Already -$4,000 on "The Big Project" – Any Traffic Source/Offers Ideas? (3)
Already -$4,000 on "The Big Project" – Any Traffic Source/Offers Ideas?
Howdy!
First of all let me introduce myself. Than I will get to the problem that I am struggling with.
My nickname is candystore and I live in Prague. I've got about 2 years experience with IM/AM. My background: I've created decent converting roulette make money LP and was buying a bulk email traffic there. I've never used any tracking system in my life. Because everytime I ran campaign I had about 2500% ROI. But one day my bulk email traffic source has dried up and I had decided to pursue whitehat long term success instead of the blackhat quick money.
I have decided to go fully naked here with my idea of "The Big Project". As I went through a few posts on the forum already I think here are competent STM members people that can point me in the right the direction.
Well, 3 month ago in 2 AM I got this great idea that I thought was genius – and started to work on the idea immediately. To create web portal like MoneySupermarket.com only instead of the price comparison in the financial services I would change it to all the affiliate products that I can get my hands on –*Health, Loans, How to make money, Dating, ... –*basically the place where you can find offers to solve 99% of everyday problems.
I've decided that I want to work only with US Geo. Because before when I worked with EU traffic. I would hit the volume limits. And in every country are different language and not so many offers – so US Geo seemed right.
I have decided to go big on this one. Well at least big for me. I hired a good Project Manger with $1,000 monthly salary. His job is only to manage outsources (designer, programmers, copywriters) so I can focus only on the business side of things.
Of course I wasn't naive that solely web portal can make me a cash quickly. So the idea was to create a few LP on which I would send domain/popup traffic and get the email submits for cheap and then I would build my email list and will be millionaire by the end of the year. 
Here's what happened after 2 month of work:
Here's the website: http://offertsy.com
Example of 1 of the LP: http://bonus22b.offertsy.com/
Then I have ran 2 different Zeropark to LP campaign with $10 budget and got 0 submits. I analyzed the traffic with WebVisor and most of the traffic are bots (same behavior of the mouse and time of the visit). Well and maybe LP offer is weak and not concrete.
After that my brain has just stopped working and I've decided go to Cote d'Azur with my friends to get some rest. Well and spend most of my saved up money. I've learned the lesson – It's not so good idea to go to the one of the most expensive places on Earth when you are launching a new business. )
The situation that I am now:
Cost of the project to this date: -$4,000
Earnings so far: $0
Cash to my name: $2,000
Zeropark budget: $190
So I turn to the STM for experienced advice.
I suppose my questions are:
1) How can I improve the project in your opinion?
2) Any ideas for traffic source to get cheap email submits for my LPs?
3) Any other offers I should promote?
Thanks
Coming from SEO I would say the global "angle" isn't niche enough. "Message dilution" if you see what I mean.
Also when I read this LP :
But I only know SEO affiliate, not CPA so someone might give you another advice
Cheers,
Hey buddy,
Firstly welcome to STM!
It's a very exciting idea that you've obviously put a lot of your time, effort and money into!
Firstly, if I was to do this project myself, I wouldn't invest so much. A common strategy to "test the waters" is to JUST create a landing page (or a few landing pages) with an email opt in - leading to a page with something like "thanks for registering your interest - you will be first to know when we launch". This way all you need is a couple of landing pages and a lot less money to invest. If you wanted you could even test one offer on it. I realise this is in hindsight, but perhaps serves as a good lesson.
Secondly, I personally feel like it's too broad. As wilfmdude said, I wouldn't know what I'm getting. And why would I sign up to something if I don't think I need it?
Here you need to think about angles. Have you ever seen those daily deal websites? That's what this reminds me of. I actually remember opting into an email list from a daily deals site when they offered me "80% off Sushi in {my city}" on a landing page a few years ago. It's about angles. Back when I was promoting dating on POF and I would have an ad to "Meet hot women" I would get craaappy CTRs. It was too broad. When I targeted BBW older women who liked chubby older guys = ROI++++. Angles angles angles.
Thirdly, you've only tested your entire $4000 project on two $5 LP random pop traffic tests? I've run a lot more traffic testing random crappy offers that I don't even care about...
If I was you and you're to carry on with this project I would...
- Cut back and see if there's any interest in the idea
- Test many different little things rather than put all my eggs in one basket at hope it works
- Focus on angles/niches
- Get more targeted - perhaps keyword campaigns targeting the problem addressed in your angle?
I'm by no means an expert on a full site launch like this, but that's my 2c
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