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Any advice for someone new to native working on listicles? (8)

05-19-2021 01:10 PM #1 fskhavoc (Member)
Any advice for someone new to native working on listicles?

I just started running some native traffic (taboola).

I'm running listicles in the insurance/medicare niche.

I've previously done a lot with facebook and chat bots and figured listicles look like the closest thing to what I'm used to.

I've picked up the optimizer and I'm running it with Funnel Flux pro.

Wondering if anyone has any tips for rules with the optimizer as well as any insights on running listicles.

Currently I'm running a 21 service/product listicle.

Based on my research I see a lot of people running listicles mixed with tips/info in this space.

ie: #'s 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15 are all tips without links and #'s 2, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16-21 are all the affiliate offers.

I'm not sure if this is a smart way to do it or a new trend people are trying based on adplexity.

Any insights to listicles, native in general, the optimizer would be much appreciated.

05-19-2021 01:23 PM #2 platinum (Veteran Member)

Actually using a listicle or a single product pre-lander is very similar in terms of optimization.

The major difference between the two is that you have adopt your optimization approach based of the average payout and from time to time to re-organize the positioning of the products based on their results.

Regarding the optimization, I would suggest to start with the info you have from your offers.
- Offer conversion rate (per offer, then average)
- Offer Payout (per offer, then average)

Using the above data, you should be able to calculate an estimated LP CTR you will need in order to get close to break even, then obviously adopt to your current results in order to suit your optimization to your funnel.

Also, regarding auto-optimization rules make sure you're blocking low LP CTR publishers fast without having them eat all your budget. Sometimes starting with 1X payout works out pretty well.

Let the campaign collect significant data, then based of those data, look out for specific patterns like LP CTR, LP CR, Avg. CPC, etc. Defining the thresholds between various performance patterns, is a good start to build up your optimization rules.

Lastly, I'd highly recommend setting your creative traffic allocation on Taboola to "even" or "a/b testing" (as they are calling it now). Their system is famous for cutting out potential good ads just because on the first or second day of the campaign going live, one of them had a slightly higher ctr.

05-19-2021 02:34 PM #3 fskhavoc (Member)

Awesome! Thanks so much for the help.

I changed to the a/b testing as I noticed it was doing exactly what you mentioned.

Do you recommend testing mobile and desktop with listicles? I started with mobile but noticed a slight oversight on my part that majority of listicles I'm finding on adplexity are running exclusive to desktop.

05-19-2021 03:21 PM #4 platinum (Veteran Member)

Quote Originally Posted by fskhavoc View Post
Awesome! Thanks so much for the help.

I changed to the a/b testing as I noticed it was doing exactly what you mentioned.

Do you recommend testing mobile and desktop with listicles? I started with mobile but noticed a slight oversight on my part that majority of listicles I'm finding on adplexity are running exclusive to desktop.
It’s best to test one device targeting at a time to control your testing costs. Desktop traffic has the tendency to be of slightly higher quality than mobile, although costs a bit more and it is more competitive.

05-19-2021 05:29 PM #5 fskhavoc (Member)

Awesome! I'll continue on this path for the moment then.

Have you ever tried building a small whitelist just based off the top placements you're finding similar offers running on via adplexity? Was curious if that was a thing.

05-19-2021 07:04 PM #6 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by platinum View Post
Desktop traffic has the tendency to be of slightly higher quality than mobile, although costs a bit more and it is more competitive.
I have exactly the same experience, across various traffic sources. Desktop users tend to perform better with longer copy for me too, it's easier to read on a big screen compared to a smartphone display.

Mobile traffic is also more "casual", people browse with phones when chillin on sofa or while watching TV so they are less concentrated.

But as platinum mentioned, mobile clicks are also cheaper so it balances itself out a bit. But still, I have more consistent results with desktop traffic so it's my preferred type.

05-19-2021 07:30 PM #7 fskhavoc (Member)

Just spoke with my Taboola rep who recommended $9k per month to start. $100 per day towards desk+tab, $100 to Mob, $100 to retarget. Do you guys find that's about right or does it seem low/high? I'm good with spending, but native is new to me, I'm in a slightly different vertical from what I ran on FB as well so I don't have LP stats to even be able to judge things on yet.

05-19-2021 07:52 PM #8 platinum (Veteran Member)

Considering native is new to you, I would suggest to focus on desktop campaigns to begin with, then once you see promising results, you can expand on mobile.

As for retargeting I wouldn't waste time and money unless you have spent significant amounts in cold traffic. You'd rather allocate the retargeting campaign ad spend in your main campaign. Given that you want to use listicles, you may need more than $100 day of ad spend.

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