Earning a living from CPA marketing
- Thread starter Rvfamily
- Start date
Mate, your videos are awesome, can't wait for the next ones.
Work on your blog, make some posts with videos like Internet Marketing Strategy - Social Triggers does, promote it and get subscribers. Over time it will become an asset, the biggest thing that affiliate marketing can't bring, and you'll build this while learning.
Work on your blog, make some posts with videos like Internet Marketing Strategy - Social Triggers does, promote it and get subscribers. Over time it will become an asset, the biggest thing that affiliate marketing can't bring, and you'll build this while learning.
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
Hey @crysper,
Thanks for taking the time to watch and for the kind words. I have quite a few ideas for videos in the coming weeks, with my only constraint being time. I have a blog which I am working on, which I had started several months ago. It's really just a shell right now. But I have been working on the back end to redo the homepage and front end to look like I want. I have several articles for it, but just need to finish it.
I promise to post the link to the blog in my signature as soon as it looks better. Thanks for all the positive feedback. I really appreciate it.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
Latest campaign up and running. Details to follow. I've decided to go a little deeper this time, as I think this might have some potential (but I'll leave the door open to the possibility of being wrong 
). I will take a little different approach this time. Here is how I am working this campaign differently:
The aggregate CTR% for my campaign so far is 2.94%, with several keywords in double digits. My avg. CPC is about 13 cents so far, but I upped the bids on a few of the more generic terms to drive traffic faster. This will certainly make my avg. go up, but if I can get a conversion or two of course it would be worth it.
Just because of time constraints, I direct linked this offer. Plan on getting another campaign up by the end of the weekend. More details on this campaign to follow.
As always,
Here's to your success!
). I will take a little different approach this time. Here is how I am working this campaign differently:- I am looking at each keyword CTR% on the 7S platform and will weed out any non performing kw to focus the group as I have more data. This is different in that I have usually been just pausing a campaign while I look at things. The payout for this offer is $14 per sale, so I have more room to spend on the set to work to get conversions.
- Once I have a set of keywords with higher CTR%, I am going into P202 and creating a new campaign for each headline to test 3 different ones.
- I have set my daily budget at $15, as I want to gather my data faster, so that I might be able to optimize quicker. In addition, I have set a total budget of about $50, which is just over 3 times the offer payout. Even a single conversion would make back about 1/3 of my expense, so I feel like I have some room play with.
The aggregate CTR% for my campaign so far is 2.94%, with several keywords in double digits. My avg. CPC is about 13 cents so far, but I upped the bids on a few of the more generic terms to drive traffic faster. This will certainly make my avg. go up, but if I can get a conversion or two of course it would be worth it.
Just because of time constraints, I direct linked this offer. Plan on getting another campaign up by the end of the weekend. More details on this campaign to follow.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
I'm about 40 hours in to this campaign and have spent about $17.50 so far. My cost per click is up about one cent since I included some new keywords that I thought were winners. These were keywords with lots of monthly clicks on the 7S platform. I have come up with a couple of new headlines/angles that I think might be effective.
I have gotten better at setting up the campaigns through MB/7S/P202, after some practice over several campaigns. However, I still need to work on how to test rotating headlines. That one still eludes me.
Thus far, MB shows that I have driven 107 clicks to the offer (again, I'm direct linking). My 7S portal is as follows:
This shows a total of 113 clicks. At least as I understand click loss, this is where people close out your link before the page loads, or something similar. The point is that these are clicks on the front end that don't make it to see your offer (someone please correct me if I am wrong on this). This is click loss. It happens in every offer, but the lower the number the better. This shows that I have a loss of 6 clicks out of 113, or about 6.78%. I'm not sure what a good rate is, but this will require some additional research on my part.
As you can see, I have a few keywords where I am in 2nd,3rd, 4th and 5th position, but the bids on these are generally higher. I'll update tomorrow evening with additional details for the other headlines I'm going to try.
As always,
Here's to your success!
I have gotten better at setting up the campaigns through MB/7S/P202, after some practice over several campaigns. However, I still need to work on how to test rotating headlines. That one still eludes me.
