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Please, I Need Your Advice - CPA Marketing.

by Qrisso
21 replies
Hello everyone.

I am in a desperate need for your help regarding CPA.

The thing is that I have tried several paid advertising methods and none of them made me any profit. I even didn't break even. I need your advice what to do next to slowly build up my revenue stream.

Here is what I did:

My first try was a media buy (if you can call that) worth of $75. I used BuySellAds.com network to find the website on which I wanted to advertise. Well, needless to say I made a BIG fat ZERO. Not even one conversion, I tested several offers and none of them made even ONE lead.

Then again - this was my stupid mistake, the website on which I bought the ad space contained freebies - free wallpapers, templates, etc. So no buyers.

I thought I could make money with some CPA offers, again no luck. Stupid me - only 30% of traffic was from US. Rest was from India, Pakistan, etc. Failed there big time - but I learned a lesson to carefully research the demographics of the website before buying any adspace.

Another failed campaign was on YouTube. I selected a youtube video - offered the owner a price of 10$/week to put my affiliate link in the description of the video. One month later - $40 spent, $7.20 earned.

The third failed campaign was StumbleUppon advertising. I made a simple wordpress blog as landing page. I tried to promote one weight loss product. I spent $40 for advertising, which brought me little bit more than 800 visitors - ZERO sales.

And the last failed campaign was - I bought adspace on a german celebrity gossip blog. I spent ~$35 to get the ad running, I tried to promote two german targeted offers - in total I made $2.40 = 2 leads. It turned out that 90% of of the blog's traffic was from traffic exchange networks, which means - big fat crap traffic. Again - my lack of research.

I am on a very tight budget, for this month I can afford $75 to spend on advertising.

The thing is that I am not planning to make $10k with $75. All I want is to start building steady but strong revenue stream. Eg. - 75$ spent, $100 earned - reinvest, etc.

I would really like to get some advice from other marketers. At the moment I feel like someone is blocking me to achieve any success in affiliate marketing. I hate it. It really feels like someone is sabotaging all my work.

I would really appreceate some help from fellow marketers.

My next plan is to try another media buy ( via AdRoll or AdPerium Networks), or maybe read some guides and jump into PPV (Clicksor PPV Network) to promote some ZIP/Email offers.

But, at the moment I feel really lost and confused.

Best regards,

Kris.
#advice #cpa #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author Davey T
    Personally, since you are on such a tight budget, i would focus on free methods. Article marketing is free. The only money you will need t spend will be for a domain name and then redirect to your offer. After everything that you have been through, it would seem that you are well on your way down the long road of hard knocks. Use what you have learned and build on it. You have been tenacious thus far, I ask that you continue to be! Use free methods, save a little money, scale up and rake in the cash! While article marketing you are going to learn the basics of niches, keywords, action words and placement of those action words. Use this to fund your PPC campaigns in the future. I truly wish you the best...
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  • Profile picture of the author Aira Bongco
    Qrisso,

    I agree with the guys here. You can do some article marketing or some classifieds marketing. Both methods are free and they convert well. The thing you should do is stop in paid methods for a while until you get a steady income stream in free methods.

    Best of luck,

    Aira
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  • Profile picture of the author Kenster
    Yep do yourself a favor and revert back to free and cheap traffic. By plowing more and more money into paid traffic, you will likely continue to get crushed unless you are very familiar.

    As mentioned, article marketing is a great way to start. Or try some bum and more manual methods . As you make money doing this and as you learn the basics of cpa (landing page development, testing, tracking, copy, etc) then you can start investing in paid traffic.


    $75 here and there is very easy to lose using paid traffic. Paid traffic normally makes you bleed for a lot more than that before you optmiize a cmapaign into the black. With a small budget like that you are committing financial suicide by trying to do media buys and ppc with competitive niches.
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    • Profile picture of the author Qrisso
      Thank you all very much for your replies.

      I will take your advice and stick to free methods until I earn enough to start driving traffic via paid methods.

      All I want to ask - can anyone recommend me some WSO or guide regarding article marketing and CPA offers? I know how article marketing works, but maybe there is some valuable guide that could give me a boost in the start?

      Thanks.

      Kris.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kenster
        Originally Posted by Qrisso View Post

        Thank you all very much for your replies.

        I will take your advice and stick to free methods until I earn enough to start driving traffic via paid methods.

        All I want to ask - can anyone recommend me some WSO or guide regarding article marketing and CPA offers? I know how article marketing works, but maybe there is some valuable guide that could give me a boost in the start?

        Thanks.

        Kris.

        Unless you have some investing money, I wouldnt worry too much about guides. They help expedite the learning curve but they are by no means necessary.

