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Adult Dating Follow Along With Binom (46)


06-06-2019 10:19 AM #1 chandhu (Member)
Adult Dating Follow Along With Binom

Hey guys
After lot of failed campaigns, I am back with budget again and this time I am not gonna give up. I remember my huge mistakes last time, now I am opening this follow along to receive help from you guys. This time, I had chosen a small GEO so that costs will be lower.

Campaign setup:

Banners - 5 (ripped and edited)
Landers - 2 (1 ripped and 1 new)
Offers - 2 (completely different offers from different networks.)
Traffic source- TF
Budget - $50 per day

I am gonna leave the campaign to gather 3x offer payout.
5(banners)*2(landers)*2(offers)*$2.5*3= $150

I will pause the campaign once $150 is spent and will post updates here.

Campaign is live now.


06-08-2019 05:55 AM #2 chandhu (Member)

Update:
It's been 2 days since campaign started. 1st day, received about 4 conversions and it's in negative ROI. 1st day cost is about $23. Not much traffic. 2nd day only 2 conversions and 2 days spent is $53.
Everytime I launch a campaign, 1st days it looks okay, some conversions will show up but from 2nd or 3rd day, everything drops. Any idea what might be wrong?
My total budget for initial test is $150 but only it spent $50 so far, not much promising results so far. I am receving about 100K impressions, 1st position in bidding.
ANy recommendations?
I also noticed that from the tracker, I can see that I am receiving about more than 50 clicks from 2 ip addresses each. 2 days clicks were 200 clicks from these 2 ip addresses, I checked those ip addresses and they are from same country and are residential.
Any idea what could be wrong?
Is there a way to block those ip addresses?
They are messing stats in the tracker.
Also do you want me to add another GEO also because I put $50 budget in the campaign and all it spends is only $20, not much traffic.

I will post updates tomorrow.


06-09-2019 06:41 AM #3 chandhu (Member)

Update: 9th June,2019

I have main campaign(Banners 1), additional pop(additional), last pop(cams). Here are the overall stats for all campaigns.Attachment 21425
Main campaign stats:
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Views:	138 
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ID:	21429
Main campaign banners:
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Name:	Screenshot_149.png 
Views:	75 
Size:	197.9 KB 
ID:	21430
Main campaign landers:
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Name:	Screenshot_150.png 
Views:	45 
Size:	80.0 KB 
ID:	21431
Offers:
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Name:	Screenshot_151.png 
Views:	55 
Size:	135.0 KB 
ID:	21432

I am gonna pause banners 1,2 and 3; removing offer(id 7) ; add 1 offer and gonna send some more traffic.

Question:
Do I have to dd more variations of banners 4 and 5 or else gather data with these 2?


06-09-2019 09:44 PM #4 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Hello chandhu.

I am gonna pause banners 1,2 and 3; removing offer(id 7) ; add 1 offer and gonna send some more traffic.

Question:
Do I have to dd more variations of banners 4 and 5 or else gather data with these 2?
The current creatives and/or offers are not strong enough. You need better ones. Even the best combinations are like -60%, in case I'm reading the stats right.

It's hard to say what part of your funnel is causing the problems, could be the banners, could be the LPs or even the offer. The traffic source you are using is solid, so the problem won't be there. I'm not familiar with Binom, but I think it should be possible to block IPs with it, so look for that feature.

Some tips for you:

1. TF is solid, but just in case, try to check the traffic breakdown. Does the GEO match your selection, do the languages match the desired ones too (in some GEOs it's a problem with TF).
2. Do not try to be #1 bidder, 3 or 4 is more than fine.
3. You need to figure out where your biggest problem is. Try to test different offers to see if it improves. Then try different banners, then LPs. Do not change all of it at once though, as it would become a mess. You need to take it 1 step at a time, in order to find out where the weakest spot is.

Also do you want me to add another GEO also because I put $50 budget in the campaign and all it spends is only $20, not much traffic.
Do not add another GEO, you will just confuse yourself even more. Again, take it 1 step at a time


06-10-2019 03:02 AM #5 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
The current creatives and/or offers are not strong enough. You need better ones. Even the best combinations are like -60%, in case I'm reading the stats right.
Yes, you are correct but I am using the creatives that are being used by competitors. I tweaked them. I will add more creatives to the test now.


Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
It's hard to say what part of your funnel is causing the problems, could be the banners, could be the LPs or even the offer. The traffic source you are using is solid, so the problem won't be there. I'm not familiar with Binom, but I think it should be possible to block IPs with it, so look for that feature.
Binom support said tht it's only possible with server or I can create a rule to redirect that traffic. I don't see any traffic from those 2 ips yesterday.


Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Some tips for you:

1. TF is solid, but just in case, try to check the traffic breakdown. Does the GEO match your selection, do the languages match the desired ones too (in some GEOs it's a problem with TF).
2. Do not try to be #1 bidder, 3 or 4 is more than fine.
3. You need to figure out where your biggest problem is. Try to test different offers to see if it improves. Then try different banners, then LPs. Do not change all of it at once though, as it would become a mess. You need to take it 1 step at a time, in order to find out where the weakest spot is.
1. Yes, it matches the selection almost 95% I guess. Out of 1400 clicks that I received, only 20 to 30 clicks are from other GEOs. At the time of writing this, I checked Languages and noticed that out of 1400 clicks, only 850 matches the language of country that I am targeting. About 480 clicks(only 1 conversion) are from en-US and remaining clicks are other languages. I will create a rule to show English landers to these people.
2. Yes, thanks for the tip. I already reduced my bid 5 cents down. I am at 2nd position now. Gonna further reduce the bid.
3. Okay I will test different offers.


Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Do not add another GEO, you will just confuse yourself even more. Again, take it 1 step at a time
Thanks for the suggestion.



