[PLEASE ADVISE] Lost $12k+, Have Around $2k5 Left, Should I Take on Facebook & CPA? (16)
[PLEASE ADVISE] Lost $12k+, Have Around $2k5 Left, Should I Take on Facebook & CPA?
Hi STMers,
How are you hustling? Hope you guys are doing well 
Earlier this week, I lost my Amazon associate account with $12k+ left inside for breaking their policies in a stupid way.
Those were the money I intended to invest in this arbitrage game to create another income source online.
But with this thing happened, I'm now left with only around $2k5 to invest in the game. Not much as I've read somewhere here that it looks like people who are new to this business need at least $5k to spend in order to make it profitable.
I've been an affiliate for around 3 years and most of my money comes from doing business with Amazon by building small niche websites and SEO them to the top of Google for their chosen keywords. I used to make around $200/day with my sites. But the recent GG update and this Amazon account-ban slapped it back to basically $0 now.
That $2k5 is the only money I have left with atm. I'm still working on a part time job that pulls in around $400 a month here in Vietnam but since it's "part time", it's not a long term "guarantee" as well. However, since the cost of living here is not that high, I can still invest some of that money back into the game whenever I have it.
Funnily enough, all these things happen right after I decided and told my boss that I will quit my job in about 1 month lol.
For CPA networks, I have one account with Peerfly and another one pending review with F5 Media. And my traffic source of choice is Facebook.
The reason why I chose Facebook is because I've practiced it since May this year mostly with local businesses and have had some successes as well. But I haven't test anything CPA-related yet and I know it's much harder to compete on a global scale comparing to small local markets.
So, my question is, with all that in my hands, should I start stepping down the FB+CPA road or that kind of money atm is just not enough to justify the cost for a newbie like me entering the game?
I know I should make the decision myself and I will. Just want to hear from you guys, who might experienced this situation before me or are far more experienced.
Thanks!
I am sorry for you lost,
Basically what you will do if you will lose those 2.5k? will you quite? or give it another try?
its really not important where you start, you will end up most chances doing somehting else..
yea there are shortcuts and there are better places to start, but as soon as you stop searching them and put your effort into action you chances to nail it will be much better..
1) Spy - find campaing that running in enough volume & can easly be mimik by you- if someone spending enough money on it - he probably earn money on it - this is very good point to start(don't listen to what people say just watch & click on ads - 1 exception you can ask your affiliate manage which offers are hot but don't just trust him blindly - try to verify what he is saying..)
2) Take action - Mimik 1 to 1 (1 to 1 is 1 to 1)- learn & Improve - do baby steps - aim not to be creative in start, simple as possible - get 1 thing to work (just 1)
3) Aim to fail As fast as you can (you need to buy data..)- don't aim to earn money - never stop trying until you nail it
4) master the testing process (its not trivail to test effectively..)
Paid media is much better then seo in terms of speed, you can fail much faster and scale much faster, quick feedback is very important in learning process..
You probably knows much more than you need to start taking actions..
Good luck, you can do it.
How exactly did you break Amazon's ToS?
If you want to go the Facebook route, definitely leverage your placement in Vietnam. Are you fluent in Vietnamese?
Also, if you have experience with local businesses, consider approaching more and negotiating advertising contracts.
Most small businesses have no idea how to advertise effectively on FB and you could potentially be very valuable to them.
Originally Posted by delash
Since I still have other sources of income, I won't quit even if I lose that $2k5. Although they're small sources of income, they can still be of good use. And I will try to put every single penny I have for this to work this time.
And if things go well, I can borrow some money here and there to fund my business so no worry.
I'm planning to start a follow along thread soon documenting my journey from $0 back to my previous level of income. Wish me luck
One thing in your comment that I really like is to spy on others to know what things are working out there and try those first. But can you share with me a bit more about your preferred tools and how you'd go doing that?
Thanks!
Originally Posted by zeno
I'm a Vietnamese so it's my native language.
Most of the local businesses here that I'm working with are of friends and relatives.
And what I do for them is to help them run their businesses first and then I taught them the basics and then let them run on their own. And the second purpose is to practice my skills with fb ads first on a smaller scale before I start with this CPA thing.
So it's not my main aim to make money from helping the local businesses here in Vietnam. I helped them so that I have real life case studies to practice my skills with fb ads before I try to apply those skills to this arbitrage game.
About the Amazon policy that I violated, it was about the linking policy.
Since the prices and promotions on Amz change all the time, they would not allow affiliates to place a link that says "click here to buy XYZ for 30% off plus FREE shipping!" but when people click on the link, the real product page on Amz says it's just 25% off.
I skimmed that very part of their policy and now I pay for that laziness.
So for people reading this who're working with Amz and do the exact thing I shared above, you guys should go and change it asap!