        That is the wonderful thing about CPA marketing, all you really need to do well permeates these threads on this forum...for free! Use the search function if you have any specific questions!

        Best, Ken
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      • Profile picture of the author Aira Bongco
        Originally Posted by Qrisso View Post

        Thank you all very much for your replies.

        I will take your advice and stick to free methods until I earn enough to start driving traffic via paid methods.

        All I want to ask - can anyone recommend me some WSO or guide regarding article marketing and CPA offers? I know how article marketing works, but maybe there is some valuable guide that could give me a boost in the start?

        Thanks.

        Kris.
        Hi Kris,

        Since you said that you are low on budget, I would suggest to only stick with the methods that you know for a while. The last thing you want to happen is lose focus because of information overload.

        Just remember that it is not the methods that matter. It is how you implement it.

        Best of luck Kris,

        Aira
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        • Profile picture of the author Kenster
          Originally Posted by airabongco View Post

          Hi Kris,

          Since you said that you are low on budget, I would suggest to only stick with the methods that you know for a while. The last thing you want to happen is lose focus because of information overload.

          Just remember that it is not the methods that matter. It is how you implement it.

          Best of luck Kris,

          Aira

          Agree with Aira. Stick with something that at least made you a little money. Its not 'go big or go home' time yet. Its time to start building your reserve up again and then start investing in more profitable methods.
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  • Profile picture of the author williamrs
    Kris,

    I don't think you can do something with $75. You should use free traffic to make at least enough money to try the expensive traffic sources. I started with free and very cheap traffic, and made some nice money in my first weeks. Also, I don't recommend you to get started with media buying, because I consider this one the hardest way. Maybe you should try PPC first.

    Actually, now I'm starting 2 PPC campaigns promoting 2 very different offers. My idea is to use 2 different apporaches and see which one works well for me. The campaigns are just in the beginning, but both of them are making me some money now (not too much, if they work with a low budget I'll scale them to make a few hundred dollars a day). I got valuable tips to start my campaigns at TV202. Just watch the interviews and visit the blogs people talk about. You will learn a lot from those guys without spending a dime..

    Also, if you have questions or want to learn more about the campaigns I'm working on, just drop me a PM.


    William
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  • Profile picture of the author rg0205
    I don't know if you've already bought a guide or read off of this forum to get your marketing ideas and strategies...but, yes, I have to agree with everyone else in saying that the best way to go is to start off with free marketing methods to test.

    Believe me, I've also wasted quite a bit of money on buying ad space that just doesn't convert well. So, best to stick with the free methods before you do any further media buying.

    I can't pinpoint one particular article marketing ebook/ WSO but you can search the forums for free mindmaps or info that will give you an idea of what you should be doing in in terms of article marketing such as directory submissions, rss feeds, social bookmarking, automation, etc. The gist of it is, incorporate your chosen keywords with the article, submit to article directories, social bookmark it, ping, tweet it, etc and you redirect to the site of your choice (the money site).

    Media buying and PPC may seem like the fastest ways to earn money, which could be the case IF you know how to do it right. If you don't, then it's the fastest way to lose money. And yes, research is paramount to succeed in any type of business.

    On another note, I would like to express that your media buys weren't exactly too bad at all, if you look at it this way.

    Your stumble upon advertising got you 800 visitors at the price of $40, which is the standard cost of $0.05 per click on that network. You got 800 visitors so that means people do visit your site.

    I think you could use this to build a subscriber list. Of course, free traffic is always great but I think stumbleupon is a great way to build a list, if you can spend for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tron2k
    I think with $75 you have plenty enough to buy some good articles. The rest of the time I would spend submitting those articles to as many directories as you can. After that bookmark them this will give your articles some added exposure. You can really take this alot further,but your budget stops at 75, Once you have a campaign setup and making money you can easily buy automated programs or outsource these tasks. Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author bizwebstart
      I agree with everyone here about free marketing but what I would also do is spend some time on your market research so that you know what competition you are up against and if the product is popular or not.

      There are two good sites you can start using for free:

      keywordspy.com - allows you to search on domains and keywords so you can get an idea of the competition and what people are paying for PPC etc

      Alexa.com - allows you to see what is hot and then you can drill down and see what is popular against the competition.

      We have all started out at some time and in my humble opinion try and find a product which has low competition to start with as I know we are all desperate to start earning money but the more things you try and learn from at the beginning, the more successful you will be later on down the road.

      Hope this makes sense

      Regards
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  • Profile picture of the author Affiliit
    as many have stated - seo, article marketing and free methods are going to be your friend
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  • Profile picture of the author Rick Meza
    Originally Posted by Qrisso View Post

    I am on a very tight budget, for this month I can afford $75 to spend on advertising.

