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60 day test - Follow my progress and please contribute :) (55)

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Hi Guys,

After reading quite a bit on this forum I have now launched my first campaign. My goal is to save up atleast $15,000 profit before 30th October. I have a decent testing budget 2-3k. I think this is quite doable. I am a web designer and have good experience with PPC.

So to get started:

Offer: Tasksbucks for Android
Traffic Source: Go2mobi
Vertical: App install
Geo: India
Payout: $0.25

This is my first campaign. I have had 800 visits but not even 1 conversion?? I will be happy if anyone could point me in the right direction. I am targeting only Android version 4.0 and up (as the app requires 4.0 and up). I have split the campaigns in to WiFi/App Wifi/Site Mobile/App Mobile/Site based on the mobile cookbook. The only difference is I am NOT USING A LANDING PAGE. I first wanted to test the offer and if I get any conversions I though I could implement a landing page.

Here are some stats:

Clicks: 811
CTR: 0.64%
Average CPM: $0.0792
Spend so far: $10

Questions:

1. I have signed up to three networks. Is this enough or how many do I need?
2. Is my CTR okay or tool low?
3. Should I continue testing this offer or drop it and pick another?
4. For a newbie would you recommend Go2mobi as a traffic source or rather a POP network?

I appreciate your help in advance. I am very determined and will make sure I do my best to succeed with the 60 day plan!

Thank you,
Ron

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Hello Ron,

congrats on starting your first campaign! Your goal is pretty ambitious as it's less than 3 months, but definitely reachable, if you put the effort in it and don't give up - some beginners luck would help too I like when people set lower initial goals, but some people love to aim for the stars so why not

App installs is not something I usually recommend to newbies, sweeps and PIN submit offers are considered a better choice.

Go2mobi is a solid source, but you will have to start using landing pages. In case you think handling both banners and LPs would be too much for you at this point, consider moving to pops. Some people do better with pops, some do better with display ... it's really a hard call, but both of them do work so the choice is yours.

The ctr doesn't look too good, it's possible to do better in India and similar GEOs, aim for 1% at least. Make sure to test more banners, test ripped ones and your own and compare results.

Definitely get some LPs and test them too.

Not sure what to tell you about the offer, I would stay away from app installs personally, or test some other app. The most important goal right now is to get STEADY flow of conversions, that's the only way to get a chance to optimize something.

Keep us posted

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Thanks alot matuloo I have passed 1000+ visits now but not even 1 conversion. Would it be that my tracking is set up incorrectly? I use Voluum! I have also checked the tracking on my affiliate network an Go2mobi but even those show 0 conversions.

I think I am going to pause this offer and try another one. I will keep updating this thread.

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Hey Ron, I feel like we're somewhat in the same experience level, except I haven't launched my first mobile campaign yet. I just finished reading the mobile cookbook and finally got access to Adsimilis but am waiting on F5.

Anyways, have you considered using a spy tool of some sort (not sure what the go-to tool is for mobile)? I know for me, since I am starting with mobile (I have done a little bit of PPV in the past, but haven't gotten profitable), I plan to find banners that are working and will probably use those as inspiration.

I'm definitely going to follow this thread and I look forward to your progress! Keep an eye out for my follow along thread as well. I should be starting one in the next few days.

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Hey Derrick! Thanks for stopping by! It will be good for us to connect on skype and learn from each other. Please PM me if interested. I have used the trial with whatrunswhere.com and found it to be good. I might purchase it in a week time. For now I am getting myself familiar with setting up campaigns/tracking and landing pages.

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I'm definitely gonna be following this! I'm in the same boat as Derrick. I've launched a couple of campaigns and I'm waiting on some funds to come in to get adplexity soon. I've only had a couple of conversions and I'd love to talk with you so that we can learn together over Skype as well! Maybe form a mastermind with you, me, and Derrick?

I started with mobile display but I'm considering pops right now so that there's one less variable for my to have to worry about right now. I wish you much success!

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If the affiliate network records the hits and you still don't see conversions there, it's not gonna be a problem of tracking.

This app is a specific beast, it definitely needs an LP. Users need to understand how much they "need" this app before they are sent to the install page. I'm looking at the google play page and to be honest, I'm not really sure what the app does in detail - show it to my father and he would not have any idea at all. That's what you gotta take care of with the LP.

