Calling $300+ a day marketers

you were once in my position - help pls

[Gav101]

What does a successful campaign look like? I'm asking because I am TOTALLY in the dark when it comes to this.

So I have no idea, but I do wonder how many (on average):

- Campaigns you have
- Adgroups you have
- Keywords per campaign you may have
- CTR rates you may have, per adgroup/campaign
- Are these affiliate items/your own products etc?

And just general account stats?

Thanks for your answers.

[edited by: Gav101 at 7:50 pm (utc) on Oct. 29, 2007]

[chinara]

Campaigns you have
Too many

Adgroups you have
~ 3 per campaign

Keywords per campaign you may have
10-50 per adgroup (not campaign)

CTR rates you may have, per adgroup/campaign
~4%

Are these affiliate items/your own products etc?
This is for affiliate campaigns only

Don’t forget negative keywords ~200 per campaign + extra ~50per adgroup

I don’t think it will help you much, but good luck anyways!

[netmeg]

I don't know how any of that information would help you. I have a couple dozen accounts for me and for clients, the daily spend runs anywhere from $10/day to $1100/day, and they also vary wildly as far as the other things you've asked.

[KaloVast]

Honestly, i don't think anyone else's stats are really going to shed any light on any campaigns you are looking to create.

For example, we sell products that generally range in the thousands of dollars. This means i can spend $2,000 per month and make four times that amount, all with conversion rates of about 1% and click through rates of about 1.5%. I don't care that my conversion rate is lower, because my ROI is about %400 percent for this, my first month.

I run about eight campaigns encompassing 40 ad groups. The ad groups are set in campaigns according to what they have in common, and the ad groups are more focused to the actual product rather than the product family.

I'm sorry, i just don't think knowing what my CTR is is going to help you out. You have to figure out what works for you, because at the end of the day, if you have a good ROI, that's all that matters.

[netmeg]

I will say this - I don't do any affiliate stuff, and from what I've seen, that's becoming more and more difficult and problematic. I'm not sure I could run AdWords for an affiliate program successfully without a lot of trial and error (probably more error than trial to begin with)

[Gav101]

Ok well you see this is very interesting for me.

I understand that some of the figures I asked about may seem irrelevant, but to me I have no idea what a winning campaign looks like. I do understand the account will look different for different people, but your posts have been helpful.

So far I think it is harder to make an income with affiliate products (thought not impossible). I just don't seem to be able to sustain the income from affiliate products, and my campaigns always seem to breakeven or lose money.

I just can't figure out what I could be doing wrong.

So your answers are very useful to me, in that I could get an idea as to what makes a campaign winning.

It looks as though everyone has a handful of campaigns which they're doing ok with, which come together to make a great amount? I suppose with affiliate programs the margins may be thinner (with regard to related industry competition) and so you may need more campaigns to make up for this?

I'm getting the idea that a higher priced item does better if promoted via adwords?

In any case, could you big guns provide me with some info that you think would be helpful to me, as a PPC novice?

I'm serious, anything is welcome!

Thank you for your time.

[netmeg]

Ok, well, here's the thing. It's becoming increasingly difficult to drive PPC traffic to affiliate campaigns, because Google doesn't really see the need to have a gazillion affiliate webpages advertising exactly the same things/offers in its advertising program, anymore than they want a gazillion pages with the exact same content in their index.

So my question to you is - are you actually adding value to the offer in some significant way? Is there something about your ad, your landing page, your keywords that stands out from the other people who are doing the exact same thing? Because if there isn't - and I realize this might sound harsh - you're probably not going to make it work.

I'm starting to think that in addition to Quality Scores for accounts, campaigns, keywords, etc there is an unspoken,unacknowledged Quality Score for business model that is being applied.

[RhinoFish]

Netmeg, I agree it's harder today with all the quality concerns built into AdWords, but you nailed it here:

So my question to you is - are you actually adding value to the offer in some significant way? Is there something about your ad, your landing page, your keywords that stands out from the other people who are doing the exact same thing? Because if there isn't - and I realize this might sound harsh - you're probably not going to make it work.

If you have quality and value, you can play with the big boys. If not, not.

I'm starting to think that in addition to Quality Scores for accounts, campaigns, keywords, etc there is an unspoken,unacknowledged Quality Score for business model that is being applied.

I know this "they dislike the affiliate biz model" seems tempting to start believing, but either I'm the magical exception or it's just not the case. Since I know other power affiliates who use AdWords in large volume also, I'd guess I'm not the magical exception.

That said, discussing biz model is a waste of time, in my view - every aff who wants to use AdWords should heed your "are you actually adding value" question. This is the path towards success as an affiliate.

[Gav101]

You know, I was looking into this exact same thing recently, and I came across it, on the other side of the coin, as a consumer.

I figured if 2 companies are selling the same physical item, with the same delivery costs (very common), yet one is cheaper, why would I possibly buy from the other (with both being trustable etc). It wouldn't make sense.

So this bought me to thinking about the affiliate area. It's kind of the same thing right? Everyone is selling the same item, but why would they buy from my link?

This ties in with your post about offering somthing different.

I've seen people giving away their own reviews and further detailed instructions on how to use the item for sale, for further profit.

It's basically like bribing the buyer to buy from your page, so they can receive the 'extra' you have as well.

Am I thinking along the right lines? Has anyone tried this perhaps, and seen an increase in their affiliate sales?

Thanks.