1. Advertising
    y u no do it?

    Advertising (learn more)

    Advertise virtually anything here, with CPM banner ads, CPM email ads and CPC contextual links. You can target relevant areas of the site and show ads based on geographical location of the user if you wish.

    Starts at just $1 per CPM or $0.10 per CPC.

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

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

  1. #1
    The first DP Affiliate Noob's Challenge started this week, buried in the thread You gotta spend $$$ to make $$$.

    The participants so far:
    Myself, Jimboot, allthewhile, alext, dsm56, and liquidboy. All are still welcome to join in.

    This is not a contest, but a personal challenge to all of us who are interested in getting into AM to get off the fence and make an experimental start.

    The rules are simple: find a product (some of us are using Amazon, some not) and develop an Adwords campaign. Use the ads either to send clickers directly to the merchant's buy page or to a presell page you have created, your choice.

    We are all going to post on our progress over time.

    PLEASE: do not spend more money than you can afford to lose, there is risk involved, especially since we are all new at this. I personally limit my daily max on Adwords and limit campaigns to 2 days at a go, then review and renew. Don't leave your campaign running while you go away on vacation.:)

    You may want to read 5StarAffiliates' post on page 4 of the old thread.

    This new thread was opened at alex's suggestion so more people will be able to find the Challenge.

    Gentlefolk, Start your engines...
     
    Mister Tut, Jan 13, 2006 IP
  2. nextebizguy

    nextebizguy Peon

    Messages:
    276
    Likes Received:
    12
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    Ok, sign me up as well. I'll come up with something. :)
     
    nextebizguy, Jan 13, 2006 IP
  3. alext

    alext Active Member

    Messages:
    406
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    68
    #3
    Edited.

    Re-posting my start up details.

    Summary:
    Jan 13, 2006 - $4/day

    AdGroup 1
    Amazon Item "WS" cost $17
    CPC .05-.10 (.03 content net)

    AdGroup 2
    Physical Item "10" cost varies
    CPC .05 (.02 content net)

    I just created the second AdGroup. This is with a brand new affiliate program that I have never used before. It is also a product area that I have never worked with. So basically I know nothing about what I am doing here ;).

    I added 5 keyword phrases that seemed good. I am not going to add any misspellings till I see some initial stats.

    --
    I want to point out that I already run an AdWords - > landing page campaign that does fine, but want to use this challenge to learn more about doing AdWords direct to an affiliate page.
     
    alext, Jan 13, 2006 IP
  4. dsm56

    dsm56 Active Member

    Messages:
    863
    Likes Received:
    27
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    78
    #4
    Well ive tried it too...
    I have created a campaign in adwords with a landing page, selling software.

    We shall see. :)

    Pete
     
    dsm56, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  5. alext

    alext Active Member

    Messages:
    406
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    68
    #5
    Stats from Jan 13 2006 (ads only ran a few hours)
    AG1 0/clicks na/avg CPC 26/imp 9/avg pos
    AG2 0/clicks na/avg CPC 2/imp 51/avg pos

    I upped the CPC on AG2 to $.10. Since one of my impression was at position 85! There are a ton of advertisers for these keywords. I am going to wait to make any changes till I can see a days worth of data.

    Mood: Faltering newbie steps ;)
     
    alext, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  6. jimboot

    jimboot Active Member

    Messages:
    146
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #6
    've posted this already in another thread but basically after 200 clicks no sales.
    I think my merchant landing page sux
    My CTR is 1.3% avg pos is 2.1 . I have also tried putting my own LP in between but no change. How long does CJ take to report a sale? Is it less than 24 hours?
    I am using negative keywords as well as putting the price in my ad so I know it is not freebie looker CTs
    Jim
     
    jimboot, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  7. alext

    alext Active Member

    Messages:
    406
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    68
    #7
    I think it would depend on the affiliate program not CJ. CJ is just reporting what the program reports to them. Anyone know any different?
     
    alext, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  8. suzigeek

    suzigeek Peon

    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    Some merchants are batch merchants and they can batch at any time configuration i.e. once a day, week month etc.

    Some are in real 'cj' time. You can find out if a merchant is batch or not by looking on their merchant program description page(you can find this by clicking on the merchants name in your reports). scroll down towards the bottom and it will tell you.

    I was having problems with some batch merchants reports but it "seems" to be cleared up now.
     
    suzigeek, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  9. jimboot

    jimboot Active Member

    Messages:
    146
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #9
    Thanks SuziGeek.
    So if it says Batch Transactions: No , does this automatically mean they report in real time? If so I think it is time to ditch them.
    Jim
     
    jimboot, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  10. suzigeek

    suzigeek Peon

    Messages:
    142
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #10
    I believe so.

    They are usually delayed a few hours or so depending on the time of the month....When they are processing payments few days before the 20th they are delayed longer than normal.

    Reporting times can fluctuate but I think its rare that they are delayed more than 4-6 hours at most. They also update reports hourly, I don't know if its on the hour but if your reports get updated it will be 60 min before you see a change in stats.

    I wish I had time to join the contest I've been putting adwords off for a loooong time. Have Fun!

    Good Luck!
     
    suzigeek, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  11. Mister Tut

    Mister Tut Guest

    Messages:
    837
    Likes Received:
    42
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #11
    From the prior thread:
    OK in the last week, I've got somewhere between 100 and 120 keywords, with 2 different ads for the same product.

    I say "between" because I seem to have gotten into a bidding war for some keywords and every day some become inactive for me as the price goes up. I have a $0.20 cent per click upper limit (remember when I said don't spend more than you can afford to lose?). I will not let any keyword slip below the #10 position unless it goes over my .20 limit.

