Ad HustlerConfessions Of A Serial Internet Entrepreneur

Let’s face it.  It’s getting harder and harder to get access to the traffic we need to remain profitable.  Facebook ads are a nightmare to get approved.  Myspace must have hired Facebookers, because they are disapproving a lot of ads now too.  It’s the same story for all of the traffic we know converts and need to get our hands on.

I’m not a huge stock investor but I do listen to Jim Kramer’s Mad Money everyday.  He always speaks about buying derivatives of stocks.  For instance, If you believe in Apple and feel that the stock for Apple is overvalued, but still want a piece of the action, what do you do?  You buy companies whose stock increase because Apple does well.  Stocks could include hardware manufacturers, partner companies, software companies that make software compatible with Apple etc. (Note: this is not stock advice, nor do I like Apple, it’s just a concept)

So how does this relate to getting the traffic we need?

It’s pretty simple actually.  Think outside the box, to find ways to get at the same users through alternative advertising systems.  There is more then one way to get at the same users and you need to develop a way of thinking to get around your traffic problems.  Let’s say you need to get at Facebook users.  You can buy ads directly through Facebook’s self serve system, you can do a media buy on Facebook.com, you can buy ads through 3rd party apps ad networks such as SocialMedia or Cubics or you can contact apps owners directly and buy advertising space on their apps.  That’s just a few of the ways to get at that same Facebook traffic.  The same type of derivatives can be ton with sleuths of other websites.   Can’t get a Myspace ad through?  Have you tried Google Content Network?  The list goes on.

When you get an ad you believe in dissaproved, you CAN NOT give up.  You need to work around your problems, and one way to do this is by thinking in terms of traffic derivatives.

Ad Hustler

I heard a lot of comments at affiliate summit about my previous SocialMedia.com case studies.  People wanted to know if I’m still running there and if it’s still profitable.  Yes, I have had profitable campaigns (very profitable) at SocialMedia.com but I am not currently running there.

I’ve ran into a lot of problems with getting ads approved, the system itself and the quality of the traffic.  At some point I figured it wasn’t worth my time and gave up on working with the system.

The original reason that I did the case studies was because all I heard was that the traffic was garbage, doesn’t convert etc..  I don’t like to just take other peoples word for it so I tried it myself.  In that process I discovered a very profitable campaign.  I am now battling my own self doubts about the traffic source so I have decided to go at it again.

What this means is that I am going to do a few more SocialMedia.com case studies.  I’m going to test some different niches and see what happens.  I will report back and we can all critique together.  I love case studies and plan on bringing more and more of them to AdHustler.com.

P.S.  I still haven’t mustered up the time and effort to write an affiliate summit wrapup post.  I’ve seen so many out there already and don’t want to just rehash what everyone else wrote.  I expect to write something on the topic within the next few days.

Ad Hustler

SocialMedia.com Metrics

Targeting

Site: Mix Between Variety Of Sites <—(Edited Due To The Questions In The Comments)
Country: US Only
Max CPC: .10 Cents
Max Budget: $1000

Traffic

7,888 Clicks
Cost: $784.29

Results

Offer Niche: Mobile
Clicks Reported On Affiliate Network: 7,901
Conversions: 170
Revenue: $1,530

Summary: SocialMedia.com Test #16 got really interesting.  After the glimmer of success in SocialMedia.com Test #15, I wanted to see if the conversion rate held up on volume.  What I did was setup a $50 campaign.  I blew that budget with a positive ROI so I setup another $100 campaign.  I blew that budget with another positive ROI.  I continued this cycle of creating a new campaign and blowing its budget over the course of about 3 hours (while watching TV with my wife).  When the smoke cleared I had spent $784.29 and generated $1,530 in revenue on this particular campaign.  If you do the math thats a $745.71 profit over the course of about 3 hours.  95% ROI on this type of volume is pretty sick.  Just about 8,000 clicks is also a pretty solid test to judge the future profitability of the campaign.  I will obviously continue testing it.  16 SocialMedia tests have proven a few things:

1. You can’t judge the quality of a traffic source very quickly, because if I had, I would have given up on Social Media during the first few tests.
2. You can’t judge the quality of a traffic source based on just one offer.  I have rotated many many offers to find one that actually converts with this particular traffic.
3. You must endure some pain to find a profitable campaign on a tier 2 traffic source.  If you don’t have ANY money to burn, stick to tier 1.

Keep Hustlin’

Ad Hustler

SocialMedia.com Metrics

Targeting

Site: Facebook
Country: US Only
Max CPC: .10 Cents
Max Budget: $10

Traffic

49,134 Impressions
133 Clicks
0.27% CTR
Cost: $10

Results

Offer Niche: Mobile
Clicks Reported On Affiliate Network: 136
Conversions: 2
Revenue: $18

Summary:  It took 15 tests to get there, but finally I did find an offer that converted on SocialMedia.com traffic.  This test used the same ad and targeting as test #14 but I switched up the offer.  This other offer apparently converts a lot better for this traffic.  Since these are only $10 tests, they are by no means wholly conclusive.  136 clicks is not enough information to tell a consistent conversion rate.  This particular test converted at 1.47% and yielded a .13 cent EPC (earnings per click).  Since each click ended up costing around .08 cents, the gross profit per click is around .05 cents.  The question now becomes; can you scale that out and make a decent profit?  Assuming the conversion rate stays consistent, you can make $50 profit per day if you can drive in 1,000 clicks.  $50 per day is nothing to write home to mom about, but if you can scale that out even further to 10,000 clicks per day, you can make a decent chunk of change per day.  SocialMedia.com has that volume of traffic but I would NOT expect the conversion rate to stay consistent on higher volumes of traffic.  There are just too many variables when using SocialMedia.com.  If I do decide to scale this out, I will do another case study to analyze what happens to the conversion rate and EPC.

Ad Hustler

SocialMedia.com Metrics

Targeting

Site: Facebook
Country: US Only
Max CPC: .10 Cents
Max Budget: $10

Traffic

45,687 Impressions
130 Clicks
0.28% CTR
Cost: $10

Results

Offer Niche: Mobile
Clicks Reported On Affiliate Network: 130
Conversions: 0
Revenue: $0

Summary: I keep trying these mobile offers even though I haven’t got one to do well yet on SocialMedia.com.  Although this one totally bombed, I used the same exact ad and switched the offer and at least in the short term I am seeing a profit.  Let’s see if this holds up so I can write about it in case study #15.

Ad Hustler