I Could Use Some Quick Answers (3)

Hi,

Names apoplexy, I'm your friendly neighbourhood noob. ;o

So I've been reading this site 24/7 since I've registered and I am itching to get cracking and actually implementing my low level of knowledge.

I've typed "vertical" - "tracker" - "best tracker" - "niche" - etc into the search and done my due diligence but I still have some disconnects in my information.

1. In terms of a tracker I would like to start with a free tracker just so I can utilize my budget (2k or so) to get some data and learn the basics. After I have learned the ropes I'll probably transition to something like CPVlab, the paid version of Voluum, etc. I've been told to ignore Prosper because it's old and outdated. So far my interest is currently peaked by Voluum because it has a free version; however, I know that some of their pages have been blacklisted as stated on their site -- what type of negative repercussion could this have on me? Could I lose a bunch of money somehow, some way? Is the noobie version of Voluum what I should go with? I'll probably be spending like $10-20 a day to start just to learn how to optimize landing pages, get somewhat decent with photoshop, etc. Obviously this level of traffic would be covered on Voluums basic package but I want to make sure I'm not missing a hidden con or something that could lead to me wasting my time.

Any general recommendations for what tracker I should start with? I have no problem paying a bit later on -- I just want to make sure I actually follow through with AM before I start investing chunks of change into it.

2. I would like some general recommendations on what verticals are paying these days. You guys are the industry insiders and I am the type of guy who could make his living watching paint dry if it paid 5mill/year -- i.e., I don't need a passion, I can still maintain focus. That being said I do have extensive knowledge in the health and fitness industry so I'm wondering if that vertical is financially viable. I am concerned that I'm going to make my own decision and be like "hey bro, ok, cool, we're going to do GAMING!" and then find out there are factors out of my control that are greatly limiting my profits and if I had picked something else I could've avoided some heartache. Trying to think ahead here.

3. What do people really think about mobile? I've read countless threads so I have some general ideas but everyone seems so split. It's like people think and agree that "mobile is where it's at/going to be" but "nobody knows why some people are doing good in mobile/others are not" because there are "so many variables that are not understood." It seems to me like kind of a crapshoot -- am I wrong or does luck play a solid part in success in mobile? Also, is mobile too complicated for a beginner? Should a beginner do standard desktop AM and than transition over to mobile once he knows what he's doing?

I'd love to talk to someone on real time for 5-10minutes. We all got stuff to do and as you can see I'm pretty proactive (searching, Googling, reading nonstop threads, etc) but I wouldn't mind being able to speak directly with somebody for a few minutes. If you wouldn't mind please feel free to add me to Skype (eventuregroup) as I am thirsty for success.

Looking forward to the responses.

Cheers.

Hi apoplexy,

Badimo here.

Let me give you my own drift on this one.

1.) For starting out, I think you should just stick to Voluum. It's by far the most popular tracker nowadays, it's very easy to use and it's cloud hosted so it is essentially 100% free with the Noobie plan and until you get profitable the 100.000 events limit should be more than enough for you. You just sign up and you can start using it immediately which is great especially if you haven't figured out how tracking works yet and you need your time to understand it. As for having its domain blacklisted, I think you will only have a problem if you want to use big traffic sources that hate affiliates like Adwords or Facebook.

Finally, don't forget that to you don't forget that you only have to learn tracking to be alright. Not a specific tracking system.


2.) My personal recommendation? Try to find a niche with offers that are easy to convert. Aim for lead generation, downloads, etc and avoid CPS (Cost Per Sale) offers while you are still a newbie. As far as I know, the health and fitness industry has mostly CPS offers (trials, rebills and stuff like that) so they are definitely a tougher sell and and I would personally avoid them. Just consider that you'll need to buy a lot more data to test those high payout offers properly. Another thing worth mentioning is that I believe it's better to try to decide what traffic type you want to focus on first and after you have done that, then try to match that traffic with an appropriate niche. It will be easier to decide that way.


Also, have a look at this thread: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...ght=works+2013
It's pretty old but most of what it says is still quite valid today.


