Complete rookie to AM, first campaign on mobile and beyond... (35)
Complete rookie to AM, first campaign on mobile and beyond...
Hey all 
I'm Tim from the UK, totally new to the AM world as of a few weeks ago when discussing it in a bit of detail over drinks with a friend who works in this industry. Was very intrigued by it so started to read up and it really grabbed me, usually I'll get bored of something quickly but so far this is still keeping me very interested which is always good! 19 years background in various IT roles and that's my current 9-5 which one day I hope to leave behind, despite still enjoying it mostly, for the much more profitable and under 70+ hour working week AM world. Loving the amount of detail here on STM, many hours on here so far just pure reading the threads, guides and articles.
After some deliberation it seems mobile is a good place for a complete beginner to start, so after reading Angry Russians guide along with anything else I see I've started on the track to my first campaign. Gotta say, after years of knowing exactly what I'm doing, being totally outside of my comfort zone on this scene is quite refreshing!
After countless hours of reading it seems the only thing to do is hop right in and mess up as I go along, so with some time booked off work I've been cracking on as much as possible this week. As with others I'm also tying this in with a few books recommended by you guys on here. Currently part way through The 4-hour work week, then next up is Problems Solving 101, Ca$hvertisting then The Millionaire Fastlane.
Current aim is to have a profitable campaign, then on-wards and upwards from there really, sky's the limit! Budget wise my day job will keep me going until I hit profitability, ideally if that's within $3000 and 3 months then great. I can focus on this most evenings and weekends, and also have 6 weeks holiday I can take should I need to get my head down for longer periods. It seems like a great way to keep at it is to do one of these follow along threads, so here it goes...
Done so far:
- Signed up with F5 media
- Signed up with Decisive
- Signed up with
- Domain(s) setup ready to use for LP's when required (using Rackspace CDN)
- Spoke to my AM and selected an offer - AV/security app in Brazil $0.24 that he says is a good one right now
- Brain dumped and mind-mapped everything AV/security app related and started to try to understand my angles
- Trawled the web looking at other banners to get ideas, read through all guides/threads on here about banners
- Posted on Elance and fiverr with a job requirement for spec for 10 banners to start (design ain't my thing, so farming that out from the start)
To do:
- Decide on exact angles to use
- Decide on a designer to use and get first batch of 10 banners created
- Upload to Decisive and link to
- Test, test test test (and most likely get confused, fix things and repeat for a while too!)
Next up:
- Get some prep done on LP's so i'm ready to use them when needed
- Start tracking financials
- Incorporate as an Ltd company (how early do people usually do this?)
Think that's enough waffle for one post, i'll post up banners and campaign as I get them in the next few days. And the angles I choose too.
Hey Tim. Best of luck. I'm also new to AM. From what I've read you're doing right which is jumping right into it. Looking to start in mobile too. I'll follow along. Try to help where I can and learn from your journey as well.
Sounds like you’ve got a solid tech background, money to spend and hours to commit - a good set up!
Personally I was only dabbling in AM, not taking it too seriously for 2/3 years before incorporating an LLC. However it looks like it’s super cheap and simple in UK, you may as well do it as soon as you can - that way you’re protected and also Networks may take you more seriously when applying.
In terms of banner design - I would learn photoshop. But if it’s really not you think it'd waste too much time then fair enough! Will be interested to see how your banners turn out!
Looking forward to this one
Hi Tim
Good luck with your campaign! I'm also from UK and started my first mobile campaign a few days ago. Feel free to chat on skype (laurence.stanley) if you'd like to share whatever knowledge we might have!
Looking forward to seeing how you get on!
Cheers all
Going by the cost for getting banners designed by people on elance I think I need to get some Photoshop skills bloody quick! Quotes ranging from $109 to $160 for 10 banners. Doubting this is a cost effective way, at least not to start with anyway.
Would it be an idea to start like this, get the psd's, then try to tweak myself moving forward? Keen to see if everyone does their own, or what their approach is
Ooooossh that’s expensey! I’’m sure you could get them cheaper elsewhere.
I generally either make them from scratch, or I rip them from spying around and modify them.