There are definitely easier verticals than app installs

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what tool would you use to create a mobile LP for an app?

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The fastest way to get some LPs for testing is to use a spytool like adplexity and rip some. Next step would be to tweak them, change copy etc ...

I have a coder in my team so he takes care of this stuff, so Im not able to give you specific advice on tools to use as he is coding it "by hand".

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Derrick-

I recently was accepted to F5, but it took about a month. From what I heard, they recently changed their application portal and things are taking longer than expected. I'd recommend contacting an email or two on their website to make sure things keep rolling.

Plato

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Looks like a great follow along!

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@matuloo - Thanks man. Yes the clicks are tracked by Avazu but no conversions.

Update for today:

1. Signed up to adplexity
2. Set up amazon S3
3. Searching for the best tool to build my landing pages (ideally PSD to HTML) will be great. Any suggestions for a tool like this?
4. Spent time researching offers.

So the thing is not many offers on F5 media match the mobile cookbook criteria. Adsimilis have quite a few offers for India for PIN submit adult.

1. How can I get to the actual landing page for these offers? If I click on the link from Avazu it gets redirected. Is the only way to use a VPN?

2. Also I have done a search on adplexity to see if anyone is running these offers but see almost none. So does this mean no one is running this offer?

3. So currently I can only pick offers from Avazu and Adsimilis. I will like to sign up to more networks. Can someone provide me with a list of the best networks targeted towards mobile?

Many thanks for all your help and contribution.

To be honest I was feeling a bit down today

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1. yup, VPN is needed and also an agent emulator, in case it's carrier targeted it still won't render and it's pretty hard to simulate this.
2. could be true but not really likely, it's probably pushed less than other apps or the spytool didn't grab it from some other reason
3. there is nothing like best networks, but you can try yeahmobi, appflood for asian mobile offers for example. Then you have smartlink (autooptimize) networks like kimia or Mobidea etc ... the traditional networks used by many people here have mobile offers too : advidi, clickdealer, mundo, addiliate, affiliaxe, mpire ... there is way too many of them

You need to develop a mindset where you don't care about these "downs and complications" all that much, otherwise you don't stand a chance to make it in AM

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Hi matuloo thanks for your help! I am going to sign up to more networks. And you are right about the mindset

I am testing tools for landing pages. Following a guide on STM I set up amazon S3 and cloudfront and tested a sample HTML page load time and compared it to a wordpress website. These were the results:

HTML Site:

First view: 1.7 seconds
Repeat view: 200 ms

Wordpress site:

First view: 1.8 seconds
Repeat view: 1.7 seconds

So my question is: Is using wordpress all that bad for landing pages? Anyway the first time view is the same loading time so I think it makes no difference?

The reason I am asking is because I am very familiar with wordpress and would find it easier creating landing pages on wordpress rather than plain HTML.. Any recommendations? Can I use wordpres??

Thank you.

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Im no techie to be honest, but close to 2 seconds loading time is not good. Isn't the first view the time to render the page for the first time, then it get's cached and loads fast for anyone else? Or maybe you tested a big html page... one way or another, you want the load time to be less than 500ms for sure.

Caurmen wrote a good post about using wordpress a while ago, check it out : http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...g-Your-Landers and it continues here : http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...What-CAN-I-Use

Read both of them please

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You can also check out this guide from @caurmen on how to build mobile landers: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...Actually-Works (assuming you can wan't to build them from the ground up).

One thing to note is that it is easier to modify a standalone html page rather than a theme in wordpress. But yes, it can be a lot of work in the beginning to wrap your head around the basics of html/css and building an LP from scratch. You could also consider finding an LP (through a spy tool or find free ones in the forum) and trying to modify it.

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@matuloo Thanks man! I have set up a HTML landing page using S3 & Cloudfront. I have also added the lander to Voluum. However I have one question and will appreciate your help:

I am testing the same app installer offer.

1. For the "INSTALL" button on the landing page where should I link it to? What URL and where can I get this from?

Many thanks.

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Are you using any tracking? In order to properly optimize any campaign, you will need some tracking - thrive, Voluum, funnelflux are the top 3 right now.

Once you create a campaign in the tracking solution, it will generate a link for you that you will use at the traffic source. Then you will need to place either a special code in the LP and/or use special link for the CTA button - this depends on the tracker you choose.

So which one are you using or plan to?

