From $0 to $100+ in under a month (23)
I mean, I'm not really a "newbie", but I haven't run a single affiliate campaign since early 2012. I joined the forum in late May sometime, so it's been less than a month, and I've already got a campaign making $100+ a day, while doing this as kind of a hobby. I'm still doing my other work as my main stuff, I usually spend like an hour a day on AM tops.
Here's some tips/things I learned since coming back:
1) Stick with something, but don't forget to be flexible.
I joined to get better at promoting mobile stuff, since I'm moving into developing ads and have no idea how to do mobile marketing. But, when I saw an adult offer I really, really liked with a unique angle that was a proven performer I decided to focus on that. It's paid off like crazy. Sure, going around from traffic source to traffic source, from offer type to offer type is not going to get you money, but you need to know when to be flexible as well. If I'd decided to say "fuck it" and stuck with mobile 100% I wouldn't have this campaign that's now running on autopilot.
2) The USA/CA/UK/AU is not the be-all and end-all
This shouldn't be news. It's written all over this forum. Go international, the competition is way lower, the ROI can be insane.
3) If at first you don't succeed...
When I started this campaign, I got a couple conversions here and there. They were few and far between, but enough for me to know the campaign had potential. So, I started again, this time instead of targetting web traffic going for mobile, thinking about my offer's conversion funnel and deciding that perhaps people using their phones would be more likely to go through the process specific to that offer. Bam. Instantly hit BEP pretty regularly. But, I wasn't making money, I was just breaking even.
I took my three best performing ads paused all the others, then created three variations on those winners. From there I was in profit land. Then I expanded to more countries, found which ones converted better, which ones converted worse, and now have a pretty hands off campaign going.
4) Read EVERYTHING on these forums
I made a few major mistakes in Adult when I started this campaign (notably thinking I could set Frequency capping like I would with PPV back in the day, 3-4/24h being pretty tight). After a couple days I took a few hours and just opened basically every single thread in the Adult forum that looked like it could help me. I learned so, so much, it completely changed my outlook on my campaign and adult in general and saved me hundreds in testing.
5) Use PROVEN offers
Toy around with offers once you've got some good campaigns going. You don't want to add the invariability of "shit offer" to the pile of stuff you're already dealing with as a newbie.
I spent $250 testing before I made my money back. The kicker? This is a high CPA offer (in the $15+ range). That said I wouldn't suggest for complete newbies to try and make a high CPA offer profitable for under $300, I have a LOT of experience in AM from years ago, but it's definitely possible. It's not going to be a huge campaign, unfortunately I had to target down to the point where the volume just isn't there, I don't think I'll ever get it past $300 a day, but I'm pretty pleased for what was my third campaign since getting back into the game.
Congrats Hannah! $100/day for an hour work each day ain't too shabby for a hobby!
Congrats on your success!
Spending only $250 before being profitable is also pretty nice, especially looking at the fact that its' a high paying offer.
Now update us when you double that 
Haha thanks dudes. Brock, looks like it's going to be tomorrow, maybe Thursday. But yeah, not bad for an hour's work or so a day.
Yeyyya Hannah! Thats great news haha, cheers for the write up too gonna move some people into action!
I expected nothing less. Like riding a bike eh? Just goes to show... it's the process and fundamentals that make AM work - not some secret ninja knowledge of a specific traffic source.
Hey Hannah. Thank you for the post!
Can I ask you how did you choose that particular offer ("proven")?
Nice! keep up the good work.
Nice work!
I could not agree more with your points - 1) in particular.
As with all things, it's best to take any "rule" in moderation. Sometimes, a traffic source just won't work for you, or you'll suddenly have a killer idea for a campaign on another source.
I definitely agree with #5. Don't reinvent the wheel. Take what works, learn everything you can on how and why it works, and improve on it when you can.
Originally Posted by ricmed
Zeno, you're absolutely right. The fundamentals are there, and they never go away.
Very inspiring!
Congrats Hannah!
I think one of the key steps is to isolate what has potential and then to explore it and milk whatever's there.
Pivoting on a good concept to find a great concept = $$$
Were you direct-linking the offers you were using? Or did you create your own lander?
I was direct linking, but only because it worked right off the bat. I had to pause the campaign because I got too busy with more profitable work/skiing to babysit the stats, but when I restart it I'll probably throw in some landing page testing to improve CVRs even more.
Honestly though, whether or not I was direct linking had almost nothing to do with my success here: it was all about finding a good offer, a good traffic source, and relatively untapped traffic.
Originally Posted by hannahmcintyre
Congrats Hannah!
It is really wonderful to have such profit~keep on updating us more good news~
Originally Posted by hannahmcintyre
GRRRREEEAT! YOU are affiliate power ranger! ^)
Congrats Hannah, really inspiring especially to a new marketer like me.
What is a good EPC and a good volume?
Love hearing when affiliate marketers succeed in this game & give out tips to the rest of the community Keep it up!
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