Aug 13
| Date | Clicks | Offer Clicks | LP-CTR | Cost | CPC | Conv | CR | Revenue | EPC | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/09/10 | 27 | 15 | 55.55% | 20.55 | 0.76 | 5 | 18.51% | 15 | 0.56 | -5.55 |
| 08/10/10 | 25 | 10 | 40% | 18.6 | 0.74 | 1 | 4% | 3 | 0.12 | -15.6 |
| 08/11/10 | 18 | 10 | 55.55% | 12.31 | 0.68 | 3 | 16.66% | 9 | 0.5 | -3.31 |
| Total | 70 | 35 | 51.46 | 9 | 27 | -24.46 |
Aug 09
| Date | Clicks | Offer Clicks | LP-CTR | Cost | CPC | Conv | CR | Revenue | EPC | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/03/10 | 11 | 6 | 54.54% | 6.87 | 0.62 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | -6.87 |
| 08/04/10 | 5 | 2 | 40% | 5.06 | 1.01 | 0 | 0% | 0 | 0 | -5.06 |
| 08/05/10 | 13 | 7 | 53.84% | 10.84 | 0.83 | 1 | 7.69% | 3 | 0.23 | -7.84 |
| 08/06/10 | 12 | 6 | 50% | 7.24 | 0.6 | 1 | 8.33% | 3 | 0.25 | -4.24 |
| 08/07/10 | 12 | 6 | 50% | 9.03 | 0.75 | 2 | 16.66% | 6 | 0.5 | -3.03 |
| 08/08/10 | 9 | 6 | 66.66% | 5.98 | 0.66 | 1 | 11.11% | 3 | 0.33 | -2.98 |
| Total | 176 | 92 | 142.41 | 21 | 63 | -56.26 |
Aug 01
I tried salvaging that last campaign and it ended up dead. It stopped receiving clicks, I thought maybe I messed something up. I got a few clicks on the last day but I notice that I wasn’t getting any click-through to the offer page. I hurriedly fired up my browser and typed my LP url. And then, it hit me.
I accidentally fucked up the LP by deleting its database. Yes, it is a wordpress site btw.
Anyhoo, I decided to move on after that very unfortunate incident. I launched a new campaign revolving around the same niche, but this time using a different strategy. So here are the statistics of the new campaign.
| Date | Clicks | Offer Clicks | LP-CTR | Cost | CPC | Conv | CR | Revenue | EPC | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/28/10 | 9 | 5 | 55.55% | 7.44 | 0.83 | 2 | 22.22% | 6 | 0.67 | -1.44 |
| 07/29/10 | 32 | 17 | 53.12% | 29.35 | 0.92 | 5 | 15.62% | 15 | 0.47 | -14.35 |
| 07/30/10 | 34 | 24 | 70.58% | 27.49 | 0.81 | 5 | 14.7% | 15 | 0.44 | -12.49 |
| 07/31/10 | 39 | 13 | 33.33% | 33.11 | 0.85 | 4 | 10.25% | 12 | 0.31 | -21.11 |
| Total | 114 | 59 | 51.75% | 97.39 | 16 | 48 | -49.39 |
It is very obvious, from this table, that I am losing money. That’s ok, I am still on testing process and I don’t expect to make tons of money while testing.
Observations:
* My landing page CTR is pretty low, considering that all it takes for the user to be directed into the offer page is just one click of a button
*CPC is high. My goal is to lower down CPC to profitable levels.
*Conversion rate is inversely proportional to volume of clicks. The more clicks I got, the less conversions I get.
* Click volume is still low. 39 clicks per day is not enough at all. The fact that I am still testing means that I would be scraping off keywords, thus decreasing the click volume further, which is not good.
Resolution:
Task #1 – modify the landing page to make it look more trustworthy and compelling. Visitors should feel the need to press that button that will lead them to the offer page. Add pictures, logo and make it look like a real website. Old page and new page should be split tested.
Task #2 – Use standard match for keywords that consistently get clicks. Separate long-tail keywords from the short-tails. Place tightly related long-tails in their own adgroup. Write targetted ad texts.
Task #3 – Scrape keywords that are proved to be non-converting. Block Yahoo Search Partner sites that bring in garbage clicks. Use Google Analytics data to weed out fraud-click referrers.
Task # 4 – Add more keywords. Research hundreds of long-tail keywords and sort them in a tightly related adgroup. Do not use advanced match.
Jul 20
Whew! It’s been a long time since I updated this blog. After more than 3 months of blog inactivity, you would have thought that the owner of this site is very busy and is now making $$$ from the last campaign that he launched. Well that is not the case 
Sadly, I’ve been stuck again after “losing” on that last campaign. Technically, I did not really lose. That campaign was bordering on getting break-even. It’s just that I got disheartened again seeing that that campaign did not take off (as always).
Fast forward to 3 months later, I am revisiting that campaign, now using a different approach. The revised campaign had 5 keywords, bids at $2 on each keyword, and is sporting an ultra-slick landing page (haha). I do not plan on abandoning this campaign (yet) that is why i’m keeping data. Anyway, here are the day-by-day statistics for 6 days.
| Day | Clicks | Cost | CPC | Conversions | Conv | Revenue | EPC | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | $7.39 | $0.82 | 1 | 11% | $3.75 | $0.42 | $3.64 |
| 2 | 15 | $11.70 | $0.78 | 4 | 27% | $12.55 | $0.84 | $0.85 |
| 3 | 28 | $23.32 | $0.83 | 5 | 14% | $16.50 | $0.59 | $6.82 |
| 4 | 22 | $13.78 | $0.63 | 3 | 14% | $8.25 | $0.375 | $5.53 |
| 5 | 11 | $7.34 | $0.67 | 0 | 0% | $0.00 | $0.00 | $7.34 |
| 6 | 17 | $17.26 | $1.02 | 1 | 6% | $3.75 | $0.22 | $13.51 |
| Total | $80.79 | 14 | $44.80 | $35.99 |
As one can observe, I started getting more clicks with less conversions when I added the 2nd batch of keywords and adgroups – that is on day 4 onwards. I therefore conclude, with the small amount of data that I have gathered, that the new keywords I added are a little irrelevant to the offer and is getting too many non-converting clicks. What I did just today is 1. scrap those keywords, and 2. optimize the campaign by blocking non-converting referrer sites (Yahoo Search Partners).
