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Facebook Promoted Posts Vs. Stumbleupon Paid Ads Vs. YouTube Promoted Videos

I have been experimenting with different forms of paid advertising with the major players in social media. I have just been paying small $5-10 campaigns for my different blog posts and YouTube videos. I am not buying traffic, sending it to a landing page and hoping it converts.

My goal is to get some momentum for my blog. Momentum is a big deal. Everybody loves a winner. The numbers rule. The more social media followers, YouTube subscribers and view, hits to your blog you have the more traffic you will get. “To him who has even more will be given.” It seems like some law of the universe. People like to pile on.

Honestly if you look at the writing on some of the top blogs (not all) it is not really that interesting. However, they are fantastic and being relentless and posting thousands of ok posts trump a couple of really good ones.

Try looking on page 10 of Google search for your searches. Often you will find more interesting posts on the last 10 pages of your search query.

Traffic is a Huge and Underestimated Factor in SEO

Just look at the search results for any search. The pages that come up first are generally high traffic authority sites. They are not usually the best sites. Try a local search and you will probably find Yellowpages listings right on top. Yellowpages is a terrible site. There is nothing original there. It just consists of lists of businesses.

If I am looking for a chiropractor in Dallas I prefer to see Chiropractor sites not a generic Yellowpages listing. However, Google ranks Yellowpages above quality sites in many cases because the “authority site” just has so much traffic.

Google Will Often Rank Inferior Authority Sites Over High Quality Lower Trafficked Sites

So my goal with paid ads is to kickstart some authority for my blog not to make direct sales. Those will come later.

So far my number 1 pick for direct traffic is Stumbleupon. The main reason is that Stumbleupon sends traffic directly to my website. This is huge! I want real eyeballs visiting my blog. Again, I am not looking for sales right now. I want people seeing my blog posts.

Stumbleupon is Number 1 For Getting Direct Traffic to My Blog Posts

Stumbleupon puts my entire blog post directly in front of eyeballs of human beings. I can also target towards age and interests which is always better.

Also, I am not just getting any traffic. I am getting traffic from a major player in social media. This can only help my search rankings.

With Stumbleupon I am Getting Traffic From a Major Social Media Player Which Cannot Hurt My Rankings

Because of the format of my blog once I get an eyeball one one post they also can see other related posts and latest posts. There is a strong possibility that the viewers could bounce around and view my other posts. I have advertised about 5 posts so far and I have noticed that I am getting more traffic to non promoted posts as well.

I am also increasing the number of posts that are being found in the search engines. You see the more traffic I have from authority sources the more authority my posts have and some of my posts with less competitive keywords are ranking at the top of Google search. Yeah! Go ahead and Google”dailymotion rss feed.” I am number 1. Granted this is not a very competitive search term but if you have enough blog posts ranking for lower competitive terms the traffic starts to add up.

And traffic from this social media powerhouse is starting to get my posts noticed in search.

Another positive point about Stumbleupon ads is that it is very easy to set up campaigns. It just takes a few minutes. They pretty much accept all my blog posts. I also can just do small campaigns for each blog post. I am not looking for any home runs here. I want to gradually and naturally increase traffic to my blog.

It is Very Easy to Set Up Small Campaigns Quickly on Stumbleupon

Gradually and naturally are key here. The pace at which we add content and traffic is a factor in getting your blog posts ranked in Google. It is better to have a slow steady build up than to just have a few spikes in traffic. When you think about the term “Momentum” it usually implies a slow build up.

The Pace at Which You Ad and Promote Content is Another Huge Factor in Getting Your Posts Ranked in Search

I know this is exactly what most people do not want to hear. Everybody loves “Make money now do nothing.” How about make money slowly doing a little bit each day relentlessly and make massive passive income within one year from your own money making machine?”

The later is more my mentality.

YouTube promoted videos is my second choice of paid promotion from the big boys in social media. It is similar to Stumbleupon in that you can do many small campaigns. You can just choose a budget of $5. for one video or choose to budget $2. per day per video for as long as you wish.

