FanBox Ads = Quick Money?
NO.
Advertising is not supposed to be a way to make a quick or instant profit - and FanBox Ads are no exception.
Ads are supposed to be a way to bring more attention and visitors to your blogs -- and if those visitors enjoy your product - they will fan you or follow your blog and come back again and again - in which case your advertising was a good investment that could generate a lot of profit for you.
If your product isn't that good, your Ads may bring you visitors, but those visitors won't come back again, so it won't be profitable for you. Also, if you product isn't good enough yet, you probably won't make much money even without Ads – so
everything starts with having a good product.
Let me use an example:
Imagine you are running a restaurant. One day you decide to invest $5,000 into advertising to bring attention to your restaurant. May be that week you will make $400 from the people that see your ads and come to your restaurant. If those customers like your food, they will keep coming back again and again.
After that week, if those people come back twice a month, over a year you will earn an additional $9,600 - for a total of $10,000.
So you took $5,000 and turned it into $10,000 in one year. That's a 100% profit, much better than the 3% a bank might pay you.
But wait - it gets better.
Your customers will also tell their friends, and bring their friends back with them to eat at your restaurant. If those friends like your food, they will also tell their friends, and if those people also like your food, they will also tell their friends, and so forth and so on.
All together, in the next year, you might easily make $30,000 -- or more -- all starting with your investment of $5,000 in ads -- which, remember, only earned you $400 in the first week.
So:
1) You need to look at Ads as an investment - that could pay off over the long term - but NOT the short term.
Unfortunately I think that because some people have been very successful with Ads on FanBox in the short-term, it may have created the impression or expectation that this is how it should work -- that if you spend $100 on ads in day 1, that you should make $100 or more that same day.
This unfortunate and wrong expectation on the part of some people has attracted a gold rush of people looking to make money with Ads -- together launching thousands of new Ads each day -- and that is why FanBox Ads are oversubscribed (sold out) each and every day.
You might think that FanBox's management is happy about the massive demand for Ads; but it is not -- because it is worried that many people will be disappointed if or when those inflated expectations do not materialize. After all, the success of FanBox depends on its users and bloggers being happy with its service -- and that their expectations as customers are met over the long term.
2) Before you invest in Ads: It all starts with a good product (your blog posts). If the quality of your product is not yet good enough - people will not come back to it - and you won't earn very much. Would you go back to a restaurant that served you cold rice, bitter fruit or soup that was too salty? Of course not.
So first, get into the kitchen and experiment with some different recipes. Try it on your family and close friends. If your food is yucky and even if it poisons them, they will forgive you. That's what family and friends are for! So invite your friends to check out your blog posts, and keep trying different things on them -- and if they tell you they like it, you're starting to get somewhere.
Getting your product to be good takes some time and practice -- like everything else in life. If you are already making money without advertising - that's a very good sign that people are liking your product and are coming back to it. Which means it may make sense to begin to invest into Ads to promote your blogs and accelerate your success - but ONLY if you take a long-term approach and aren't looking to double your money every day or week -- like people look to do at a gambling casino.
Remember that learning how to create good Ads is also a learned behavior. Your first Ads, just like your first blog post, will not be very good or effective. You will need to try different Ads and point them to different posts, and pay attention to your results, before you can be successful at them.
It's like learning to walk. You need to fall down a good number of times before you learn the art of walking. Does that mean that it's hard to be successful with Ads? No, but you need to be patient and you have to really want to succeed - or you won't keep trying for long enough to succeed.
Let me ask you something: How long would you give your small child before you give up on him trying to walk? You're thinking: "Are you crazy? I would never give up on him until he walks!"
That's the spirit. If you want to be successful at anything, you have to be OK with failing and falling until you succeed. That's why BILLIONS OF PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET CAN WALK - even though, at first glance, it seems like it might seem difficult to balance yourself on two legs AND move forward -- all without falling on your face.
Becoming successful on FanBox is not like gambling or a "get rick quick" scheme. You are building a business and, as such, you need to try different products (blog posts) to see what works and what does not, and try different Ads to see what works and what does not. Through trial and error, over time you will get better and better at figuring out the best way - for you - to create excellent posts that your readers truly enjoy - and Ads that they want to click on.
When they do click on your Ads - they need to arrive at a product (your post) that matches the expectation you set in your Ad and that they will enjoy. If your Ad promises World Cup Scores - and gets a great click rate -- but when users click and land in your post, they get Baseball and Basketball Scores, or World Cup Scores that are not up-to-date, they will leave and never come back. So you need to make sure that you're not fooling yourself with good click-rates that aren't really bringing you happy, "hooked" customers that are liking the overall experience that you're providing - from Ad to blog post.
The very best case situation is where people like your product, and a result they become a fan of you, follow your blogs, and click "like" -- which instantly sends your post to their fans and friends. When that starts happening for you, I am confident that over the long-term, you can create a highly profitable media business that you can be proud of.
If you are looking to make some quick money with your posts or Ads -- FanBox is not the right place for you -- because it simply wasn't built to do that. That's like going to an insurance company and asking for pizza. As much as they might like to accommodate you - it's simply not what they do or are good at. I mean, do you really want overpriced food that you pay for upfront, and then when it comes time to get what you paid for, they look at you like they've never met or seen you before? :)