Have a small question.
1. How to deal with timezone in TF and tracker? I can use same timezone that I live in (both tf and tracker) or else some other thing? If it's same and no problem, how can I use day parting? I mean, when updating cost in tracker, do I have to convert timezone to target country's timezone?

I am sorry for my bad English.


06-10-2019 08:45 AM #6 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

I checked Languages and noticed that out of 1400 clicks, only 850 matches the language of country that I am targeting. About 480 clicks(only 1 conversion) are from en-US and remaining clicks are other languages. I will create a rule to show English landers to these people.
Yup, TF is doing this all the time. This traffic are bots from a large part or people browsing on a VPN... one way or another, these clicks won't convert good. Not much you can do about this though, many people simply filter these out and send it to different offers so it doesn't take the overall quality down.

1. How to deal with timezone in TF and tracker? I can use same timezone that I live in (both tf and tracker) or else some other thing? If it's same and no problem, how can I use day parting? I mean, when updating cost in tracker, do I have to convert timezone to target country's timezone?
It's hard to reach 100% accuracy here, since not all sources use the same timezone. When updating costs, you simply have to pay attention to be using the correct data, for the corresponding hours. In most cases, I just take the total figure for the day and updates the costs based on that. Of course I try to make sure I work with the same time frame, but sometimes it's a bit off anyways. The CTR fluctuates throughout the day anyways, so if I really wanted accurate data, I would have to update every single hour separately, which is too much effort. When in doubt, I load the stats by hour and just compare the results by using two browser windows. You will get used to this after a while, it's not like we really need super accurate figures to make optimizations.

I am sorry for my bad English.
Your english is more than fine


06-10-2019 09:40 AM #7 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Yup, TF is doing this all the time. This traffic are bots from a large part or people browsing on a VPN... one way or another, these clicks won't convert good. Not much you can do about this though, many people simply filter these out and send it to different offers so it doesn't take the overall quality down.



It's hard to reach 100% accuracy here, since not all sources use the same timezone. When updating costs, you simply have to pay attention to be using the correct data, for the corresponding hours. In most cases, I just take the total figure for the day and updates the costs based on that. Of course I try to make sure I work with the same time frame, but sometimes it's a bit off anyways. The CTR fluctuates throughout the day anyways, so if I really wanted accurate data, I would have to update every single hour separately, which is too much effort. When in doubt, I load the stats by hour and just compare the results by using two browser windows. You will get used to this after a while, it's not like we really need super accurate figures to make optimizations.



Your english is more than fine
Yes, I also noticed that anyone can view ads in TF sites just by changing country option that is available at the top. This is something that TF has to take care of, lot of unusual traffic is being delivered. Their homepage says new website is coming. Hope they will make changes at the back end also.
I further looked into the ip data and noticed that there are about 480 clicks from en-US language. Out of 480, 300 clicks are what I consider as bot clicks from 2 ip addresses. I checked these ip addresses and location matches the targeting and ISP is from Russia. I created a rule for en-US language traffic. Do I have to create any other rule like this?

About timezone and cost updation, I just selected my local timezone in both TF and my tracker. I am just entering total figure for the day into the campaign.

I reduced the bid 10 cents and checked my position again, I am 2nd or 3rd but receiving only about 5 to 10 clicks an hour. Is this normal?


06-12-2019 03:18 AM #8 chandhu (Member)

Update- 12th June 2019

I ran it for 2 more days and here are the stats of the campaign.
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Views:	59 
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ID:	21453
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Views:	29 
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ID:	21452
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Views:	26 
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ID:	21454

I paused all offers today. On 10th June, offer(same offer that competitor is running) that is bringing in more conversions than other offers is paused in the network. I haven't received any alert from the network, so lost some conversions because traffic got redirected to smartlink from the network. I
tested 2 offers(1 offer running since beginning and 1 new offer) but no success. As you can see, I have problem with the offer I think.
Today, I added 2 new offers to the test(1 offer is similar to what my competitors are running and 1 new offer). This GEO doesn't have many offers, only 1 or 2. I only found 2 networks that has offers for this GEO(Tier 3).

Yesterday, I launched a new campaign and the results are same. I have a CTR of about 0.25 to 0.40 in TF and around $0.05 CPC. I think I can lower the CPC more.

At this point, what I have to do?
Can anyone recommend me some networks that have adult dating offers for Tier 3 GEOs mainly Europian countries?

Any suggestion is welcome.


06-12-2019 09:34 AM #9 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

At this point, what I have to do?
Based on the data you posted, I don't see much promise in this campaign. You need to make significant changes before relaunching. It's quite possible that the offers are not strong enough. What GEO were you targeting actually? 5 cents per click can be too much in lower tiers, because the payouts are also low in most cases.

Can anyone recommend me some networks that have adult dating offers for Tier 3 GEOs mainly Europian countries?
Advidi, unitegap, xcash/brokerbabe, imaxcash, topoffers, clickdealer ... these guys have tons of dating offers, you shouldn't have a problem choosing something. If they don't have anything for your GEO, it might be time to pick another one as there might be a reason for them not targeting that GEO (it might not work well with dating).


06-12-2019 09:56 AM #10 chandhu (Member)

I am targeting Portugal right now. If I lower my bid more, my CPC also reduces.
Advidi,Unitedgap,Brokerbabe,clickdealer,imaxcash,t opoffers,- I have accounts in all these networks. Only UnitedGap,Clickdealer have few offers for this GEO. TopOffers, it's a smarlink. Advidi, they don't answer my questions because because they don't waste time with small affiliates like me.
As per your suggestion, I will stops the campaigns tomorrow. I am testing new offers right now, if there are no possibilities, I will stop them tomorrow and pick another GEO.
May be I had chosen very small GEO that has not established properly as you said.


