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The Unofficial DP Winter '06 Affiliate Noob's Challenge thread

Discussion in 'Affiliate Programs' started by Mister Tut, Jan 13, 2006.

  1. MattEvers

    MattEvers Notable Member

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    #441
    Mostly AzoogleAds, some CJ.
     
    MattEvers, Apr 19, 2006 IP
  2. jawinn

    jawinn Active Member

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    #442
    Your numbers are very impressive Matt. I too have had success (so far) but not nearly this level.

    I have a few questions.

    1. How did you go about choosing the product(s) you sold?
    2. It sounds like you created a landing page for your affiliate products, is that correct?
    3. What was your biggest failure during this time; basically what would you do differently knowing what you know now?
    4. Did you promote your products strictly through Adwords or did you branch out into other ad programs?

    J
     
    jawinn, Apr 20, 2006 IP
  3. MattEvers

    MattEvers Notable Member

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    #443
    1. I thought about what I would be most likely to buy and how I would like it presented to me. I also choose a program with the least amount of information needed to make the sale. (no CC#)

    2. No, I send them straight to the affiliate. I have tested both and find sending them to the affiliate to be more profitable. With a great landing page, I could probably do better. I may test this out in the future, but with over a thousand keywords, I don't have the time at this point.

    3. Well I would definately try and find the most specific keywords as possible. I lost money choosing broad keywords and paying X.XX for them per click. NOT SMART. Big companies or big affiliates do that. Not people starting off.

    4. I do mostly adwords. I find conversions decent but with the recent change in the algo concerning landing pages along with more competition, I have branched out. I find overture to be the worst traffic. Adcenter is great but getting traffic from that is hard because of the volume of searches it sends. Adbrite is something I have been tinkering with lately. It can be VERY profitable. I bought an ad on a site for $150 for the month of April. So far (with 10 days left) I have gotten just under a $800 in commissions from that site. That is GREAT ROI, much better then any search engine traffic.
     
    MattEvers, Apr 20, 2006 IP
  4. max peck

    max peck Peon

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    #444
    MattEvers,

    Congratulations on your success! I am trying to gather info before I start out in affiliate marketing.

    As you are mostly using ppc ads that lead the customer directly to the merchant, did you need a website initially to show the merchant before signing up for the affiliate program? Some programs seem to require that you supply an URL before being accepted, so I wondered how the direct to merchant adwords method works you and others.

    Thanks!
     
    max peck, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  5. nate_king1

    nate_king1 Active Member

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    #445
    Is it possible to make any money with programs like Amazon, Buy.com or Overstock.com directing users to the direct selling pages? I so wish I was as "smart" as shoemoney to be pulling $100k Month of Affiliate of just one product!
     
    nate_king1, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  6. MattEvers

    MattEvers Notable Member

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    #446
    You can explain to most of them that you are a seach marketer and they will accept you. I usually explain this under the "comments/notes" section of the sign up form.

    I don't think that one product was anything from those affiliate programs. :cool:
     
    MattEvers, Apr 22, 2006 IP
  7. Cyclops

    Cyclops sensei

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    #447
    I know Amazon isn't worth the trouble unless you have a site dedicated to it. I have around 500k of Amazon pages which bring in around $200 a month, so promoting one or two products isn't really going to cut it.

    Don't get too carried away by Shoemoneys claims.....he has been known to streeeeetch the truth a bit ;) :D .
     
    Cyclops, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  8. Mook-Jon

    Mook-Jon Peon

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    #448
    Exactly how am I "full of it"?
    And also show me where it was proven please.
     
    Mook-Jon, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  9. Mook-Jon

    Mook-Jon Peon

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    #449
    Sorry I couldn't answer all of the damn questions that the post on SPF got.. But that still doesn't mean I was doing it intentionally. In fact, explain to me how I don't know what I'm talking about?

    There have been tons of reputable people in the industry who have praised me, both in private and public for sharing certain strategies and tips with people for free. I don't upsell a damn thing either or promote any types of webmaster ebooks or tools through some affiliate code. Hell, I rarely even drop names in general or tools because I don't want people to think I am trying to push products for cash.

    All the help I've given webmasters to date have been free and true. I don't sugar coat anything.

    Recently I did decide to launch a consulting option to webmasters who needed a lot of help and had a lot of questions. But that was to combat the sometimes hundreds of emails I get from lurkers on my blog or webmasters in general who are stuck and need some extra help. To date, I haven't promoted it, hell, I haven't even LLC'ed it yet or made a site for it.

    So with all respect, please prove it that I'm lying, and prove that I'm full of it, because I'd really love to hear what kinda crap you come up with.

