My first few campaigns - almost profitable!

[fbonetti]

Hey guys,

I've been interested in the whole "make money online" space for almost a year now and decided to dabble in affiliate marketing just for the hell of it. So far it seems promising. I started a few campaigns two days ago with 7search and Peerfly. Here's the data on my top 2 campaigns:

Target $1000 gift card [variation 1]

7search advertising costs: $20.48
Total impressions: 17,312
Total clicks: 293
Main keyword: target
Main keyword bid: $0.08

Conversions: 13
Revenue: $16.90
Profit: -$3.58

My CR (peerfly stats): 4.18%
Average CR for this offer: 6.16%

Target $1000 gift card [variation 2]

7search advertising costs: $15.68
Total impression: 10,220
Total clicks: 196
Main keyword: target
Main keyword bid: $0.08

Conversions: 7
Revenue: $9.10
Profit: -$6.58

My CR (peerfly stats): 3.32%
Average CR for this offer: 5.54%

My thoughts -

One thing I noticed from looking at the data is that my CR seems to be quite a bit less than the average (according to PeerFly). How can I improve my CR?

How can I optimize my ads to turn a profit?

Is the "gift card" space already overcrowded? What are there better niches to pursue?

Thanks,
Frank

 

[AndrewSaad]

did you blocked bad performer KW's and subid's ??

this can turn your campaigns from losers to WINNER

 

[david15923]

That's was always a trend for me, when I got an offer that converted it never converted above the 3%, but you still have some things that you can improve on.

1- Block Sub-id's: Probably only 1 - 5 sub-id's are converting well, eliminate those that are giving you clicks but no conversions or a low conversion rate. Are you tracking??

2- Block Keywords that aren't converting.


It should be profitable after that. If you didn't track you will have to loose some more money to get profitable.

 

[fbonetti]

I blocked one SubID that was performing poorly but other than that I can't find any bad SubIds. Most of them have less than 5 clicks. I also don't have bad keywords. The keyword "target" brings in 99% of my traffic. I simply don't get clicks on any other keywords.

I'm putting these campaigns on pause for now. I think it's time to look for an offer that converts better.

 

[david15923]

I blocked one SubID that was performing poorly but other than that I can't find any bad SubIds. Most of them have less than 5 clicks. I also don't have bad keywords. The keyword "target" brings in 99% of my traffic. I simply don't get clicks on any other keywords.

I'm putting these campaigns on pause for now. I think it's time to look for an offer that converts better.

lol, that's why I never got successfull with 7serch xD I optimized 1, the rest had 90%-95% of the traffic from 1 sub id. But don't loose hope (at least this early), try to promote things that other people aren't promoting.

 

[fbonetti]

lol, that's why I never got successfull with 7serch xD I optimized 1, the rest had 90%-95% of the traffic from 1 sub id. But don't loose hope (at least this early), try to promote things that other people aren't promoting.

What's a good alternative to 7search?

 

[david15923]

What's a good alternative to 7search?

I'll send you a PM over the next few mins

 

[CashAdsLLC]

I blocked one SubID that was performing poorly but other than that I can't find any bad SubIds. Most of them have less than 5 clicks. I also don't have bad keywords. The keyword "target" brings in 99% of my traffic. I simply don't get clicks on any other keywords.

I'm putting these campaigns on pause for now. I think it's time to look for an offer that converts better.

With this response, it seems you may not have enough information yet to make the proper decision. I would go another round with your testings and then analyze from there.

 

[schwuller]

hi frank:
so let me ring in with my simplistic stockbroker's approach to these numbers.
we have good traffic here.
we have ALMOST enough clicks to call this a true test.
but we DON'T have enough actions.
the lander is being seen by ~300 people and 13 have opted in? that's ~4%.
so i would immediately be suspicious of the landing page of the offer, and the offer itself.
is the landing page clear, simple, attractive, well-done, and with a clear call-to-action and simple process for the visitor, etc etc etc?
i would immediately split test landers on this offer, frank. if it were me, i would also rotate related offers into this same traffic/keyword. this is just the data gathering phase. once you have enough data, you can kill off the underperforming landers and underperforming offers for this campaign.
-john
PS i am assuming that your ad(s) are precise and are absolutely pre-qualifying the click, frank. if the ad is not very clear, that also can cause a person to click through, see the lander, and say "oh that's not what i was expecting/looking for; let me back up out of here." if your AM is suggesting that this offer is converting far better for others, then that would swing my suspicion more toward the ad and not the lander. when you have a kw like 'target' your ad had better be damned precise or you will get too many junk clicks. in my opinion.

 

[blillard]

Rule of thumb is a weeks worth of data before making a decision.

 

[Andy Haskins]

Is the "gift card" space already overcrowded? What are there better niches to pursue?

Firstly, in my opinion I think you can make anything work. Don't worry about how many other people are doing the same thing, there is plenty of traffic to go around (as you can see from your figures). Of course there are times when you may find costs increasing as a niche gets more competitive but you can always be one step ahead of the competition, you've just got to think outside the box.

Secondly, I've not worked with 7search before so I'm probably not too qualified to say much but I think schwuller has hit the nail on the head in many ways so whether for this campaign or one in the future I would take it on board, they are wise words.

hi frank:
so let me ring in with my simplistic stockbroker's approach to these numbers.
we have good traffic here.
we have ALMOST enough clicks to call this a true test.
but we DON'T have enough actions.
the lander is being seen by ~300 people and 13 have opted in? that's ~4%.
so i would immediately be suspicious of the landing page of the offer, and the offer itself.
is the landing page clear, simple, attractive, well-done, and with a clear call-to-action and simple process for the visitor, etc etc etc?
i would immediately split test landers on this offer, frank. if it were me, i would also rotate related offers into this same traffic/keyword. this is just the data gathering phase. once you have enough data, you can kill off the underperforming landers and underperforming offers for this campaign.
-john
PS i am assuming that your ad(s) are precise and are absolutely pre-qualifying the click, frank. if the ad is not very clear, that also can cause a person to click through, see the lander, and say "oh that's not what i was expecting/looking for; let me back up out of here." if your AM is suggesting that this offer is converting far better for others, then that would swing my suspicion more toward the ad and not the lander. when you have a kw like 'target' your ad had better be damned precise or you will get too many junk clicks. in my opinion.

Good luck with everything, keep us posted on how you are getting on.

 

[Angelman]

Some great advice in this thread, especially from schwuller. Really interesting to read schwuller's points.

Also, Dru, it's nice to hear people say that anything can work! I am more than happy to give 7search (or any network) a good go before bailing out, but I obviously don't want to "flog a dead horse" if there are better options.

 

[Leonidas]

Scaling with 7Search is one of the most difficult things to do.

I burned through a hefty chunk of cash before dropping 7Search altogether.

I don't recommend 7Search.

 

[ezekiel]

So what do you recommend to use?