3.) I've been thinking about this debate for months now… Just look at how many people are viewing the mobile sub-forum! There seems to be an enormous hype about mobile these days and whilst it's true that some giant affiliates make a shitload of money with mobile, that does NOT mean it's the best place to be for a newbie who is just starting out on a budget. IMHO, it's basically the worst traffic source to be starting out with. On mobile, not only you need to have an excellent understanding of analyzing all the data, tracking all the variables and tokens, optimizing and getting as granular as possible, but it's also unavoidable that you'll need to spend megatons of money to uncover the hidden gems of traffic that actually work. You'll also have to burn through an endless storm of bot traffic. At some point, you might get disappointed and start worrying if it is you who sucks or if it is the traffic source that sucks and there are so many mobile traffic sources out there to test, so that would increase your spend 10x more of what you had initially planned if you feel the need to test some of them (and I think it's worth testing at least some of them). Another thing I absolutely hate about mobile is that it can be EXTREMELY demotivating for a newbie. Why? Because you can easily burn $100 to make only $0.60 back or spend $1000 to make only $50 back and it's not always your fault. It's just the way mobile is. However, especially if you are not sure what you are doing yet, mobile is probably going to crush you mercilessly! That doesn't happen with other traffic sources to such an extent. For example, when I launched my first ever campaign on POF several months ago, the first person who clicked on my ad converted! I'm not saying that there are other "easy" traffic sources but at least you won't feel as lost. You'll be far more motivated to keep going if you see some sort of return even if you are actually still losing money. Be aware that I'm not making any bank from AM but that's just my personal opinion. I can keep complaining about mobile all night so I think I'll just let the numbers do the rest of the talking. FYI, these are based on the general consensus here... Mobile needs a $5k budget at minimum and a recommended budget of $10k. If you do have that though, then it's ok, you're totally fine to go for it and don't get scared of what I've said above.

If you need any more clarification on something from me, you know where to find me.

Originally Posted by badimo

Hi apoplexy,

Badimo here.

Let me give you my own drift on this one.

1.) For starting out, I think you should just stick to Voluum. It's by far the most popular tracker nowadays, it's very easy to use and it's cloud hosted so it is essentially 100% free with the Noobie plan and until you get profitable the 100.000 events limit should be more than enough for you. You just sign up and you can start using it immediately which is great especially if you haven't figured out how tracking works yet and you need your time to understand it. As for having its domain blacklisted, I think you will only have a problem if you want to use big traffic sources that hate affiliates like Adwords or Facebook.

Finally, don't forget that to you don't forget that you only have to learn tracking to be alright. Not a specific tracking system.


2.) My personal recommendation? Try to find a niche with offers that are easy to convert. Aim for lead generation, downloads, etc and avoid CPS (Cost Per Sale) offers while you are still a newbie. As far as I know, the health and fitness industry has mostly CPS offers (trials, rebills and stuff like that) so they are definitely a tougher sell and and I would personally avoid them. Just consider that you'll need to buy a lot more data to test those high payout offers properly. Another thing worth mentioning is that I believe it's better to try to decide what traffic type you want to focus on first and after you have done that, then try to match that traffic with an appropriate niche. It will be easier to decide that way.


Also, have a look at this thread: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...ght=works+2013
It's pretty old but most of what it says is still quite valid today.


3.) I've been thinking about this debate for months now… Just look at how many people are viewing the mobile sub-forum! There seems to be an enormous hype about mobile these days and whilst it's true that some giant affiliates make a shitload of money with mobile, that does NOT mean it's the best place to be for a newbie who is just starting out on a budget. IMHO, it's basically the worst traffic source to be starting out with. On mobile, not only you need to have an excellent understanding of analyzing all the data, tracking all the variables and tokens, optimizing and getting as granular as possible, but it's also unavoidable that you'll need to spend megatons of money to uncover the hidden gems of traffic that actually work. You'll also have to burn through an endless storm of bot traffic. At some point, you might get disappointed and start worrying if it is you who sucks or if it is the traffic source that sucks and there are so many mobile traffic sources out there to test, so that would increase your spend 10x more of what you had initially planned if you feel the need to test some of them (and I think it's worth testing at least some of them). Another thing I absolutely hate about mobile is that it can be EXTREMELY demotivating for a newbie. Why? Because you can easily burn $100 to make only $0.60 back or spend $1000 to make only $50 back and it's not always your fault. It's just the way mobile is. However, especially if you are not sure what you are doing yet, mobile is probably going to crush you mercilessly! That doesn't happen with other traffic sources to such an extent. For example, when I launched my first ever campaign on POF several months ago, the first person who clicked on my ad converted! I'm not saying that there are other "easy" traffic sources but at least you won't feel as lost. You'll be far more motivated to keep going if you see some sort of return even if you are actually still losing money. Be aware that I'm not making any bank from AM but that's just my personal opinion. I can keep complaining about mobile all night so I think I'll just let the numbers do the rest of the talking. FYI, these are based on the general consensus here... Mobile needs a $5k budget at minimum and a recommended budget of $10k. If you do have that though, then it's ok, you're totally fine to go for it and don't get scared of what I've said above.

If you need any more clarification on something from me, you know where to find me.