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This is how you lose $10,000

by LMC
16 replies
Hey Warriors,

The importance of this post comes to doing research.

I'm usually very very good at it, however in this instance I f-ed up.

Last month I saw a media buying position in which I would receive nearly 1,500,000+ impressions for my ad on a per day basis, on an extremely popular blog. Starts with a P.

In any case, I was so surprised that the ad block was available for the month at the above price, and so without doing the correct research I went ahead and purchased the ad.

I displayed an ad in the acne niche thinking that it would fit the demographic, but low and behold hell I was wrong. Way wrong.

Excuse my language but I got raped by my own impulsive buying.

A disease many of us deal with.

The ad didn't just underperformed, but performed with approx 1000 clicks.

1000 clicks, after nearly, 54,000,000 impressions, a ridiculously bad conversion. I blame it on myself.

But felt I had to voice that we all need to do better research when buying anything, ads, products, memberships, coaching, etc...

Where I went wrong was simple. The demographic of the site mainly doesn't have a credit card, or simply would not use it for an acne product because their parents would buy it from them.

In any case, a small rant, from an annoyed-with-himself-marketer.

Bottom line. Due diligence + Research = Success

Thanks for reading.
#$10 #lose
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Sorry for your loss. Don't forget the other part of the success equation...testing.

    Did you let it go the whole month before looking at the results? Couldn't you have changed the ad when you saw it wasn't performing?
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    • Profile picture of the author Jake Dennert
      Thanks for this reminder of how important research is.

      I've made mistakes just like anyone else, but I can't say any of them cost me $10,000.

      That's gotta hurt, and I'm sorry you had to experience that kind of loss.

      I guess on the bright side... a mistake that cost you that much is definitely one you're going to learn from!
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  • Profile picture of the author EndGame
    Out of interest, where did you see this ad opportunity?

    On the blog itself or via a network?

    Sorry to hear about the loss, and thanks for sharing the story. A lot of the time, a lot of marketers on the net about "not over-thinking it" and "just do it" but there is always a place for due diligence.
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  • Profile picture of the author LMC
    Dennis,

    To be honest with you, I went through a month of just buying, buying,. and buying and did not do much checking and testing. I changed the ad but stayed in the "acne" niche, and it did not result in much.

    Luckily, other buys on other sites ended up working extremely well and so I spent my time tweaking those to perform better instead of working on the non-successful.

    In my experience buying ads on specific niches instead of a broad audience works better anyways.

    ------------------------

    Endgame,

    I purchased the ad through an ad network.

    ---------------------------

    jaked,

    this is actually my first loss when it comes to media buying so, yes, I definitely learned why the mistake was made. Just let emotions and excitement play into my business too much.
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  • Profile picture of the author rvrabel2002
    Originally Posted by LMC View Post

    Hey Warriors,

    The importance of this post comes to doing research.

    I'm usually very very good at it, however in this instance I f-ed up.

    Last month I saw a media buying position in which I would receive nearly 1,500,000+ impressions for my ad on a per day basis, on an extremely popular blog. Starts with a P.

    In any case, I was so surprised that the ad block was available for the month at the above price, and so without doing the correct research I went ahead and purchased the ad.

    I displayed an ad in the acne niche thinking that it would fit the demographic, but low and behold hell I was wrong. Way wrong.

    Excuse my language but I got raped by my own impulsive buying.

    A disease many of us deal with.

    The ad didn't just underperformed, but performed with approx 1000 clicks.

    1000 clicks, after nearly, 54,000,000 impressions, a ridiculously bad conversion. I blame it on myself.

    But felt I had to voice that we all need to do better research when buying anything, ads, products, memberships, coaching, etc...

    Where I went wrong was simple. The demographic of the site mainly doesn't have a credit card, or simply would not use it for an acne product because their parents would buy it from them.

    In any case, a small rant, from an annoyed-with-himself-marketer.

    Bottom line. Due diligence + Research = Success

    Thanks for reading.
    I know how you feel man. I just ran into a similar problem you have. While I didnt spend nearly as much, the conversions are simply horrible. Time to weather the storm, repair any damages, and learn from your mistakes. I find that CPA is all about testing to death, and just when you think your done testing, test some more. Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author LMC
    rvrabel,

    Exactly, I'm kind of getting tired of CPA offers, and dealing with the CPA companies, as I find that my tracking does not always perfectly match theirs.