Apr 03
Affiliate Marketing, PPC No Comments
After more than a week of slacking off over landing page creation, I finally decided not to do a landing page and just do direct linking. I have read somewhere that this type of offer do not necessarily need a landing page to convert, although a landing page might help increase the conversion rate.
So here are the campaign details:
PPC Platform: YSM
Ad Groups: 10
Keyword: 80
Match Type: Advanced
CPC Bid: $0.70
Offer Payout: $3.00
I was thinking of overbidding, just to get the maximum amount of clicks that I could get. However, I was a little scared that my budget of $50/day might get burned easily. Notice that I only had 80 keywords. These keywords are a little longtail-ish but I have set them to advanced match, so I could pick up those very long stray keywords that yahoo users might search for.
As early as now, I have created back-up plan, just in case the campaign doesn’t take off. If I get a pathetic amount of clicks, I might switch to Plan B.
Plan B has high-volume short-tails set in advanced match. This way, I would be able to get a massive amount of clicks. Although these clicks might not be as targeted as they should be. That’s where negative keywords come in handy.
Anyway, I would first need to run this campaign for 3 to 5 days for me to decide if Plan B is needed.
Mar 30
Internet Marketing No Comments
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site or a web page (such as a blog) from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion.
By doing SEO, I will send traffic to new micro-niche blogs/sites which will then be monetized primarily thru AdSense. I will perhaps put in some popup codes or banners for some related affiliate offers to further monetize the website.
Each site is expected to generate $2 per day.
Pay Per Click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system.
My affiliate networks, Hydra and Azoogle, have tons of offers that could be profitable if promoted properly. My plan is to pick an affiliate offer, ask my affiliate manager for statistics, research niche and competitors, research keywords, create landing page if needed, and then launch the campaign at YSM.
YSM stands for Yahoo Search Marketing. I have run some profitable campaigns on this platform that is why I’m sticking to it for now, to avoid huge losses.
There are other PPC platforms as well such as Google Adwords and Facebook Ads among others. When the new campaign has been optimized for profitability at YSM, I will then be scaling to other traffic sources.
Each project that I am going to launch, whether ppc or seo, will be documented in a case study. This is to track statistics, progress and other vital information that may or may not lead to success of the project.
Mar 30
AdSense, Affiliate Marketing No Comments
This is not the first time I tried to blog about my MMO (mis)adventures. It is actually the third time. The difference, however, is that I promise myself that this will be the last.
I choose to keep my goals simpler and lower. It’s nice to think that setting a high goal might inspire and motivate you to work harder to achieve even just a fraction of that goal. That is not always the case, though.
Oftentimes, failing to reach just a small fraction of your goal could be devastating. That is what happened to me. That is why this time, I’ll make my goals very realistic. And achievable.
As of the moment, I am getting $2-$3 daily or $60++ monthly from AdSense. My goal is to be able to earn what I used to earn from my previous job.
April goal:
$300 net profit
Mar 29
Like I said in my first post, I am not exactly new to this scheme. I’ve had my share of ups – in terms of making money online.
Way back in 2004, I hit it pretty good with an MMORPG called Ragnarok Online. I had 2 computers at home, each running with 30 bots. Each bot logs in a dressed-up character that farms in-game items (by killing monsters). Those items are then sold by 3 automated vendors that I have set-up. All in-game currency were then sold for real money.
In 2008, I use to run an e-whoring business. I am not going to tackle this subject as it was one of the things I have done in the past that I would rather forget.
2009 is the year that I stumbled upon making money online with blogging. It is the time when I realized that there is a ton of money to be made off of the Internet.
I’ve earned some dollars from blogging and affiliate marketing, albeit not enough to recuperate the money that I have invested.
Mar 21
Internet Marketing No Comments
Hi. My name is Neil. I’m an internet marketer wannabe.
Internet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web-marketing, online-marketing, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or e-Marketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet.
The Internet has brought media to a global audience. The interactive nature of Internet marketing in terms of providing instant response and eliciting responses, is a unique quality of the medium. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it not only refers to the Internet, e-mail, and wireless media, but it includes management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems.
Internet marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including: design, development, advertising, and sales.
Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along different stages of the customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads on specific websites, e-mail marketing, and Web 2.0 strategies. In 2008 The New York Times, working with comScore, published an initial estimate to quantify the user data collected by large Internet-based companies. Counting four types of interactions with company websites in addition to the hits from advertisements served from advertising networks, the authors found the potential for collecting data upward of 2,500 times on average per user per month.
source: wikipedia
Internet marketing, basically, is one of the many ways to make money online. I need not elaborate on what internet marketing is. Rather, I’ll be focusing on two aspects of internet marketing that i’ll be venturing in.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not exactly new to this stuff, but in terms of knowledge, wisdom and experience, I could call myself a beginner.
I will delve more into two basic types of income generation for internet marketers. Contextual ads (AdSense) and affiliate commissions (leads, sales). Traffic will be generated thru PPC (search, social networks) and SEO.
This blog shall serve as documentation and future reference. All of my future projects will be documented on different case studies.
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