One Month In - 2 Domains, 15 Offers, Negative Profits - The Standard Newbie Thread

O

omnicit

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Sep 19, 2009
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WickedFire was right about one thing - just start doing stuff and you'll learn far more about AM than by reading. Just the practice has been good for my understanding of PPC, lander creation, and how bad I am at thinking like a fat girl. I've tried making money on:

  • Rock Band email sub
  • MacBook email sub
  • NoNo Hair Removal
  • CelluRez
  • Acai Burn
  • TriSlim
  • 8 Free Magazine email subs
  • Halloween Costumes
So far I've actually netted a profit on TriSlim - $2.55 - and lost on the rest. I'm running into a few problems that I'm not sure I can solve efficiently on my own.

MSN disapproved my ads for CelluRez because my lander is a typical testimonial blog entry in story format, just like every single Acai/ColonCleanse lander out there except for cellulite cream instead. I already know Google is out of the question because of QS, etc... Are you guys advertising those kinds of landers on MSN/Google type sites, and how are you getting past the censors? My CelluRez site is viewable here.

Speaking of my landers, I'm generally creating only 1 per offer, with no rotation or testing. Why? Because I just don't get enough traffic to even draw conclusions on which ads are better, let alone landers. My CTR is dismal and impressions are hard to come by. Is it just a matter of upping the bid? How much does position really matter on a PPC ad? Is there a position range where the marginal benefits of bidding more begin to wane?

I feel like I'm doing something wrong on Facebook. I've pushed some email subs on there, and I'm beginning to think they are just bad news for that site. out of over 100 clicks to the offer page, only 3 conversions... 50 of those 100 clicks were from a lander I put up for the magazines, which means they probably liked my lander content and clicked through. The magazine site is viewable here.

Would a better approach to AM for a beginner be search traffic generation? I don't know much about getting ranked by Google, and even the linkwheel concept seems a little bit cloudy to me.

Do you guys just run campaign after campaign, then find one that works and keep it going while you start another one? Do you decide that a particular campaign is it and work until it's successful? How do you define 'niche'? Is weight loss considered a niche, or is losing the freshman 15 considered a niche?

I feel like I've tried what I've read and I'm either failing at it, missing something, or both. I know you guys aren't big into giving away secrets, and I'm not asking for your lander's address, but I could use a little bit of guidance. Thanks.
 
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MSN disapproved my ads for CelluRez because my lander is a typical testimonial blog entry in story format, just like every single Acai/ColonCleanse lander out there except for cellulite cream instead.
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Your problem is here^^

You can either find something else to promote or come up with a unique way to promote it. Or go through a shitload of money to compete against those who are already established.
 
I thought that, too. I also see so many people saying "The reason it's there is because it works. Don't try to come up with your own stuff as a newbie, you'll have more success copying the styles that already get sales." It's a little disorienting getting both pieces of advice from the same source.

I got an example lander from MSN that they said was good, so I guess I'll try modeling my next lander for CelluRez off that.
 
No love, huh? Maybe it's because my tit pics got pruned, or maybe it's because I asked 50 questions in 10 lines of text. Let me get to the core of my problem.

Is it worthwhile to split test landers with a very small volume of traffic (<10 clicks/day)?
How should I advertise a blog-style lander when even MSN won't take it?
Is SEO at all worth the effort on a lander for an affiliate offer?
What is considered a 'good' CTR for a PPC text ad for somewhere like MSN? Facebook?
 
1. Not with that click volume
2. Find a different traffic source or a different lander
3. Depends on the offer and how much time you are putting in vs. how much money you are making from investing in SEO.
4. Facebook anything over 0.10% CTR is decent
 
This is my personal experience.

I know if a page is going to do well base on about 100 or so clicks.

You're going to have to be creative with this one, just need to test test test your traffic sources.

I started with SEO, and let me tell you, it just takes forever. Not worth the time and energy. I switched to buying traffic and I've never looked back at SEO unless my competitors are pretty weak on Google, which is very rare. Need to find those unsaturated markets if you plan to go SEO route.
 
aeisn said:
1. Not with that click volume
2. Find a different traffic source or a different lander
3. Depends on the offer and how much time you are putting in vs. how much money you are making from investing in SEO.
4. Facebook anything over 0.10% CTR is decent
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Thanks a ton. I'm really new to this gig - where would you recommend to advertise that sort of lander? Do you think I might just be better off making a more professional looking sales page?

CarpeDiem said:
This is my personal experience.

I know if a page is going to do well base on about 100 or so clicks.

You're going to have to be creative with this one, just need to test test test your traffic sources.