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Hi matloo I am using Voluum and have already set up the campaign in Voluum and have the campaign URL

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I think I have figured it out.. I need to go to "Set up" in Voluum and copy the CLICK URL from there i.e http://xyz.voluumtrk.com/click (my unique URL) and this is the URL I need to use for the INSTALL button. Correct?

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Yup, in case of Voluum, the /click url is the one to use for sending traffic to offers i.e. to use for the CTA buttons/links.

Friendly tip : register some domain and use it as you custom tracking domain.

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Hi matuloo thanks for the quick response! Yes I have registered a domain name for my landers and tracking Have resumed the campaign again! Will post an update with the results.

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Just a reminder, you need 2 separate domains for tracking and for LPs, you cannot host your LPs on the domain that you cname to Voluum.

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I need 2 domains? I am not sure??? So currently I only use 1 domain which is set up for my landing pages on S3 and cloudfront. I have set up this domain as a lander on Voluum.

Why do I need another domain for? Sorry but I am new to this. Please can you point me in the right direction? Is there a guide for this? Thank you.

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@matuloo - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the 2nd domain is for the Voluum tracking. Some traffic sources have banned the trackvoluum.com domain, so you'll want to set up a custom domain with your Voluum tracker.

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Yes this is what I had in mind. Ronald, you should register one domain that you will use just for tracking. You will CNAME the domain to voluum's server so the campaign links will NOT look like http://xyz.voluumtrk.com/.... but http://yourdomain.com/...

Right now you are using the default voluums setup, which is not the best idea due to the reasons derrick mentioned.

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@matuloo & @Derrick -- Thanks a lot. Is there a guide on this forum that can help me set this up?

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charles ngo has a good blog post on this: http://charlesngo.com/Voluum-domain-setup/

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@Derrick - thanks for the link man! Just got that set up.

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Hi Guys! I have applied for an offer on Adsimilis. Any idea how long would it be until they get back to me? Also are there any special requirements?

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Special requirements depend on the offer. They should approve or deny you fast too - didn't they assign an account manager to you? Usually all it takes it a skype message.

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I applied for an offer on Adsimilis yesterday and they approved it this morning, so I'm guessing a 24 hour turnaround? I also did not leave any notes. I just indicated that I would promote via mobile.

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Hey Ronald I am quite new to this , but I am going to follow along with you to see exactly how you are doing, and maybe learn along with you.Good Luck and thanks for allowing me to go along with you

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When you apply for an offer, also send you AM (affiliate manager) a message stating you just applied for offer #12345. That should get you approved within a few minutes. No need to be waiting 24 hours

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I might need a new Adsimilis AM. I've sent him 4 messages via Skype and 2 emails and haven't gotten a single response yet (it's been 2 days going on to 3).

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Thanks guys! My AM contacted me via skype and said it should be done by tomorrow!

@buddottin - Welcome and thanks for following!

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You definitely do, or switch the networks completely, thou adsimilis is one of the better ones for sure. But waiting 3 days for a reply in the AM world is unacceptable.

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Hey @ronald2016, I could help you out at Adsimilis. Ping me at joanieschneider.dqna

Have a good weekend!

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So it took me 3-4 days to get approved to run an offer! I have now set up a campaign and it has been running for an hour. Got a few clicks and when I checked Voluum I noticed an error under the errors tab? I will appreciate if anyone can help me with this., I am running the offer with Adsimilis. Screenshot below.

Voluum error.png  Views: 32  Size: 32.4 KB  ID: 12385" class="thumbnail" style="float:CONFIG" />

UPDATE: So looking back at the last 30 days in "Errors" in Voluum I noticed that there has been 3-4 errors for the previous app install offer as well I tried (The one which got more than 1000 visits but no conversions). All errors as the same as in the above screenshot.

So I suspect my tracking is not set up correctly and it is not passing on the conversion info back to the network?

Please someone help me sort this out. looks like there have been some conversions but its just my setup that is preventing it from being sent to the network?

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Hi Guys! The errors mentioned in the above post were the errors caused when I was testing the postback URL. Looks like my tracking is working fine!

Update: Got my first every conversion today! Really motivating! I am going to let the campaign run for another day and will then review the data. Might add more banners/landers today as it is currently using only 5 banners and 1 lander.

