PPC with Google Display Network

[IMsights]

So I bit the bullet and start this case study

This is my first ever proper CPA campaign and so far I feel like my progress is so s-l-o-w Mainly because I don't have fixed time devoted to IM so it's an hour here and there and there are so many things to do. Hopefully I can work faster in my next campaign.

So far I've done:
- 2 landing pages with opt-in for split test
- 2 ads variation, each in 2 different sizes (do I need to make them in all banner sizes?)
- Mini site in the niche (to make Google happy) with about 10 posts
- 2 eBooks for opt-in bonus
- Create mailing list
- Write autoresponder (so far only cover 1 week)
- A bunch of keywords from AdWords Keyword Tool and split them into few groups

I've signed up for new AdWords account so I can get the $100 voucher, but they said it takes 5 business days for their rep to call me and set up my account. Is this common? The last time (long time ago) I opened AdWords with my personal email account it was instant.

Once my account is set up I will start the campaign.

 

[IMsights]

No news for my AdWords account yet and I'm getting impatient so I signed up using one of my Gmail account. Hopefully it qualifies for the voucher later on.

I added 13 ad groups (each having between 3 to 15 keywords) and uploaded 4 banners for each group. All groups are using the same 4 banners for now. The status now is 'Under review'.

I don't use any negative keyword/placement/topic/interest yet.

 

[K]

Good luck, let's hope they get approved!

 

[IMsights]

Thanks! It takes up to 3 business days to review the ads so the soonest I can work on thi campaign is next week. Man, the wait is killing me.

Do they always take this long to approve ads or just for new campaign?

 

[acidut]

The ads should be approved or denied usually in 1-3 hours ( at least that's how my campaigns and ads are approved ). When big G kills one of my accounts then it gives me that 3 day manual review error.

If they smell affiliates they gonna get your account into review and eventually ban.

I hope you made your lp ok so they won't have any problems approving it.

 

[IMsights]

My campaign was finally approved! I didn't expect it to happen until next week so I was surprised to receive alert from my mailing list that few people joined my list while I was out and about

First thing first, lessons learned so far: triple check your sales funnel before starting a campaign. I found out, after 17 people subscribed to my list, that my autoresponder series was inactive I had everything ready but forgot to activate it so none of the subscribers received the welcome email with bonus, etc. Then I also found that my cron didn't work because I moved the autoresponder to a new subdomain last week and forgot to change the cron path.

Update so far

I think my ads are performing OK for display network based on AdWords stat but the offer is not converting. I have zero conversion so far.

AdWords stats:
Impressions: 6897
Clicks: 63
CTR: 0.91%

My CPV Lab stats:
Views: 179
Subscribers: 17
Subscribers Rate: 9.50%

AdWords is showing 63 clicks but CPV Lab is showing 179 views. I'm not sure why they have large discrepancies here. The interesting thing is my landing page performance.

LP1: 98 visitor, 17 subscribers (17.35%)
LP2: 79 visitors, 0 subscribers (0%)

Each landing page receive less than 100 views so far but I think it's pretty conclusive that hands off LP1 beats LP2.

Questions for PPC experts here:

1) Am I correct to conclude so far that my ads are performing OK and it's the offer that's not converting?

2) Do you think the first adjustment I need to make is to change the offer?

3) Should I wait for more data or can I make decision now?

4) Should I just kill LP2?

I know it's Sunday but any help will be HUGELY appreciated

 

[K]

Wait for more data and then take action - you need to see WHY page 2 isnt getting clicks and why page 1 is and improve on it.

 

[IMsights]

Well, not so good news. I received an email from G that my campaigns are paused because they think I violated their terms and I have to re-submit my site under review else my account will be banned

My offer is in money making niche, most likely that's the reason although I make a proper landing page and mini site around it.

Not sure what to do now. While the campaign was running, I got 15 people subscribed to my list so for the time being I'm polishing my autoresponder and backend offers.

Do you think it makes sense to re-do the campaign from a different angle, which means new ads, new landers, etc? Or should I just forget about Google and start elsewhere?