06-12-2019 11:30 AM #11 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
I am targeting Portugal right now. If I lower my bid more, my CPC also reduces.
Advidi,Unitedgap,Brokerbabe,clickdealer,imaxcash,t opoffers,- I have accounts in all these networks. Only UnitedGap,Clickdealer have few offers for this GEO. TopOffers, it's a smarlink. Advidi, they don't answer my questions because because they don't waste time with small affiliates like me.
As per your suggestion, I will stops the campaigns tomorrow. I am testing new offers right now, if there are no possibilities, I will stop them tomorrow and pick another GEO.
May be I had chosen very small GEO that has not established properly as you said.
I don't think I ever tried Portugal, so can't really give you any specific advice here. How about trying some higher tier but still small countries? Like Ireland or New Zealand? 5-6 million citizens each of them ... EN creatives in both, pretty good payouts, but not that competitive since the large players focus on bigger geos... might be worth a shot.

And since you mentioned smartlink, there are networks with pretty solid dating smartlinks, for example lospollos ... that can work too, they even have a gay version, which is again not that widely used by affiliates.


06-12-2019 01:01 PM #12 chandhu (Member)

Thanks for suggesting me 2 good GEOs matuloo. You are always awesome. I will do some search on them today and possibly launch a campaign tomorrow or next day.


06-20-2019 04:00 AM #13 chandhu (Member)

UPDATE:
Sorry for not updating for over 6 days. When @matuloo suggested some GEOs, I just messaged my AM and explained him what's happening. He said that this particular offer is performing well for mobile traffic and he asked me to dive in to mobile traffic. Next day, I launched campaign for mobile with 5 banners, 2 landers and 2 offers(1 from each network). Payout is about $2.5 and spent about $75. First 2 dys, not promising results but from 3rd day, was receiving close to 10 leads a day. After spending $75, I analyzed the campaign and here are the stats.
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Views:	44 
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ID:	21510
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Views:	36 
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ID:	21511
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ID:	21512

At this point, I paused banners 2,3,4, and only 1,5 are live. Both of the landers are performing equally and I just paused 1 randomly. Offers, 1 is performing good than the other, so paused 1. So for now, only have 2 banners,1 lander and 1 offer. Yesterday, I added 2 variations of the banners 1 each. Ran it for 2 more days. Here are the stats.
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ID:	21513
Landers and offers are same.
Here are overall stats for main campaign, pop under and back button.
https://i.imgur.com/80jOufF.png

I noticed that desktop and mobile CTR is so different. I am having a banner CTR of about 0.35 to 0.40 and LP CTR is about 15%.

If I am making any mistakes, please let me know. At this point, what I have to do next and what things I have to test?

PS: I asked my AM to check for quality on the back end and he said that no conversions on the back end yet but let's check after another 50 leads and he given 2 pay bumps to me. He is really very nice guy. I am not even using any misleading words with my creatives.


06-23-2019 09:20 PM #14 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Both of the landers are performing equally and I just paused 1 randomly.
It's important to keep a bit of variety in your campaigns, so if you see 2 or 3 things performing on a similar level, do not pause any of them. It can greatly slow down burnout and it can also save your ass on the more fluctuating days...

I noticed that desktop and mobile CTR is so different. I am having a banner CTR of about 0.35 to 0.40 and LP CTR is about 15%.
Are you targeting both mobile and desktop in this campaign? In case you are, you should separate them. Or did you switch to mobile now as per the recomendation from your AM? Please advice as I don't want to give you wrong advice.

It's looking pretty good now, definitely better than before!


06-24-2019 09:04 AM #15 chandhu (Member)

I already made that mistake and the result is as you said. After the optimization that I had done, performance dropped all the way down. No more conversions. I let it run for 2 more days and no change in performance.
Next day, I launched 2 more campaigns. New banners, new landers and same offers. For surprise, same offer that was performing good with 1st campaign and performance dropped after optimization. But here, with new campaigns, it performed okay. After letting the 2 campaigns run for 2 days, I noticed that only 2 banners in each campaign are bringing in conversions. I immediately paused those banners and another change I made is just lowered the bid by 2 cents. After the optimization yesterday, only 2 and 3 conversions in these 2 campaigns. Don't know what mistakes I am making. Can anyone tell me the order of optimization and when to add new creatives, when to pause the creatives etc ?
All of my banners have .35% ctr.
For smaller GOEs like this, how many days I have to let the campaign for before making any decisions?
I completely stopped desktop, only running mobile now.


06-26-2019 08:39 AM #16 r4raaj (Member)

Good going Chandhu. Waiting for your green conversions


06-26-2019 10:19 AM #17 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
I already made that mistake and the result is as you said. After the optimization that I had done, performance dropped all the way down. No more conversions. I let it run for 2 more days and no change in performance.
Next day, I launched 2 more campaigns. New banners, new landers and same offers. For surprise, same offer that was performing good with 1st campaign and performance dropped after optimization. But here, with new campaigns, it performed okay. After letting the 2 campaigns run for 2 days, I noticed that only 2 banners in each campaign are bringing in conversions. I immediately paused those banners and another change I made is just lowered the bid by 2 cents. After the optimization yesterday, only 2 and 3 conversions in these 2 campaigns. Don't know what mistakes I am making. Can anyone tell me the order of optimization and when to add new creatives, when to pause the creatives etc ?
All of my banners have .35% ctr.
For smaller GOEs like this, how many days I have to let the campaign for before making any decisions?
I completely stopped desktop, only running mobile now.
I really like to use the analogy with fishing, when explaining how creatives work and why it's important to use as many of them at the same time as possible.

So imagine you're fishing in a lake full of fish, but not all of them are the same breed. Let's say there 4 breeds :

1. carp - this fish will bite on anything, worms, corn or even a small fish used as a bait and sometimes they also bite on a classic plastic lure.
2. trout - this is a carnivore, so you can use small fish, lures but also worms. Many trouts are farm bred before being released into the wilds, so some of them will bite on anything they can spot.
3. pike - this is a typical predator fish, so plastic lures, live fish etc are the best to use. But since it's an aggressive fish, sometimes you can catch it with anything, as long as you cast the line close enough to an actual fish and provoke it to attack.
4. bighead carp - this fish breeds on algae and plankton, so it's pretty much impossible to catch it.

