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dario's Wild West Follow Along Contest - Attack On The Stagecoach (13)

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Greetings from the Wild West !

We all know what's the purpose of a follow along: improve our results. So before going straight to the point let's make a short recap (so I can show you how good I'm at not practising what I'm preaching ahaha)

We have to be creative
To be profitable, in 2012 our campaigns should be weird/innovative/refreshingly different/.. That's why I'm going to try some ideas I kept in a text file and never implemented because in the last 10 months I've done the same things, pushing the same vertical (Italian Pin-submit). Basically I was scared of losing the little ROI I was achieving. This is stupid, I know; this is also the reason why I started this thread.

We should master a traffic source, and then test new traffic sources
Well.. I'm still in the process of searching a traffic source with good volume, quality and low competition, but this contest ends on 7/23th so I have to start anyway SO for the first Follow Along I'm going to use PPV and I'll start another F.A. thread showing how things are going with another less known traffic source (or, at least, a famous traffic source that I never used before)

We should acquire data in a precise, mathematically-correct manner
Spending money testing offers and angles, and keeping track of your campaigns in a clean and well organized way is the best investment you're doing even if your ROI is 0 (unless you're promoting a niche that will soon disappear forever..)

That said, I haven't chosen an offer (will decide soon and post it in the next update of course) but what's for sure is that I'm going to use Leadimpact and :

1. select some targets with a good volume in order to be able to take decisions in a short time-frame
2. test completely different landing pages until I find something that get visitors' attention (at least a 10% CTR)
3. when i get a good CTR I will test some offers (or a 2nd landing-page before the offer if necessary) until i find something that converts
4. your precious advices
5. profit ahahahha! Honestly I don't know what to expect for what concerns the profits, but since this is the first time I'm innovating my 10 months old online-marketing-routine the ROI is not as important as implementing correctly what i read on STM Forum

Thanks for reading this Follow Along

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Update 1 - 07/10/2012
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Traffic source: PPV on Pinterest.com
Country: US
Offer: not chosen yet
Tracking: LI reports + statcounter.com
I usually use prosper202 + statcounter.com when i have more than 1 targets in LI (and a landing page where to add the statcounter JS code of course). Having 1 only target this time i can avoid one redirect and save some loading time.
Why do i use statcounter pixel? Because you can easily find out if you're running out of fresh users

For example



I've decided to target Pinterest.com because they have almost 20ML UV each month, I can quickly test my landing pages' CTR I guess; but I really need to find something that sparks the attention of at least 10% of all these women.

Will be back soon with an angle



Update 2 - 07/11/2012
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Wow 24hours since last update, who knows.. maybe one day I'll be able to leave my 9-5 and work for myself !

According to Alexa and the Pinterest's Facebook likes the audience is full of 25-34 yo women.

I've spent many hours browsing this (almost non-sense) website and found out that there's a huge flow of new images but not many of these pics are the most commented and/or the most repinned images.

The most commented are of course the most controversial and discussed images:
Tattoos (comments like it's classy.. no it's trashy)
Curvy women in trendy dresses (she's healty.. no she looks like a school bus)
Skinny women in sexy tight dresses (she's healty.. no she is going to die soon)
Actresses (she's great.. no she's the worst bitch ever)

While the most repinned images usually are those that all women like:
Nails, Shoes, Recipes, People with 6-Pack-Abs, Actors, Famous Sightseens, Cute babies, Disney stuff and parks

There are also images that drive women crazy and I really can't explain the reason, like this
http://pinterest.com/pin/70087337921551964/
This scares me a little because, if I can't understand their mind, targeting pinterest.com on PPV is going to be a very tough challenge..

Basically these are the LPs I could think of at the moment:

ECOMMERCE/HEALTH/BEAUTY - Of course shoes, hair care and fat loss / abs offers
DOWNLOADS - I've seen fitness and recipes toolbars
FREEBIES - There's a "free" Disney-passes giveaway, but i wouldn't push this vertical because of its high scrub rate

and maybe
DATING (Would You Date a Chef? Personal Trainer,Hairdresser,..)

There's a lot of work to do,
I go hunt for the right offers to promote


Update 3 - 07/11/2012
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How to get these women's attention using interruption marketing?
God knows how many popups they are closing every single day, I should use these methods if I don't want my LPs to be completely ignored:

- disguise my landing pages as the popup is fired directly from Pinterest itself
- use shocking / controversial images and headlines
- sound, alertboxes and auto-resize scripts are nice things to test too

Update 4 - 07/12/2012
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1st vertical: Weight Loss
1st offer: Fat Loss Factor product

Today I'm going to prepare at least the 1st batch of Landing Pages:

CTA = is the "call to action" button of course

Hopefully at least one LP of the 1st batch will bring 10% visitors on the offer page. In this scenario I'm going to pay $0.15 each visitor.

