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Finished with POF, what should I wrestle with next? (22)

12-06-2013 01:33 PM #1 davidal (Member)
Finished with POF, what should I wrestle with next?

Ok so after being on POF for months, I feel like I've taken all I can from it. I've learned the basics of internet marketing but I just cannot get POF to work for me. I've tried lots of offers, campaigns, landers but no dice.

So I'm looking to move on now and continue progressing with internet marketing. I feel like my best options are mobile (which I am endeared to the most at the moment), adult and facebook. Something that's noob friendly is probably going to be my best bet.

12-06-2013 08:43 PM #2 stackman (Administrator)

All are good options.

Facebook is similar to POF, which may be a good thing for ease of transition, or a bad thing if you're sick of it.

12-07-2013 12:24 AM #3 deondup (Member)

Its probably not what you want to hear, but if you cannot make POF work then you probably need to stay there a while longer

Golden Rule: stick with something UNTIL you can make it work. You probably won't make millions but there are guys doing $1k plus/day on POF. Every traffic source has a learning curve and mobile, adult and facebook are certainly not an easy pick if you still consider yourself a noob

12-07-2013 01:07 AM #4 mscimitar (Member)

Have you started a follow along? Or maybe start a mastermind where you and a small group share everything and collaborate? This definitely leads to faster success

12-07-2013 01:36 AM #5 craigm (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by deondup View Post
Its probably not what you want to hear, but if you cannot make POF work then you probably need to stay there a while longer
This

I recall you saying that your copywriting skills are crap, have you worked on them and tried POF again yet?

12-07-2013 03:29 AM #6 stackman (Administrator)

Quote Originally Posted by deondup View Post
Its probably not what you want to hear, but if you cannot make POF work then you probably need to stay there a while longer

Golden Rule: stick with something UNTIL you can make it work. You probably won't make millions but there are guys doing $1k plus/day on POF. Every traffic source has a learning curve and mobile, adult and facebook are certainly not an easy pick if you still consider yourself a noob
I second this, but i got the vibe he already got POF to work for a while? If not stick with it, its one of the easiest sources to begin with.

12-07-2013 09:46 AM #7 davidal (Member)

First of all, there is not one person in the follow along section making pof work for themselves. I appreciate where you're coming from, but I really don't think it's as easy a traffic source as you guys are letting on. I've even noticed the difference personally from where I started (around June) to now and it does seem to have gotten harder.

I've started follow alongs, I've been part of a mastermind, and I've not had a profitable campaign with it. At this point I feel like I'm throwing money away and getting nowhere. I've promoted every offer I can think of and am now trying to recycle offers, even though I know I can't make them work. With $2.6k spent, how much more money do I need to waste before I declare myself done with POF?

I've seen plenty of guys (including machete who just had a successful adult follow along where he was hitting $xxx per day) say they could just not hack POF no matter what.

12-07-2013 10:30 AM #8 caurmen (Administrator)

I have (1) weird question here:

How much do you feel like you understand the people you're advertising to on POF?

I ask because when I started AM, I actually broke the "stick with one traffic source" rule: I started on PPV, couldn't get it to work, and ended up having my first successful campaign on a media buy platform. (I don't recommend that exact route, btw.)

The reason I eventually moved on was because I just couldn't empathise with the audience on PPV: I found that moving to a source where I found my visitors much easier to understand was what eventually let me crack it. And after that, I moved on to other traffic sources including POF.

I recall that you've mostly been aiming your campaigns at women: have you tried advertising to men of about your age, for example? You may find it's much easier to get into their heads and get them to click.

12-07-2013 10:40 AM #9 davidal (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by caurmen View Post
I have (1) weird question here:

How much do you feel like you understand the people you're advertising to on POF?

I ask because when I started AM, I actually broke the "stick with one traffic source" rule: I started on PPV, couldn't get it to work, and ended up having my first successful campaign on a media buy platform. (I don't recommend that exact route, btw.)