Thus far, MB shows that I have driven 107 clicks to the offer (again, I'm direct linking). My 7S portal is as follows:
This shows a total of 113 clicks. At least as I understand click loss, this is where people close out your link before the page loads, or something similar. The point is that these are clicks on the front end that don't make it to see your offer (someone please correct me if I am wrong on this). This is click loss. It happens in every offer, but the lower the number the better. This shows that I have a loss of 6 clicks out of 113, or about 6.78%. I'm not sure what a good rate is, but this will require some additional research on my part.
As you can see, I have a few keywords where I am in 2nd,3rd, 4th and 5th position, but the bids on these are generally higher. I'll update tomorrow evening with additional details for the other headlines I'm going to try.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
So, here I am about 3 1/2 days into the campaign and reaching a point of nearly 300 clicks generated so far. I have yet to generate a conversion, but just feel like I have some room to work with this campaign. I am very nearly at the $50 budget I set for the campaign. However, in doing some digging into the keywords and where the clicks were generated I think I can create some new ads/angles to try and test. I will reveal all of this when I get a little further into it. I understand that this is a data driven business, but your gut and intuition are still something you should listen to. That doesn't mean you'll always be right. So the long and the short of that is that I will probably be going out to about 5.5x the offer to test my other ideas (a total budget of around $75-$80).
I created a second ad and ran it as a second campaign through P202 and 7S. The second ad was a little more direct and didn't really work an angle. This ad did have a lower CTR% than the previous one. The first ad has a CTR% of 2.65% at the end of the first 3 1/2 days, while the second ad has a CTR% of 1.86% (this is just for the first day, which is a weekend).
I used the same kw set for both of these ads, so it's an apples to apples comparison. I'll do a short post on how to save your kw set from one campaign and move it to another (on the 7S platform) in the next post or two (since it took me 4 campaigns to figure it out, I'm thinking that this might be something others might benefit from).
Tomorrow evening/night, I'll post how it went after the first half-day with the ads from the new angle. I must admit, I am a little excited, as I think I might have something unique. Time will tell
As always,
Here's to your success!
I created a second ad and ran it as a second campaign through P202 and 7S. The second ad was a little more direct and didn't really work an angle. This ad did have a lower CTR% than the previous one. The first ad has a CTR% of 2.65% at the end of the first 3 1/2 days, while the second ad has a CTR% of 1.86% (this is just for the first day, which is a weekend).
I used the same kw set for both of these ads, so it's an apples to apples comparison. I'll do a short post on how to save your kw set from one campaign and move it to another (on the 7S platform) in the next post or two (since it took me 4 campaigns to figure it out, I'm thinking that this might be something others might benefit from).
Tomorrow evening/night, I'll post how it went after the first half-day with the ads from the new angle. I must admit, I am a little excited, as I think I might have something unique. Time will tell
As always,
Here's to your success!
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
A bit of a long post (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!). Just want to show exactly what I was doing and provide insight into my thinking. Was trying to do this last night, but decided to head to bed when I saw the long line of sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. LOL
Upadate:
Total spend is just under $90 for testing all ads. With a payout of $14, we see that I spent 6.35x the payout. No conversions, so there is no ROI. Let's start with the number of clicks on the network as our beginning place:
The total number of clicks generated to the offer over about 4 days is 535. This includes clicks from several different ads. The offer in question was for TripHobo, with a payout of $14 for a booking. I tried testing 4 different ads:
*Note- the keyword sets for all of these were identical.
Here are the ads I was running.
Ad 1-
I COULDN'T BELIEVE HOW CHEAP MY LAST MINUTE HOTEL DEAL WAS!
Looking for the best deals on last minute travel stays? Hotels, Condos, Apts. and more around the world at rates you have to see to believe. In most instances, I can cancel if I need to, with no fee!
I had been looking at the headlines for a lot of native ads, and this was what I came up with from that. Kind of a grab your attention headline.
Time ran- 3 days (Thur, Fri, Sat and the longest running ad)
Impressions- 10,137
Clicks- 259
CTR%- 2.55%
Spend- $41.88
CPC - .16
Ad 2-
HOTEL PRICES SO LOW, YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THEM FOR YOURSELF!
