Hi all! I'll tell you my brief history with affiliate marketing.
Recently I joined this forum and reading the case studies I was very motivated to start and when I want to achieve a result I put 100% of my energy and my time into it. And fortunately now I have a lot of time since I am in a period of pause from my studies, work etc..
2 months ago, after seeing various guides and tips; I asked to the various AMs best sweepstakes of tier 3/4 geos. I downloaded 2 LPs from Adplexity and I made 2 others manually. I launched my first campaign : Sweepstake offer advertised with Push Traffic.
After $100 spent on Push Traffic, I had just 2 conversions. So I thought there were some issues and I had to start buying less traffic to see if the campaign converts or not.
I changed Affiliate Network, I asked same thing to the new AM and I ripped 3 LPs, and did 2 others manually.
Finally, the new campaign is working: after $30 of Push Traffic, I did 13 conversions (payout $0.50). But with this new offer I had another issue: I set up the tracking badly so I could not see the data to optimize the campaign. I fixed it, I tried to do a conversion and all worked well. Now I could track conversions to optimize the campaign.
The day after I restarted the campaign, I bought others $30 of Push Traffic and when I returned home, I saw only 1 conversion. Since the same campaign before did 13 conversions, I thought it was an issue of time of day.
I restarted the same campaign to the same hour of the first time. I bought other $30 of Push Traffic and only 2 conversions.
Now I don't want to give up. I'm thinking of switching to other types of offers on other traffic sources, but I think that if I read that the best combo of the moment is push traffic with sweepstakes, what happens if I change vertical and type of traffic??Even less conversions and more money spent for nothing??
After spending a lot of money on subscriptions, guides, programs etc. now I have a very limited budget and the more time passes the more subs expires, and more money I lose. I don't want to give up because I love Affiliate Marketing but I have to think well about how to continue. And now I find myself lost. I accept and really appreciate everything: critics, advice etc.
Thank you all for your patience. Bye.
I can absolutely understand your frustration.
But unluckily it´s very hard to give you tips without additional information.
What trafficsources did you use?
How did you set your targeting?
How many landers and offers did you test?
Probably it would be best when you would start a follow along, then you could receive real help for your exact campaigns that you are running.
Otherwise it´s for us also just guesswork what went wrong with your stuff.
I felt the same (and sometimes still do) - up and down, up and down. When I think I have working campaign there's some kind of problem with quality, offer, etc.
But a few weeks ago, after sushiparlour case study I decided to collect my subscribers. I still have days when I earn $50 and then next day I lose $20 BUT in the same time I have $50-60 (and still getting better) from my list which is awesome. It allows me to test more and earn a few bucks. I don't say that you should do the same but for me it was game-changer and hopefully in next 1-2 months I can have nice, consistent profits.
Also how long are you in AM? Give yourself time. I'm in "the game" a bit over the year and I still struggle. It's a skill like driving, playing piano, etc. You won't be the best after 2 months. Or actually maybe you can be but then you have to lose more money. So if your budget is limited just give yourself a time.
I'd try to look at this from a different perspective - a bigger picture. It may come off a bit "out there", but hopefully it gets the point across.
The more emotionally invested you are in anything in life, the more difficult it is to be objective and critical.
Motivation is fleeting if that's what you need. Temporary dopamine hits aren't bad if you wanna get your mood up right now but are just no good in the long run.
What you need instead is discipline.
Given your current situation, it would be challenging to try and make sense of it objectively, because you're quite emotionally invested.
Money's tight, time's tight, you're not working or studying, campaigns aren't working out, and you're probably making a ton of rash decisions (buying all sorts of courses, jumping left and right, etc.).
"What if I did this, but then that happens?" - you're overthinking, because of what I mentioned above.
Are you able to build up some extra side income somehow? That would probably ease off the pressure by quite a bit.
Having money you can afford to lose (stable income) means you'd be less emotionally invested. I would definitely not treat affiliate marketing as a way out of such a situation - this happens rarely.
Pretty tricky situation to be in but also quite common.
Just take a step back, reevaluate your situation with a fresh mind and then take the plunge once again would be my advice.
With the information provided I am going to make a few assumptions but first want to say congrats on just fighting through it getting your conversions and at least trying. There is a light at the end of the tunnel once you do find a winning campaign...that's the good part.
Now I am making a few assumptions...
I assume you are using propeller because every case study out there seems to focus on it.
Everyone's case study also usually focuses on sweeps.
