mortar locations in Southern Illinois where people can come to enjoy wine and painting with family and friends. They also recently expanded their business model to include franchise opportunities and online courses.During the episode, David walks us through the evolution of his business as it relates to advertising on Facebook. It was super interesting to hear his story!We talk all about the exact steps he took to shift his marketing strategy when, a few summers ago, Facebook made a huge change to its algorithm which meant only 2-4% of your Facebook fans saw your posts.Get ready to hear some great insights, tips and st

Today’s episode of The Art of Paid Traffic is a solo episode where I take you through the exact strategies I would use to grow a local fly fishing guide business with Facebook ads.You see, I recently went fly fishing in Montana with a guide from Swallowtail Fly Fishing in Bozeman.As we drove out to the river on the first morning, Ty, my guide, asked what I do for a living.And, as often happens when I tell people I’m a Facebook ads guy, he naturally asked me how I would recommend he use Facebook ads to grow his guide business.For the next 20 minutes I shared the exact strategies that I would use to grow his business.  I love breaking people’s business down like this.It was so fun, that I decided to share these strategies with you here on the podcast.This episode is the start of a mini-series on AOPT focusing on how local brick & mortar businesses can use Facebook ads to grow their business.Even if you’re not a local business owner -- maybe you have an online business -- don’t skip these next few episodes b

I met Owen Video at Social Media Day San Diego last week.He walked up to me and told me he attended my Facebook video ads presentation at Social Media Marketing World a few months ago and he said, “man, I gotta be honest with you…...during that presentation, when you told us to just use our smartphone to record videos for our Facebook ads, I thought you were crazy.I’m a video marketing consultant and I’m ALL about using a high quality camera and equipment to create great videos.”He went on to say, “BUT, I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and try what you suggested -- I ditched the fancy camera and used my iPhone to record some Facebook video ads.And you know what?  The results were amazing!”He told me his click-through-rate on his videos went from 3% to over 10%.Ha!  I love it…He also shared that his results weren’t JUST due to his using his iPhone to shoot the videos.And for me, this is where it’s gets really interesting...He also got really strategic in split testing a variety of thumbnail image