Type in your destination and get the best deals on Condos, Villas, Hotels or Apartments at your travel destination. Accommodations anywhere in the world at the best prices you'll find. Give it a try and see for yourself!
Time ran- 1.5 days (Late Friday night till early Sunday am)
Impressions- 4495
Clicks- 86
CTR%- 1.91%
Spend- $14.98
CPC - .17 (highest)
At this point, I noticed that there were more clicks coming from India than from any other location (see below), including the US. I decided to try and test out a couple of ads targeted at the India market (I also thought the clicks would be cheaper on the 7S platform, since I would only focus on a smaller country (no US/UK/AU). This turned out, not to be the case. In this graphic, you can see that the number one kw searched for here was "India Travel"
Here are the ads that I ran for India test:
Ad 3-
ESCAPE TO KERALA OR GOA THIS WINTER!
Whether your looking to find a beach in Kerala or Goa, you can find fantastic done for you itineraries and unbelievable deals on Villas, Apartments and Hotels when you search TripHobo. Enter your getaway location and see how little it will cost you!
I did some research and found out that according to Google, India has three seasons. Monsoon, Post-Monsoon and Winter. Their winter lines up the US. If you live in Northern India, there is snow in the mountains and it can get pretty cold. This ad targeted people who wanted to escape the cold weather and head to one of the beach areas around Southern India. Also, because I wanted to gather the data more quickly, I set the daily limit to $15, so this became a one day test.
Time ran- 1 day (Sunday)
Impressions- 6333
Clicks- 104
CTR%- 1.64% (lowest of all 4 ads)
Spend- $15.71
CPC - .15
Ad 4-
LOOKING TO SKI AULI OR MANALI THIS WINTER?
Whether you're looking to ski the slopes in Auli or Manali you can find fantastic done for you itineraries and unbelievable deals on Villas, Apartments and Hotels when you search TripHobo. Enter your getaway location and see how little it will cost you!
Time ran- 1 day (Sunday)
Impressions- 5638
Clicks- 119
CTR%- 2.11%
Spend- $15.91
CPC - .13 (lowest)
Based on the strategy I outlined in my PPC Bidding Strategies guide, we can take the Spend for each ad and divide it by the # of impressions, then multiply that by 1000 to get our eCPM.
Ad 1-
Spend- $41.88
Impressions- 10137
$41.88 / 10137 = .004131399
.004131399 x 1000= $4.13
This ad generates for the ad network $4.13 in revenue per 1000 impressions.
Ad 2-
Spend- $14.95
Impressions- 4495
$14.95 / 4495 = .003332591
.003332591 x 1000= $3.33
This ad generates for the ad network $3.33 in revenue per 1000 impressions
Ad 3-
Spend- $15.71
Impressions- 6333
$15.71 / 6333 = .002480656
.002480656 x 1000 = $2.48
This ad generates $2.48 for the ad network in revenue per 1000 impressions
Ad 4-
Spend- $15.91
Impressions- 5638
$15.91 / 5638 = .002821922
.002821922 x 1000 = $2.82
This ad generates $2.82 for the ad network in revenue per 1000 impressions
This shows that clearly ad 1 would be the best with a eCPM significantly higher than the other 3. This would lead to better placements and higher quality traffic.
I do have one question for those more skilled. So for me as the advertiser, the first ad would be the most expensive for me to run with an eCPM of $4.13 if I were running this on an ad platform where I payed on a CPM basis. Is that right?
Or, since all ads (even RTB) are calculated using eCPM I will pay more for that ad in general. So in a sense, you get better placements, but you pay more for them? I am looking at this right? Sorry, I'm just a little confused today.
I have paused all ads, while I dig a little deeper into the data for them. I still like the angle for India based upon the number of clicks that came from that kw and Geo, but it doesn't seem like this is the best performer.
What I've learned from this campaign:
If you want to run test on higher payout offers, you need deeper pockets. This is why @internalsoul says that he started with an offer which had a payout of .56 in his guide here.