I expect the LPs in the 2nd batch to send less visitors on the offer page but they should be more qualificated and more interested in a weight loss product. BTW I would like to see at least 3% of visitors on the offer page. In this case I'm going to pay $0.5 for a qualificated female visitor in the fat loss vertical. That would be great.

Update 5 - 07/12/2012
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I'm going to test the CTR of LP01 (Plain landing page) and 2 variations.




While the test is going I'll prepare the LP02 (Quick controversial survey) + 2 variations and LP03 (Quick "best food to lose fat" survey) + 2 variations.


Update 6 - 07/12/2012
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These are the 3 "Type 2" landing pages: LP02 (Quick controversial survey) and 2 variations.



I'm still preparing the LP03 landing page (Quick "best food to lose fat" survey) + 2 variations.


Update 7 - 07/12/2012
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LP01A: 2 clicks
LP01B: 0 clicks
LP01C: 0 clicks

I've had very poor CTR for the LP01 series after little more than 100 visits on each page, so, while I'm still sending traffic to the LP02 group, I've decided to stop traffic to all the LP01 pages at the moment; I'm going to redesign it with some totally different headlines and 2 new images (this and this).

I'll use these 12 headlines for redesigning the LP01 pages:

• 8 Surprising Foods That Are Loaded With Sugar
• 10 Things to Do Instead of Dieting
• Melt Flab Away: The Best Fat Burning Foods
• Get Your Best Bikini Body Ever
• 13 Healthy Foods That Can Make You Fat
• Drop 5 Pounds in a Week
• 9 Foods That Make You Even Sexier
• Celeb Trainers Reveal Secrets to a Killer Bikini Body
• How to Keep Off Post-Wedding Pudge
• 12 Foods That Won't Make You Bloat
• Lose Weight While Sitting at Your Desk
• 7 Brilliant New Weight Loss Tricks to Try

My 1st goal is a 10% CTR landing page, so if none of these 24 combination will get at least a 5% CTR I won't search for new images to test in combination with the best performing headline: I will stop testing the LP01 scenario and move on to the other 4 types of landing pages I've scheduled.

Just to recap, this is the list of LPs I'll test for the Weight Loss vertical on Pinterest


For each LP there are 2 (or more) slight variations


Update 8 - 07/13/2012
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From a first quick test the LP02b seems more promising,



but I need more traffic to decide if the other 2 LPs suck or not. Later today I'll check again the LP02 stats.

At the moment my main task is to remake the LP01 series and create the LP03.

I'm preparing the new LP01 pages : 12 with a black fitness outfit and 12 with a white bikini (I guess its real name is not bikini ahaha) using the above list of headlines. On the offer's landing page there is a video and not a sales letter, so I've changed my CTA.




Update 9 - 07/13/2012
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Yesterday I spent only $15



but after just 1000 clicks I already discovered that the 1st versions of the LPs 01 "Plain landing page to promote a Fat Loss product" were really awful to women's eyes while the LPs 02 aren't totally bad.

Right now I'm rotating 27 Landing Pages (12 LP01 with black outfit + 12 LP01 with white bikini + 3 LP02) and I'm going to prepare the LP03 angle: Quick "best food to lose fat" survey


Update 10 - 07/13/2012
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For the LP03 scenario I'm using only a couple of images at the moment, since I would like to understand which text is more appealing before creating many variations.

LP3-01 & LP3-02


I'm going to add these 2 landing pages in the rotation in the next hour. No more new LPs at the moment, tomorrow I'll take a look at the stast, but today I'm seeing a lot of lost clicks. Who knows, maybe I'll switch to a faster hosting before the end of the contest.

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I think pinterest is a great URL to target!

Browse the site for a while, get a feel for what people do on their and exactly what they want to see. It will help with angles

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I'm wondering if a 0,486 sec loading time is too much or is it OK



According to pingdom my pages are loading faster than 97% of all tested websites, but what do you think of this loading time for a PPV popup ?

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That is plenty quick IMO, The faster the quicker, but most of my landers are in the 700-800 ms range and that made for a pretty slim click discrepancy. I would think 486ms would be plenty quick. If you want to make your images smaller use this tool:
smushit.com (it's a lossless image compressor)

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Update 11 - 07/13/2012
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Many lost clicks today, at least 20%.
I've just activated a VPS at BeyonHosting, since I'm in the process of moving domain and all LPs I've paused this campaign while the DNS servers update.

Going to bed now, tomorrow will update with today's CTR of all the landing pages.

At a first check the redirect time of the new VPS is much faster than the current hosting, probably even without changing the LPs' design tomorrow I'll see an improvement in the Click through rates.