The Disadvantage of YouTube Paid Promotion is That The Traffic Does Not Go Directly To Your Website

The disadvantage of YouTube paid promotion is that the traffic does not go directly to your website. However, you can put calls to action in annotations and if you become a YouTube partner and get your site verified you can put links directly to your blog posts on your verified site in annotations on your YouTube videos.

Advantage Number 1 of YouTube Paid Promotions is That You Are Building Up Your YouTube Channel

The huge advantage of YouTube paid promotions is that you are building up your YouTube channel. I have almost doubled my subscribers within a month and I have been pretty chincey with my campaigns. Also YouTube videos get ranked like crazy in Google and the more views that you have for your videos usually the higher you rank. Of course there are other factors but you can encourage viewers of your video to comment and interact in the annotations.

Advantage Number 2 YouTube Paid Promotions YouTube Videos Get Ranked Quickly In Search.

You can also put links to your websites in the descriptions of your videos. People click on these links. I have gotten quite a bit of traffic from YouTube so I know this works.

Advantage Number 3 YouTube Paid Promotions is That Videos Are Permanent and Keeping Getting Views Even After The Paid Promotion is Over

With YouTube paid promotions you may not be getting traffic directly to your website but the videos stay up forever, they get ranked in search very quickly and you can put all sorts of calls to action in your videos by annotations as well as by just putting links into your video descriptions.

You are also building up a channel which itself will have authority and more subscribers. If you have a channel with 10,000 targeted subscribers your videos and website will naturally get more traffic.

The permanent nature of the videos is even an advantage over Stumbleupon. You are building up a permanent source of evergreen traffic with YouTube videos not to mention you have a very dynamic medium to communicate your message.

I Put Facebook Promoted Posts In Last Place But There is Still Some Value

In last place I am going to put Facebook promoted posts. I find Facebook very frustrating. You can have a zillion friends or followers on your page yet very few of them will ever see your posts. This is because you need to have a high “Edge Rank” to get your posts viewed by YOUR followers.

This means you have to have lots of interaction on your fanpage. Neil Patel, SEO marketing guru extraordinaire (his blog is fantastic) knows this and puts cute photos of inspirational sayings on his Fanpage. Why? Because he knows people will interact more with cheesy sayings than in depth articles on long tail keywords and seo algorithims.

So in order to get edgerank you have to deviate from your topic and provocative content on your page. However, if you pay Facebook they will let your fans see your post! All you have to do is pay them and you can break their rules!

You Can Do Small Campaigns with Facebook Like Stumbleupon And YouTube Promoted Videos

You can do small campaigns with Facebook promoted posts which is nice for blog posts. It works. I am getting way more people seeing the post on Facebook and I am getting more likes which helps rank my posts but only a small minority click through to the actual post.

Facebook Promoted Posts Works. I Am Getting More Likes and Interaction on My Facebook Page

So Facebook promoted posts works to get more likes to your posts, it makes your Facebook page look more active which I guess counts for something and it will get you a few more visitors to your posts.

Only a Small Portion of Viewers Of Your Facebook Post Will Click Through to Your Website

There is little chance of your posts getting indexed very well in search for your keywords. Nothing like YouTube. You also do not get the direct traffic for Stumbleupon.

Facebook Promoted Posts Makes Your Facebook Page Look More Active Which in Turn Can Attract More Interaction and Help Boost Non Promoted Posts.

However, a few more likes from Facebook for your posts can help somewhat to get your posts ranked. Also the increased views to your posts on Facebook could increase your Edgerank which could help your posts which are not promoted.

I would be interested in hearing from anybody who has used any of the paid promotion services. If you have used others that I have not mentioned let me know as well about your experiences.

Please like and share this post. Thank you!

Here are some related articles that you might find interesting:

How To Use Paid Discovery On StumbleUpon To Kickstart Social Campaigns

4 Ways to Increase Your Traffic With Stumbleupon

YouTube Promoted Videos 2.0 – A Look Into YouTube’s Promoted Video Ads Program