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I could use some advice... (13)

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Hi all,

I'm new to STM. I've got some experience with ecom & building out Shopify stores and driving traffic via FB ads so I thought that it would be a good idea for me to join affiliate networks that focused on ecom. I just got accepted into a ecom focused affiliate network & it looks like I'll be accepted into another one in about a day or two.

The challenge here is that I'm new to affiliate marketing and I realized that the way I'm supposed to drive traffic to these offers (as well as how I'm to go about setting up my campaigns) is very different to what I'm accustomed to doing. I'm used to driving traffic to a product detail page on my Shopify store. I don't know much about setting up trackers, VPNs, etc.

I'm looking for advice. Do I change course and go the newbie route I see circulating often on here (40 day follow along written by Vortex focusing on POP offers) or do I figure out a way to make the ecom affiliate stuff work? Seeing as Q4 is here I'm wondering if I can see some success but the affiliate side of ecom seems to be very different than what I'm used to. Some thoughts & insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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Hi, chapel513.

Welcome to the forum!

Because you already have experience with eCom and Facebook ads, I would recommend you to stay in this vertical. I'm recommending you this because pops are a completely different type of traffic source than Facebook. You probably know how to do interest targeting, look-a-likes, retargeting etc. so you just need to learn how to set up tracking properly and you're ready to start testing offers.

You can easily run eCom offers without using a tracker. You need to pass the variables (targeting, camp name, ad name, ...) into your affiliate network sub IDs.

I would recommend you to sign up for GiddyUp account and ask for Jay. He is one of the best AM I've ever worked with, and he will help you set up the tracking properly.

Another reason why I recommend GiddyUp is because they are really transparent affiliate network. You get top-performing creatives, landers, angles, demographics, etc.

Good luck and let us know if have a more specific question with setting up tracking.

Cheers,
wakeboarder

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Hi Wakeboarder,

Thank you kindly for the warm welcome.

Ok, great. Then I will stick to what I know. Yes, I do know about interests targeting, lookalike audiences, retargeting etc.

Oh! I'm happy to see that I won't need tracking software for this venture. I was going to ask you about the trackers you'd recommend but I see that you prefer Binom. I'll have to look into this because Voluum isn't an option for me right now. I've heard about Redtrack.io, Binom, CPVlabs, etc. I see Binom mentioned often so it looks like that's the tracker for me.

Am I going to need this VPN? I ask because I'm not putting these offers on a Shopify store so will I have to link them to a wordpress site that I'll be hosting? This is some of the tech stuff I need clarity on.

Oh wow, this sub ID stuff is new to me. Are these the only variables (targeting, campaign name, Ad name, etc.) I'll need to pass to the affiliate network? How am I supposed to do this?

Great! Giddyup.io is the network I just got approved for. The AM that I was assigned to is Jordan Carter. Is he also known as Jay? I've checked out most of the offers that I was approved for. I even got approved for a few exclusive offers with better payouts. I just need to know what the next steps are supposed to be (from a technical standpoint).

I asked if I could get access to the buyer data on some of these offers so that I could build lookalike audiences from it but my AM said that I have to earn that privilege first which I suppose is fair. I want to do things the right way.

So, do you think I could just use the creatives that are already available or should I create my own? If so, do I just head over to Fiverr or Upwork and get those creatives made? How much should the cost be to have ads & landers designed?

Thanks so much for your support Wakeboarder.

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VPS is not that useful if you're doing Facebook+Shopify. It's more for pops/native when you're spying for landers/offers that other affiliates are running.

Sub IDs are just variables where you can pass the data from the traffic source to affiliate network.

I would recommend you to read this masterpiece: Want To UNDERSTAND Tracking? Read This Now

Congrats for GiddyUp. You did the first step! I'm not sure if Jordan == Jay, but I'm sure Jordan will help you out as well.

Do a split-test... GiddyUp VS your creative and you will see which performs better. Also, check with your AM which top5 offers got lately new translations and test those countries.

eg. Vivian Lou is a great offer and they are opening new countries. Act fast enough, and you get some competitive advantage.

Regarding the creatives, I always try to do it on my own. It faster and cheaper. Keep in mind that you don't need a pixel perfect and fancy creatives to make engaging CTRs on Facebook. HINT: Try clip-art style.

As for landers, keep it simple ... You can send traffic directly to their landers or just can make your a few variations with their copy.

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Oh, I see. I appreciate the clarity.

Will my AM help me set up these Sub IDs?

Perfect! I'm sure this content is going to be golden. Caurmen is a legend! May he rest in paradise.

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing how things will work out with Giddyup. Do you think my AM will help me with angles and stuff like that?

Ok, split tests make sense. What would you consider reasonable investments to have ads & landers designed just in case my own attempts don't do too well? Have you ever had your creatives made on Fiverr or Upwork? If so, for how much? I'll take your advice and keep them simple.

