Microsoft Ads, CPA, and More

[SrLudwig]

I'm getting ready to launch my first CPA campaign. Initially I was going to try one of the ad networks recommended by @williamrs on his webinar; but I received a $100 Microsoft Ads coupon for free, so I'm considering using the coupon to run my campaigns.

The problem is that I'm not finding a lot of (recent) information regarding CPA offers and Microsoft ads... so I'm wondering if they allow running CPA offers at all these days. If they do, do they allow direct linking?

Someone told me that I should stick to my plan of using the cheaper ad networks for CPA and that I should spend the 100 bucks running ClickBank campaigns, what do you think about this?

One final question regarding ad networks (any), sometimes when I try to preview CPA campaigns, my antivirus doesn't allow the pages to load because it claims that the pages are infected with malware or that there's a risk of data loss. Do ad networks count (and charge for) the clicks intercepted by antivirus?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[GriD]

Hello @SrLudwig ...

Don't get distracted.. Shiny object syndrome... As you say, stick to your plan... Concentrate on one thing! Don't go studying/testing search ads if you are not planning into running any... Don't forget that $100 might burn up quickly if you're learning.

CPA and search ads... The fact that direct linking is allowed or not has a lot to do with the fact that the landing (offer) page needs to be compliant with the ad network requirements... From what I have read Microsoft ads is less strict than Google. But If you are with an Affiliate network, ask your affiliate manager what offers can be direct linked using Bing Ads... He should be able to tell you...

Direct linking, look at the offer, if they have decent (pre)landers then this can be an option. Don't forget CPS is harder to convert so I believe a decent (pre)lander is really a must-have...
Clickbank CPS over CPA... I vote for CPA... It has more chances of converting, especially when direct linking anyway without (pre)landing page to warm up the traffic. And with Clickbank you're on your own... In a decent CPA network you will be able to talk to your Affiliate manager... But you will need patience finding the right network/affiliate manager for you. Clickbank as soon as you have your account you should be able to start...

Information, for Microsoft ads... look for Bing ads... and Google ads... most will be applicable...

And your final question, if the CPA offers landing pages are infected, notify your Affiliate manager! Who cares about click count? You do not want to send traffic to these pages... If you do I suppose the ad network might not even accept your ads (as they will check the creative landing page for compliance)
Or is the offer an antivirus solution and the virus popup is a fake?

 

[Graybeard]

You need a pretty solid offer for search engine ads.
That is a directive form of advertising.
Honeybadger's mantra of: Answering the question <-applies here.

Relevant e-commerce with a price tag of $29-$49 shipped products that's what people impulse buy from SE ads a lot. So, you are looking for a brand or a genre. Make sure bidding the brand name is allowed by the offer.

 

[SrLudwig]

Don't get distracted.. Shiny object syndrome... As you say, stick to your plan... Concentrate on one thing! Don't go studying/testing search ads if you are not planning into running any... Don't forget that $100 might burn up quickly if you're learning.

CPA and search ads... The fact that direct linking is allowed or not has a lot to do with the fact that the landing (offer) page needs to be compliant with the ad network requirements... From what I have read Microsoft ads is less strict than Google. But If you are with an Affiliate network, ask your affiliate manager what offers can be direct linked using Bing Ads... He should be able to tell you...

I'm completely focused on CPA now. I'm just wondering if I'm wasting the $100 on MS Ads on CPA offers. According to this thread direct linking is allowed as long as the ad meets their guidelines.

They also claim that they allow just one unique URL per search query, but I would imagine most ad networks have this same restriction? This is something to consider, but I'm not ready to start playing with landing pages yet, I want the process to be as simple as possible in the beginning — in the future I would consider them.

Direct linking, look at the offer, if they have decent (pre)landers then this can be an option. Don't forget CPS is harder to convert so I believe a decent (pre)lander is really a must-have...
Clickbank CPS over CPA... I vote for CPA... It has more chances of converting, especially when direct linking anyway without (pre)landing page to warm up the traffic. And with Clickbank you're on your own... In a decent CPA network you will be able to talk to your Affiliate manager... But you will need patience finding the right network/affiliate manager for you. Clickbank as soon as you have your account you should be able to start...

I agree. According to what I've read CPA is a lot easier for new affiliate marketers. I have some money to spend on cheaper ad networks, so I wouldn't mind spending the $100 from the MS Ads on CB or something else; but only if it wasn't a good idea (or allowed) to promote CPA offers on Bing.

And your final question, if the CPA offers landing pages are infected, notify your Affiliate manager! Who cares about click count? You do not want to send traffic to these pages... If you do I suppose the ad network might not even accept your ads (as they will check the creative landing page for compliance)
Or is the offer an antivirus solution and the virus popup is a fake?

The virus pop up is most likely a false positive. Take the following two URLs for example:

http://go.hardermine.com/ts3219-international-general?thru=83503
http://go.hardermine.com/ts3219-international-general

The first URL is blocked by my antivirus and the second one isn't. The difference is the "?thru=83503" bit... it makes the antivirus think that is a MySQL injection or something. The URLs are from AdworkMedia BTW. Of course I will test any URL before promoting it to make sure it's not blocked or has any problem.

You need a pretty solid offer for search engine ads.
That is a directive form of advertising.
Honeybadger's mantra of: Answering the question <-applies here.

Relevant e-commerce with a price tag of $29-$49 shipped products that's what people impulse buy from SE ads a lot. So, you are looking for a brand or a genre. Make sure bidding the brand name is allowed buy the offer.

eCommerce is a good idea indeed. I'd imagine it would convert better than CB. I will keep researching about MS Ads and CPA offers though, I won't rush into making a decision.

Thank you both!