Now, an AD is your lure.

The best lure in this case is a WORM... a carp will gladly take it, so will a trout and if you are happy enough and cast it close to a pike, it will bite too. A worm is like the perfect banner. But these are hard to come by.
Then there is corn ... carps will bite, if you are lucky enough and cast it directly in front of a hungry farm-bred trout, it will bite too. But pikes are very unlikely to bite, unless you cast it directly on it's head and provoke an attack. Corn is like a decent banner. It will work decently, but you need to be lucky and serve it to the right fish.
Then there are breed specific plastic lures... for example designed to attract pikes. If you fish in a lake with heavy pike population it will work well, but carps wont give a shit. Specific lures are like weak banners. They can work decently with proper targeting, but if you go broad with them, they will fail.
And let's not forget about the bighead carp, no matter what lure you use here, it won't bite. This is the majority of the online users, they ignore ads.

When going fishing, you need to pick the right spot, otherwise you won't catch any fish. Pikes are usually close to the shore, waiting for small fishes to prey on. Carps are searching for food at the botton. Trouts literally swim around and you can find them everywhere, usually close to the water surface. So you need to use a different technique to catch each of these fishes. That's targeting in the advertising world. Target the wrong audience and it won't work.

Now, let's imagine that you start with a set of new banners. Some of them are worms, some corns and some plastic lures.

You cast all of them randomly and catch some fish, in other words you get some leads Some worked better, some worse. But you don't know yet why some worked better.

With the initial round of tests, it's possible that a plastic lure scored the best, because you were lucky enough and used them in a spot where several pikes were looking for prey. On the other hand, a worm banner might have bombed because you were serving it in a spot where mostly bighead carps rested. But as soon as you start to cast the plastic lure all over the lake, it's effectivity will go down a lot. On the other hand, if you do the same with a worm, you'd start catching more fish.

An it's the same with banners... the banners that perform the best early on, could be only working well with a specific audience that you were able to target from some reason, even pure luck. The buyers are visiting the sites randomly, you never know when the right surfers browse the site and see your ad. And since you are never able to buy all the rotation, you need to run long enough to have a chance to show all the ads to all types of surfers (fish breeds). This is what statistical significance means.

This is why it's so important to try and rotate several ads at the same time, since you never know what types of fish is looking at your ads at any given time. It's normal to be getting just "carp" clicks for an hour... serve them just "plastic lure" banners and you will lose money, but if you rotate some "worm" in the campaign too, you can still profit.

The goal of the optimization is to identify the worms and run those the most, but it's always a good idea to keep some other lures in rotation, in case they are still delivering solid performance.

Does it make sense?


06-26-2019 12:24 PM #18 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
I really like to use the analogy with fishing, when explaining how creatives work and why it's important to use as many of them at the same time as possible.

So imagine you're fishing in a lake full of fish, but not all of them are the same breed. Let's say there 4 breeds :

1. carp - this fish will bite on anything, worms, corn or even a small fish used as a bait and sometimes they also bite on a classic plastic lure.
2. trout - this is a carnivore, so you can use small fish, lures but also worms. Many trouts are farm bred before being released into the wilds, so some of them will bite on anything they can spot.
3. pike - this is a typical predator fish, so plastic lures, live fish etc are the best to use. But since it's an aggressive fish, sometimes you can catch it with anything, as long as you cast the line close enough to an actual fish and provoke it to attack.
4. bighead carp - this fish breeds on algae and plankton, so it's pretty much impossible to catch it.

Now, an AD is your lure.

The best lure in this case is a WORM... a carp will gladly take it, so will a trout and if you are happy enough and cast it close to a pike, it will bite too. A worm is like the perfect banner. But these are hard to come by.
Then there is corn ... carps will bite, if you are lucky enough and cast it directly in front of a hungry farm-bred trout, it will bite too. But pikes are very unlikely to bite, unless you cast it directly on it's head and provoke an attack. Corn is like a decent banner. It will work decently, but you need to be lucky and serve it to the right fish.
Then there are breed specific plastic lures... for example designed to attract pikes. If you fish in a lake with heavy pike population it will work well, but carps wont give a shit. Specific lures are like weak banners. They can work decently with proper targeting, but if you go broad with them, they will fail.
And let's not forget about the bighead carp, no matter what lure you use here, it won't bite. This is the majority of the online users, they ignore ads.

When going fishing, you need to pick the right spot, otherwise you won't catch any fish. Pikes are usually close to the shore, waiting for small fishes to prey on. Carps are searching for food at the botton. Trouts literally swim around and you can find them everywhere, usually close to the water surface. So you need to use a different technique to catch each of these fishes. That's targeting in the advertising world. Target the wrong audience and it won't work.

Now, let's imagine that you start with a set of new banners. Some of them are worms, some corns and some plastic lures.

You cast all of them randomly and catch some fish, in other words you get some leads Some worked better, some worse. But you don't know yet why some worked better.

With the initial round of tests, it's possible that a plastic lure scored the best, because you were lucky enough and used them in a spot where several pikes were looking for prey. On the other hand, a worm banner might have bombed because you were serving it in a spot where mostly bighead carps rested. But as soon as you start to cast the plastic lure all over the lake, it's effectivity will go down a lot. On the other hand, if you do the same with a worm, you'd start catching more fish.

An it's the same with banners... the banners that perform the best early on, could be only working well with a specific audience that you were able to target from some reason, even pure luck. The buyers are visiting the sites randomly, you never know when the right surfers browse the site and see your ad. And since you are never able to buy all the rotation, you need to run long enough to have a chance to show all the ads to all types of surfers (fish breeds). This is what statistical significance means.

