Seeking Help Newbie Alert: First Adult SOI Campaign Failed Badly - Need Your Expert Advice! ($20 spent, $0.6 earned)

[Mamaligalover]

Hey AffiliateFix community!


I just ran my very first affiliate marketing campaign and... well, let's just say it didn't go as planned. I'm hoping some of you veterans can help me understand what went wrong and point me in the right direction.


Campaign Setup:

• Traffic Source: TrafficStars
• Vertical: Adult SOI
• Ad Format: Banners
• Tracker: BeMob
• CPA Network: CrakRevenue
• Budget: $20 (test)
• Results: $0.6 in conversions

The Problem:My budget got consumed within just a few minutes, which was completely unexpected. I'm attaching screenshots of my results below, but honestly, I'm struggling to understand what conclusions I should draw from this data.

My Questions:

1. Is this normal for a first campaign, or did I mess up somewhere?
2. What key metrics should I be focusing on to optimize?
3. Should I be concerned about the budget burning so fast?
4. Any obvious red flags you can spot from my setup?

I know adult SOI can be tricky for beginners, but I'm committed to learning. Any insights, tips, or even brutal honest feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for helping out a confused newbie!

 

[Graybeard]

• For starters, make sure your ad language matches your target audience—misaligned language kills CTR fast. That ~0.06 CTR looks like bot or poorly targeted traffic for banner ads.
• Looks like you bought over a million impressions—you could have split that into 500 K a day and focused on peak hours for your top GEOs. see: Time parting in the ad network dashboard.
• For cams, traffic tends to convert better from around 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.,(18:00-02:00) though some daytime sales happen too. Start small, test creatives, and verify click integrity with a clean tracker domain.
• Tier 1 and some Tier 2 converts. Tier 3 is "practice" or just testing your funnel