 

[williamrs]

@SrLudwig

I don't think Microsoft ads would be a bad start. It's possible to run CPA offers there and it has decent traffic, even though I don't find it so easy to scale some campaigns there.

But the point is that you should have a plan. You need to know what you'll be doing and how you'll be doing it.

If a $100 coupon can "check" your plan, then you probably need a solid plan.

I understand that you have clarity about running CPA offers. However, it seems that you don't have a clear direction when it comes to the "how" part.

You need to have an idea on what type of ffers you'll be promoting and how you'll be doing it.

Picking a traffic source and trying to find an offer for it will most likely produce minimal results. Or no results at all.

Imagine if you were sure that you want to sell wine for a living. Then, you pick a bottle of wine and start approaching random people on the street asking them if they would like to buy it.

Ok, perhaps you would be able to sell a bottle of wine here and there, but this is certainly not an efficient, scalable and highly lucrative startegy for selling wine and it probably won't take you very far.

And in this same context, being unsure about using a landing page or not would be the same as being unsure on whether you should show people the bottle straight away or put the bottle in a box first.

The box can be relevant in a certain context and impact sales, but your problem is not the box... or the lack of it. Your problem is that you know that you want to sell wine, but don't know how.

Now, leaving the analogy behind and getting back to reality, I think you should first define very well what you want to do. Think about what type of offer and traffic you'd like to start with, but also think about the long-term and the learning curve you'll need to go through to master it.

Then, take action and stay focused.

Of course, you should make adjustments in your plan when it's necessary as you may not get everything right before you even start, but don't jump to other unrelated things.

A $100 coupon is nice if it's for an ad platform that's already in your plans, but it should never be a relevant reason to change the focus of your business.

 

[Graybeard]

The virus pop up is most likely a false positive. Take the following two URLs for example:

http://go.hardermine.com/ts3219-international-general?thru=83503
http://go.hardermine.com/ts3219-international-general

it's just a redirect hardened Firefox/LINUX here

https://
rewards4claim.net
/rewards/us/?cusOfr=walmart1000
&offer_id=7489&aff_id=2960
&aff_sub4=walgc1000
&aff_sub=ts3219-international-general
&aff_click_id=1616416798.28-92451887-34665
&aff_sub3=0.015

 

[SrLudwig]

it's just a redirect hardened Firefox/LINUX here

That makes sense. Thanks.

I don't think Microsoft ads would be a bad start. It's possible to run CPA offers there and it has decent traffic, even though I don't find it so easy to scale some campaigns there.

But the point is that you should have a plan. You need to know what you'll be doing and how you'll be doing it.

If a $100 coupon can "check" your plan, then you probably need a solid plan.

I understand that you have clarity about running CPA offers. However, it seems that you don't have a clear direction when it comes to the "how" part.

You need to have an idea on what type of ffers you'll be promoting and how you'll be doing it.

Picking a traffic source and trying to find an offer for it will most likely produce minimal results. Or no results at all.

Imagine if you were sure that you want to sell wine for a living. Then, you pick a bottle of wine and start approaching random people on the street asking them if they would like to buy it.

Ok, perhaps you would be able to sell a bottle of wine here and there, but this is certainly not an efficient, scalable and highly lucrative startegy for selling wine and it probably won't take you very far.

And in this same context, being unsure about using a landing page or not would be the same as being unsure on whether you should show people the bottle straight away or put the bottle in a box first.

The box can be relevant in a certain context and impact sales, but your problem is not the box... or the lack of it. Your problem is that you know that you want to sell wine, but don't know how.

Now, leaving the analogy behind and getting back to reality, I think you should first define very well what you want to do. Think about what type of offer and traffic you'd like to start with, but also think about the long-term and the learning curve you'll need to go through to master it.

Then, take action and stay focused.

Of course, you should make adjustments in your plan when it's necessary as you may not get everything right before you even start, but don't jump to other unrelated things.

A $100 coupon is nice if it's for an ad platform that's already in your plans, but it should never be a relevant reason to change the focus of your business.

Thanks, William.

Your webinar is what motivated me to get into CPA in the first place. If I do well in this journey I intend to sign up to CPA Evolution. Right now the following is clear to me:

1. I will focus on promoting CPA offers.
2. I will focus on the gaming niche.
3. I won't deal with landing pages.

In terms of traffic, before I got the MS Ads coupon I hadn't decided my traffic source; I only knew that I was going to choose one of the cheaper ones you recommend on the webinar (I was looking into Propeller Ads and I also applied for an account on LeadBolt actually.)

I'm a complete newbie in AM, this is the first time I'll run an ads campaign at all. While I agree with you that the MS Ads coupon changed my plans; I'm glad I have it because I'll be able to run tests. Even if I don't get any conversions it won't cost me anything and I'm sure I'll learn something.

In terms of earnings, my only goal now is to learn how to be profitable at all, after that, anything can happen.

 

[GriD]

I'm a complete newbie in AM, this is the first time I'll run an ads campaign at all. While I agree with you that the MS Ads coupon changed my plans; I'm glad I have it because I'll be able to run tests. Even if I don't get any conversions it won't cost me anything and I'm sure I'll learn something

I am a complete newbie as well @SrLudwig... I would say "stick to one traffic source" You might indeed learn something from Microsoft ads but if it will not serve you in your immediate plan it it just a distraction from your target...
So I would say, do not spend energy learning search ads if you plan on running push/pop ads...
But if you were looking at native ads with propeller then yes as I believe Microsoft also has native sources (anyone, please correct me if I am wrong) so this can be help you...
I personally just started recently a push ads campaign and I can tell you you will need all your concentration to stay focussed on your plan as there will be many distractions popping up