This is why it's so important to try and rotate several ads at the same time, since you never know what types of fish is looking at your ads at any given time. It's normal to be getting just "carp" clicks for an hour... serve them just "plastic lure" banners and you will lose money, but if you rotate some "worm" in the campaign too, you can still profit.

The goal of the optimization is to identify the worms and run those the most, but it's always a good idea to keep some other lures in rotation, in case they are still delivering solid performance.

Does it make sense?
@Thanks @matuloo
That's really a lot of explanation and I really appreciate taking your time to write all of this. I clearly understood what you said and gonna implement now.
Add more banners to the rotation regualarly and let them run for longer like a week or so and make changes.
I have some questions.
1. When testing banners, some of them are receiving clicks as you explained here but no conversions. My average payout is like $3 and each banner spends $10 and if no conversion and ROI is greater than -30% , I am pausing that particular banner, Do you want me to proceed with that?
2. I think there's so much to learn about TF bidding strategy. Whenever I change my bid, clicks are still coming and each new bid is bringing different number of conversions. 2nd and 3rd position is bringing some conversions, if I go higher bid, budget is burning and less conversions. I see 1 affiliate running only 1 or 2 banners and he is at the top. 7 cents more than my bid, he tests new offers every week. Any tips on TF platform specifically about bidding?


06-26-2019 12:51 PM #19 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Add more banners to the rotation regualarly and let them run for longer like a week or so and make changes.
You don't have to run for a week, sometimes a day or even less is enough. It all depends on the volume you are getting.

1. When testing banners, some of them are receiving clicks as you explained here but no conversions. My average payout is like $3 and each banner spends $10 and if no conversion and ROI is greater than -30% , I am pausing that particular banner, Do you want me to proceed with that?
Yup, as long as the banner doesn't convert at all, just cut it (it's a breed specific lure or simply a non attractive one). You don't even have to wait that long $6-7 should be enough. With a proven funnel, you can cut even sooner.

2. I think there's so much to learn about TF bidding strategy. Whenever I change my bid, clicks are still coming and each new bid is bringing different number of conversions. 2nd and 3rd position is bringing some conversions, if I go higher bid, budget is burning and less conversions. I see 1 affiliate running only 1 or 2 banners and he is at the top. 7 cents more than my bid, he tests new offers every week. Any tips on TF platform specifically about bidding?
Yup, do not push for more than 3rd or 4th spot for now. Use highest bid only when you have a very strong funnel. But also do not let your banners sink too deep. In my experience, floating between 2-6 place in the bidding chain works the best.


06-26-2019 12:57 PM #20 chandhu (Member)

Update: 22nd June 2019 to 25th June 2019

https://imgur.com/a/LexXF3q

I just paused offers and some banners. Landers, I haven't touched yet. Any suggestions will be welcomed.


06-26-2019 08:34 PM #21 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

I'm not using Binom so if you crop the screens this way, it's hard for me to read the data, why are you trying to hide some parts?

ANyways, that one LP (LP4)seems to be clearly winning... multiple leads with very solid ROI. Not sure how long you've been running this and what's the rest of the setup, but it looks promising, try to push it more.


06-27-2019 03:49 AM #22 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
I'm not using Binom so if you crop the screens this way, it's hard for me to read the data, why are you trying to hide some parts?

Anyways, that one LP (LP4)seems to be clearly winning... multiple leads with very solid ROI. Not sure how long you've been running this and what's the rest of the setup, but it looks promising, try to push it more.
The reason I cropped is, stm is not allowing me to upload pics. I am receiving the error as quota exceeded. So, I m trying to take small screenshot as possible and trying to upload but the same error. Then I decided to post external links. I am repeating the same thing with all my updates.

I just checked and noticed that only offer stats were partial screenshots. LP4 is offer's lander and not a landing page that I am using. I had been running the both campaigns since 22nd June. Stats shown are for the period 22nd June to 25th June
Yesterday, I checked the stats for both campaigns and noticed that certain banners and lander combination are showing some green numbers. So, I split campaign 3 into 2 separate campaigns with banners and landers combination. Campaign 2 is running as usual. I will post updates after running them for 2 more days.


06-27-2019 09:05 AM #23 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

The reason I cropped is, stm is not allowing me to upload pics. I am receiving the error as quota exceeded. So, I m trying to take small screenshot as possible and trying to upload but the same error. Then I decided to post external links. I am repeating the same thing with all my updates.
Just use imgur, you can directly embed the pics here on STM then, I'm also doing it that way. The image posting function of vbulletin is kinda buggy so it's not working properly in many cases.

LP4 is offer's lander and not a landing page that I am using.
Ah ok, it's pretty common. Certain offer urls often outperform the others, sometimes it's like using different offers. So definitely do test multiple offer landers in case these are provided.

Yesterday, I checked the stats for both campaigns and noticed that certain banners and lander combination are showing some green numbers. So, I split campaign 3 into 2 separate campaigns with banners and landers combination. Campaign 2 is running as usual. I will post updates after running them for 2 more days.
This is also very common and in many cases it's a good idea to isolate these winning funnels and run them separately. But in most cases the performance drops when you do this, it's exactly what I described with the fishing example. Some banners work well with a specific audience but if you give them more exposure and run broad with them, they will lose steam. But only a test will tell you if its the case or not.


06-27-2019 10:30 AM #24 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
This is also very common and in many cases it's a good idea to isolate these winning funnels and run them separately. But in most cases the performance drops when you do this, it's exactly what I described with the fishing example. Some banners work well with a specific audience but if you give them more exposure and run broad with them, they will lose steam. But only a test will tell you if its the case or not.
This is what happened now, I created 2 separate campaigns with only 1 lander in each. 1 campaign received some conversions while the other had 0.

Tbh, all of this is making me confused and feel difficult to crack this thing.