More data to come from this. I'll be starting my next campaign this evening and will post information about it to follow.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Upadate:
Total spend is just under $90 for testing all ads. With a payout of $14, we see that I spent 6.35x the payout. No conversions, so there is no ROI. Let's start with the number of clicks on the network as our beginning place:
The total number of clicks generated to the offer over about 4 days is 535. This includes clicks from several different ads. The offer in question was for TripHobo, with a payout of $14 for a booking. I tried testing 4 different ads:
*Note- the keyword sets for all of these were identical.
Here are the ads I was running.
Ad 1-
I COULDN'T BELIEVE HOW CHEAP MY LAST MINUTE HOTEL DEAL WAS!
Looking for the best deals on last minute travel stays? Hotels, Condos, Apts. and more around the world at rates you have to see to believe. In most instances, I can cancel if I need to, with no fee!
I had been looking at the headlines for a lot of native ads, and this was what I came up with from that. Kind of a grab your attention headline.
Time ran- 3 days (Thur, Fri, Sat and the longest running ad)
Impressions- 10,137
Clicks- 259
CTR%- 2.55%
Spend- $41.88
CPC - .16
Ad 2-
HOTEL PRICES SO LOW, YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THEM FOR YOURSELF!
Type in your destination and get the best deals on Condos, Villas, Hotels or Apartments at your travel destination. Accommodations anywhere in the world at the best prices you'll find. Give it a try and see for yourself!
Time ran- 1.5 days (Late Friday night till early Sunday am)
Impressions- 4495
Clicks- 86
CTR%- 1.91%
Spend- $14.98
CPC - .17 (highest)
At this point, I noticed that there were more clicks coming from India than from any other location (see below), including the US. I decided to try and test out a couple of ads targeted at the India market (I also thought the clicks would be cheaper on the 7S platform, since I would only focus on a smaller country (no US/UK/AU). This turned out, not to be the case. In this graphic, you can see that the number one kw searched for here was "India Travel"
Here are the ads that I ran for India test:
Ad 3-
ESCAPE TO KERALA OR GOA THIS WINTER!
Whether your looking to find a beach in Kerala or Goa, you can find fantastic done for you itineraries and unbelievable deals on Villas, Apartments and Hotels when you search TripHobo. Enter your getaway location and see how little it will cost you!
I did some research and found out that according to Google, India has three seasons. Monsoon, Post-Monsoon and Winter. Their winter lines up the US. If you live in Northern India, there is snow in the mountains and it can get pretty cold. This ad targeted people who wanted to escape the cold weather and head to one of the beach areas around Southern India. Also, because I wanted to gather the data more quickly, I set the daily limit to $15, so this became a one day test.
Time ran- 1 day (Sunday)
Impressions- 6333
Clicks- 104
CTR%- 1.64% (lowest of all 4 ads)
Spend- $15.71
CPC - .15
Ad 4-
LOOKING TO SKI AULI OR MANALI THIS WINTER?
Whether you're looking to ski the slopes in Auli or Manali you can find fantastic done for you itineraries and unbelievable deals on Villas, Apartments and Hotels when you search TripHobo. Enter your getaway location and see how little it will cost you!
Time ran- 1 day (Sunday)
Impressions- 5638
Clicks- 119
CTR%- 2.11%
Spend- $15.91
CPC - .13 (lowest)
Based on the strategy I outlined in my PPC Bidding Strategies guide, we can take the Spend for each ad and divide it by the # of impressions, then multiply that by 1000 to get our eCPM.
Ad 1-
Spend- $41.88
Impressions- 10137
$41.88 / 10137 = .004131399
.004131399 x 1000= $4.13
This ad generates for the ad network $4.13 in revenue per 1000 impressions.
Ad 2-
Spend- $14.95
Impressions- 4495
$14.95 / 4495 = .003332591
.003332591 x 1000= $3.33
This ad generates for the ad network $3.33 in revenue per 1000 impressions
Ad 3-
Spend- $15.71
Impressions- 6333
$15.71 / 6333 = .002480656
.002480656 x 1000 = $2.48
This ad generates $2.48 for the ad network in revenue per 1000 impressions
Ad 4-
Spend- $15.91
Impressions- 5638
$15.91 / 5638 = .002821922
.002821922 x 1000 = $2.82
This ad generates $2.82 for the ad network in revenue per 1000 impressions
This shows that clearly ad 1 would be the best with a eCPM significantly higher than the other 3. This would lead to better placements and higher quality traffic.
