Getting more and more confused

11 replies
It's been about 1 month since I started with affiliate marketing and I'm starting to feel more confused now then when I started. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect this to be a walk in the park, but EVERY single thing I do seems to be a huge struggle and nothing is as easy as it supposedly should be. Ex: Google XML sitemap plugin for WP. I installed and activated it on my blogs, but is there something more I should be doing with it? I see alot of sites out there that have "Sitemap" in their sidebars, but I don't....In other words, I just don't understand how the whole sitemap thing is supposed to work.

The few websites I've made are my very first, all of them WP blog type sites. The one adult site is showing at the Google #10 position for my main keyword, and I used this site during my first PPC experiment with my $50 adwords credit from HostGator. Here are the results of that experiment using 6 long tail keyword phrases in total:

Clicks 404
Impressions 4,470
CTR 9.04%
Avg. CPC $0.11
Avg. CPM $9.93
Total Cost $44.37

I don't even know if the above is good, but in the end I ended up with ZERO conversions (My site has a variety of affiliate products advertised on it)

Now I've got 2 crazy Black Label Ads campaigns going on:

Clickbank product- adult themed - CPM banner linking directly to vendors page - Start date 3/22 - Clicks 0 - Impressions 33 - CTR 0% - CPM 0.9 - My max bid 0.10 - Daily Budget $10

The other campaign is about the same as above, only it's been running since 3/23 and it has yet to get ANY impressions so far.

See, I decided to jump in and just start DOING because at first I was getting information overload with all the reading I was doing, and then I read so many people saying to stop reading and just start doing...which, obviously I am....but I have no idea just exactly what it is I'm doing!

What I've mentioned so far is really just the tip of the iceberg on what I've done so far this month, I joined a bunch of affiliate programs and a few CPA's that I can't even keep track of anymore, I've got a bunch of half assed blog type sites and one Amazon affiliate aStore site, heck I even had a cougar dating affiliate build me a free website, I joined the war room, bought 2 wso's....one which really sucked.....I don't even know what else...

Right now I could just laugh and cry all at the same time
#confused
  • Profile picture of the author Raghu Natrajan
    Much the same with me:confused:

    Raghu Natrajan
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    • Profile picture of the author bobhenry
      Originally Posted by Raghu Natrajan View Post

      Much the same with me:confused:

      Raghu Natrajan
      hi!! raghu
      i can help u out in cpa , just pm me or email me on aman_rekhi85@yahoo.co.in.. add me on yahoo msngr as well

      THANKS
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  • Profile picture of the author M Thompson
    Originally Posted by Jingles38 View Post

    It's been about 1 month since I started with affiliate marketing and I'm starting to feel more confused now then when I started. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect this to be a walk in the park, but EVERY single thing I do seems to be a huge struggle and nothing is as easy as it supposedly should be. Ex: Google XML sitemap plugin for WP. I installed and activated it on my blogs, but is there something more I should be doing with it? I see alot of sites out there that have "Sitemap" in their sidebars, but I don't....In other words, I just don't understand how the whole sitemap thing is supposed to work.

    The few websites I've made are my very first, all of them WP blog type sites. The one adult site is showing at the Google #10 position for my main keyword, and I used this site during my first PPC experiment with my $50 adwords credit from HostGator. Here are the results of that experiment using 6 long tail keyword phrases in total:

    Clicks
    404 Impressions
    4,470 CTR
    9.04% Avg. CPC
    $0.11 Avg. CPM
    $9.93 Total Cost
    $44.37
    I don't even know if the above is good, but in the end I ended up with ZERO conversions (My site has a variety of affiliate products advertised on it)

    Now I've got 2 crazy Black Label Ads campaigns going on:

    Clickbank product- adult themed - CPM banner linking directly to vendors page - Start date 3/22 - Clicks 0 - Impressions 33 - CTR 0% - CPM 0.9 - My max bid 0.10 - Daily Budget $10

    The other campaign is about the same as above, only it's been running since 3/23 and it has yet to get ANY impressions so far.

    See, I decided to jump in and just start DOING because at first I was getting information overload with all the reading I was doing, and then I read so many people saying to stop reading and just start doing...which, obviously I am....but I have no idea just exactly what it is I'm doing!

    What I've mentioned so far is really just the tip of the iceberg on what I've done so far this month, I joined a bunch of affiliate programs and a few CPA's that I can't even keep track of anymore, I've got a bunch of half assed blog type sites and one Amazon affiliate aStore site, heck I even had a cougar dating affiliate build me a free website, I joined the war room, bought 2 wso's....one which really sucked.....I don't even know what else...

    Right now I could just laugh and cry all at the same time


    Here have a tissue....

    Right feel better? ..lets get started.

    Slow down... master 1 thing at a time, you've build wordpress sites added plugins etc so you are ready to make sales, BUT will the sites convert? The best way of telling that is to drive some free traffic to your sites.

    I always recommend using article marketing rather than PPC when you start out ('cause I am terrible at ppc) $5 spent on an article will drive traffic for months or years to come. $5 on ppc will be gone in a day.

    Use the traffic from the articles to get your sites converting once you have a site that converts well then you can replicate it to other sites. You can then send your PPC traffic if you wish knowing that your site converts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jingles38
    Thanks M Thompson. I forgot to mention, I did do article marketing at the very beginning and I managed to get my one and only Clickbank sale that way. At the time I was using my domain name to redirect to the vendor's page...thats when I thought, "hey, if I can make one sale with a redirect and free traffic, imagine how many sales I can make if I build a WP site and pay for traffic!"....*sigh* silly me.