06-28-2019 09:51 AM #25 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
This is what happened now, I created 2 separate campaigns with only 1 lander in each. 1 campaign received some conversions while the other had 0.

Tbh, all of this is making me confused and feel difficult to crack this thing.
Yup, it's not easy

The problem you have is that the funnel is not strong enough, so it performs well with certain traffic, but fails when you take it out broad and expose it to all the traffic. It's all coming down to the fishing analogy, you simply didn't find a "worm banner" yet... or the LP is not that universal or the offer is the bottleneck.

It takes a "bit" of testing to get all the parts right. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut here, you just need to improve the funnel and that can only be done via testing.


06-29-2019 02:19 AM #26 chinopaisa (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Yup, it's not easy

The problem you have is that the funnel is not strong enough, so it performs well with certain traffic, but fails when you take it out broad and expose it to all the traffic. It's all coming down to the fishing analogy, you simply didn't find a "worm banner" yet... or the LP is not that universal or the offer is the bottleneck.

It takes a "bit" of testing to get all the parts right. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut here, you just need to improve the funnel and that can only be done via testing.
Hmm, so if you find a "worm" banner, generally speaking, is that worm banner good for most/all sites in that GEO? Or is a worm banner good for that continent? Or would it be likely that there could be a "worm" banner that is a worm for every single GEO?

Or does this depend and vary greatly?


06-30-2019 03:05 PM #27 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Yup, it's not easy

The problem you have is that the funnel is not strong enough, so it performs well with certain traffic, but fails when you take it out broad and expose it to all the traffic. It's all coming down to the fishing analogy, you simply didn't find a "worm banner" yet... or the LP is not that universal or the offer is the bottleneck.

It takes a "bit" of testing to get all the parts right. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut here, you just need to improve the funnel and that can only be done via testing.
For whatever the reason, I am not able to crack Portugal. Even after pay bump, I was able to reach break-even. Not many offers available for Portugal. My traffic is not converting at the back-end.
So, I decided to stop messing with Portugal. As you suggested 2 English GEOs, I have chosen New Zealand this time. Looks like NZ and Ireland have less traffic compared to Portugal, and also lp ctr is like 10% and I am having less number of conversions. Since I just started with NZ, gonna give it like $50 test and check if promising.
I will post updates after initial test.


06-30-2019 08:20 PM #28 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chinopaisa View Post
Hmm, so if you find a "worm" banner, generally speaking, is that worm banner good for most/all sites in that GEO? Or is a worm banner good for that continent? Or would it be likely that there could be a "worm" banner that is a worm for every single GEO?

Or does this depend and vary greatly?
If it's a real winner, it will work in multiple spots/sites or even GEOs. Just keep in mind that there are some region specific preferences that can kill this "theory"... asian females in certain regions, white/caucasian in others... hair color, body type etc.

Another thing to consider is the demo of a particular site, not all the sites have the same audience so naturally, the users have difference tastes too.

But generally speaking, once you find a worm it should work at least decently pretty much everywhere.


06-30-2019 08:24 PM #29 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
For whatever the reason, I am not able to crack Portugal. Even after pay bump, I was able to reach break-even. Not many offers available for Portugal. My traffic is not converting at the back-end.
So, I decided to stop messing with Portugal. As you suggested 2 English GEOs, I have chosen New Zealand this time. Looks like NZ and Ireland have less traffic compared to Portugal, and also lp ctr is like 10% and I am having less number of conversions. Since I just started with NZ, gonna give it like $50 test and check if promising.
I will post updates after initial test.
Not all GEOs can work with dating at any time, in case there are not solid offers available, it simply won't back out. Especially when there are other offer types working with that particular GEO. I've seen it happen with a few GEOS... dating wasn't performing all that well but the traffic prices were still quite high, because some make enhancement offers were rocking those countries at that time. So people running such offers were pushing prices up. When this happens, it's pointless to struggle and try to make dating work.

There is a ton of GEOs to try, so don't get stuck in one market when it doesn't want to work.


07-03-2019 02:49 AM #30 chandhu (Member)

Update: 29th June to 2nd July
I switched to new GEO New Zealand and spied some funnels. I created about 4 banners and 2 landers and 1 proven offer that 2 other affiliates are running. AFter 2 days of testing, landers are eating the money, so I paused them and added 4 landers to the test and 5 new banners, 1 banner paused from the 1st test. So, here are the overall stats from 29th June to 2nd July.
https://imgur.com/a/EmUND2r

I am only receiving conversions if I am at the 1st position in bidding. Traffic is double the price of Portugal. Now, what should be my next step?
Stop this campaign or test more?
Do you suggest me to start a new campaign with new angles?
Anything is accepted. I just don't want to give up.


07-31-2019 12:34 PM #31 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
Hey Matej,
I understand what you are saying. Since you have proven creatives and huge experience, you will aim for some good numbers initially. I think I can make this campaign atleast a breakeven. Improving the parts of the funnel daily, I am working on it.So far with the today results, it's about 5% in green. Creating a variation of the lander now, in the middle of work and received your reply here. Right now, my payout for the offer is $2, sent about more than 50 conversions.
Btw, a small question. When doing everything or launching a new campaign, what maths do I have to do and keep in mind?
How to do that maths, I mean formula, etc.
Thanks
The most important math part is to realistically judge the numbers to see whether there is even the slightest chance of success.

Jabong went over this today in another thread, check it out: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...ading-Properly

Basically, there is always some space for improvement, but it's limited. You can get a paybump, but it will likely be something like 20%, so don't expect to get 100% (it does happen but its rare). You can also improve the LP ctr, but again it's not gonna triple and if it does, it will be because of some misleading element so the CVR will suffer. And the same goes for every part of the funnel, everything can be improved but there is a limit.

