ComradeWolf's PPC Journal

ComradeWolf

ComradeWolf

New member
Jun 11, 2013
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UK
Hey everyone!

I have started this thread to write about my progress and tests. I hope that it will be interesting for newbies/intermediate IMers and might inspire them to test some stuff.

I am promoting (as an affiliate) a fitness product from CB using BingAds. Right now I am using around 20 KWs in my campaigns because I read that for newbies it's better to focus on fewer words and try out CB before going to other networks.



What I've tested so far:

1) short 4-bullet points LP with pics of girls that the user of the product could get and a before/after pic, LP links to the merchant's page with a video presentation (no sales) VS the same LP w/o pics of girls (1 sale).

2) LP with a long copy which is direct linking to the order form with several variations (testimonials at the top/bottom/right column, salesy copy/not a salesy copy, video + copy, copy only) (no sales) VS LP with a shorter copy with several variations (video + copy, copy only, video only) (no sales).

3) LP with an e-mail submit form (with a fitness-related background picture) promising an e-book and redirecting to my sales page (no sales) VS a plain e-mail submit form (no pics at all) (no sales).

4) around 250 words 1-page review-LP (full of hype and a bit salesy) linking to the merchant's page (2 sales) VS the same LP which was a bit shorter (no sales).



How I test LPs/copies:

Wait for 100 clicks and then stop testing. If there was at least 1 sale, I run 100 clicks more.



What I've done today:

I've set up a WP blog, wrote 4 short posts: 1 introductory post, 2 posts detailing results of the blog creator and 1 post with the product review (around 350 words). Then I added comments to those posts (1-4 comments) of "visitors"/"friends" talking to the author of the blog and asking him to write about his results. I did this to make it look more natural and to convince visitors that the blog creator is a real person who has in fact used the product. I have some doubts about it, but let's see what happens.


Thanks for reading, hope you will come for more.
 


Hey guys, thanks for subbing and reading.

The test results are pretty bad: CTR to my sales page was incredibly low - 1.4%. No sales.

Also judging by the heat and click map (if I understand results correctly) it looks like barely anybody got to the middle of the blog post. Probably it was way too long or it was obvious for visitors that I was promoting stuff.

So I started a new test:
The post is now shorter and more emotional, the headline is completely different. The comments and one of the previous posts are also different. This time I mention the product more discreetly, and it's not an "official" review with a list of bonuses, price and what's inside anymore.

I also started rereading Cashvertising and watching Harry Bencivenga's 100 seminar. The seminar is quite interesting and some parts are really valuable (some parts are not, but it's probably just me) and inspire ideas. I recommend that, you might learn something new.

I also started thinking on new angles for the product and LP and writing them down because some people say that an angle can make a huge difference. I've done this before and tested around 6 angles (without much success in terms of sales, but with changes in CTR to sales pages) for my bullet-point LPs but I want to try angles on this blog-style LP as well.
 
The test is still running, right now it looks more promising in terms of CTR to LP than the previous one. By the way, I've noticed that on some weekends I get tons of clicks and on some weekends I get very few, even though the ads and LPs are the same. I wonder what these fluctuations depend on.

Today I started thinking that probably my traffic source is not the best one for this product. So I decided to try POF in addition to BingAds. The budget is $20 per day, I am targetting male users. Before I've used POF only once, at the very beginning, so it will take some time to create the best converting banner.

I also added more keywords to Bing and started testing a new LP. They are not directly related to the niche but I hope to get more relevant clicks for them.

Looks like I've already spent $2000 since I have first started doing PPC. I guess I am doing something wrong because other PPC guys say that they have broken even or profitable when they have spent around $2000-3000. Oh well, I guess I should just keep testing.
 
New KWs I've added to Bing turned out to be expensive - I need to bid at least $2 to get the 4th position, but I'll still run a couple of tests out of curiosity. I still hope that they will be more effective in terms of sales.

The WP review-LP I've talked about in post #4 didn't convert - CTR to the sales page was around 25% but no sales again.

Meanwhile I also keep testing ads on POF. I've changed the settings a bit to make them more targetted and also submitted new creatives because CTR of the previous ones were very low - 0.07%, 0.06%, 0.09%. Testing on POF is more fun than testing on Bing - at least I get to create banners.
 
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Very few: only 7 sales, that's around $250. Actually these numbers are quite shocking ($250 revenues VS $2000 expenses), but I think I will make it eventually.
 
ComradeWolf said:
Very few: only 7 sales, that's around $250. Actually these numbers are quite shocking ($250 revenues VS $2000 expenses), but I think I will make it eventually.
Click to expand...

No, you won't. Not unless you change something.


PM me if you want some help from a professional.
 
NJDevil, I'd be happy to PM you, but right now I don't have enough posts, so you'll you have to bear with me for a bit.

I've started a new test: I am split testing two different angles with which I've come up earlier (traffic is coming from Bing for this test). I think it will be finished earlier because I usually get more clicks on Fr/Sat.

My QS has finally jumped 2 points. I guess this is due to an increase in ads CTR - it reached 3.5% after I've tweaked the ad text a bit - and increase in KW relevance (I've been struggling with the QS for these ads for around 2 weeks).

I am also reading different forums and trying to get more ideas for new PPC tests/copy tweaks. I have watched half of Bencivenga's seminar, and about to start testing ideas I got while watching it.
 
+Subbed.

I've been following this since the beginning, good job so far. I'm curious ComradeWolf, are you using any specific PPC guides for your experiment or just using the marketing guides of Bencivenga and Cashvertising?​
 
medway said:
That's not too bad actually at least you're getting some conversions. Keep us updated.
Click to expand...
That's true: every time when I get at least 1 sale in a campaign I feel much better.

CCarter said:
+Subbed.

I've been following this since the beginning, good job so far. I'm curious ComradeWolf, are you using any specific PPC guides for your experiment or just using the marketing guides of Bencivenga and Cashvertising?​
Click to expand...

Thanks CCarter!

Right now I am focusing only on Bencivenga's guide even though it is not directly PPC-related. But it does give some ideas for adding a twist to LPs I test like making them not so aggressive and thinking of how to make my LP valuable for visitors.

My first tests were based on the recommendations that guys from the six months from today forum gave me on their forum (testimonials testing mostly and playing with CTAs). Then when I signed up for the stack that money (STM) forum I saw a post by Finch where he was describing his way of testing stuff (traffic source->offer->lander->headline, etc.) and a post on angles. So I started testing angles randomly as well as headlines.

Then guys from STM suggested that I try salesy vs not salesy copy, video vs no video, short LP vs long LP. After testing that I got my hands on PPC formula, but it was way too basic (the program creator didn't really talk about testing, if I remember correctly).

Afterwards I heard about Cashvertising and started testing recommendations given there (angles based on life forces and headlines again). And finally I came across Bencivenga's stuff and started testing it - for now stuff related to providing value to the customer and making the ad look not really like ad but like something useful (even though it's not really PPC-related, but I thought that his ideas could be applicable in PPC as well).

So right now I am just testing what I find interesting in Bencivenga's 100 seminar and don't really follow any specific PPC guides (I am not sure if any of those guides are actually useful, or maybe I just haven't seen the good ones yet).
 
Was digging through some images I saved from way back... this one might help you:

OKTDx84.gif
 
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