This post is the second one this week. And already the sixth in the series “Plugin Journey”. In this post I would like to write something about Google advertising. Or rather, how not to do it. Because I decided not to buy paid advertising from Google for now.

As a reminder, in this blog category I write down how I’m doing with my goal of increasing traffic for my WordPress plugin. I decided to do this because I read Russel Brunson’s book and he wrote that sharing my journey towards more traffic might be a good idea.

Now I would like to get to the point:

Google advertising?

Actually, my goal this week was to advertise (again) on Google. In the end my MasterMind buddy changed my mind because he thought my avatar was quite unspecific. “Avatar” in that sense is what Jeff Walker wrote in his book: an accurate description of the customer.

Due to the fact that my avatar was very unspecific, it was not possible to place a suitable advertisement. It would be a waste of money, my buddy said.

From ads to avatars

So I sat down and thought about who my ideal customer would be. I found two: the one who has a website (or an online store) and wants to push it. Usually he doesn’t even know what structured data is. But he has already noticed that there is such a thing as “beautiful search results” and wants to have them.

Secondly, I found the typical online marketer who runs several niche websites, does a lot of SEO and accordingly needs a pro tool (like SNIP).

I don’t want to go too deep into the details, because in the end it’s not that important (as my second mastermind buddy claimed). Because nothing changes in my path (thank goodness).

Actually, I am quite happy with the outcome. Because – as I described above – nothing changes for me for the time being. Also my way so far was determined by these two avatars, even if I did not know them yet. Because the avatars determined themselves via the support requests and the questions that my customers have asked.

Who do you want to be a hero for?

That was the question that Jeff Walker asked in this video that I’ve found yesterday, when I was thinking about my avatars.

Beware: It’s a bit strange because there is a construction site behind him. But he solves the mystery later in the video. (Watch out for the spectacular view at the end of the video!)

When I thought about who I would like to be a hero for, I immediately remembered a few customers with whom I have had lively discussions. Most of them were online marketers who built really cool structured data. It was the challenge to build killer schemas with SNIP and also the contact with the customers who want to go further than anyone else. In the end, the customers were so happy that they always left an excellent review on CodeCanyon.

Here are three of them:

Flo is just plain out awesome 🙂 …

Patrick_D via CodeCanyon

Or this one:

Dude seriously this plugin is worth three times what I paid for it.

vacuumsrus via CodeCanyon

Or this one is just incredible!

Best supported plugin I’ve used. Flo is a golden god. Snip is also the most-affordable and most-powerful Rich Snippet plugin out there. A near impossibility!

xefned via CodeCanyon

Yes! This are the comments I’m striving for! As you can see, the path is the right one. I love what I do, customers love my product and that’s how it should be.

But my search for avatars was not in vain. I now know that there are plenty of customers who have no idea about structured data. And I know that they often don’t have the technical understanding. For this target group I have to work something out. And I think a really good setup wizard can help. That’s what I’m working on right now…

Asking for help

So. Some of you will definitely still want to know how my email campaign went. I’ll keep it short and sweet: The result was pretty meager! I only got 5 reviews, but I still got a few emails with good hints for a slightly easier-to-use plugin. So I’m quite happy with the outcome.

See you next week!