More recently, data were published on the volume of the online advertising market in Russia. So, in 2017, a record was broken: small, medium and large businesses left about 75 billion rubles in RuNet to attract customers and promote their own brands. This is a huge amount that is growing from year to year.
The volume of advertising on the Internet exceeds television, radio and print advertising. And this is not at all surprising: the advantages of targeted or contextual advertising in search engines or social networks are obvious. There is no longer any need to pay millions of rubles per second on federal channels: in many niches, a client from the Internet costs thousands of times cheaper. Small and medium-sized business owners understand this and increase their budgets for advertising in the online space.
In this regard, a new profession is literally before our eyes, which has many names: a specialist in contextual advertising, a directologist, a targetologist, an Internet marketer, a specialist in lead generation, etc. The essence remains the same: there is a business that needs customers. There is a specialist who can attract low-cost customers on the Internet. A business pays money to a specialist for his work and makes good money thanks to contextual advertising.
So, how can one become such a specialist and earn big money himself, literally, without leaving home? The answer to this question can be found in this article.
Contextual advertising: from the first client to a successful career
Today, education is developing at a slower rate than the Internet. In this regard, there is a need for specialists who are not preparing universities. A contextual advertising specialist belongs to this category of professions. How to master this profession and become the best? And in this matter the World Wide Web comes to the rescue.
A bit about the features of contextual advertising
Contextual advertising is one of the most effective types of ads; it falls into the field of vision of only an interested audience. For example, you want to buy curtains for yourself. Drive your request into the search engine, and from that moment contextual advertising begins to appear: in the feed among the proposed sites, in Internet resources in the designated areas for advertising, you encounter it, checking your mail, talking with friends on social networks, even watching videos on Youtube Advertising, like a spider, dissolves its network, and the customer pays for clicks. That is why contextual advertising is gaining momentum among owners of large, medium and even small businesses, and therefore the demand for contextual advertising specialists is growing.
You can learn the profession yourself
The profession of contextual advertising specialist can be mastered independently. This profession is very in demand, so the Internet is literally teeming with information on this issue, you should plunge and pull out everything you need. Read books, no matter how trite it sounds, but it is the most reliable source of information.
Pay attention to the work of Brian Todd and Perry Marshall. Be interested in information from official sources - the Yandex and Google platforms. Watch video bloggers that are opinion leaders. Various ratings will help you find them. Read about updates and pay attention to foreign experts in this field.
We pay for training and get the result as soon as possible
Many people ask themselves: “How to become a specialist in contextual advertising if this is not taught at universities?”. Paid courses have their own advantages; in addition to the theoretical base, they also provide practice. You study by fulfilling real orders, thereby simultaneously developing a portfolio. As a result, having completed the courses, it’s easier for you to find work in advertising agencies or to start the path of a freelancer. Among the many trainings for the training of specialists in contextual advertising, one can single out classes at the "Academy of Contextual Advertising" created by Dmitry Mikheev. Their plus is that the training takes place remotely, so you can do it from anywhere in the world. Each student is assigned a curator who checks the implementation of homework and answers all questions during the training. And the most diligent ones are given the opportunity to fulfill the orders of the Academy, which are paid in full.
Training can be completed free of charge without loss of quality of provided knowledge
Among the free online courses, mainly those created by advertising platforms. The following should be noted:
- Courses on working with Yandex.Direct and Metric were provided by the Yandex team.
- Certification exam preparation materials for AdWords and Google Analytics.
- Training programs provided by Facebook Blueprint.
A variety of forums dedicated to this topic can be useful. But remember, you can become a specialist by constantly improving and replenishing the piggy bank of knowledge in this industry.
Necessary skills for mastering the profession
In order to be successful in the field of contextual advertising, you need to master the basic foundations and features of the profession, as well as the advertising market as a whole. It should be understood that the study of competitors is a necessity in this industry, and the use of this knowledge in creating companies for clients is an invaluable tool.