I do have one question for those more skilled. So for me as the advertiser, the first ad would be the most expensive for me to run with an eCPM of $4.13 if I were running this on an ad platform where I payed on a CPM basis. Is that right?
Or, since all ads (even RTB) are calculated using eCPM I will pay more for that ad in general. So in a sense, you get better placements, but you pay more for them? I am looking at this right? Sorry, I'm just a little confused today.
I have paused all ads, while I dig a little deeper into the data for them. I still like the angle for India based upon the number of clicks that came from that kw and Geo, but it doesn't seem like this is the best performer.
What I've learned from this campaign:
If you want to run test on higher payout offers, you need deeper pockets. This is why @internalsoul says that he started with an offer which had a payout of .56 in his guide here.
More data to come from this. I'll be starting my next campaign this evening and will post information about it to follow.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Last edited:
Casey, I have a question. I know a lot of Indians speak English, so maybe this question is silly...do you need ads that are written in an Indian language? @internalsoul can probably answer this question.
Love your ads, by the way. They have a lot of energy!
Your figuring re the eCPM sounds right to me. To my way of understanding things, the more you pay, the better placement you get. Since you're doing text (I've only ever done display on 7S), if you're top bid, you'll be listed first.
You've put so much effort into this, I'm really hoping you crack 7S soon and start seeing some good returns.
Love your ads, by the way. They have a lot of energy!
Your figuring re the eCPM sounds right to me. To my way of understanding things, the more you pay, the better placement you get. Since you're doing text (I've only ever done display on 7S), if you're top bid, you'll be listed first.
You've put so much effort into this, I'm really hoping you crack 7S soon and start seeing some good returns.
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
@azgold
Yes, it has been a process. I've spent quite a bit lately on some tools and education, as well as for ad testing. I won't stop, but I might be forced to slow down a little from a money standpoint. I'm trying to get set up with Uber to drive in my area, and I'm thinking that I might try my hand at writing on Fiverr or something to generate the extra money to put into my CPA campaigns. Whatever it takes. I would add that I am working on several courses and really looking forward to bringing back lots of knowledge from ASW16.
I am working on the blog, too!
What I know for sure is that the only guarantee of success is perseverance. You've only failed when you stop trying. Thanks for the support.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Yes, it has been a process. I've spent quite a bit lately on some tools and education, as well as for ad testing. I won't stop, but I might be forced to slow down a little from a money standpoint. I'm trying to get set up with Uber to drive in my area, and I'm thinking that I might try my hand at writing on Fiverr or something to generate the extra money to put into my CPA campaigns. Whatever it takes. I would add that I am working on several courses and really looking forward to bringing back lots of knowledge from ASW16.
I am working on the blog, too!
What I know for sure is that the only guarantee of success is perseverance. You've only failed when you stop trying
. Thanks for the support.As always,
Here's to your success!
eCPM is the earnings per 1000 impressions for ad network.
Higher eCPM means the ad network earns more per impressions when it displays your ad.
But you are rewarded with lesser CPCs. In the end your paying for clicks not impressions. So, high CTR ads will get more traffic and higher quality since they have higher eCPM.
eCPM is the method most RTB platform's adserver decides which ad show. Higher eCPM ads get shown first since the network earns the most from these ads.
BTW instead of calling out users interested to go in Goa or Kerala. Call out specially Goa and Kerala since they are different places pretty far apart.
HINT: Goa also has upcoming sunburn music festival towards the end of this year.
If after spending $140, no conversions come I would just ditch the offer and find another one.
Good luck
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
@lrs1995
Thanks for taking the time to comment and offer suggestions. Been in a little bit of a funk. My "noviceness" is shining through today.
So you're saying I just didn't go deep enough in my research to make the ads more targeted, right? Target the ad towards the people of the area who might be making the trek to the music festival?
