How the hack do you get positive ROI on Facebook ads?!

It looks like you need to do some more research on PPC methods.

Keep testing ad images, and titles... you have to get your CPC down a bit.

Also play with the demographic targeting.

You need to get your CPC down. What targeting are you using?

Your CPC is way high. To do dating in Facebook you need 2 things:

1) Low CPC. Test many : image / ad copy that gets you at least 0.15% CTR, your bids will be around 0.25 or something. If you can hit 0.18 above it's gonna be 0.20 cents, and lower if you can maintain it. (All based on US)

2) High conversion. Use a lander to increase your conversion, but make sure you track important metrics, like, your lander CTR.. for facebook it's best if you can get at least a 30% CTR...

That's the answer to your question

I think your best bet might be to go CPM. Think about it like this: you pay maybe $.90/click, you get 111 clicks out of $100. You pay $.90/1000 impressions with a .5% CR, you get 5x the clicks for the same price.

going CPM in facebook? personally i dont encourage that.. I notice the CTR tend to be lower, split testing the SAME ads with CPC and CPM. I'm guessing they position your ads at some off pages when you go CPM..

Do you notice a lower conversion rate per $ spent on CPM ads as opposed to CPC? In my experience I've seen the opposite. Also, consumers need to see an ad multiple times before they respond to it (see the Wikipedia entry on Effective Frequency). This is easy to achieve when serving CPM against a small, targeted audience.

I will agree that CPM to a wide audience is difficult. When you need to serve an ad multiple times to an individual before they respond, you're going to have a tough time with CTR if your audience is several million (since Facebook will spread those impressions as thinly as possible).

Ultimately, I believe that the approach you mentioned is best: split test. Look at the CTR, and look at the conversions per campaign to see what works best for your specific case. Also, always advertise to a smaller, more targeted audience if possible: the idea of having more people see your ad sounds enticing, but if 1 million people only see your ad once, you've wasted your money.

Suggested bid on Facebook is crack. Don't believe them. You can bid $10 but if you have a decent CTR, say 0.15% above, you'll see reasonable CPCs (within the 20s range)

Having said that though, the way i bid is usually just matching the highest suggested bids facebook tells me to. I might pay higher for the first couple clicks, but if CTR is decent it will revert back to the normal CPCs.. Another thing why i bid high is because when i test campaigns i dont wanna wait 2 days to spend 10 bucks. I want it within hours, so i can make more effective decisions on the campaign on an hourly basis.

Have you looked at the analytics for your landing page? Do you know what your bounce rate is? The issue might be with your landing page, or it could be that your targeting the wrong groups. Either way, if your bounce rate is high (meaning a low CR) then you know it's one of those two issues, which you should solve prior to working on your CPC. Getting .20/click is great, but it's still a waste of money if you're targeting the wrong demographics or your site just sucks.

I bit hard due to the competence

Your CPC is definitely too high. Test with your ad copy. For sure, test with your images, as it is something that grabs the attention. Your demographic targeting is also very important. It is possible to get few cents clicks on facebook. However, to achieve this, you should be paying for impressions (CPM), not for clicks (CPC).

Are you new in Facebook CPC?
I suggest you target on International.
For example, like Canada, Germany.
Their bids are much cheaper.
And You need to focus on the Increase you CTR,
then you will be able to decrease your bids.

Hope this help! Feel free to ask.

is there any reliable course on Facebook ads.

Something in your targeting must be pushing your CPC up too perhaps.
I would suggest a different country. You can find a translator if needed and familiarize yourself there.

You're actually paying more per click than I do for top tier search!

MilkerFocus has the right idea. I personally know a couple affiliates who are raking it in with overseas CPA offers.

Here's an example,

I just plugged this in and if you target single men ages 25 and up in India, the "recommended bid" is 42 cents. If you do proper split testing you can easily get clicks under 15 cents (I know this because I have seen it done). That is just with lazy targeting too. If you divide ads by age group and test each group, Facebook will basically be paying YOU for clicks.

If you are able to find a solid offer with a decent payout, which do exist if you do enough searching, you can do very well.

There are thousands of people doing exactly what you're doing, but not nearly as many doing what I just mentioned. Just something to think about!

An Update,
After switching to CPM my CTR dropped dramatically (I bidded for little bit below the average of the suggested bid).
I got only 2 clicks of about 12K impressions.
However, I paid total 1.2$ it's 0.6$ per click and it's still much cheaper then 1.5$ per click..