russells

I'm about to let you guys know what I've just done and I'll be updating this thread over the next 7 days to report the outcome.

Before I start though, I just want to mention that this thread hasn't been created for people to tell me how bad my idea is, or how it's not going to work - blah, blah.

I'd appreciate it if you just follow along and chip in with some words of wisdom and general morale support :-)

Ok,

STEP 1

I went over to BlogAds.com and scrolled through the available ad slots and chose one that fitted by budget ($60 per week and gets 216,197 Ad views)

The blog ad description stated that the visitors of this particular site (NFL Blog) had an appetite for fantasy football and team gear.

STEP 2

I then went over to Quantcast.com and entered the URL of the blog I just chose to advertise on so I could find out the demographics of the visitors.

I told me that the blog gets mostly US traffic, the average age of the visitor is between 18-35.

STEP 3

I then proceeded to my CPA Network (Maxbounty) and searched for a suitable offer based on the data info I had.

I found what seems to be a perfect offer which offers a free $500 NFL Store giftcard (Team Gear) - one page submit at $2.60 per lead.

STEP 4

Went ahead and booked the Ad placement for 1 week ($60), uploaded banner and input my affiliate link into the destination URL field.

STEP 5

I'm now waiting for advert approval by the site owner and my ad will begin running.

Now, this is my first ad buy and I've probably got it ALL wrong but I will update this thread every day of the remainding 7 days to let you guys know how it's doing.

I'm not saying I will make a profit, I just wanted to try it out...I've just matched an offer with a blog that caters for that audience.

Wish me luck...

~Russ "CPA Optimist" Smitheram

Michael55555

good luck! I hope you make epic bank.

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badboy_Nick

Hey

That's precisely what's needed in this game: GUTS! Whethe ryou makea profit now or not is irrelevant. 1-2 things out of 10 you try turn into a profit and are scalable ... the biggest hurdle most guys have is having enough balls to start in the first place.

Good job for sticking out your neck and putting your butt on the line, we need more of that!

Nick

Read my incredible story: www.affiliatechamp.co.uk

russells

You are right! I was cringing as I hit the 'pay now' button in paypal. I hate tha fact that I could make a loss, but it's the only way I'll move forward in this game!

Thanks for the words ;-)

Thanks for the support! :-)

bravo75

I think you will get a few conversions. My only worry is that internet surfers are prone to add or banner blindness. It seems big crappy looking "ugly banners" seem to work best these days. It draws people's attention more than the professionally designed network banners. Just something I have experienced.

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Sachine

Absolutely... the ones which have a blinker too get good CTR... or you can pretty much create image looking like text links with some side image... the ones that you can find on file sharing sites..... those get really good CTR..

russells

Thanks for your input, guys.

I'm still waiting for my ad to be approved before it'll start displaying.

Nail biting times lol

TRYM

Good luck, I'll be following your progress

believemarketing

please update with progress....

about the banner...
ugly & funny banners win...

u can also tempt the audience with words like 'Don't click here...' 'Do not enter...' . People are like cats, we are curious

jeffrey73

This is great.. I love seeing stuff like this!

It helps me to motivate myself to grow a pair when I'm sitting on the fence with an idea.

russells

The Ad is still awaiting approval from the site owner...yes I know its nail biting! LOL

HAHA thanks man, believe me my stomach turned clicking that buy button. $60 is a lot of money to stab in the dark with LOL...

Gyromite

russells did you create the banner yourself or did you have someone do it for you?

Best of luck - hope you succeed!

Kenster

Russ...The Optimist!

Good luck on your endeavor man and glad to see you jump into the fire!


Sometimes the forum doesnt like "follow me" threads because many people thread starters don't follow through with the thread and it ends up beign a waste, but I have a feeling you will keep up and share what you learned, thereby making it of value.

Hope to see a success story at the end!

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mraffiliate

Great post. If this works and you make some money, this may be the best free "WSO" I've read.

Good Luck and I'll be following your progress daily.

russells

Thanks Kenster! Don't worry, I'll keep this thread up to date and I hope to share a success story here :-)

Thank Mr Affiliate! I hope you find it of some value whichever way the thread goes!

~Russ

speedbird

Good Luck! I am also starting on Maxbounty and currently promoting dating offers with one page submits. Please let us know how your creative will be perfoming with BlogAds.com

KhirRahman

subsribed to this thread and looking forward for your success & updates. Good luck

Mike Morgan.

Good luck man!

And , I hope that already have used high CTR banner . It is also advisable that your banner size is placed in highly visible area.

Mike

paullow

Hoping to see the end results. No matter it's profit or not.

Malphas

Excited about seeing how this one turns out I was actually reading about media buying the other day - plotting and scheming about doing a similar thing.

Best of luck dude, hopefully you'll be able to scale the hell out of it!

Nathan Alexander

Best luck to you. I love that you're willing to 1) do it, and 2) lay this one all out here.

Even if this one doesn't work as well as you'd like (I have no idea but I hope you do great) you've done something wonderful: started.

olamilekan2

I wish you all the best, will be following the thread.

Moruf

Morando Stores

williamrs

Great, man! The process is correct!

When doing this type of media buys (to promote short form submits), the CTR is the most important thing. Most people won't complete the offer, but some will, so the higher your CTR the better.