    I'm actually seeing better results with commission junction and adzoogle product offers that pay per sale and not per lead.

    As long as you have a good action ad, it seems to work pretty well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Howdy Doody
      Banned
      Wow, thank you for the cautionary tale. I've also gotten bitten due to impulsive thinking. I'm learning to be more cautious -- it can be tough when you have a fleeting opportunity staring you in the face.

      I'm sure this lesson will pay off for you, and you'll quickly make that money back!
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  • Profile picture of the author freelikehell
    @LMC - I've been there man. Not once, but thrice. Media Buying is a VERY risky business. Somehow I prefer the pay per CLICK model more (I bet you do that too now).

    Most of the CPA Super Affs are using Media Buying, but they've got cash like bucket loads.

    With media buying, even if you do the due research, you never know with which way you may go wrong. In you example - had you got a high CTR, you might have made your month's income from that implusive decision.

    But you gotta hand it to me on the next statement: Some of the most impulsive decisions we make turn out to the profit pillars for tomorrow (There's some philosophy at 6 in the morning!)

    PS: I think I know which site starting with P you're talking about...
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  • Profile picture of the author LB
    It takes guts to admit you blew 10k. Just focus on taking what works and multiplying that success.

    Often we get lured in by new "shiny toys" instead of focusing on what's already working.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kella Bella
    I am sorry for your loss but I applaud you looking to yourself for the reasons why. That was an expensive lesson but you already got the lesson so thankfully you won't have to learn it again :-) Good luck in your future endeavors.
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  • Profile picture of the author LMC
    freelikehell,

    I'm sure you know what blog I'm talking about

    Thanks for all the comments, again this was a deep lesson, one that I most likely won't make again. but who knows what the psychological mind will want.
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  • Profile picture of the author jaysteven84
    did you bought AD space for 10K$???
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  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    Crikey thats steep. At least you are trying to take a learning away from it which is great.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetSuccess001
    Assuming it is a monthly ad... and you still have the ad.

    Why not simply replace it with a different product that fits the demographic? You don't have to have a direct "advertising"->"purchase", but could have some sort of intermediate step (whether some kind of (legit) CPA offer), or something along those lines...

    I would not look at it as a loss... if you are still getting those kind of impressions, simply rework the ad.

    Originally Posted by LMC View Post

    Hey Warriors,

    The importance of this post comes to doing research.

    I'm usually very very good at it, however in this instance I f-ed up.

    Last month I saw a media buying position in which I would receive nearly 1,500,000+ impressions for my ad on a per day basis, on an extremely popular blog. Starts with a P.

    In any case, I was so surprised that the ad block was available for the month at the above price, and so without doing the correct research I went ahead and purchased the ad.

    I displayed an ad in the acne niche thinking that it would fit the demographic, but low and behold hell I was wrong. Way wrong.

    Excuse my language but I got raped by my own impulsive buying.

    A disease many of us deal with.

    The ad didn't just underperformed, but performed with approx 1000 clicks.

    1000 clicks, after nearly, 54,000,000 impressions, a ridiculously bad conversion. I blame it on myself.

    But felt I had to voice that we all need to do better research when buying anything, ads, products, memberships, coaching, etc...

    Where I went wrong was simple. The demographic of the site mainly doesn't have a credit card, or simply would not use it for an acne product because their parents would buy it from them.

    In any case, a small rant, from an annoyed-with-himself-marketer.

    Bottom line. Due diligence + Research = Success

    Thanks for reading.
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    Pick a product. Pick ANY product! -> 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
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  • Profile picture of the author LMC
    Is001,

    I no longer am running the ad, as I realized more niche websites over a broad audience works better for my campaigns.

    I canceled the ad at the end of the month. Just didn't want to deal with the demographic anymore.
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  • Profile picture of the author Deepak Media
    Sugarcanes lay the root structure for several weeks and it does not grow vertically until then. Then suddenly it grows several inches per day! That's how important the foundation is.

    We can learn from nature.

    Research is the foundation for internet marketing!

    Doing a project without research is like building a structure on loose soil!
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    Digital Marketing Author | Speaker | Consultant

    Read my Blog: DigitalDeepak.com

    @ Bangalore, India.
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