Thanks again for your feedback.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Thanks for taking the time to comment and offer suggestions. Been in a little bit of a funk. My "noviceness"
is shining through today. So you're saying I just didn't go deep enough in my research to make the ads more targeted, right? Target the ad towards the people of the area who might be making the trek to the music festival?
Thanks again for your feedback.
As always,
Here's to your success!
internalsoul
Well-Known Member
azgold not necessarily. I have done Indian campaigns with success and all of them were having English ads. India has 22 official languages. According to Census of India, the total number of mother tongues spoken in India is 1652. However, only around 150 languages have a sizeable speaking population. Hindi remains to be the most spoken language in the country but the southern part of india doesn't speak hindi. So, if you focus on specific native language on your ads, then you have to target specific communities and states excluding the rest as that will effect the conversions. On the other hand English is second official language and used for all official purposes and spoken all over India, even in non-hindi spoken states. 99% of the time I see English ads targeting Indian users and the rest are ads in hindi language.
What I meant was not to group Kerala and Goa in one ad. Instead make separate ads since each place attracts a different crowds.
Music festival is coming up soon towards the end of the year in Goa called Sunburn Goa and its Asia's biggest music fest.
People will be looking to book tickets - use it as angle
@azgold
Yes, it has been a process. I've spent quite a bit lately on some tools and education, as well as for ad testing. I won't stop, but I might be forced to slow down a little from a money standpoint. I'm trying to get set up with Uber to drive in my area, and I'm thinking that I might try my hand at writing on Fiverr or something to generate the extra money to put into my CPA campaigns. Whatever it takes. I would add that I am working on several courses and really looking forward to bringing back lots of knowledge from ASW16.
I am working on the blog, too!
What I know for sure is that the only guarantee of success is perseverance. You've only failed when you stop trying
As always,
Here's to your success!
Sooo, do you ever sleep?
Wow, you're a busy guy!Wow, I knew India had several different languages but had no idea there were that many!
I'm glad Casey can go with English. Makes one aspect of his campaign easier.
Thanks for the education, @internalsoul
Last edited:
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
@azgold,
I sleep as little as possible! In recent months, I've given up all TV (not that I watched that much), and all of my "pleasure reading," (theology, philosophy, history, etc.) to focus on growing a business on the side so that I can leave my day job. I figure once I can make that transition, I'll be able to reallocate my time more efficiently.
As always,
Here's to your success!
I sleep as little as possible!
In recent months, I've given up all TV (not that I watched that much), and all of my "pleasure reading," (theology, philosophy, history, etc.) to focus on growing a business on the side so that I can leave my day job. I figure once I can make that transition, I'll be able to reallocate my time more efficiently. As always,
Here's to your success!
Rvfamily
Well-Known Member
What I meant was not to group Kerala and Goa in one ad. Instead make separate ads since each place attracts a different crowds.
Music festival is coming up soon towards the end of the year in Goa called Sunburn Goa and its Asia's biggest music fest.
People will be looking to book tickets - use it as angle
@lrs1995
OK, I got it. The creation of effective angles has been a bit of a struggle for me. I do appreciate your time lrs1995.
@internalsoul,
Thanks for providing that information. I had thought that english was spoken by many in India, just based on looking at other ads, and the fact that I got lots of clicks almost immediately after setting the ads up. It's good to have insight from the inside. Thanks again.
As always,
Here's to your success!
Last edited:
@Rvfamily the main issue is the traffic you get from 7search. Very few affiliates stick to 7search after the initial learning stage because of lower quality traffic, but 7search is very good for learning purpose.
I really suggest to get to mobile. You've learned a lot, you know the basics, now mobile is the next step. On top networks the traffic quality is good an you'll have data(conversions) to work with and optimize.
It's a big step, but that's the one you need to take to advance and get into serious business.
I really suggest to get to mobile. You've learned a lot, you know the basics, now mobile is the next step. On top networks the traffic quality is good an you'll have data(conversions) to work with and optimize.
It's a big step, but that's the one you need to take to advance and get into serious business.
Similar threads