    Raghu - I'm sorry to hear that and wish you well.
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    • Profile picture of the author tryinhere
      Originally Posted by Jingles38 View Post

      Thanks M Thompson. I forgot to mention, I did do article marketing at the very beginning and I managed to get my one and only Clickbank sale that way. At the time I was using my domain name to redirect to the vendor's page...thats when I thought, "hey, if I can make one sale with a redirect and free traffic, imagine how many sales I can make if I build a WP site and pay for traffic!"....*sigh* silly me.

      Raghu - I'm sorry to hear that and wish you well.
      it sounds like you were close to finding your passion, maybe look throught the wso section to now only focus on the above and see if you can get it all to work out.
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      | > Choosing to go off the grid for a while to focus on family, work and life in general. Have a great 2020 < |
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    stop over-thinking, start testing more
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  • Profile picture of the author Jingles38
    Thank you, ChrisBa, what, where and how do you recommend testing?
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    • Profile picture of the author CarloD.
      Just a thought,

      Are the keywords "buying keywords" what kind of adult site is this? maybe people won't buy Period....

      Is the site to clustered? Do you have different offers all over the place?

      Your ONLY have 400+ clicks.... how long did they stay on the site? It's almost hope marketing....

      You need to test and tweak constantly when working with ppc...

      I see alot of sites out there that have "Sitemap" in their sidebars, but I don't....In other words, I just don't understand how the whole sitemap thing is supposed to work.
      Don't sweat this... if you installed the Google XML sitemap plugin.. your covered... the link you see on other sites is for the User to find out what else is on the site... or to see where something is located.

      What I've mentioned so far is really just the tip of the iceberg on what I've done so far this month, I joined a bunch of affiliate programs and a few CPA's that I can't even keep track of anymore, I've got a bunch of half assed blog type sites and one Amazon affiliate aStore site, heck I even had a cougar dating affiliate build me a free website, I joined the war room, bought 2 wso's....one which really sucked.....I don't even know what else...
      Well... this is simple.

      Stop everything your doing. Pick 1 idea. and relook that whole idea.

      You clearly are new and have taken on to much... without knowing enough of what you are doing.

      take one blog. one offer. and build on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jingles38
    Thanks CarloD. Reading back over my own posts I realise I've really done too much too soon. I guess the reason I feel like I'm all over the place is because I AM all over the place.

    My adult site isn't porn per se, it's a fellatio guide type site for women, although I'm thinking it's probably more men that visit than women.

    I'm going to stop everything I'm doing and concentrate all my effort on ONE review style site that showcases free trial offers. I guess we'll see what happens from there.

    I'm also going to dig out Kenster's WSO again...I only read it once and I think he suggested we read it multiple times...I think I'm going to need to do that!
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    • Profile picture of the author CarloD.
      Your Welcome,

      I'm going to stop everything I'm doing and concentrate all my effort on ONE review style site that showcases free trial offers. I guess we'll see what happens from there.

      I'm also going to dig out Kenster's WSO again...I only read it once and I think he suggested we read it multiple times...I think I'm going to need to do that!
      1. Good Idea, just don't let it Stop progress. If anything pick 2 Ideas, work on one, if you get frustrated or just start overlooking things, bring up idea 2 and break your mixed focus. Then the next day, go back to idea 1, the main focus.

      2. I don't have the guide, but what i do is exactly that, I do 2 or 3 read overs... depending on length, then I start applying whatever the info is.

      As for what I mentions in #1, that works for me... i find I can waste a whole night becasue I have writers block on 1 paragraph... when in reality i could just step away form the computer... or go on to something else for a bit... take a breather and go back with a fresh mind.

      An example of this working...

      Well I play music... guitar is one of the instruments... and have been playing for 13 years... and the same thing has always worked...

      Practice one Riff for 2 hours... and usually something that I am not used to so I need to start slow and build up speed... then it starts getting sloppy.

      So I put the guitar down for half hour or play something I already know.

      I would bet anyone an insane amount of money when i pick the guitar back up later on or go back to the riff... i will play it better than I did earlier.

      It's not always bad to break concentration, just need to know when to break it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Jingles38 View Post

      Thanks CarloD. Reading back over my own posts I realise I've really done too much too soon. I guess the reason I feel like I'm all over the place is because I AM all over the place.

      My adult site isn't porn per se, it's a fellatio guide type site for women, although I'm thinking it's probably more men that visit than women.

      I'm going to stop everything I'm doing and concentrate all my effort on ONE review style site that showcases free trial offers. I guess we'll see what happens from there.

      I'm also going to dig out Kenster's WSO again...I only read it once and I think he suggested we read it multiple times...I think I'm going to need to do that!

      YES YES YES. Make sure you read whatever guide you get multiple times. Things wont click the first time. I think its very important to have a general idea of how things work just to give you the confidence to plug along in your business. Things click, they do.

      As a general tip, always make sure you are taking small steps forward. Always have that forward momentum . Even if you are still a little confused just do something very small to get you towards your goal, whether that be taking an hour to research what I-framing is or whether it be finding a free review style landing page template on the web. Always be moving forward. Never be still, never lose momentum.
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