So, how effective are Offbeat ads? Well, here's a peek at one week of our ad stats:
But we think numbers only tell a little bit of the story. A much better way to judge how well Offbeat ads work is to hear it directly from our advertisers:
"Offbeat Bride is the best advertising decision we've ever made. Seriously. We made 4 times the amount we paid for the advertorial in one day. We have booked 20 weddings (I'm not kidding, 20 weddings) in the last 3 weeks. It's crazy.
Thanks to our Offbeat Bride ad, we went from a fledgling start-up to a successful business in less than a month. That would be awesome just about anywhere, but in New York City — it's incredible.
I think the best thing (besides the huge boost to the business) about advertising on Offbeat Bride are the type of brides that contact us. They're the coolest, most unique, funny, strange, and all-around awesome brides we've ever had the chance to meet.
I'm going to continue advertising with Offbeat Bride for as long as I have the business. Again, this has been the BEST advertising choice EVER!!!" -Photo Pink NYC
"Our Offbeat Bride advertorial got us more traffic than any other promotion we have tried yet! Not only the thousands of hits from offbeatbride.com, but hundreds more from Offbeat Bride's social media presence on facebook, twitter, stumbleupon, and the many other blogs that look to offbeatbride.com for ideas. Our average hits were around 200 a day — now we are closer to 1500+ a day." -Fabuluster fingerprint rings
The first day our advertorial appeared on OffBeat Bride, hits to our website increased ten-fold and even now, almost 7 months later, the average number of visitors to our site is far higher than it was before we placed the ad. For the price, it is possibly the best return on our investment that we could have hoped for.
Ariel did a fantastic job creating an advertorial that captured the young, modern and carefree essence behind The Cotton Bride and her website draws an enthusiastic and loyal audience that actually seems to read whats written!
Compared to other bridal advertising opportunities, Offbeat Bride is by far one of the most effective, affordable ones out there. -The Cotton Bride
"I was a little skeptical when I read the testimonial from the hat maker who said her offbeat ad paid for itself right away. I believed her; I just wasn't sure it would apply to the more expensive photography services I offer. But I was wrong! Hot damn, my advertorial paid for itself in less than 36 hours." — Angie Gaul, Milestone Images
"I can't say enough good things about Offbeat Bride. They're affordable, your advertorial post is guaranteed to remain up on the site, and Ariel does most of the work for you (optimizing keywords, writing copy, etc).
My average site hits have increased 500% since my offbeat advertorial, and I booked two clients in the first week. One of the best things about advertising with Offbeat Bride is that the reader is exactly the kind of client I want; creative, fun and not afraid to take risks." — Jenny Jimenez, photojj.com
"Advertising with offbeatbride.com was well worth the money — I've booked two weddings from offbeat brides in the month since my advertorial. Offbeat Bride has gotten me the best response out of all my advertising. " — Michelle, Layer Cake Films
"Buying an advertorial on Offbeat Bride was a huge business risk for me. I spent all of our rent money on it — but almost immediately, I was inundated with orders and I had my first profitable month. I STILL get brides contacting me, saying they found me through Offbeat Bride — and my advertorial was almost a year ago! Now my business supports both my husband and I, and I know I couldn't have gotten to this point without Ariel and the support of her readers." -Felted bouquet artisan
"The response to my advertorial has been awesome. Since I had such a great experience, I decided to see if there were other popular blogs that fit my products where I could do something similar. Unfortunately my experience has not been as good. The blog owners lack visitor stats, are asking outrageous prices for little in return, or don't even respond to inquiries. I will not be supporting these other blogs (I will let the big corps with money to waste do that), but I WILL be advertising with Offbeat Bride again." —Autumn Wyda, Modern Girl Invitatons
Offbeat case study
Lara Swanson is a wedding photographer from Washington DC — and a repeat advertorial client on offbeatbride.com. Like many indie business folk, Lara loves her web stats, she agreed to share some of her numbers with me, quantifying her experience advertising on offbeatbride.com. Feel free to contact Lara to ask her about her experience!
Lara says: "My traffic from Offbeat Bride is more than all other targeted ads combined."
SEARCH ENGINES
- "In the month after my first ad, traffic from search engines doubled. I've gone from 7% of my site traffic from SE in October 2007 to 24% in April 2008."
- "Offbeat Bride has sent me more visitors than search engines, which currently account for 23% of my total site traffic."
VISITORS
Traffic from Offbeat Bride since Lara's October 2007 ad:
- Six months after her ad, nearly 20% of referred site visitors still came from Offbeat Bride.
- Visitors coming from offbeatbride.com view 30% more pages than other visitors to Lara's site
- Visitors coming from offbeatbride.com spend 13% more time on the site
- Visitors coming from offbeatbride.com bounce 58% lower than the site average
QUALITY OF LEADS
- "Of leads from Offbeat Bride, I booked 80%."
- "At least two of my clients (non-Offbeat Bride leads) have become daily readers of OffbeatBride.com. I couldn't ask for a better fit for my audience."