I started with SEO, and let me tell you, it just takes forever. Not worth the time and energy. I switched to buying traffic and I've never looked back at SEO unless my competitors are pretty weak on Google, which is very rare. Need to find those unsaturated markets if you plan to go SEO route.
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I was kind of thinking that, especially for an affiliate offer in a highly competitve niche. Where I feel like SEO might pay off is on a completely content oriented site monetized with AdSense or similiar. Your thoughts?
 
Stop trying to promote 15 different offers.

If it takes you even $50 to test to get enough relevant data, you've already spent $750 total.

If you instead focused on one, or even two niches, you could spend $50 per offer to test and then $350 more to optimize and start generating profit.

Your tactic is just to throw a couple bucks at everything you can think of, which is why you're not seeing any success. Focus on one, maximum two niches at a time.
 
hannahmcintyre said:
Stop trying to promote 15 different offers.

If it takes you even $50 to test to get enough relevant data, you've already spent $750 total.

If you instead focused on one, or even two niches, you could spend $50 per offer to test and then $350 more to optimize and start generating profit.

Your tactic is just to throw a couple bucks at everything you can think of, which is why you're not seeing any success. Focus on one, maximum two niches at a time.
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Dude, you are totally right. Thanks for that. I guess I took the whole 'throw shit at the wall until it sticks' the wrong way. I suppose that meant methods and testing - not offer after offer. Thanks again.
 
Agree with hannahmcintyre, pick one or two niches, and dominate them.

I was kind of thinking that, especially for an affiliate offer in a highly competitve niche. Where I feel like SEO might pay off is on a completely content oriented site monetized with AdSense or similiar. Your thoughts?
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Highly competitive niche...to tap into the first page ranking will take a couple months of hard SEO work. I'm not sure if it's worth all your attention. Adsense is nice, but I wouldn't count on it to be a first source of income, it's definitely a nice secondary income. It's pretty much on auto pilot if you can get your key words for first page results.
 
Yeah your spreading yourself too thin now. When I first got started I was only working on one offer and optimizing it, learning how to promote better, and finding free ways to promote to help the ROI. Once you do this you apply it to a larger volume campaign and keep tweaking and learning. If you try all at once you will spend a lot, not make shit, and then quit.
 
Guys, because of your advice I dropped all my other campaigns and I've really started to focus on one or two offers. I'll let you know how they do.

On another note, how much is the right amount to pay per click on an ad in the most competitive areas of the weight loss niche?

I honestly don't understand niches. Is a niche the same as a vertical?
 
I'd say stick with Google. Reason: Google gets more volume for each keyword than MSN. More the volume, better your chances of getting a sale. Look at the following points:
First Step, Test on one keyword at a time. If you dont have the list of the keywords you want to target then pls use google keyword tool. Its free and pretty effective. Once you get your 10 top targetted keywords go to second step.
Second Step, You need to increase your bid to get higher positions for your "targetted keyword".
This will get you enough data (500 clicks) for your main targetted keyword and if your still not making profits then
a> Scrap that offer
b> Change the landing Page
c> If your at breakeven, go for offpage optimization/SEO for those top keywords and d> switch to another offer.
 
An observation of mine. On your smooth legs lander, your before and after picture is completely unbelieveable. That kind of difference in 2 weeks is impossible. Even the stupidest of consumers wouldn't believe that. I would try for something a bit more subtle
 
slow and steady wins the race.

Learn about backlinking to your site for the LONG TUN, and make it a consistent part of your IM routine - whether you are doing it yourself or outsourcing the approach.

Watching Kindergarden Cop now...gotta go..

P.S- Write Articles at EzineArticles and GoArticles. No Anchor Text in the body but for the author bio/resource boxes, make sure you add a link to your site as well as a anchor text link to a page within a site. Do this EVERYDAY! Make it a Habit.
 
Thanks guys. I've revamped the lander I'm concentrating on for now. I'm only getting 14% CTR to the offer though, and I'm 1 for 20 on sales when they actually click through to the lander. That's not great at all, and it's losing me money. Tips on any of that?
 
JarredLv said:
An observation of mine. On your smooth legs lander, your before and after picture is completely unbelieveable. That kind of difference in 2 weeks is impossible. Even the stupidest of consumers wouldn't believe that. I would try for something a bit more subtle
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In the weight loss vertical I see people advertising Lose 18 Pounds in 4 Days!!1 and I see the pics on their landers... Is cellulite a whole new ballgame? Those before/after pics are on par with Acai landers and whatnot.

Again, I'm new, so I'm just emulating the successful guys to the best of my ability.
 
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