    One of my ads is designed to be "creative" and the other has a "call to action" and a reference to a discounted price. I feel like my copywriting may be my weak point.

    So, I've got 4,999 impressions (content and search, but I'm bidding quite low for content), but only 4 clicks, for a whopping CTR of 0.00%! :eek:

    Total cost? $0.40.

    Average position? 6.3.

    So, what I'm doing to improve the situation...
    I will work on ad copy and keywords. Also I will look at my bids and adjust them accordingly.

    I purchased a domain this week that could potentially make sense as a place to host a presell page for this product, so if this coming week is as bad as last week, I may switch strategies at that point and use a presell page. Problem is, since I feel ad copy is a weakness for me, what the heck will I do with a presell page? We'll see, I guess;)

    Perhaps I'll do an A/B campaign between direct sell and pre-sell page.

    After having my minimum bids for about 20 keywords gradually escalate to 1.00, I decided to up my max bid to 0.99. This will ensure that the guy bidding a max of a dollar will actually have to pay a dollar. If so, he may panic and lower his bid.

    This strategy may be wrong for any of a number of reasons, but I'm game to learn from first-hand experience. I admit I'm a newbie at this and I'm resigned to being candid and not getting embarassed by anything that happens here.

    I'm hoping all of us will be fearlessly candid whether successful or not!
     
    Mister Tut, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  12. alext

    alext Active Member

    Messages:
    406
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    68
    #12
    Ad copy can make a big difference ime. In my successful campaign I changed my copy to something more appropriate for post Xmas and my CTR improved noticeably.

    If this is an experiment why not just try something different every few days and see what happens? ;)

    Don't forget that CPC is not the only determination for ad placement...

    I am with you on that.

    --

    I am still upping my CPC to improve placement and impressions.
     
    alext, Jan 14, 2006 IP
  13. dsm56

    dsm56 Active Member

    Messages:
    863
    Likes Received:
    27
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    78
    #13
    Im in a similar situation now.
    Ive bidded on 4 keywords, ive had 2800 impressions and 1 click (no sale unfortunately :p )

    Im gonna try bidding on some other keywords, see what happends...

    Pete
     
    dsm56, Jan 15, 2006 IP
  14. Mister Tut

    Mister Tut Guest

    Messages:
    837
    Likes Received:
    42
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #14
    I'm tweaking my ad copy periodically, too.
     
    Mister Tut, Jan 15, 2006 IP
  15. sunchy

    sunchy Active Member

    Messages:
    1,012
    Likes Received:
    14
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    80
    #15
    And I too.
    I have always 2 ad on 1 group and test them ;)

    One word can make big Things :D
     
    sunchy, Jan 16, 2006 IP
  16. dsm56

    dsm56 Active Member

    Messages:
    863
    Likes Received:
    27
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    78
    #16
    Woohoo! I got my first sale today...
    Unfortunately...not quite enough...

    Ive spent about $5 on keywords...and made $3 commission.

    But ill take this as a definite good sign...all i need is tweaking now (i guess thats all of you guys are doing too)
     
    dsm56, Jan 16, 2006 IP
  17. alext

    alext Active Member

    Messages:
    406
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    68
    #17
    Date Impressions/Clicks/CTR/CPC/Avg Cost/Avg Pos

    Adgroup 1: Amazon Item "WS" cost $17
    1/13 26/0/0.0%/$0.00/$0.00/9.0
    1/14 57/0/0.0%/$0.00/$0.00/8.5
    1/15 79/1/1.3%/$0.04/$0.04/8.2

    AdGroup 2: Physical Item "10" cost varies
    1/13 2/0/0.0%/$0.00/$0.00/51.0
    1/14 37/0/0.0%/$0.00/$0.00/47.1
    1/15 60/2/3.3%/$0.38/$0.77/38.2

    AG1. Figuring the item cost $17 and I think Amazon pays 7.5% on it, I stand to make ~$1.28 per sale. To break even:
    CPC .10 = 1 in 18 CV
    So I do not think I can raise the CPC. Currently I have 135 keywords - 6 proper keyword phrases and the rest are misspelling variations. I will look into more keywords.

    AG2. I have been upping the CPC on AG2 to get a better placement. The item is in a competitive area with LOTS of advertisers. From the pixelfast tool
    http://www.pixelfast.com/overture/
    I have seen a range of CPC from $1.50-$.05 with 79 advertisers. I really do not have an idea other than the programs optimistic statements regarding commissions what a sale will be worth. I am only bidding on 4 keyword phrases. In observation mode.
     
    alext, Jan 16, 2006 IP
  18. alext

    alext Active Member

    Messages:
    406
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    68
    #18
    Congratulations!
     
    alext, Jan 16, 2006 IP
  19. jimboot

    jimboot Active Member

    Messages:
    146
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #19
    Congrats dsm56!
    Can I ask what sort of product it was?
    I had 220 clicks on a subscription service ad and not one sale. Cost me about $40USD.
    I have ditched the product and I am moving on!
    Jim
     
    jimboot, Jan 16, 2006 IP
  20. jimboot

    jimboot Active Member

    Messages:
    146
    Likes Received:
    5
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    58
    #20
    Everything I have studied (over the last week!) on this form of marketing suggests that you are much better off going for the bigger commissioned products as it takes just as much effort to make $1 as it does $50.

    I notice that some of you are looking at low end margin products. I am currently hunting for new products with a higher margin and good conversion pages. When I say a good conversion page I am basically checking them out and seeing whether I would be willing to hand over my details, how easy it is, is their some potential niche keywords etc.

    How are you picking your merchants?
    Regards
    Jim
     
    jimboot, Jan 16, 2006 IP