Articles
Digital marketing and paid ads, in the language of profit
Practical articles on digital marketing, media buying and running campaigns on Meta, Google and TikTok, built on real accounts in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. If you are looking for someone to run your ads, start with the freelance media buyer page.
- Media buyerWhat is a media buyer? The real job, and how to hire oneA media buyer is not the person who "runs the ads". They are responsible for turning an ad budget into a measurable business result. That difference alone decides whether your ads are an investment or an expense.
- Digital marketingWhat is digital marketing? A practical guide for business ownersDigital marketing is not "a Facebook page and a few posts". It is a system that gets your product to the right customer through digital channels, and measures every step in numbers.
- Paid ads specialistHow to choose a paid ads specialist: 12 questions to ask before you payMost business owners pick an ads specialist from a portfolio and a price. The problem is that screenshots say nothing about how someone thinks. These questions do.
- Freelance digital marketerFreelance digital marketer or marketing agency? An honest comparisonThere is no option that is always better. There is the option that fits your stage and your real need, and this comparison helps you see which.
- Performance marketingWhat is performance marketing, and why it differs from "running ads"In performance marketing an ad is not judged by how it looks or how far it spreads, but by one question: how many customers came, and at what cost?
- Digital marketing planA digital marketing plan for a new business: from zero to the first customersMost marketing plans are long documents nobody reads. A useful plan answers five questions and turns into weekly decisions.
- Facebook adsFacebook and Instagram ads: how to start the right wayThe "Boost post" button is the easiest way to spend money on Facebook, and the worst way to make it. This guide explains the start that gives a campaign a real chance.
- Google AdsGoogle Ads: when to use Search and when to use Performance MaxGoogle catches people at the moment of search, when they already want something. That is its biggest strength, and its biggest risk is paying for searches that have nothing to do with what you sell.
- TikTok adsTikTok ads for stores and businesses: how to win without a huge budgetOn TikTok, an ad that looks like an ad gets skipped. The ads that work look like the content people came to watch.
- Ad metricsAd metrics glossary: CPM, CTR, CPA, ROAS, CAC and LTV in plain languageThe ads dashboard is full of acronyms. Some tell you whether you are making money; most tell you what happened along the way. This glossary separates the two.
- Break-even ROASHow to calculate break-even ROAS and know whether your ads make moneyA 3x ROAS can be excellent profit in one business and a net loss in another. The number means nothing until you know your own break-even point.
- Ad budgetHow much should I spend on paid ads at the start? How to calculate the budget"How much should I spend?" has no answer without another question: how much can you pay for one customer and still make money? That is where the budget starts.
- Sales funnelThe sales funnel: how a stranger becomes a customer, and where you lose most of themMost people do not buy the first time they see you. The sales funnel is how you understand their journey and see where they stop, and why.
- Landing pageThe landing page that sells: why good ads fail because of a weak pageThe ad makes a promise, and the page keeps it or breaks it. Many owners change their ads over and over while the problem is the page people land on.
- RetargetingRetargeting: how to bring back visitors who did not buy, without annoying themMost people who visit your site will not buy on the first visit. Retargeting reminds them of you, but it is also the campaign most likely to take credit for sales that would have happened anyway.
- A/B testing adsA/B testing your ads: how to test what actually mattersMost ad "tests" are not tests. They are random changes followed by a hasty verdict. A real test starts with a question and ends with a decision.
- GA4Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for business owners: what to measure and what to ignoreGA4 can measure almost everything, which is why most business owners drown in it. You need it to answer five questions only.
- Conversions APIMeta Pixel and the Conversions API: why your ads are not learning, and how to fix trackingThe algorithm does not see your customers. It sees the signals you send it. If those signals are missing, duplicated or wrong, you are training it on the wrong goal.
- Cash-on-delivery returnsHow to reduce cash-on-delivery returns through your adsIn cash on delivery, the cheap order that is never delivered is the most expensive order in your account. Most stores fight returns in the warehouse, while much of the problem starts in the ad itself.
- Qualified leadsCheap leads are costing you: how to get qualified leads from adsMarketing celebrates cheap leads, and sales complains that nine calls in ten are wasted. Both are partly right, and both read the problem wrong.
- App install campaignsMobile app install campaigns: why cost per install is the wrong metricAn install is not a result, it is a cost. The result is the user who opened an account and actually used the service. Measure campaigns on installs and they bring you people who install and delete.
- High-ticket advertisingAdvertising high-ticket products: why a discount can kill your salesWith high-ticket products you are not selling a product, you are selling safety. A discount here does not tempt the buyer, it worries them.