Try to create an eye-catching banner that contrasts with the layout of the site, use a border and add a blue call-to-action that looks like a link (e.g. Click Here). These things are not hard rules, but they use to work for me.


William

russells

Thanks for all the input guys, it's much appreciated :-)

***UPDATE***

Ok, so the banner was approved about 8 hours ago. Here are the results:

13879 Impressions
3 Click-Throughs
No conversions :-(

Running at a $60 loss at this point.

This is rubbish at the moment but still 6 days 16 hours to go.

Will update again this time tomorrow.

~Russ

Wide

Did you try to make different versions of your ads and see which one perform the best?

michaelr7

The click-through rate is extremely poor. Did you make sure that your ad appears above the fold?

That is critical in most cases. Could make the difference between a big loser to a massive winner.

jeffrey73

I doubt that for only $60 they actually gave him the option of where he wanted to place the banner.

williamrs

Yes, having a good spot is crucial. The best spots are above the fold and on the left. Also, I have never had good campaigns with small banners like 125x125, so it can be better to pay more to get a 300x250.


William

michaelr7

Well, if the ad is below the fold, 2 things happen.

1) A very low CTR.

2) The clicks that you do get are of lower quality than clicks above the fold.

I don't mind if other media buyers chime in here. I can only say my experiences. I have never made a profit if the banner ad was below the fold.

so2toll

Hi guys, I'm brand new here and just trying to learn about ad positioning, coloring, etc..forgive me if i ask a really simple question, but what does "above the fold" mean? where exactly does that fall?

russells

DAY 2 UPDATE

Hi guys,

Unfortunately, my ad ISN'T above the fold. (That's my first error on this, I think LOL).

Ok so it's day two and here are the results:

52140 Impressions
0.046% CTR
25 click-throughs
no conversions

I don't think I'm going to break even on this!

Never mind it's all about the learning curve. Next time I'll do an ad above the fold.

Anyway, I'll keep updating the thread for everyones benefit.

Russ

Wide

Hitting the jackpot the first time is more luck than skills.
Keep going and you will get there

jeffrey73

Might not be a bad idea to first take those demographics and run about 300 different ads on Facebook with PPC. Then just whittle them down to find the ad getting a killer CTR. Create a new banner using that picture and text, then place it above the fold if possible.

Just my opinion, but I think it would be cheaper that way.

inter123

Above the fold is the space within the browser people see as soon as they land on the webpage. To go below the fold, they need to scroll down.

willywa

now that's a cool idea...thanks!

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willywa

Don't let this 1 experience stop your momentum...looking forward about hearing what happens in your next campaign.

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littlekid

This is good thing. You are honest and open mind to others' input.
I wish you all the best, and i am following your thread. I hope you can do this steps:
Plan (without knowing where you will go, you will lost)
Do (do your plan)
Check (check what are went wrong)
Action (what should we do for the bad news we got).

Keep doing this...

spyoftheworld

Good luck man
I hope you start converting some of the visits

Coming Soon

Mike Morgan.

I think that is why your CTR is very low .

But , the point is you are going to learn lots of things from this experiment .

As banner advertising is all about CTR , it is always advisable that you position your banner above the fold .

Mike

costi

I am also starting a similar experiment like @russells but I am buying from clicksor some interstitial ads with an email submit offer, until now spent $8.17 with 1352 impressions and made two conversions worth $2.42. I will wait for some more conversions to come and pick up the sites from where they are coming. The bad thing is that at clicksor you don't have the actual url from where the views are coming so you can not contact the owner of the site directly.

daddeo

good luck i hope this works for you

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Biowza

I'm pretty new to this, but how could running 300 PPC ads possibly work out CHEAPER?

I mean, you'd spend thousands wouldn't you?

jeffrey73

You could, but you can also control your budget easier. He could set it at $20 per day for all the ads. He may have to go through a week or two, and a few hundred dollars, but he could narrow down a winner or two.

If you think about it, he could straight test 50 banners before he found one that worked. 50 x $60 = $3,000. Possibly more.

That's how I believe it could be cheaper, but then again, I might be wrong.

hovirag

I'm interested how this turns out in the end - you never know!

Did you check what the blog is about? I mean is the blog topic the same or a similar field to your ad? This is crucial in my opinion.

GO on, you'll learn a lot from this experience - it is more valuable than the money you paid for the ad

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russells

The site I'm advertising on is a NFL Blog and the CPA offer I'm promoting is to win a Free $500 NFL giftcard for the online store.

So they match up...

UPDATE

Ok, here is the latest...

115239 Impressions
65 Clicks
0.056% CTR
NO CONVERSIONS! :-(

Still running at a $60 loss.

BUT I've learnt a lesson - never put an ad below the fold!! :-D

Still 3 days to go...

Russ

mtmjohn

Nice update Russ, however 65 clicks is too low to make any serious decisions about.

blackjack

or could it be that people are fed up with these win $X card or win free iPhone?

Try changing the offer.

mtmjohn

Yea, good advice.

Russ, you can also try to contact your affiliate manager since they have the info about which offers convert best. Hope it helps.

jeffrey73

Maybe.. but Nah. There are 10,000,000 new suckers browsing the Internet every single day, would be my guess.

polly

I hope something good happens. Sounds like you did everything right. Keep us updated.

www.pollypritchard.com/blog