Update 12 - 07/14/2012
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Yesterday wasn't a productive day for what concerns testing, but I'm glad I've paused soon the campaign (and switched hosting) because I had 856 impressions from Leadimpact but my landing pages have been loaded only 505 times totally (it's a 41% loss !). No more than a 10/15% it's acceptable (because with PPV people tend to close the popoups in a compulsive and automatic manner sometimes before the stats' code is loaded; I would do the same).



The DNS servers seem to be updated, in fact I can browse the pages hosted on my new VPS. While I'm waiting for women in US to wake up, I'll test the loading time of my LPs' images comparing beyondhosting and maxcdn.


Update 13 - 07/14/2012
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Beyond hosting seems lightining fast to load and elaborate my php pages but I'll leave all the images on maxcdn.




Update 14 - 07/14/2012
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At the moment I'm waiting for a thousand impressions to come in, so let's talk about weight-loss vertical and PPV.

Honestly this is the first time I promote on PPV something that requires the user to take out her credit card. I had thousands of paths in front of me but instead I chose a vertical that requires a lot of money in testing (and that is probably one of the most competitive in US).

BTW I'm not desperately looking for a conversion at the moment, my main goal is to understand what kind of LPs have at least a 10% CTR on Pinterest (Alexa #16 in US). Only if I succeed in this task I can proceed and test several offers; in the weight-loss vertical there're plenty of converting products and, also important, I can start with the same landing page design and keep testing and improving it while testing different offers.

Anyway since I had to choose an offer, I selected one that is doing well and that pays a recurring commission to the affiliates.




Update 15 - 07/14/2012 - 12.30 EDT
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I'm adding the time from now on because I'm writing more times a day.
There's not much traffic atm, only 300 impressions. Come on chicks! open your bloated windows laptops, I need to show you my landing pages! ahaahha


Update 16 - 07/15/2012 - 02.40 EDT
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Here are the stats for yesterday 07/14



Today I'll remove from the rotation the Landing pages with 0 clicks both in the white and in the black version. IMO it's not too early to kill some poor performing creatives.
Later today I'll prepare sound and alertbox versions of the "good" LPs just to test if those tricks improve the CTR or not if applied on Pinterest's users.


Update 17 - 07/15/2012 - 08.00 EDT
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As you can see the LP03-style landing pages have an higher CTR; I have the suspect that the reason is the small logo in the upper left corner.

I'm going to add this logo to the LP01-style landing pages too (in the upper right corner, not so big of course). Let's see if at the end of the day the CTR is much better than yesterday.

Update 18 - 07/16/2012 - 04.30 EDT
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Here are the stats updated to yesterday 07/15



In grey the LPs that were already out of the rotation and didn't get traffic.

For today:

- I'm keeping only the LP01 style landing pages that got clicks on both versions (04-05-08 white and black) since this could mean that the text in the headline is appealing and i can keep it; but I'm going to add some weird images to test because the CTR is still too low.

- I'm removing the LP02 from the rotation until i can prepare the other 4 surveys to test (tattoos, plus size women, skinny women, actresses)

- Adding an alertbox didn't change a lot the CTR, but I need to collect more data so let's keep the LP03 style LPs unchanged

- The clicks seem to come more in the morning and less in the evening. For this reason I'm editing the campaign: +2 hours in the morning and -2 hours in the evening. The result is this



The traffic will start at 06.00 EDT, so i have to prepare the new LP01 LPs asap


Update 19 - 07/16/2012 - 05.00 EDT
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These are the 3 new images i'm going to use to prepare the variations for LP01-04, LP01-05, and LP01-08.
yes the 2nd pic is upside down and the 3rd is a man (hopefully)



(T)rained - (U)psidedown - (M)an


Update 20 - 07/16/2012 - 09.00 EDT
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I'm going to prepare another LP to add to the LP01 series.
It should call out visitor's city and will be something like this

LP1-13


Update 21 - 07/16/2012 - 12.10 EDT
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I've added another LP01 to the rotation. (This too has a geolocation script)

LP1-14




Update 22 - 07/16/2012 - 17.00 EDT
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I'm going to add another LP01 to the rotation.

LP1-15



Update 23 - 07/17/2012 - 03.00 EDT
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Bad news, someone started using my domain as PPV target, but I can't tell if they are just targeting the word Pinterest (i use it in the LPs URL) or my domain.

Maybe for this reason yesterday wasn't a good day (729 impressions and 6 clicks)

Anyway here are the overall stats updated to 07/16:



Of the three new text-only LPs i created (1-13, 1-14 and 1-15) only 1-14 got 1 click.
The other 5 clicks went to LP104B, LP108W and the new LP104T, LP105M, LP108T

I'm going to block the BoxofAds IP and moving all landing pages to a new domain.
For today I'm going to collect some other data without removing any LP from the rotation.