Do not forget about the development of various methods of promotion, this also directly relates to the direct duties of a specialist in contextual advertising, among them: development, creation, maintenance and analysis of advertising companies. It is necessary to master the basics of working with retargeting, networks and Yandex.Metrica, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, optimizing advertising based on ROI, conversions. Professional work at all stages of working with advertising companies on Google Adwords, Yandex.Direct. The presence of these qualities will ensure success in the profession:
- Skills for effective planning of your workflow.
- The ability to process and navigate a large amount of information.
- The ability to analyze the results and use them in future work.
- Perseverance and concentration. Ability to take responsibility.
- An unconventional approach to tasks and solving problems.
- The constant need for new knowledge and skills.
- The ability to work in different areas and profitably serve a variety of services and goods.
Work at home office reality or myth?
Having mastered the theoretical base, you should start to practice. If you do not want to spend a lot of time and a half day on the way to work in traffic jams getting home, then the following information is especially for you. A contextual advertising specialist remotely is not a myth. First you need to build a portfolio, and for this dream of high earnings should be put off a little. Not a single owner of a large or medium-sized business will pay you colossal amounts without making sure of your competence, and for this you need a portfolio. If you have friends who own a business, invite them to create a campaign at symbolic value or completely free. If there are none, go in search of the first customer on the street of your city and offer your services to local business.
A contextual advertising specialist with no experience can find work on freelance exchanges. You need to fill out your portfolio and make the price lower than the market or offer your services for free, you can also offer the client what he would pay only if your work is successful and the campaign brings profit to the customer. The main thing is not to be afraid and be confident in your abilities.
For a contextual advertising specialist, reviews are one of the important aspects, so feel free to ask your customers to leave feedback on your work. In the future, this will help you attract more customers.
Creating a portfolio for a contextual advertising specialist
A potential employer or customer should clearly see how many successful campaigns you have created and what profit you have brought to your customer. The content specialist’s resume should contain a portfolio of the created ads. These can be screenshots made with advertising campaign analytics. It is necessary to place certificates, indicate work experience (for how long you have been working in this area), the positions you held and which companies you collaborated with, the cost of your services, post links to reviews from your customers, or insert screenshots with them. This will be your advantage.
The pros and cons of the profession
Among the positive aspects of the profession, it should be noted:
- The contextual advertising market is constantly growing. Now and in the near future you will be provided with work.
- The ability to work remotely and independently make your own schedule.
- If you wish, you can become an employee of global companies.
- Professions can be studied independently without expensive courses and long-term studies at universities.
- The opportunity to earn a lot and go on a trip.
Cons in the work of a specialist in contextual advertising:
- When working in large world companies, you will be required to constantly certify (passing specialized tests).
- Great responsibility to customers.
- It is necessary to constantly update your knowledge, a new profession and is developing at an enormous speed.
Career growth and tops
A contextual advertising specialist is a profession that requires special attention to each order. It is the good performance of previous advertising campaigns that will ensure you future success in the form of an influx of new customers. The development and creation of advertisements is the main task of a contextual advertising specialist, but campaigning will allow you to move freely and become the main means of earning. Depending on your experience and professionalism, the number of advertising campaigns that you do at the same time, earnings can vary from 30 thousand. rub. up to 150 thousand rubles. The peaks in the region we are considering have not yet been established, or rather, they are not. You can earn as much as you want, each with its own goals. It is only necessary to plan the working day and rest.
Varieties of contextual advertising
There are two types of contextual advertising: ads in search feeds and on sites.
- Search advertising appears directly when you are looking for the product you need.
- Thematic appears as additional advertising on sites. These are ads that match user interests.
At the moment, there are two main platforms on which contextual advertising is placed: Yandex.Direct - designed for a Russian-speaking audience and Google Adwords - coverage of this platform, in addition to a similar target audience, works with English. The cost of advertising on these platforms is practically the same: the minimum order is between 300-400 rubles. One click on the first platform costs from 30 rubles, on the second - from $ 0.01.