Lastly I assume you pretty much ripped someone else's campaign...(adplexity)
Sorry if I am wrong in my assumptions.
But here is the thing, sweeps and push on Propeller is tough to make consistent and tough to scale especially on a small budget.
This is even more volatile when you copy someone's campaign only because it is likely already being pushed harder by someone with a bigger budget than you to the traffic source and people on push get sick of the same sh** everyday so campaigns fizzle.
The biggest successes in my affiliate career have always been from being original. I also would recommend you look for CPL offers that convert on a simple form, and pay higher.
If you are still adamant on your push campaigns then don't chase a shiny object and leave it just yet...you are so close now to make some money on push so no use just giving up yet.
I have an ecom training course product I sell quite a bit, and it's no secret that the first lesson is a study in motivation and discipline. If I don't tell this to people, I find the result is a lot worse. You need to get your mental shit together FIRST.
Here is what you need to do:
1. YOU HAVE TO BE ALL IN. This is how you're going to make your money from now on, so burn those anchored ships because you won't be using them to go home. You conquer it or you die trying.
2. LIVE IN THE DATA. Do you spend as much time as you did running the campaign analyzing all of the data? How many clicks, where did they come from, what time of day, every single variable? The deeper you look, the easier it is to see a pattern. Once you can discern a pattern.....you pull lever Y and you get result X, it is easier to make smart decisions.
3. DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY to invest? Sorry, it takes money to make money at least at first. You can't really expect to go from zero to $1000 per day. It can be done, but it is much easier if you start with $500 at least so you can make some smart decisions. I had a student the other day ignore this advice, and he was trying to spend $50 per day when I told him it was better to not run the campaign for 3 days, and instead go in with $150. Well, he ignored it and lost $50 each day. Then he listened, and threw in $150 and made $300. You're welcome. Ad networks algorithms can't learn when you are spending $5 per day.
4. RIPPING LEADS TO FAILURE. Eventually, that is. Use the brain that God gave you for something other than blatant copying. You need to bring something else to the table if you are going to succeed in this business other than being good at copying. I have ripped many, many landers, but usually I develop my own angles, my own funnel, or my own twist on what I know already works. You need to try and improve the offer, not just copy it because when you copy, you don't develop the skills you need and the gut reaction you need to stay alive in this business.
Now quit your bitching, and get the fuck back to work, and report back when you have every click accounted for and you have discerned a pattern in the data.
I think you're too scared of losing money. Yes losing money sucks, but scared money is dead money.
You're going to have to be able to stomach some losses to learn, so maybe get a part-time job or something to raise funds for your campaigns.
Running campaigns with money you can't lose is a recipe for disaster.
Good luck.
@robertomark First of all I commend you for having taken so much action - it takes a lot of learning and effort to get from 0 to 1.
There's absolutely nothing "wrong" with what you're experiencing. Fluctuation and unpredictability is the name of this game.
You're already one of the luckier / more skillful ones. You're seeing improvements. Some newbies don't START seeing improvements until many weeks and months into their journey.
Any "consistency" can only be achieved when you have multiple campaigns running at any time, so that even on your worst day, you can have SOME money coming in.
You could be making 4-6 figures/day, only to fall back to zero in a matter of seconds. The highs can be exhilarating but the lows can be ultra depressing.
So the first thing I would ask myself, if I were you, is this: Do I have the heart to take all this "excitement"?
If not, consider doing something that is easier on your heart - there are a million ways to make money online and off. No need to back yourself into a corner trying to make it work with one method.
Secondly: Don't be putting yourself into a situation where you're spending the last of your budget and forcing yourself to "make it" before it runs out.
Vast majority of the time, it won't have a happy ending.
Please see mistake #1 here:
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...Avoid-(Part-1)
The solution? Please see the "Calm your fear of losing money" section here:
https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...-are-some-tips
Thirdly - regarding switching to another traffic source: Sweeps + push is already one of the hottest ways to make profits right now.
You can switch, and I won't stop you.
But please know that no matter which other traffic source you decide to switch to, there will be a learning process - and likely, it would be a steeper one than push traffic.
You've paid tuition to learn push traffic. You've done some testing. It's now just a matter of doing a lot more split-testing of offers and ads and landers, and investing money into learning how to optimize.
If I were you, I would definitely stick with push+sweeps until I make profits. See @twinaxe's posts and read all the follow-alongs you can find on push and take notes.
Just my two cents - hope that helps!
Amy