Total spend on this camp so far: $12
ROI so far: -86.25%

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First conversion is always exciting, congrats

Definitely test more banners and landers, you will most likely need to test hundreds of banners and dozens of landers until you find something that will work well, prepare for that and don't get discouraged.

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Awesome follow along! I am also getting started on go2mobi. Have tested quite a few offers but getting conversions has been difficult for me so far.

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@matuloo Thanks

@tstack - Good luck with your campaigns

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Help needed please!

I have noticed a strange thing with my campaigns. The stats from Go2mobi differ completely from the stats on Voluum. Example: According to Go2mobi my WiFi/App campaign got the most banner clicks. But according to Voluum my Mobile/Site campaign got the most clicks?

Also if you take a look closely almost none of the stats match I am not sure why this is. How can I figure out which one is right?

I have attached screenshots below:

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The one in volume is right, there's click loss which happens everytime there's a redirect happening. So what the traffic source shows will never match what you actually get hitting your lander.

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@iAmAttila - Thanks for your input. Now I understand. However the part that I do not understand is Go2Mobi and Voluum:

Example: According to Go2mobi my WiFi/App campaign got the most banner clicks. But according to Voluum my Mobile/Site campaign got the most clicks? So which campaign should I tweak? The Mobile/Site or the WiFi/App ???

Please help!

Update:: I have got another conversion today!

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You probably messed something up. You see more clicks in Voluum than in go2mobi, while usually this is the other way around. Also, I see traffic in 4 campaigns in the go2mobi screenshot while onle 1 Voluum campaign shows some hits, the other 3 are pretty much dead. You either mixed the links so you used link from one campaign for another, or you used the same link for more than one campaign in go2mobi. Can you please check if it's the case or not?

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Hi Matloo! Yes I did check the links and they look to be set up correctly! I will be ever so grateful if you can check it as well! I will PM you!

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If the links are 100% correct, it is probably click discrepancy indeed, try to run for some more and see if the problem persists or not. Some difference is normal, the weird part is that you see more clicks in Voluum than in go2mobi, when usually it's the other way around

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Update: Today I have added new banners to the campaign and based on statistical significance my CTR has already doubled from less than 1% to more than 2%. Is this a good CTR for Go2mobi banner traffic or what is a good CTR to aim for?

I am also thinking about running the same offer on a pop ad network and have looked into popads.net adcash etc. One thing I have gathered though is that these networks do not support a postback URL to track conversions? If this is the case how can I set it up in such a way so that Voluum can track my conversions? Also which pop network do you suggest I get started with?

I appreciate the help! Many thanks.

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Banner CTR depends on GEO a lot, but 2% is already very good. I guess these are generic banners that are misleading, right? Targeted banner usually don't stand a chance to reach such high CTR.

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Hi Mat! The CTR yesterday for a particular banner was over 2% but as it continued running today it has come down to 1.18%. Is this the average CTR to expect for banner ads? Also the banner is genuine targeted and not misleading.

Update: Yesterday I have cut a couple of placements as they have spent 4-5 times the payout with no conversions. Since then I have had two more conversions come in today at a -33% ROI Atleast it looks like the campaign is improving. However I am not getting enough traffic though? How can I get more traffic?

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With a targeted banner, 2% is amazing I would say. Anything above 1% should be possible to get into profit - depending on the current competition and the bids level. With such big drops in CTR, I would look at the placements closely, there will be a lot of those that take it down. Small to medium placements with 0% CTR or big ones with low CTR. You might want to cut some of them.

For more traffic try to loose the cap, increase budget, make more campaigns or change your targeting to accept more targets (not sure how deeply you targeted this camp).

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Hi Mat!

Thanks for the input. So looks like my banners are okay I only cut 2 placements which were bringing in most of the clicks, but since I have cut them the clicks seem so slow. Other than that I have not optimized the campaign yet. I am currently bidding $0.25 CPM. Is that too low? What should I increase it to?

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Hello again,

the bid you need to use depends on many factors - competition, how good your banners and LPs convert, how good the offer is converting. It's not possible to give you a number to use.

What I can tell you tho, in case your campaign isn't profitable with the current funnel at the bid you are using - you probably need to work on your creatives and offers. The goal is to run on as many placements as possible, so the volume is there. If you have to cut the biggest placements cause they are not profitable, you probably need a better funnel. Unless these large placements are full of bots or have shitty traffic quality.

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