    The thing is that I am not planning to make $10k with $75. All I want is to start building steady but strong revenue stream. Eg. - 75$ spent, $100 earned - reinvest, etc.
    Qrisso,

    STOP! ..do not waste more money. Here's a game plan for you:

    1. Keep building your blogs with a very targeted less competitive keywords (Use the Google kywd tool and keep digging)

    2. Write articles to a PR 5,6,7 etc article sites and link your blogs to those articles

    3. Blast your article links to Social Sites. Also Make Videos on youtube and post portion of the article as a description of the video with the link of that article.

    Copy, Paste and reapeat!

    Done!

    MASSIVE ACTION, MASSIVE RESULTS

    PS. once you start seeing that $$ in a few days then make the jump to paid traffic.

    Hope that helps.

    Rick ◄
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    • Profile picture of the author Qrisso
      Thank you everyone so much. No wonder why this forum is the greatest!

      The biggest problem with article marketing is that I need to set up a completely new game plan. And every time I come across couple of low hanging fruits (keywords), it just there is so much competition that I even don't know if I can overtake them.

      I know that competition shows that niche is making profit, then again I am a bit scared from them, I am just chasing my own tail trying to find long keyword phrases that don't have much/strong competition.


      Yet, I will try and there is no pretty much no option for me other than just suceed.

      Thank you all, I'll just invest my humble amount of money in aweber and in article writers.

      P.S. Complete newb question - why do people tell me to use "keyword", not just keyword (with out the "")? I understand that I see the exact competition for the phrase, then again, what good does it do for me? 95% people still don't use the "" to search for something, why should I care about the exact competition?

      Best regards,

      Kris.
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  • Profile picture of the author carlog1234
    Wow qrisso your an action man... Good for you. Me i never made money on CPA using free methods that's why I want to try paid traffic. I dont want to redirect, I like to try a landing page.. Any advise or resource out there that can help me build a landing page. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Cash37
    To the OP:

    I want you to start focus on collecting leads. Very few people buy on the first time, unless you get them REALLY excited about the product. Think about it.

    Surfer goes to get a free cat wallpaper... "ooh how to lose weight" they click. They read your LP. If they dont get immediately excited, they click the back button NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN...

    Or. Surfer goes to get a free cat wallpaper... gets interested in your offer. Clicks through to learn more about how to lose weight and low behold, A FREE VIDEO ON HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT!!!! AND ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS GIVE YOU AN EMAIL ADDRESS TO GET IT!!!!!

    Then from there you can build a relationship over time and drive their excitement up to convert into a sale. This is the oldest form of marketing, and isn't profitable immediately, but over time it is the best way to go.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kenster
      Originally Posted by Cash37 View Post

      To the OP:

      I want you to start focus on collecting leads. Very few people buy on the first time, unless you get them REALLY excited about the product. Think about it.

      Surfer goes to get a free cat wallpaper... "ooh how to lose weight" they click. They read your LP. If they dont get immediately excited, they click the back button NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN...

      Or. Surfer goes to get a free cat wallpaper... gets interested in your offer. Clicks through to learn more about how to lose weight and low behold, A FREE VIDEO ON HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT!!!! AND ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS GIVE YOU AN EMAIL ADDRESS TO GET IT!!!!!

      Then from there you can build a relationship over time and drive their excitement up to convert into a sale. This is the oldest form of marketing, and isn't profitable immediately, but over time it is the best way to go.

      BINGO! Maximizing the lifetime value of a prospect is paramount! Too often marketers focus on transactions and short term profits

      its all about sustainability in your business model!
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkAnderson
    Like most of them say, I also tell you as do it via free methods. The truth is, bad bargain what you've taken is something shouldn't had to be happened. The reason, as I guess is you hadn't enough experience to doing that (I'm not depressing you)

    Qrrisso, the failure isn't the end, it's the beginning of wisdom. Think about right strategies instead of luck and never think it as stupid because the IM who earn six figure incomes at the present also has done hundreds of fool works at the beginning.

    Qrrisso, if you want the success, STOP thinking about paid traffic just now and start going through the free traffic methods. Yes, it's little difficult than paying for PPC's or Ad spaces.

    But, it'll create a perfect man for IM arena.

    Regards, and go ahead........
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  • Profile picture of the author kunlemainland
    i think you have the best advice!stick with free methods of generating traffic and you move to the paid methods as cash flows in!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jcsarokin
    Don't work with CPM if your just starting out. Either go with ppc, or at the very least some free traffic sources ( forum posts, facebook accounts, twitter, etc. )

    That way you can test your campaign without losing any seed money.
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