Do you think it would be useful to use a spy tool like Adplexity (if so, which version?, Native, Ecom,etc)?

Lastly, should I run my FB ads from general fan pages or should I create pages that are congruent with the offers I'll be running? Should I populate the pages with content?

I'm truly grateful for your help wakeboarder.

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I would definitely suggest this too man, you've got a leg up already in the ecom world and learning how to track stuff at first is daunting but it becomes second nature very very quickly.

The team at Giddyup are very good people, they have some really quality content which comes through their emails in ways to promote their offers and Q4 is always their biggest by far so you've got a good opportunity now to get your hands dirty. No one (well not no one unless they're super nice haha) will reveal too much angles, you'll be able to see stuff that has worked in the past and obviously can be re-made in a way to get profitable again but most of the time if people are making money on a particular angle they're going to be quiet on it

Direct offers club and DFO are two other good ecom options as well.

Learning some marketing skills and running campaigns will teach you what sort of angles tend to do the best, but this is learned in due time man its a marathon not a sprint here. Do you have much skills in copywriting?

Its not 100% needed but it really can help you begin to fire up the creative engine. And also it can help you launch your first campaigns to get your feet wet.

Other tools to keep in mind outside of adplexity - https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...81-FB-Spy-Tool

It doesn't hurt to make a congruent page (Say if you run a gadget for your car product you could do Automotive related pages), you don't have to have a lot of content if you're just going to run FB ads to ecom landers, but if you plan on building an audience for your own products then you can work on the content.

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More value bombs from the illustrious Maynzie. Yes, I'm going to stick to what I know.

Will a tracking software be necessary for FB campaigns? Wakeboarder provided a link to a thread written by the legendary Caurmen that delves into the concept of tracking. It's been quite helpful.

Who would be able to guide me on where to place my FB pixels? My AM or perhaps someone here on STM? I'm used to working on Shopify so I'd need some clarity on this.

Yeah, makes sense. I wouldn't expect anyone to reveal angles that are currently working. So my best bet to get my creative juices flowing and find examples ( or clues) of what has worked in the past is maybe through those spy tools or perusing the FB graph. I think I've been on STM for about a week and have received support in abundance already so I'm confident that the good folks of STM will help my get through any obstacles that may come my way.

I just got onboard with DFO a few moments ago. I asked if LAL & demographic data would be available to me and she said yes so that will be a huge help. Direct Offers Club will be the next network I sign up with. I agree, it is indeed a marathon and I'm in it for the long haul.

I do have some copywriting experience. I know that I'll need to test headlines often, use benefit driven language, test hooks & angles, etc. The spy tool thread is solid gold! Thank you so much!

Awesome examples on how I can approach my Fanpage buildouts. Makes a lot of sense.

P.S. Can you tell me how I can do these word bubble responses (when responding to or answering questions) that are commonly used in all of the threads. I'm new to the forum platform concept too lol. Thanks!

P.P.S. Also, can you provide a bit more clarity on this sub ID concept? Where do I get it? where is it supposed to be placed? etc.

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Lots of valuable advice from wakeboarder and Maynzie!

I agree 1000% - "hell no" to pops if you already have FB experience. That would be like choosing a veggie burger over a Presidential Burger at Five Guys. IMO Facebook has so much more potential.




Amy

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Just wanted to point out one thing, there was VPN and VPS mentioned a couple times and in a bit mixed way.

VPS is a virtual private server ... you need this to hot any webpage, landing page etc ...
VPN is a virtual private network ... this is used to emulate you're connecting from a distant location, for example a particular country ... this is used to spy on your competition and browse offers that use GEO targeting and redirect clicks that do not match the desired country.

This is called a QUOTE ... when making a post, simply highlight the part of text you want to quote and then click the "text bubble" icon in the top bar of the "reply window". Or use the [ QUOTE][ /QUOTE] tags around the text you want to quote.

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Awesome! Makes sense to me. I'll aways go for the Five Guys Presidential Burger over the Veggie Burger.

Amy, I'd like to take the time to thank you for these 2 threads I discovered today:

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...mplete-Newbies

https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...hrough-Network - Your insight on this was pure gold!

Super powerful stuff!

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Oh! Thank you for clarifying. Now I'm clear on the distinctions between the 2.

Nice! I get it now. Thanks!

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Yeah mate you'll have to learn how to use a tracker for sure, its a key component to diving through your metrics to find what is profitable and what is losing you money - its foundational. If you do a search in the box in the top right above there is some good discussions on trackers. We use Binom and lots of people are quite happy with them so far, others include funnel flux, Voluum, thryve but you can do a bit of research and see what you're comfortable with

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See the speech bubble on the right hand side? Click that and you can quote text, or simply click 'reply with quote' under the post.

Subids/tracking are explained I think in the 40 day guide or a search through the forum for tracking FAQ threads

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