Newbie Clickbank Affiliate Seeks Advice

Hi,

I've just completed my first 'test' Clickbank Affiliate Campaign using Google Adwords, and I'd like to share my results and ask for advice from more experienced marketers.

I'm using the campaign management methods outlined in Steven Claytons Affiliate Blueprint 1.0, using Affiliate Prophet for tracking and also Google Adwords Editor, Market Samurai & Speed PPC. I've also started using Affiliate Espionage to research my next campaigns.

My first campaign was the Free Energy Product 'Magniwork', currently with an increasing gravity of 411, commission of $33 and 6.8% refund rate. I monitored the ads for a week or so prior to starting my campaign and found several which had been running for over 7 days. I bid on approx 90 keywords, average position 2-4.
After 17 days I've had -
* 18 Net sales of $580
* Average of 60-100 clicks per day costing $750
* So I'm down about $170

See the attached CSV File for daily breakdown of stats

I'm uncertain about what conclusions to draw...

1. I lost $170!
So my natural reaction is that this product is a dud so I should discontinue this campaign and move on.
However, I've read that if the conversion rate is high enough (1.32% in this case) then a campaign can be made to work...so should I persist with this? I've already been split testing ads, optimising bids etc. every 2-3 days but my gut tells me I should move on.

2. Conversion rate
I read that one of Google Adwords strengths is it's predictability in terms of traffic volumes. My experience has supported this, with a reasonably consistent click rate of on average 76 clicks per day.

However, my conversion rates have varied drastically - I had 3 sales one day, 4 another, but most of the time I've had 0 or 1. I was hoping (naively?) that the conversion rate would also be consistent, or would even improve as I optimised my ads, but I seem to have had a couple of 'fluke' good days and a lot of break-even and losing days - is this typical?

3. High Gravity
Magniwork has a gravity of 411 yet there are currently 7 ads running on Google Adwords against the keyword 'magniwork'. This seems surprisingly low to me! It suggests of the 411 (approx.) affiliates that sold magniwork last week only a tiny minority (7) are using adwords! I assume all the rest using article marketing, SEO and other stuff?!?

4. Minimum Clicks per day
Steve Clayton and others talk about running a 300 click-per-day test campaign. However the 80-odd keywords I found for Magniwork just don't seem to have this kind of volume. Maybe this the real problem - that Adwords just isn't generating enough traffic to support a profitable campaign?

5. Landing page
I wanted to run a test campaign without a dedicated landing page, obviously to same time and establish whether the product converted. Therefore I've learnt all about iFrames, php redirects, source and destination URL's and Google Slaps! But my most recent ads appear to be stable.

But maybe this is the real problem - would a real test have included a 'proper' review landing page, with a few articles and blog posts thrown in to improve my quality score and hopefully conversion rates? Or would a dedicated landing page be a waste of time if the main sales page doesn't appear to be converting?

In the 'good old days' when direct linking was allowed, many marketers made money without landing pages, I wonder whether we are doing them now purely to please google..OR does it make a real difference to a campaign,can it turn a losing campaign in to a winning one?

6. Is the Clickbank Google Ads Affiliate Gold Rush Over?
With the increasing hoops that Google is making affiliates jump through, is 'Googlecash' Marketing inherently less profitable than 3-4 years ago? My instincts say no, because obviously people wouldn't be running all these ads if they weren't making a decent profit. Any thoughts?

Apologies if I've gone into too much unnecessary detail, but I thought 'full disclosure' would be best.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks,

Paul