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Marketing an intentionally bad product / idea?

by Googs
10 replies
Hello everyone. I'm trying to do something a little different. I've created a website for a product that doesn't make much sense or have much use. The description of the product and it's uses is humorous. I'm not actually trying to sell the product itself, I mean you can buy it on the site. I'm trying to get people to view the website in hopes to eventually monetize it with advertising. The website is created and I'm currently in the process of finishing up a advertisement for the product that will go on youtube.

I've also created a blog that tracks these bad ideas and reports on revenue taken in from these sites. I'm focusing on trying to drive traffic to the blog, which should in turn drive traffic to the "bad product" sites. I'm running into issues trying to drive traffic. Does anyone have an good ideas on driving traffic to such a site?

I would include the names of the websites but I don't want to be viewed as a spammer since this is my first post.

Thank you,
Tom
#bad #idea #intentionally #marketing #product
  • Profile picture of the author Self Made
    Well what kind of website are you trying to promote? Are you also building a list so when people do visit your website they might have the option to opt-in so that gives you the ability to contact them and possibly have them as life time members. I'm releasing a free report in the war room giving out several ways of driving traffic to websites!
    Good way is to blog post, create backlinks, video marketing is hot as well. If you look over this forum there are 1000s of ways
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    • Profile picture of the author Googs
      The problem I'm running into is the type of website(s) I'm trying to promote. The first one is the blog about the bad ideas I'm trying to create revenue from, but I'm not having much luck finding other blogs or forums to join to attempt to drive traffic.

      I'd like to build a list but no one has subscribed yet. I'm not really sure how to get the word out there on my website.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve B
        Googs,

        To be perfectly honest, I don't think your strategy is going to work. Do you really want to sell, or even be remotely associated with a bad product or idea? I know this is your way of being "creative" and developing interest but from my perspective at least, I think you're going to regret where this leads you. I'm not surprised at all that you're having trouble getting traffic or interest.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author Googs
          The product does what it's supposed to. The angle I'm taking is to market the product humorously. I don't actually want to sell the product, it's ridiculously over priced for what it is. I'm trying to get traffic to the page to make them laugh.

          The intention of the blog I've created is to interest people to see how much revenue can be made off of the website created for this bad product / idea.
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          • Profile picture of the author Steve B
            Understood.

            But think about it . . . how many people are going to be looking for, searching on, and doing research in an attempt to find your product? Few, if any.

            If, as you say, the product is "ridiculously over priced for what it is," do you think people that buy it are going to be happy with their purchase? I doubt that I would. And I would make sure I never made a purchase from you again.

            It sounds to me like you want to spend your time and effort on a product that will never make more than a very few sales. If that's what you're after . . . . fine, have fun with this . . . but don't expect it to pay your bills.

            This says it all: "I'm trying to get traffic to the page to make them laugh." That is not the purpose of a money making business.

            Good luck,

            Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author rwyp
    This remind me of Potato Salad guy on Kickstarter. His intention, besides making potato salad, was to be funny. Now look who is laughing all the way to the bank.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by rwyp View Post

      This remind me of Potato Salad guy on Kickstarter.
      That was more or less an accident, though: he didn't specifically set out (like Tom, above) to be "laughing all the way to the bank". These things are intrinsically very random.

      If some people with 6-figure-numbers of followers on Twitter find it amusing enough, I suppose it could draw a lot of traffic very suddenly, but the monetization-model proposed is rather a limited one, even for that?

      Selling the product, now, that can be a different proposition altogether: the "pet rock" people did alright (but again, that was over 40 years ago, when there was perhaps far more novelty value to that kind of idea?).

      .
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  • Profile picture of the author BizOnTheWeb
    It sounds like you're looking for this to go viral. Great idea. What is your plan after this product gets its buzz and then kind of dies out? What then? I think you need to consider this as well. You can be very successful, but what's the end game?

    I ask because your strategy for gaining one-time visitors is going to be very different than if you're trying to become something like the next Funny or Die.
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    • Profile picture of the author Googs
      Originally Posted by BizOnTheWeb View Post

      It sounds like you're looking for this to go viral. Great idea. What is your plan after this product gets its buzz and then kind of dies out? What then? I think you need to consider this as well. You can be very successful, but what's the end game?

      I ask because your strategy for gaining one-time visitors is going to be very different than if you're trying to become something like the next Funny or Die.
      I have another blog I started as well which is a more traditional blog on do it yourself projects on a budget. This blog is from my experience buying my home (a foreclosure) and renovating it with creative ideas.

      In regards to the bad idea, I have a blog that will be documenting the successes and failures of these "bad ideas". So while I've only got my first bad idea out right now, my plan is to continue creating them.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheFranchiseMarketer
    Banned
    Well, being that these are so-called "bad sites" and you simply want to drive traffic to them then your best bet would be to get super cheap traffic from PopAds - Home You can get massive amounts of junk traffic from these guys for as little as $0.001 per click or even lower if I'm not mistaken.
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