Yeah that's what I thought! Going with someone on fiverr instead, $40 and 48 hour turn around, plus he knows Portuguese too which will help to ensure the translation is right and I don't have a banner insulting someone 
To do:
- Send over ideas for banners to freelancer i.e. icons to use, colours and all wording
- Few admin bits for tax/payments etc
- Setup basic company website
- Start to learn Photoshop basics (setting aside tomorrow to get started on this while banners are being created)
If all goes to plan then graphics will be going for approval by Monday and hopefully I can upload Monday evening to get going properly.
Progressing slowly, but progressing none the less. Not having banner creating skills has been the main time sucker with going out to freelancers and waiting on the chosen one to turn it around. But, my first batch of banners are currently with my AM awaiting approval, mini-whoop!
Other tasks have lagged behind due to other commitments, aiming to get back on track this week with the main ones being:
- Upload banners to Decisive and go live with the campaign, using
- Register company and look into related bank account setup
- Document all outgoings and structure for future detail so as to budget and plan everything required
- Setup basic company website
- LEARN HOW TO CREATE SIMPLE BANNERS - This is definitely going to be key for me, the expense of some time spent now will give me a ROI almost immediately
- Start to be more active on the STM forums in order to glean more information from discussions where possible
Trying to do this with a hectic day job is proving as tricky as expected, long weekend coming up to focus on key items if anything runs over from this week.
Ideally I'm still hoping to get the campaign live by Thursday at the very latest, if I get approval tomorrow then hopefully tomorrow night.
A lot of admin stuff to do huh!
I think learning simple banner creation is a good idea indeed.
Looking forward to seeing some stats soon!
Looking forward to the stats side of things a lot!
Originally Posted by roxorx
Do you have photoshop yet? If not - go get it now.
Now
Open it up - file new - image size - 320 x 50
Now go to youtube and search "photoshop layers"
Now go to youtube and search "add text photoshop"
Now go to youtube and search "add shapes photoshop"
Now go to youtube and search "add images photoshop"
Now go to youtube and search "save for web photoshop"
Once you get the foundation of adding layers, text, and images then you can start figuring out the more complex things that photshop can do.
There you go, you've created your first banner. And you know what else, amateur banners seem to perform better than professional banners in my experience. So you've got that going for you!
Hi! Welcome! Let me know if I can help with any bidding questions, etc.
Originally Posted by ssmarketers
Originally Posted by Andrea Decisive
So tonight has been pretty sweet, a good 5 hours of productivity that I've totally loved, great to get into the detail of setting up tracking , toying with parameters etc. And best of it, looks like it bloody works!
Done:
- Banners signed off by F5, campaign created in Decisive
- Tracking setup, testing a few times and looking good in
- Launched 4 campaigns, sat back and watched the numbers go up, felt far too pleased with myself
- Company name registered and will be complete on Friday (exciting!)
- Bought Photoshop to force me to learn banner and design stuffs
To do:
- Review data that's coming back, understand what to change and why, what to blacklist etc, when to tweak CPA
- Document all outgoings and structure for future detail so as to budget and plan everything required
- Setup basic company website
Off to bed leaving the campaigns running, feeling happy at finally getting to this stage, bring on the rest of it.
With regards to the ads, did you write in brazilian yourself? Did you use a translate program or what?
Just blacklisted a lesbian dating app that was on 22,000 wins, 3 clicks. Seemed logical, is that the right idea?
Originally Posted by randomman
Mini update...first ever AM revenue just rolled in, much whoop!
$0.36 in the bank
First milestone complete!
Next is a profitable campaign!
Well, almost a week and not had much chance to carry this on, real work is a pain in the ass for that. The first campaign went well in a way, stats are below for it. Also as I'd only set a daily limit and then wasn't around it ticked over and went through my 100$. Not overly bothered, meant my first revenue looks slightly better with more conversions hahah Using smart CPM wasn't doing much for them, when I switched to normal and left the CPA at 0.40 then it started to work better. It was good to blacklist a few apps that were draining funds too after a day or so with little or no clicks
A weekend away from the world ahead which will give me time to get things back on track. I need to start to work on planning a bit better for interruptions like this as with my job it's alwas a risk and I don't want it to derail my goals on this.
