Walking the Edge of Reality

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Walking the Edge of Reality

A look behind the curtain to my world...

Learning Experience
Thursday, June 05, 2008 1:55 AM

You know, I have to admit something... When I set out to create a game, THIS is not exactly what I had in mind. But hey, you take what you can get.

I've actually been learning a considerable amount through my own antics. Learning what works, what doesn't. Some people think I'm crazy because of the apparent fortune I'm spending on all this; it's not all that much, and that which I do spend I consider a capital investment in to Research and Development for Darklight Interactive. I wonder if I can make it a tax write off?

And, to answer the question everyone's wondering: it cost, so far, seven dollars and twenty-three cents.

Google AdWords is not what it use to be. Before you can drop a ton of words, set your daily budget and hope that people see it. Spending as little as five or ten bucks a day might get your ads seen by a few people, and if the ad is captivating enough they might click on it. For such a small expense, "return on investment" was actually feasible.

Well, not anymore... Now, when you create your keyword list, it'll run for a little while before Google decides "hey, even though you're spending ten cents a click this ad isn't doing well... Wanna know how it'll do well? Spend TEN DOLLARS a click!" Sorry... what?

So a keyword that literally has NO competition in the "Sponsored Links" section is suddenly worth between five and ten dollars, even though you have no advertising above or below it, are guaranteed "position 1" ranking and do not have anybody bidding against you. I had ten keywords chosen; at one point NINE out of the ten rocketed up to five or ten bucks a click. If I hadn't set a daily cap of $10 I'd be bankrupt. When it was discovered a single click and my daily budget was instantly consumed, ensuring that my ad was seen and clicked on by only one person. Guess I got lucky.

So now, in order to be even remotely effective in your advertising, you have to be willing to spend hundreds of dollars a day. According to the Google "optimizer", my campaign would have cost "...between $640 and $960 a day...". I could buy a full page spread in the Miami Herald for what I would spend in a few weeks!

And I'm sure there's some complex mathematical formula to calculate how all this works, but I'm guessing that formula is kept secret, buried deep in the ultra-secure subterranean vault underneath Mountain View, California.

I considered using this for Darklight and Brain Clouds; there's no way I can possibly afford it using this approach. Guess I'll just continue to do it the old fashioned way.

*EDIT*
On an unrelated note... Why is it that one of the first things that is *always* recommended when someone receives or acquires an "in game" item is to run it across a black light? Is writing stuff in photosensitve ink like that really that common? I can only think of one ARG that's done that; maybe I'm missing something.

Posted by David "Nighthawk" Flor on Thursday, June 05, 2008 1:55 AM

4 comments [ View Comments ]

Posted by pancito on Thursday, June 05, 2008 6:21 AM

I'm gonna set ip a PayPal account so I can buy a blacklight...

Posted by Azure on Thursday, June 05, 2008 9:31 AM

The other problem with using AdWords for something like this, is (and i'm guessing here) that probably around half of the players have some sort of adblock and don't even see the ads.

Posted by Illy on Thursday, June 05, 2008 11:35 AM

Actually, I really only recommend blacklights it because it's cool.

Not that I've ever recommended running a package under a blacklight...

Posted by lostgunslinger2 on Friday, June 06, 2008 5:43 PM

because how cool would it be to find a hidden message on a seemingly blank object... i mean just like that guy who though there was a treasure map on the back of that historical document... (although he didn't use a blacklight, but i would have.)

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