    Next time though, before you bash someone publicly on an open forum, think first, get your facts straight, try and sort out the issue first, and then, if you are really that bored with nothing better to do, slander away. Until then, keep it to yourself.
     
    Mook-Jon, Apr 23, 2006 IP
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  10. YoungSmeagol

    YoungSmeagol Well-Known Member

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    #450
    Has anyone tried paid surveys? I was just listening to somebody's audio program and they were saying they made a profit with google adwords and paid surveys just as long as they didn't bid over $3 per click. That's a lot.
     
    YoungSmeagol, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  11. tomzx

    tomzx Peon

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    #451
    I think the paid survey market just got over loaded with all the new stuff from clickbank. There's 3-5 differents program listed on clickbank + some more of you go deep down. In my opinion, you can't really make big money (as a client) out of theses programs. I'm not sure how different it is from the free one (which have "1000$ give-away" instead of fixed amount of money you get after your survey.

    I'd be amazed to see this program get crushed as soon there's someone who post the list on their website.
     
    tomzx, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  12. Mister Tut

    Mister Tut Guest

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    #452
    Been trying a survey deal from CB. No success on that, lotta money spent.

    I have one cb product that is selling near the break even point... I think i can make it a winner for me, I just need to tweak my keywords and bids. I can taste success with this one, folks.

    I've made ~ 60.50 USD and spent ~69.00USD.

    This is something that a lot of people sell and do well at, so I'm fairly confident I can get it profitable soon. It will be my first real success story with CB, out of seven products tried (only one other of which ever sold at all).

    I've made a lot of progress getting my CTR up through improved ad copy, now if I can just weed out some of the poorly converting keywords (hard without a landing page)...
     
    Mister Tut, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  13. tomzx

    tomzx Peon

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    #453
    Yea, I actually tried the paid survey thing but I think it's hard for begginners, especially if you don't want to put too much money in it. I've currently stopped my campain to start my website promotion instead, through ppc.

    I just have trouble finding something really valuable out of CB so I can sell it out so I'll be just lurking around to see if I will ever find something worth advertising.
     
    tomzx, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  14. MattEvers

    MattEvers Notable Member

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    #454
    I have been thinking of making landing pages. Google has been driving prices up because of landing page relevence. Just a lot of work though! :rolleyes:
     
    MattEvers, Apr 23, 2006 IP
  15. theprodigy

    theprodigy Peon

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    #455
    What I don't get about this is that your CTR is measured in a keyword basis. Do you believe the average CTR for the campaign affects your position a well for each individual keyword?

    Thanks!
     
    theprodigy, Apr 24, 2006 IP
  16. theprodigy

    theprodigy Peon

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    #456
    Sure, thx! But do you always try to stay on first page? I haven't found that profitable at all for the higher price keywords.
     
    theprodigy, Apr 24, 2006 IP
  17. theprodigy

    theprodigy Peon

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    #457
    Matt, thanks for sharing!!

    Would you care to tell if you used products that people needed to buy or they were CPA offers?

    Also, for AdWords do you try to stay on page one for each of the keywords? How much is the max that you have payed for a single click?

    I think I've asked this before, but what do you use to do keyword research? Any special tools? Anything different from Overture?

    Thanks again!
     
    theprodigy, Apr 24, 2006 IP
  18. MattEvers

    MattEvers Notable Member

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    #458
    They are CPA offers.

    I stay on page one. I think my average position is 3.2 or something.

    I don't use any tools oddly enough. I find using overture is ok, but every other ppc marketer uses it so those are the oversaturated keywords as far as amount of ads are concerned. I just think of what I would search for and expand on that.

    An example would be using different types of products, colors, etc. Something like $color $brand widget, where those $ words are variables.
     
    MattEvers, Apr 24, 2006 IP
  19. YoungSmeagol

    YoungSmeagol Well-Known Member

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    #459
    So basically I would have to use landing pages for very specific keyword phrases. I'm assuming I couldn't get enough traffic for these phrases on smaller ad networks.

    Does the conversion rate (and commission) of the site matter at all or is it all about specific traffic?

    Thank you for this info. I will have to gather up some money for a serious google campaign later on.

    Right Now I'm going to do my last try Rich Jerk Style site. I'm going to run some cheap adbrite ads at it and see if it will convert.
     
    YoungSmeagol, Apr 24, 2006 IP
  20. tomzx

    tomzx Peon

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    #460
    Thanks for the idea. I'll steal that :D

    This might interest your MattEvers: http://www.highdots.com/ppc-keyword-generator/
     
    tomzx, Apr 24, 2006 IP
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