I had my associates account closed as well about 2 weeks ago. They claimed that my checkout button's text was misrepresenting my relationship with amazon. The text was "amazon checkout", which led the customer to believe that they're using the checkout by amazon feature rather than an affiliate site.
They also have $12k of my money. Have you tried getting your money back from them?
On the bright side, this was the last drop in my bucket. I'm just sick of constantly dealing with things outside of my control - Google updates, changes in amazon policies
I'm a newbie in paid search but I decided to focus on paid search campaigns now and hoping to reach same level of success. My goal is to average about $5k monthly. That's what I did with my niche site.
Good luck with your campaigns!
Originally Posted by pk63606
Looks like we're in the same situation.
I tried contacting them 2 days after it happened but it looks like they just ignored my message altogether.
Doesn't matter I think as I'm shifting toward paid traffic as well.
I'm reading the guides here and preparing all the needed things. Will start a new follow along thread soon. I think you should try it too.
Hope we both can make it back to the formal days of income
All the best man!
fanatic4k just sign up for some CPA networks, a few good ones are: Mundo Media, Clickdealer, Avazu
http://www.mundomedia.com
http://www.clickdealer.com
https://avazutracking.net
Ask your new affiliate manager what performs best in VN in the mobile space (It will certainly be a free app install or a mobile pin submit offer).
Then use your SEO knowledge to promote these offers with free traffic which you send to landing pages for the offers you have chosen (For examples of landing pages just check the STM mobile traffic forum)
With the right angle you can generate a really high conversion rates for mobile offers in VN so you won't even need crazy amounts of traffic. Lots of smartphones in Vietnam, and people download like crazy
This should make you enough money (if you get it right of course) to save up some decent amount of money to start with paid traffic on the side.
It will certainly train you on what works and what doesn't in terms of landing pages, angles, offers and so on and will make it much easier for you to start with a paid source like FB...
That's pretty damn crappy from Amazon if they're terminating your account for a misleading checkout button. These large companies should learn to work with their affiliates rather than treating them as expendable lemmings.
I agree that using your location and familiarity with Vietnam is a great advantage.
You can tap in to one of AM's big exploding markets (much more easily than those of us taking stabs in the dark from Europe).
Not sure I'd recommend doing that on Facebook though.
FB and Amazon have a lot in common: neither gives a damn about its affiliates.
You'd be jumping from the frying pan in to the fire if you thought FB was your salvation in that regard.
Mobile offers in Vietnam sounds like a good start. Check out somewhere like Decisive or Leadbolt, or ZeroPark/DNTX if you want greater control over early losses.
PS: If you need some example landers for app installs, shoot me a pm.
Are you in HCMC or Hanoi?
Thanks szmudo & Finch for your valuable recommendations!
The past few days, I've been reading a lot with all the guides from getting started in 2014 to Zeno's FB & gaming guides, to the mobile cookbook.
I'm trying to decide between 2 possible routes that both look promising: Facebook & mobile. And once the decision is made, I will stick to it till I come back to my formal days of $200+/day and more before even consider investing time and money into another model.
I'm fully aware that Facebook is no different from other big guys like GG and Amz since I've had my 3 other accounts banned by them in the past mercilessly back to the days I was still helping local businesses running their ad campaigns. The main reason why I consider it despite the past dramas is because I have real life experiences setting up campaigns and driving reasonably-priced clicks. If I choose this route, I will have to be extra careful with offer selections and how I spend money with my account to avoid the ban hammer.
For mobile, it's a whole new world for me although I heard about its explosion back to 2-3 years ago. And after reading caurmen's mobile cookbook guides, I can really see the potential here. I've already registered a new account with Decisive (still waiting approval) in case I want to go down this route. And once I get things up and running with this, I will definitely try out the local market here in Vietnam as many of you guys suggested
For the budget I have, I've managed to gather up around $3k5 that will all be invested in testing campaigns in the next 2-3 months. And I expect to have a little more every month to invest back as well.
That's my story.
I post this just to share with you guys my thoughts and situation (not sure if anyone cares lol). It might as well be the case of many newbies entering this game.
But anyway, will make up my mind by the end of this week. Hopefully, I can have all the needed things in time so that I can fire up a new follow along thread on the beginning of next week!
And although I've just joined STM for around 2 months, I can say with confident that this community is the best investment I've made so far in my IM career. All the information and advices shared with great admins, mods, and other members really make me feel much more confident! And I know I'm not alone this time on my journey.
Will try my best to make things work to return this favor!
Peace
P.S: @szmudo: I'm currently living in Hanoi. Shooting you a pm now. Thanks buddy!
Hey fanatic4k, I'm a Vietnamese living in VN as well. Are you living in Saigon or HN? Maybe we can meet up
Originally Posted by avn_0903
Originally Posted by avn_0903
Originally Posted by fanatic4k
Hi guys, i'm in saigon. been here 5 years. american. Would love to meet up with other AM!
Originally Posted by hlyghst
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