Newbie with $10k capital, how would you best invest it? (9)
Hey hey hey guys & gals!
Just joined the forums few hours ago and i'm already super-mega-ultra-gega-tera 
excited by the good vibes here, the community seems very active and there are lots of good reads in every forum section! thanks to all of you guys!!!
So, here is a super-quick intro, I'm an (ex) senior developer (very solid tech background / building enterprise-grade software) who's trying to break out from the web dev world into the CPA for FULL-time.
So i'm going to keep it short, I have been extensively studying about CPA in the previous 3 months, and i'm really excited to finally enter this world, i have already joined 6 or 7 CPA networks and signed up for +10 traffic sources, researched about all the needed tools (tracker:
I'm a very technical guy, setting up any kind of landing pages, tracking codes, connecting stuff together, whatever...etc, is a piece of cake for me, so this will be a good advantage, however, i need your help in the other side of things 
I would like to know what would you do if you were in my shoes, starting out with $10k budget, what would you do? what kind offers/traffic_sources would you go for? PPV or mobile?
I'm almost sold on
As they say, I'm here to make waves, not to test the waters 
So i'm here for the REALLY long-run, with a super positive (and realistic) mindset, willing to test everything and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to rock this journey
I would really love to get your input, ideas and suggestions, please, starting from your experience, if you had $10k capital & starting from scratch, how would you invest it (white-hat) to get the BEST ROI/profits?
I appreciate all your replies!
Wishing you a successful and fruitful start of the year
Thank you guys in advance!
Hey,
Glad that you are excited to start some real campaigns All the theory and reading pales in comparison to real world experience.
Will start with this question:
As for cloud VPS to host LPs, are you sure it's the best option? Just thinking of loading speed, since you will encounter mobile traffic in just about anything you run nowadays. I know you are savvy enough to handle all the tech part, just asking if you considered that factor already, and decided VPS + optimizing yourself some things is best.
In terms of spy tools, I haven't used anything else than AdPlexity, and I think that says something about it: Once I signed up, I never thought of using a different tool.
I think your best bet for starting is pops nowadays. It's not as easy as it was a year ago or so but it's still the traffic type where people find success more often as beginners.
In your situation, I would be very interested in learning about all the moving parts of campaigns, and then applying technology to it. You can code many tools that either give you an edge on already profitable campaigns, or will help you partner up with other people who have the campaign side solved but struggle to scale from lack of tech talent and knowledge. What I mean is that even if you don't hit a lot of green in campaigns, your skills are something sought after in the industry, especially once you add a basic understanding of funnel, campaigns, etc.
Most affiliates have like one a idea a month for some tool that is useful for them, and then potential can be turned into a service for more affiliates, but there's not enough tech power in a typical affiliate setup to make those ideas into products.
Chiming in to share my quick thoughts...
Start with pop traffic.
Start with low payout offers from .05 to .50 max
Consider mobile apps - shopping, coupon and/or branded apps when applicable. Stay away from utility apps. But low payout sweeps, 1 click billing offers, etc. are good.
Test smart and be wise with your money.
Get AdPlexity, rip a bunch of landers and test a bunch of offers in as many geos as you can over the course of a couple of weeks.
Set a defined budget for each test campaign, search the forum for details on basic strategy for testing.
Test as fast as you can, and only continue working with things that show multiple conversions.
Only focus on campaign tests that show good results right out of the gate.
Cheers,
Andrew
I will second what the guys above me posted, start some POPs campaigns. But not as the final destination, learn the basics on them. I understand you're confident about the tech setup, but let's burn some $ on POPs to make sure all is clear to you. Push whatever offer type and see if you can get some results with it.
Once you have the basics down, either choose to step up the game a bit and go all in with POPs - I recommend PIN submit offers right now... or consider a different route - leverage your skills and build a product that you could promote in a way more effective way now, since you already understand the basics of performance marketing.
Originally Posted by manu_adefy
Glad that you are excited to start some real campaigns
All the theory and reading pales in comparison to real world experience.Will start with this question:
I would do what I am already doing to be honest. But that doesn't mean it's best for everyone who starts new, because it's impossible for me to think I start from absolute scratch, no previous experience.
As for cloud VPS to host LPs, are you sure it's the best option? Just thinking of loading speed, since you will encounter mobile traffic in just about anything you run nowadays. I know you are savvy enough to handle all the tech part, just asking if you considered that factor already, and decided VPS + optimizing yourself some things is best.
In terms of spy tools, I haven't used anything else than AdPlexity, and I think that says something about it: Once I signed up, I never thought of using a different tool.
I think your best bet for starting is pops nowadays. It's not as easy as it was a year ago or so but it's still the traffic type where people find success more often as beginners.
In your situation, I would be very interested in learning about all the moving parts of campaigns, and then applying technology to it. You can code many tools that either give you an edge on already profitable campaigns, or will help you partner up with other people who have the campaign side solved but struggle to scale from lack of tech talent and knowledge. What I mean is that even if you don't hit a lot of green in campaigns, your skills are something sought after in the industry, especially once you add a basic understanding of funnel, campaigns, etc.
Most affiliates have like one a idea a month for some tool that is useful for them, and then potential can be turned into a service for more affiliates, but there's not enough tech power in a typical affiliate setup to make those ideas into products.
The cloud VPS has the same performance and power level as a dedicated VPS, the advantage of a cloud VPS is that its configuration is "elastic", means it automatically adjusts with the traffic/load, it is highly scalable and it is cheaper overall, as you pay only what you use (pay as you go model), instead of paying a fixed $XX amount per month for a dedicated VPS whether you use its performances fully or not, so that's why i opted for the cloud VPS, as i pay only what i use and there is more power available if needed.
As for spying, i think i'm going for Adplexity too.
Thanks
Originally Posted by mrpayne
What you outlined is really close to what i'm planning to do, with the exception of "Start with low payout offers from .05 to .50 max"
Isn't it hard to squeeze reasonable profits from such a low payout? what's the reasoning behind choosing 0.05 to 0.5?
What POP networks do you recommend based on your experience? (T.V didn't approve my application
but i got into L.I)Thanks again Andrew!
Originally Posted by matuloo
for PIN submits, got any mobile CPA networks that are newbie friendly that i can apply to?
Thanks
Originally Posted by successbob
for PIN submits, got any mobile CPA networks that are newbie friendly that i can apply to?
Thanks
Hi, so POPs are going to be your first step?... Not a bad idea, and everyone has given you great advice already... STM style xD From our experience as a "newbie-friendly" network, partners often test pops first and once they have found the best performing offer and LP they then scale through other formats. Pops are also the only option not available on adsense, therefore this format is an exclusive opportunity to optimize "elsewhere".
For more info on pops check out our advice blog "Mind The ROI" here: http://mindtheroi.com/2016/11/30/pop...-under-cherry/
Or on our STM thread: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...l=1#post259200
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