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Share Your Biggest 'Turds' (Failures) - What & Why?

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by GADOOD, Apr 14, 2007.

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  1. #1
    Launching a business online is quicker than setting up a business off-line, so clearly we have more time to throw more ideas out there in the hope that some 'stick' - throwing turds at the money wall I call it.

    The more I fail, the more I learn, the less I fail. The more sticks.

    Personally, my 3 biggest turds in date order are:
    [​IMG] E-commerce store using Adwords
    [​IMG] Pregnancy guide on Clickbank
    [​IMG] Content sites using Adsense
    ​

    For various reasons I disclose on my recent blog entry, they didn't make the grade. They made a little money, but I cannot call them successes. I just couldn't make them stick due to lack of experience, ill-thought out marketing plans and poor market research.

    How Many Turds Have You Thrown at the Money Wall?

    I'm looking forward to hearing your responses - especially your reasons to why your projects actually failed, which is of course the most important thing.

    Regards,

    Pete
     
    GADOOD, Apr 14, 2007 IP
  2. JumpCut

    JumpCut Peon

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    #2
    My first few attempt at an on-line business went pretty well. I marketed a product that I created, and had a very narrow niche that was in need of said product. I also used my off-line marketing experience to drive sales, and it was all good.

    But then...

    I got carried away and jumped in to affiliate marketing without totally wrapping my head around the business model.

    I was approved by an affiliate company, picked a narrow niche and had a landing page designed around it. I then set up the affiliate offer and started a PPC campaign with Google, only to find that particular niche is waaaaayyy saturated and overplayed. Clicks were costing close to $5.00 a piece and the long-tails proved useless. I let it ride for a while and eventually cut my losses and bailed.

    Lessons learned:

    - All affiliates programs have some competition, even those that you think are obscure or underplayed. Never assume you've cornered the market.

    - PPC is a tough nut to crack, especially with Google's quality score algorithm. If you plan to use PPC, learn how to optimize your keywords or the G will bust your *$$.

    That's my stinky one.
     
    JumpCut, Apr 14, 2007 IP