So, as you SHOULD know, Nomad Tofu started updating again today! I decided I wanted to run an ad or two on a few different sites to see if anything would come of it.  So far, nothing has, but you never know…

Anyway, I thought it’d be interesting to talk about the current ad I’m using for this test run, and why.

Basically, I’m trying to avoid everything I hate about webcomic ads.  Namely:

1.) Ads whose art is nowhere near what the actual strip looks like
2.) Ads with dumb taglines (which was fine, since I haven’t gotten around to giving Nomad Tofu one*)
3.) Ads that lie about content and often feature cartoon girls with big jugs
4.) Ads which reek of an amateur odor.

To curb these qualms of mine, I tried to do the following:

1.) Use UNALTERED art FROM the strip – (I’ve discovered as well that, really, a black and white image is pretty great.  If it’s against a predominately colored website it stands out like a sore thumb, and if not, it winds up matching the site’s minimalist design.  Win win!)
2.) Use an image that more or less depicts the situations these characters often find themselves in, while at the same time having a close enough look to see what they look like.  Personally, from a story-telling angle, I like that the focus plays on Herb and not Pub (our actual main character), which is one of the big concepts behind Nomad Tofu.
3.) A simple title, without all the bells and whistles.  If you have an interesting image, the less someone knows about the strip the better.  That way, in theory, it peaks their interest and they click to see what the deal is.  I could have actually cut out the Nomad Tofu logo and added the title text when you hover over the image, but in this case I felt like the name added a bit of, well, allure, I guess (I’m proud of that title, dang nab it!)

The other big key to advertising, or so I’m guessing, is WHERE the ad goes (in relation to both the website’s content, as well as the actual positioning of said ad).  In Nomad Tofu’s case, I tried finding web-comics that have a goofy fantasy adventure vibe, such as Legend of Bill. Of course, I wound up sticking a few on random sites that I like too, as well as a few which were as close to the site’s main content as they could be (in this case, the actual comic)… and, well, more or less just hoped for the best.

At this stage, any eyes are good eyes

*In the beginning, back when the strip was called PUB and not NOMAD TOFU, the official title with tag-line was, ‘PUB::A Nomadic Disaster.’  Since the name change, I never got around to working out another one...