The reason I eventually moved on was because I just couldn't empathise with the audience on PPV: I found that moving to a source where I found my visitors much easier to understand was what eventually let me crack it. And after that, I moved on to other traffic sources including POF.

I recall that you've mostly been aiming your campaigns at women: have you tried advertising to men of about your age, for example? You may find it's much easier to get into their heads and get them to click.
I've advertised to men and done better, but it's no use because unless I can crack women I'm going to get booted off of the offers. I did pretty good with bbpeoplemeet promoting to men, but obviously that isn't a long term option. I also did pretty good with my CTR's when promoting matesmingle to men which would be a more viable long term option, but the CVR was inconsistent and not good enough at the best of times.

Also promoted curvyBBW on POF for a short time, know for a FACT I would have got that one profitable, then I was told the offer isn't allowed on pof :/

So yeah, I guess I really don't understand the women of POF. I've read pof forum, searched for mature dating forums etc. in an attempt to understand, but I still can't get it.

I've seen a banner targeted at mature women doing the rounds for quite a while. The ad text says "want a mature boyfriend? It's time to find that special someone. Join the most popular dating site for 40+ singles. Don't wait any longer. Find your dream man!" and it obviously must be working if it's been around for so long, but I just don't get how that ad copy is anything special?

12-07-2013 03:57 PM #10 bbrock32 (Administrator)

Well , I would have suggested to stick to POF too... however if you really feel you have to move somewhere else then do it.

When I was starting out I had my first big campaigns on PPV. The reason was that I am not the most creative guy out there , so removing one variable out of the equation ( banners ) helped me a lot.

Also , you can buy quite some traffic for decently cheap so gather data faster.

12-07-2013 04:46 PM #11 claytonb (Member)

You may already read Charles NGO's blog, but if not, he has a fantastic article talking about a similar situation in his "Rise of NGO" series. In http://www.charlesngo.com/the-rise-of-ngo-ch-4/ , he addresses how he lost $4,000+ before starting to see success, and gives some great tips on continuing to push forward. Hope this helps, no matter whether or not you continue with POF specifically!

12-08-2013 08:47 AM #12 mike_s (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by deondup View Post
Its probably not what you want to hear, but if you cannot make POF work then you probably need to stay there a while longer

Golden Rule: stick with something UNTIL you can make it work. You probably won't make millions but there are guys doing $1k plus/day on POF. Every traffic source has a learning curve and mobile, adult and facebook are certainly not an easy pick if you still consider yourself a noob
I started off on POF and could not make it work for the life of me. I got really sick of it, gave up on it, and moved to Facebook. I made Facebook work. I wouldn't recommend getting into Facebook right now, but if you're really sick of POF, and if you've honestly given it the best shot possible, then you should move on. It's a tough call though.. there definitely is something to be said about sticking with something for as long as it takes. Flip flopping is no good. When i switched from POF to FB I stuck with it for a LONG time until I got it to work

12-09-2013 07:32 AM #13 dr_ngo ()

Quote Originally Posted by claytonb View Post
You may already read Charles NGO's blog, but if not, he has a fantastic article talking about a similar situation in his "Rise of NGO" series. In http://www.charlesngo.com/the-rise-of-ngo-ch-4/ , he addresses how he lost $4,000+ before starting to see success, and gives some great tips on continuing to push forward. Hope this helps, no matter whether or not you continue with POF specifically!
Thanks for mentioning my blog. However, I lost a ton of money on Google Adwords. It wasn't until I switched to Facebook that I started making money.

Everyone's saying to keep sticking with something until it works. That usually applies to those ADD retards who switch sources every week.

My advice is to listen to your gut. If you've put in the time and still can't make it work, then maybe POF's not a good fit for you. There are some traffic sources i absolutely cannot get working. It doesn't mean you're any less of an internet marketer, just means it's just not a good fit.

It's like my ex-gf. Amazing, but just couldn't get it to work. On to the next one!