Another math related thing is to judge the creatives (banners) early, in order to not run banners that produce too expensive clicks. In case your clicks cost 10 cents, and you have a LP ctr of 10% that means an LP click is actually $1 each... in order for this to back out you need certain payout, so running offer that pay $2 with these numbers will simply not work, no matter what you do.

There is also the statistical significance that you need to pay attention to. In other words, you need certain amount of traffic and leads in order to be sure you're working with representative data and not coincidental results. Here is a recent thread on this, with some good links: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...ce-is-reached-

When talking about statistical significance it's also important to use common sense in regards to what I posted earlier (about the expensive clicks and improvement possibilities). When you see that your numbers simply don't make sense, it's pointless to wait for any big significance certainty, that would equal to wasting money. A funnel that totally sucks will not improve with more traffic, you will just reach a high level of certainty that it sucks

To be honest, I go by the common sense and some kind of gut feeling most of the time. This comes with experience though, when I see the data after an initial test, I can pretty much tell whether it stands a chance or not, without using any calculators.


08-02-2019 04:21 PM #32 chandhu (Member)

Quick Update: For the past 3 days, performance dropped and campaign is at - 30% to - 50% ROI continuously. I have banner ctr above .25% and lp ctr around 20% but not receiving many conversions. I just stopped the campaign as it's eating the budget. I have to start a new campaign, this time I will stop a campaign if I see above - 50% ROI after initial test. Initial spend will be $50.


08-05-2019 06:03 PM #33 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
Quick Update: For the past 3 days, performance dropped and campaign is at - 30% to - 50% ROI continuously. I have banner ctr above .25% and lp ctr around 20% but not receiving many conversions. I just stopped the campaign as it's eating the budget. I have to start a new campaign, this time I will stop a campaign if I see above - 50% ROI after initial test. Initial spend will be $50.
Hello again, couldn't post during the weekend but I'm back.

So what happened, -30% isn't such a disaster... was there anything that stood out? Something that you could optimize/block at the traffic source?

Let me know when you have some numbers from the new campaign, so I can have a look.


08-05-2019 06:09 PM #34 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Hello again, couldn't post during the weekend but I'm back.

So what happened, -30% isn't such a disaster... was there anything that stood out? Something that you could optimize/block at the traffic source?

Let me know when you have some numbers from the new campaign, so I can have a look.
Hey Matej,
-30% is after struggling with this campaign for almost 10 days I remember. After all that, I realised that I am wasting time on this campaign. Offer payout is low, conversion rate dropped, tested new offers, landers and banners but no use. So I decided to pause it.
Today I launched a campaign with 8 banners, 3 landers and 3 offers. LP CTR is like 5%, 1 lander has more than 10% ctr but it also dropped later. After spending about 25$, I quickly paused it. Had 3 conversions and total payout is 6$.
This is what happened.


08-06-2019 02:47 AM #35 chinopaisa (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Hello again, couldn't post during the weekend but I'm back.

So what happened, -30% isn't such a disaster... was there anything that stood out? Something that you could optimize/block at the traffic source?

Let me know when you have some numbers from the new campaign, so I can have a look.

Hey Matuloo, I got a campaign to -18% ROI this weekend, but over the next few days the ROI started dropping. Today it experienced an all time low of -90% ROI.

My banner CTRs remain same, but my LP CTR has tanked. I know there might be slightly better performance over the weekend, but from -18% to -90% is just crazy.

Is this banner blindness and if so, does it set in that quick?


08-06-2019 09:55 PM #36 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
Hey Matej,
-30% is after struggling with this campaign for almost 10 days I remember. After all that, I realised that I am wasting time on this campaign. Offer payout is low, conversion rate dropped, tested new offers, landers and banners but no use. So I decided to pause it.
Today I launched a campaign with 8 banners, 3 landers and 3 offers. LP CTR is like 5%, 1 lander has more than 10% ctr but it also dropped later. After spending about 25$, I quickly paused it. Had 3 conversions and total payout is 6$.
This is what happened.
Can you quickly sum up what traffic sources you tried already and what was the network that you used for the latest test? 5% ctr is very lousy, there must be some problem here.


08-06-2019 09:58 PM #37 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chinopaisa View Post
Hey Matuloo, I got a campaign to -18% ROI this weekend, but over the next few days the ROI started dropping. Today it experienced an all time low of -90% ROI.

My banner CTRs remain same, but my LP CTR has tanked. I know there might be slightly better performance over the weekend, but from -18% to -90% is just crazy.

Is this banner blindness and if so, does it set in that quick?
Nope, this is not banner blindness. Most likely you just got unlucky and bought a chunk of bad traffic. This happens pretty often with lower volumes. The lower the volume, the more volatile the numbers can be. I'd pause it for a day or two and then try to relaunch. Most likely, the numbers will look very different.

And definitely check your funnel, sometimes there might be tech problems behind such dramatic drops in CTR.


08-07-2019 02:08 AM #38 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
Can you quickly sum up what traffic sources you tried already and what was the network that you used for the latest test? 5% ctr is very lousy, there must be some problem here.
I tried trafficjunky before and burnt 5k. I realised that they are selling the good traffic to others. I only bought desktop traffic and only pornhub.

Now I am into TrafficFactory as suggested by you people. Tried desktop 1st but switched to mobile now. These are the only 2 networks that I tested. I am using TrafficFactory only right now. No matter what I do and how many campaigns I launch, not able to reach close to breakeven also. Don't know if this is pure bad luck that's hunting me or some other thing.
Yesterday, I resumed the same campaign, paused all the landers, added 5 more landers(already tested with other campaigns) and ctr is about 10%. Just 3 conversions and nothing more.


08-07-2019 09:45 AM #39 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
I tried trafficjunky before and burnt 5k. I realised that they are selling the good traffic to others. I only bought desktop traffic and only pornhub.

