Why I Advertise on Hillbuzz (And Why You Should, Too)
Some advertising decisions are easy. If you want to sell beer, buying advertising during a football game or other sporting event is a good idea. You should advertise where your clientele are likely to see your product or service.
I write mystery and thriller novels
But where can I go to find the sorts of folks that would read my novels? My stories are eclectic, with similarities to Kinky Friedman and Tom Dorsey novels. My novels are just as whacky as theirs, maybe even more so.
I had started reading HillBuzz.org when the (“Party Unity My Ass”) PUMA 2008 web site went bust. At HillBuzz.org, Kevin’s wit and wisdom were delivered with such panache and stinging satire that I was hooked.
I corresponded with Kevin DuJan and Kathleen Gee about a few ideas for HillBuzz topics, and they asked me to write the blog posts myself. I’m now a contributor with a few HB bylines.
While doing my HB bio blurb, Kathleen saw that I was an author, and asked if had considered advertising on HillBuzz.org.
I hadn’t thought about it before, but I certainly started thinking about it then.
The plots of my novels are always about defending right from wrong. Core American values run strong through my prose. While they are not completely conservative, they certainly are not liberal; they address controversial topics in the context of crime story fiction.
It occurred to me that HillBuzz.org is a perfect place to advertise. There are a lot of “my kind of people” here. From the HB advertising page:
“According to data compiled by Quantcast, Hillbuzz.org’s readers are:
Highly educated: 81% are college graduates, 34% have advanced degrees.
Affluent: 78% of Hillbuzz.org readers earn over $60K per year; 49% earn over $100K.
Mature: 79% of Hillbuzz.org readers are age 35+; 38% are 50+.
So, HillBuzz’s target audience is much the same as my target audience.
“Hillbuzz.org consistently attracts at least 10,000 site visits a day, from approximately 6,000 unique visitors. In 2010, site traffic averaged over 602,000 visits per month. Traffic has risen to over 100,000 visits per day when Hillbuzz is featured on The Rush Limbaugh Show, or leading conservative blogs such as MichelleMalkin.com or AnnCoulter.com.”
When my advertising was running on HillBuzz and HB was mentioned on Limbaugh or another site, I had a spike in sales, prolly from the new visitor traffic to the HB site.
But it gets even better! I want my novels to take off nation-wide. Again, HB is a perfect place to advertise.
“In terms of unique visitors, the top 10 identifiable U.S. States are:
- California
- Texas
- Florida
- Illinois
- New York
- Arizona
- Pennsylvania
- Ohio
- Virginia
- Georgia
But who are these HillBuzz.org readers, anyhow?
“Hillbuzz.org readers are highly opinionated and are passionate about the site. In the two years since Hillbuzz.org moved from Blogger to WordPress, readers have made over 300,000 comments. During campaign season, it’s not uncommon for daily Open Threads to attract over 300 approved comments.”
Wow! Passionate readers! My kind of folks!
But will HillBuzz last? Oh wow, and how!
“Founder and editor Kevin DuJan typically posts seven to 15 times a week. He is joined by several guest bloggers who contribute approximately 10 additional posts per week. In the two years since the site moved to the WordPress platform, Kevin and the “Hillbuzz Boyz” (most of whom are actually Girlz) have written over 8,000 posts, as of October, 2011.”
That is why I advertise on HillBuzz.org. My sales from advertising on HB have given me the best return on my advertising dollar compared to other venues I’ve tried. One of my publishers was surprised that my paperback sales exceeded my e-book sales for the quarter I started using HB advertising services. The Hillbuzz advertising folks (aka Michelle) was great at helping me create a new and better (animated) advertising GIF. I can’t thank her enough!
One final reason I advertise: I know how much time it takes Kevin and Kathleen to run Hillbuzz. It’s not unusual for each of them to spend 6 to 8 hours a day writing for and maintaining the site, on top of trying to work a full-time job. Other contributors like Bridget, Justin, Penny, Tamminator, and myself, can easily spend an hour or two writing and researching each post.
Hillbuzz is an important part of my day, and I want to make sure that the people who run it don’t run themselves into the ground to entertain and inform me. I want to pay them for their time, because I know that they lose money running Hillbuzz.org when they could be doing other, more profitable things.
That’s why I will, as often as I can afford it, run ads on HillBuzz.org. (I have a long way to go before this unknown author becomes a best selling author.)
If you have a business, a product, a candidate, or a cause you want to share with over 6,000 rabidly enthusiastic Conservative, Republican, Libertarian and Tea Party readers, I hope you will also buy an ad on Hillbuzz.org.
Blessings on your path,
Newton Love
Author of:
How the Strong Survive
No Accounting for Taste: A Nick Schaevers Mystery
Odd and Odder: A Collection of Sensuality, Satire and Suspense
[Editor's Note: This post was originally published under the wrong byline. The correct author is Newt Love.]
© 2011, NewtLove. All rights reserved.
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I look forward to your comments. Please follow these simple guidelines:
- Please do not complain about your comment not yet showing up
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Newt: I just added one of your books to my cart at Amazon. Look forward to reading "How the Strong Survive".
Thanks for your support of this site!
Tamminator! I'm one of your biggest fans! Do you write anywhere else besides HillBuzz?
Thank you for buying a copy of HTSS. When we meet, I will gladly sign it for you!
HTSS is the most political of my books that are out. It's tough on the Dems, but the Reps get kicked for their own hypocrisy toward the end.
There is a lot of American Indian mysticism in it. I hope you like it!
Blessings on your path,
Newt
While I don't have cash in the budget to buy advertising (or a product to advertise) I do try to support by sending a new reader here almost every day.
If I can help increase the traffic and name recognition of such a fantastic, insightful, and witty site, I hope that might help make a better case for why an advertiser should choose to market a product here.
And don't worry, I'll only try to send those who are college educated and making over $60k per year! I wouldn't want to bring down your averages!
Now for the age thing, I think I'm already dragging your numbers down, but right now my generation is being represented in the public by the OWS crowd, and it's truly embarrassing! So all you 35 and older crowd, don't write all of us young folk off just yet! There's still a few of us still willing to work for a living.
IbanezSix, you are a gem!
Don't think that HillBuzz is a snob site.
Demographics are the core of advertizing, but not the core of reality.
My wife did not go to college, but I know that she is smarter than me, a (day job) research scientist. HillBuzz cares about the reality, but it should be okay if they market their site as a place to catch people with "disposable income" that may go to products advertised there.
Peace and love,
Newt