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CASE STUDY: Jumping in to my first media buy

by Biowza
13 replies
Well yesterday, I decided I'd throw myself in to the mix of things by making my first media buy. I'd be looking forward to some feedback when I start to see some numbers coming through.

OK, here's my process thus far

1) Went to my CPA network and found a simple ZIP submit offer paying around $1.40 for a well known department store
2) Found a high-traffic blog focused on gossip
3) Quantcast report confirms traffic numbers with un-surprising demographics of USA women aged 18-34
4) Go to ad platform to see that the price of $300 for three days of ads (2 million impressions) is too high for my budget.
5) Decide to buy 10% of the ad time at $30 for 200,000 impressions over 3 days
6) Upload banner ad provided by network. Ad is 300x250 on the top right hand side of the page, above the fold.
7) Pay da moneh

My ad is currently waiting to be approved (I don't imagine any problems) and I'll update the thread when it goes live.

What do people think of my current process? My only real concern is the offer, which seems pretty typical of the FREE FREE FREE blindness that most people have when searching online. I think its pretty well targeted though, which might help.

Thanks for your help/comments.
#buy #case #jumping #media #study
  • Profile picture of the author PPC-Coach
    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    Well yesterday, I decided I'd throw myself in to the mix of things by making my first media buy. I'd be looking forward to some feedback when I start to see some numbers coming through.

    OK, here's my process thus far
    Before I go into why this won't work, first let me say that I totally appreciate that you're actually making an effort which is the part most affiliate marketers skip. So good job for taking action.

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    1) Went to my CPA network and found a simple ZIP submit offer paying around $1.40 for a well known department store
    What did your AM say about this one? Ask them what would work with the sites demographic instead. Typically this type of zip won't work well in general.

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    2) Found a high-traffic blog focused on gossip
    Probably one of the worst traffic types out there to convert. Right ahead of russian or chinese traffic though. Gossip/celeb sites just dont' convert well.

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    3) Quantcast report confirms traffic numbers with un-surprising demographics of USA women aged 18-34
    Go work on taking that step, that's good stuff, you know the demo, now you just need to switch the offer, in fact I would rotate about 10 offers with that kind of impressions.

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    4) Go to ad platform to see that the price of $300 for three days of ads (2 million impressions) is too high for my budget.
    What is your budget? $300 per day isn't that high.

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    5) Decide to buy 10% of the ad time at $30 for 200,000 impressions over 3 days
    Ok good compromise then...

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    6) Upload banner ad provided by network. Ad is 300x250 on the top right hand side of the page, above the fold.
    Mistake, if you can get a banner from a network, don't use it. You MUST either make your own or outsource unique ones. Those banners are not tested for conversions and usually stink. New affiliates think it's a bonus if the banners are already made, but it's actually the exact opposite. Those banners are dead within days of being put on the account, don't use them, make your own.

    Originally Posted by Biowza View Post

    7) Pay da moneh

    My ad is currently waiting to be approved (I don't imagine any problems) and I'll update the thread when it goes live.

    What do people think of my current process? My only real concern is the offer, which seems pretty typical of the FREE FREE FREE blindness that most people have when searching online. I think its pretty well targeted though, which might help.

    Thanks for your help/comments.
    You're right in being concerned with the offer. But I would also be concerned with the traffic source and banners. Rotate a bunch of offers to find a winner instead of just testing one. Don't use the network provided banners, make your own. Then you'll have a chance at making profit.

    Again, good job at taking action though, that is something that is so necessary and it's awesome that you're doing something!

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  • Profile picture of the author Social Experts
    If only it were this easy..
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    Chill.

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    • Profile picture of the author Biowza
      Wow, thanks so much for the insight PPC Coach. I guess I was a bit simplistic in my thinking of 'women like shopping, offer them free shopping'.

      I really learned a lot from your post, thanks again.

      My ad is still waiting to be approved, I'll update the thread when I have more info anyway.

      Thanks again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Firstrate
    Looking forward to seeing the results of this.

    Well done for moving forward and making this happen.
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  • Profile picture of the author williamrs
    Great, mate! Not taking action is the reason why most people fail, so you're certainly with the right mindset!

    If you are promoting a ZIP submit the most important thing is your CTR. You will need over 20 conversions just to break-even (this is the reason why I prefer offers with better payouts for CPM), so you need to take as many people as possible to the offer's page.

    Make them banner eye-catching (animated if possible) and split-test different images and colors. The more clicks the better. Also, try to say something to help with credibility (people often think that email/zip submits are scams), like Wal-Mart is giving away $1,000 gift cards for Christmas!. Many big companies have this type of thing during the Christmas, so it won't look like a scam.


    William
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  • Profile picture of the author PPC-Coach
    How'd it go?
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    • Profile picture of the author Biowza
      I think it just got approved

      7206 impressions
      6 clicks
      0.083% CTR
      No conversions

      Hmm, ouch lol
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  • Profile picture of the author WFParadise
    Not that bad so far
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    • Profile picture of the author Biowza
      25,877 impressions
      16 clicks (CPA network only showing 10 clicks, their count is a bit delayed)
      0.062% CTR
      1 conversion (CPA network showing 1 conv from 10 clicks)
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  • Profile picture of the author mtmjohn
    Nice conversion so far. Keep up the great work and I will definitely follow this case study.
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    • Profile picture of the author Biowza
      87,259 impressions
      45 clicks (CPA network showing 28 clicks, their count is delayed)
      0.052% CTR
      2 conversions (CPA network showing 2 conv from 28 clicks)

      Total profit -$27.40

      Not going too well, with nearly half the quoted impressions done, I've only got two conversions.
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  • Profile picture of the author WFParadise
    Improve CTR and/or make for your banner frequency cap 1/24, that way you will show it only to uniques this day and will not waste money for impressions.
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  • Profile picture of the author WFParadise
    You should also filter traffic out to US only impressions, for non-US redirect them to other offer
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