Update 24 - 07/17/2012 - 05.50 EDT
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Today I'll collect some statistical data about my current LPs nonetheless but I'm also starting to consider an alternative to the Weight-Loss vertical for the Pinterest's audience.
The CTR was too low in the early days too, when my LPs' domain wasn't a PPV target for sure.

Instead of looking HOW they use the website and what are the things they pin (clothes, healthy recipes, nails, shoes, etc.) I should understand WHY they are using Pinterest and what are their worries and thoughts.

I go to take a walk in order to elaborate this new point of view.

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I'm no expert, but I really like your adcopy. You're giving me a really good lesson on putting a lot of thought and careful research into a campaign. I hope you make some $$$!

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Thanks a lot!! I appreciate it.
BTW conversions are not the first priority at the moment, although It would be nice to see some in this early stage of the testing routine

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I got a good lol out this.

It seems to me you have 4 really good angles for polls?

Nice work so far. Good Luck!

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Update 25 - 07/17/2012 - 14.20 EDT
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Moving all landing pages to a new domain seems to be the right move at the moment. I'm already seeing some improvements in the CTR, tomorrow I should probably see positive changes in the stats with no changes to the LPs.

BTW after my mental quibbles about WHY women use Pinterest I came with these 4 points at the moment:

These women would like to be

• better wives/partners;
• the best parents;
• more attractive while being original;
• aware of timesaver recipes, DIY home solutions and things that make their life easier (basically they need effective ideas for juggling work and motherhood);

That said, this is the first new LP01 I'm adding to the rotation for today.

LP1-16


At the moment I'm rotating 23 different landing pages in total.


Update 26 - 07/18/2012 - 00.15 EDT
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Here're the stats updated to yesterday 07/17



Before today's traffic starts I'm going to remove from the landing pages rotation all LPs with CTR < 2,5 % :



At the same time I'm going to create some new LPs for the new angles: as said above I have the suspect that losing weight is not their first priority and I need to run some tests to be more sure.

Update 27 - 07/18/2012 - 03.00 EDT
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These are the new LPs I'm going to rotate, together with the others, starting today at 06.00 EDT

LP1-17


LP1-18


LP1-19


LP1-20


LP1-21


Update 28 - 07/18/2012 - 05.00 EDT
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As soon I find a niche that sparks their interest and that has a CTR higher than others I'll split test the variations using all the possible "weapons" I know:
animations, sounds, alertboxes, authority logos, interactivity, scarcity, fear, urgency, handwritten text, charts, testimonials, guillotine principle (pictures of heads and faces), coupon style borders, and words that elicit emotions.


Update 29 - 07/18/2012 - 17.00 EDT
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Of course I can't mention his name or place his pic on the lander, but talking about adding sound and authority to a landing pages, I found some people on fiverr that send you an mp3 with the voice of an actor they are able to impersonate very well (according to customers' feedbacks).

Probably if these women hear Morgan Freeman or Obama saying "Don't miss this opportunity... " coming out of a popup they will pay more attention !


Update 30 - 07/19/2012 - 05.50 EDT
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The CTR stats updated with yesterday's traffic :



While I wait for my Obama's mp3 from Fiverr, I keep the same pages in the rotation, reducing a little the weight of those with 0 CTR.
As soon as the audio file is ready, hopefully soon, I'll split test adding sound.


Update 31 - 07/19/2012 - 10.00 EDT
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Let's try to exploit fear !
I've added the LP4-01 and LP4-02 to the rotation, and also added a split test with sound for some of the LP01 pages.

LP4-01


LP4-02


LP4-01 is a copy of LP4-02 written in a less natural english. I read that sometimes awful ads have great CTR, so let's make a test !

Update 32 - 07/20/2012 - 04.20 EDT
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The CTR stats updated with yesterday's traffic :



Before traffic starts again I'm going to remove everything that is performing worse than expected and temporarily pausing the remaining LPs because I would like to test CTR for these 5 new angles: Tattoos, Become an actress, iPad lessons, Sex tips, Make money online.
I go to prepare the new landers.

Update 33 - 07/20/2012 - 06.00 EDT
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These are the Landing pages I'm testing today.



Update 34 - 07/20/2012 - 12.50 EDT
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I've added a messy version of the LP4-07 just to split test. Don't expecting much from it but I had to know how a filthy LP could perform compared to its clean version.

LP4-07p



Update 35 - 07/21/2012 - 05.00 EDT
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Here're the stats for the new LPs. Very poor performance.

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Update 36 - 07/21/2012 - 05.40 EDT
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EDIT
I'm ashamed and embarrassed by the lack of quality of my follow along

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Do you have a process you follow for split testing landing pages? That's an impressive number of variations to have tested in such a short period of time.

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Conclusive update - 07/23/2012
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