Done
- First campaign gone live
- First revenue in
- Signed up for Photoshop CC, only 9 quid a month
To do:
- Go through data and have a dig around to understand what was good and bad in my campaigns
- Photoshop tutorials, these start tonight, just some free ones for banner creation
Wow, almost a month of not much happening sadly. A mix of day job hitting me with 70+ hour weeks and being slack has meant very little time for AM. Realised this week that I needed to get the rest of my life in order before trying to fit something else into it, it just wasn't working for me before time wise. Thankfully the 4 Hour Work Week book has been a huge motivator this week and the changes and suggestions in it are helping me make positive steps towards what is needed. Lifestyle design and streamlining being done
So although not much progress, there's a lot round the corner, and a lot more structured too.
Done
Photoshop tutorials being waded through, hopefully before the end of my week off this week I'll have some basic banner design skills to use.
To Do
Create my first banners
Get another campaign up and running
That's a serious workload to be juggling!
I really enjoyed that book too - really opened my eyes to outsourcing and being able to manage time more effectively!
Keep making progress where/while you can!
Originally Posted by Ruby Tunes
Distinct lack of updates recently due to lack of time available, currently on leave so plenty of AM time this week and next to get it moving properly.
Done
- Basic Photoshop skills to edit/create banners
- Found decent html editing software so I can start to get my head around editing/creating LP's
- Signed up with a few more networks & sources (awaiting approval at the moment)
To Do
- Understand how to change LP's for my needs
- Design my own LP's (or find a cost effective way to outsource, more ideal in the long run)
- Pick an offer, supermarket coupons or iPhone sweeps I think, can't decide
- Run through what angles I want to try and design a campaign
Offer selected, going to be going for:
Offer: [WAP] Responsive - iPhone6 - SOI - AU
Payout: $2.40
Category: Mobile sweeps
Network: F5 (will add another early next week for split testing)
Traffic source: Decisive (will add another early next week for split testing)
Tracking:
Ranked high for volume and revenue and once I've got the pages done for this I can mirror to other GEO's easily as it's a very prevalent offer it seems.
To do
- Brainstorm the campaign/angles
- Rip some pops and learn to tweak them to what is needed
He's baaaack!
If you haven't seen Mr Green's sweepstakes guide, you should check it out. Very helpful knowing how the offer works etc. Find it here: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...stakes-Secrets!
Originally Posted by roxorx
Looking forward to seeing your results!
Hey roxorx, I don't know if you learned Photoshop yet, but Vortex has a real simple video on how to make banners in no time on YouTube. Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuHC...pWndth&index=6
Originally Posted by Ruby Tunes
Originally Posted by dj_sauerkraut
Originally Posted by Ruby Tunes
In my head going down the pop route would be quicker/simpler at this time for me as I wouldn't have to spend time creating/editing banners and could focus purely on the pop page. Would this be wise, or should I force myself down the banner/LP route?
The lack of banners in pops definitely means one less variable to deal with.
I do actually know of some people who test out landers on pops to give them a good test with cheap traffic to find winners and then port these over to display in order to save testing multiple variables at the same time. Less variables = less convolution of data, and cheaper testing budgets.
It's really up to you and the type of traffic you would prefer to work with - personally I work a bit with both :P
Less variables will do me for the time being while I get it all going, keep reminding myself I don't need to do it all on the first few goes!
Done
- Got a few angles that I really like that I don't think are being done elsewhere from what I can tell
- One landing page almost complete, another style still to do
- Now all setup with 4 affiliate networks and 4 ad networks
To Do
- Decided to get someone proper (well, a designer from fiverr.com) on the case to assist with LP's, even if just the first few to get me a few styles I can tweak
- Finalise the first lot of pages and send for approval
Done
- Ordered first of at least two styles of LP i'm after, if the first is what I want then will place the next order with the same designer
- Got more detailed on the specs for outsourcing work, will template this for future use
To Do
- Get some more wording done for the LP's to split test some ideas
- Possibly look into the teespring idea, see if some niches can be found. Won't dedicate much time to this, just seems interesting
Just eagerly awaiting the web guy to get things done over the next few days so I can get it approved and start the campaign off!
you Rock Tim. Loving the positive attitude.!! and the follow along! good luck!!
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