Now I am into TrafficFactory as suggested by you people. Tried desktop 1st but switched to mobile now. These are the only 2 networks that I tested. I am using TrafficFactory only right now. No matter what I do and how many campaigns I launch, not able to reach close to breakeven also. Don't know if this is pure bad luck that's hunting me or some other thing.
Yesterday, I resumed the same campaign, paused all the landers, added 5 more landers(already tested with other campaigns) and ctr is about 10%. Just 3 conversions and nothing more.
What GEO are you targeting now please?

With mobile, the LP ctr is always a bit lower... to be honest, I think desktop is a bit easier to optimize. The volume is limited, but that's not a bad thing for a newbie either. The results you had with desktop were that bad or why did you move into mobile?


08-07-2019 10:53 AM #40 chandhu (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
What GEO are you targeting now please?

With mobile, the LP ctr is always a bit lower... to be honest, I think desktop is a bit easier to optimize. The volume is limited, but that's not a bad thing for a newbie either. The results you had with desktop were that bad or why did you move into mobile?
I am targeting Austria mobile right now.
When I was targeting Portugal, Desktop traffic didn't worked. I mean I am receiving clicks but offers not converted. Offer CR is 0.5% only, for every 300 LP Clicks I hve only 4 conversions. I contcted my AM and they said that this partiular offer is doing good on mobile but not good on desktop traffic. Since then, I sticked to mobile traffic even after switching to other GEOs.
Now I will switch to desktop and see what happens.


08-07-2019 12:02 PM #41 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by chandhu View Post
I am targeting Austria mobile right now.
When I was targeting Portugal, Desktop traffic didn't worked. I mean I am receiving clicks but offers not converted. Offer CR is 0.5% only, for every 300 LP Clicks I hve only 4 conversions. I contcted my AM and they said that this partiular offer is doing good on mobile but not good on desktop traffic. Since then, I sticked to mobile traffic even after switching to other GEOs.
Now I will switch to desktop and see what happens.
Ok got it.

When one geo doesnt work, it doesnt automatically mean that you cannot work with desktop at all. I would suggest to try both, anytime you test a new offer or GEO. Desktop can be easier to manage, but the real volume is in mobile for sure.I'm personally using all devices, desktop, tab and also mobile. In some geos I do better with desktop, in some with tablets and in some it's mobile that delivers the best results... it also depends on the competition in any particular step, so testing all devices is the best approach.


08-15-2019 02:10 AM #42 chinopaisa (Member)

Hey Matuloo,

The biggest problem I am facing right now is that the data and conversions are not consistent.

I know I am not running volume, and spending about $50-70/day right now.

But for 30 campaigns now, seems like everytime when I get to a point where I run a campaign, after a few days (Let's say spend $100 or $150) I'll take a look at the stats.

Let's just say overall ROI is -50%, but there seems to be some promising flows/landers/banners combo.

So then I go ahead and cut the non-performing or "worst" banners/landers. And theoretically I should see ROI increase...... but almost every single time I have done this, it doesn't....

For whatever reason, the ROI actually drops, or stays around the same.

How can I "optimize" when after optimizing, my performance actually DROPS?

And I feel like I am digging deep in the data, etc. etc.

I can understand if this happens once in a while, but I don't think I can think of a single time when after I've optimized the campaign has done better....

Also, I understand there may be some variance with day of the week, competitor coming in and bidding, or maybe even banner blindness (although it's only been a few days)..... but I honestly don't think I can recollect a SINGLE time, where after I optimized, the campaign performed as I expected.

PS. These days I am running on TJ - RT and YP.

What are your thoughts?


08-15-2019 05:30 AM #43 jaybot (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
I really like to use the analogy with fishing...

1. carp - this fish will bite on anything, worms, corn or even a small fish used as a bait and sometimes they also bite on a classic plastic lure.
2. trout - this is a carnivore, so you can use small fish, lures but also worms. Many trouts are farm bred before being released into the wilds, so some of them will bite on anything they can spot.
3. pike - this is a typical predator fish, so plastic lures, live fish etc are the best to use. But since it's an aggressive fish, sometimes you can catch it with anything, as long as you cast the line close enough to an actual fish and provoke it to attack.
4. bighead carp - this fish breeds on algae and plankton, so it's pretty much impossible to catch it...
Just catching up on this and... Holy shit. That was the best analogy on landers I've ever read! This is why matuloo is a genius.

Yet another reason to read FA threads: random fish analogies


08-21-2019 12:39 AM #44 chinopaisa (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by jabong82 View Post
I think 10% CVR is not bad, but it's definitely lower than I like for a mobile WAP. Generally I like to see at least 12%+, and though that doesn't sound like a lot, that extra 2% CVR is basically you getting to break-evenish.

I think also you're focusing on the wrong things to make up the difference. Banner CTRs etc. aren't really that important, and it's a variable I don't want to base my campaign on. Same with with LP CTRs.

I think you probably need to test more landing pages and offer pages and find a combo that converts the offer better. Unless your banners/angles are terrible, I dont think you're going to get to where you need by just testing more banners. There probably is a "core" issue with your funnel.

Also could you put your posts in your own follow-along? It's be easier to review your campaign history progression if it was in your own thread (you basically hijacked this dudes follow-along lol).
Thanks @jabong82 for the feedback! Sorry! I'll create my own follow along, @chandhu and I are buddies, we've been messaging each other and have been facing similar challenges so that's why I just posted in here... Sorry for that!!!


08-21-2019 10:45 AM #45 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by jaybot View Post
Just catching up on this and... Holy shit. That was the best analogy on landers I've ever read! This is why matuloo is a genius.

Yet another reason to read FA threads: random fish analogies
Glad that you liked it, I've been using it for a while to explain this to my fellow affiliates and I believe there is solid logic behind it And I'm far from being a genius, it's just that once you do something for a few years, some things simply start to come together


08-21-2019 10:56 PM #46 chinopaisa (Member)

OK thanks @matuloo, yeah this $2.9 payout MOB offer is a DOI


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