12-09-2013 02:07 PM #14 caurmen (Administrator)

Everyone's saying to keep sticking with something until it works. That usually applies to those ADD retards who switch sources every week.
Definitely agreed.

From what you say, davidal, the key thing that's not working for you is the demographic - and you've really tried to make it work.

At this point, I'd say that moving on and trying another source is a sensible decision. And it also sounds like you've identified some demographics that you can work with well - which is very valuable.

Given what you say about CurvyBBW and generally finding it easier to market to men, you might find that adult works very well for you. Niche adult campaigns are still pretty noob friendly, and in many ways they're surprisingly similar to POF in terms of sales tactics - you're just selling sex more and relationships less, but there's a crossover.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on!

12-09-2013 08:10 PM #15 davidal (Member)

Thanks for the replies guys. Just received my haul of copywriting books in the post today, I'm going to give POF one more month, until the middle of Jan, and if I've made no decent progress by then I will be throwing in the towel in favour of adult or mobile.

I'm going to be as close to 100% transparent in my follow along as I can be for this next month. I will be posting my ads and landers in plain sight for all to see. At this point, I literally have nothing to lose by putting what I'm doing out there and trying to learn as much as possible from it.

12-10-2013 11:59 AM #16 caurmen (Administrator)

That's an excellent idea. I shall look out for them and give as much help as I can!

12-10-2013 05:18 PM #17 dynamicsoul (Member)

Sympathise with you mate. I couldn't get pof to work either. . And jumped to fb for a while and had better success. I left fb because I wanted to get away from dating and didnt want to go burning accounts all the time. So my two accounts I have are really healthy and legit now.. and my focus is soley on mobile.. but that is a whole new can of worms!!

12-11-2013 06:08 PM #18 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

If every source worked for everyone for every category, then everyone would be a billionaire.

Everyone is not a billionaire, ergo, not every source will work for everyone in every category.

You just need to set a goal on how much you are willing/able to spend on "R&D" each month to figure out if something will work.

12-12-2013 08:51 PM #19 philme (Member)

I would say try looking into mobile. I too have moved on from POF. I noticed now its so much harder than it was a year ago. Cost of data is higher and I think unless you have a unique offer to promote it is tough for the dating niche.

12-15-2013 04:02 PM #20 davidal (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by philme View Post
I would say try looking into mobile. I too have moved on from POF. I noticed now its so much harder than it was a year ago. Cost of data is higher and I think unless you have a unique offer to promote it is tough for the dating niche.
Yeah mobile is what I plan on getting into, how are you getting on with it?

Any newbie resources which you found helpful?

12-16-2013 03:27 PM #21 larceny (Member)

Not trying to promote another forum, but Ruck from IMGrind wrote a "mobile manifesto v2" recently and it's got a ton of information on mobile marketing. I'd definitely read that if you want to learn more about mobile. Mobile may be the newer thing and less competition (supposedly?) but I found it harder to convert for me. There's more variables and devices to worry about. I was doing adult media buying - for both desktop and mobile, and I found desktop was still much easier to convert. I don't know the reason why. It may just be the niche though.

12-18-2013 06:49 PM #22 philme (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by davidal View Post
Yeah mobile is what I plan on getting into, how are you getting on with it?

Any newbie resources which you found helpful?
I'm still trying to learn the ropes of things like traffic sources and such. I got a mobpartner account, and they do seem to have tons of good offers, but every offer I see you can't run your own creatives unless you get permission. It seems like a lot of hassle just to get an offer running so right now I'm just trying out a mobile dating offer for now.

In terms of traffic sources, I couldn't get dating offers approved for incrowdads, inmobi, and mMedia. So I wouldn't use those for dating offers, but I have yet to try running other offers.

Read the 14 days to master mobile marketing guide.
Also read: Caurmen's landing page guide
Mr. Greens Perfect Mobile Banner Guide

Also like larceny said get mobile manifesto v2. You just opt in to their list and you can download it free.

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