My first $160 in CPA Bing Ads

[bhcg101]

how much did you send on ads ??

So this is a good question and I have a lot to say on this. Why ? Because some of you reading this are going to think.. this dude is crazy. Look at the results, but let me also preface this to say the following as I've mentioned this before.. you have to be willing to spend money and be willing to lose money to learn how to make money. And while I get this is a generalization, I'm good with saying the following... "most" aren't willing to lose it to learn how to make it.

In my case, as we've gone through this journey.. yep, there's no doubt I'm losing money.. but every day I do this.. I'm learning and I'm way okay with that because at the end of this, as I keep tweaking things.. the process and method will continue to get more and more refined until the results are better than they've been.

That may not be appealing to some who want to churn and burn and take the blackhat route to cash in as quick as possible using those methods (which I don't endorse, but it's fine if you do.. different strokes for different folks.. by all means "do you") but for me.. yes, this is slower but I can sleep better at night dealing with the ups and downs the way I've been going about this.

So here are the numbers. I've spent just over $1600 and I've made just over $830 between Amazon and the CPA campaigns. So yep, I'm in the hole on it's face. I have an LLC for this so I'll be writing off the ad spend anyway, so that's sort of my investment protection in this.

Nevertheless, this is what I've been able to do in less than 60 days, "not knowing much of anything about PPC". Keep in mind these are PPC newbie results. There have been some of you willing to pay me to help you but I want to be transparent about my progress and the nuances of this.

I am clearly no expert, and my standards and moral compass won't allow me to entertain the possibility of teaching anyone what I'm doing knowing I haven't reached profitability yet. So for now I'm just sharing updates on what's going on as I continue to learn.

With that said, this journey was about showing that "yes" money can be made, but you also need to be prepared to lose it too to learn the ropes. I'd say that if you aren't prepared with at least $500 to spend this probably isn't the game for you because learning an ad platform is inevitably going to come with losses.

Playing the CPA game through PPC is going to come with losses. It's about data, it's about tracking, it's knowing that some days are going to be winners and some days are going to be losers.

Hopefully you appreciate the transparency. Don't be afraid to jump in. Taking action seems to be the kryptonite for so many people and just keeping it real.. you're going to fall down literally on your face in this, but like me.. have faith that at some point, you'll fall down a lot less and celebrate the small wins and successes. I don't feel like I'm nearly as lost as I was in the beginning and that's half the battle so for now it's anyone's guess as to where this will go, but I am still optimistic.

 

[brokerUS]

Spend $1600, revenue $830. Thanks for the transparency. You should also factor in the hours you are spending to determine your ROI.

 

[bhcg101]

Spend $1600, revenue $830. Thanks for the transparency. You should also factor in the hours you are spending to determine your ROI.

The core principle of a journey like this is to be transparent. I agree with you on the hours but let's be honest. If you're going to learn something new that you've never done before with any real intentionality you're going to invest a lot of time and hours into it. That's what it requires. However, let's also be honest on another point.. just because this is where the results are at today doesn't mean that's where it will stay.

How often do we invest in other things "with absolutely no promise" of a return yet we invest anyway and sometimes in those instances.. the investment is large and the return is a donut ($0).

I totally get the numbers but I'm also saying that while it's not good, it's certainly not the basement either. The results need to improve as no one likes to lose money but I'm optimistic that with continued work that it will. That's why we tweak campaigns and tweak methods and in PPC there's a "lot" to tweak to affect the results.

 

[ChickyN]

nice mate, keep optimize your ads

 

[bhcg101]

Thanks @ChickyN. I will. If I quit all that does is perpetuate that kind of mentality to others who may already be on the fence. This can be done folks with success and "you" have to believe in it first "even with the failures" before anyone else will.

With that said, regardless of what method or strategy you're pursuing, keep going.

"You" will have to be the one to prove the naysayers wrong. Too many move on to the next thing before giving the first thing everything they have.

 

[codemaker]

Happy to see one more PPC-affiliate.
Bing is great if you know which demo is using it.

I'm just a bit confused about this part:

The blackhat way is not for me.

Never worked with "heath" affiliate programs, but I also never heard of one that's not black/gray-hat.
Every single "health" product taken from any affiliate network is blackhat.
I'm curious how your account is still live and ads running without cloak + if I understood right: you talked with Bing's rep about your ads?

P.S. Was on break for 8 months, sorry if something changed and I'm not informed about it.

 

[bhcg101]

Hey @codemaker, yes I have spoken with "several" Bing reps with "high transparency". Haven't had anything to hide really. I'm promoting a product (all of my campaigns are that way) and not one person has had an issue with it. I've been told what I can and can't do.

Additionally, one of the products I'm doing through CPA is sold on Amazon as well. Haven't seen anyone through Bing that has had an issue with the campaign I'm running in the health niche.

Not sure what could have changed.. Just stating what my experience has been.

 

[codemaker]

I see.

Glad to see more people trying/testing, it gives me hope that affiliate<->PPC isn't a mess as it was back in April.
Feel free to ping me if you need any advice/help.

P.S. As someone other mentioned I would really suggest getting a site for Amazon affiliate and promoting it instead of direct linking.
P.P.S. Even tho you maybe don't think that you achieved a lot - you did. 2 months into and having 2 streams of income - I know people struggling with a single one for years. Keep it up!

 

[bhcg101]

Thanks @codemaker. Got the new site going but still making changes to it and trying to get it some visibility and playing around with various plugins to work smarter and not harder. Saw one Amazon order yesterday and saw one today. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's not the "faucet" like activity I was seeing before but I'll take the trickle for now since the site is brand new. Everything is about scaling it up from here with the new site.

I'm also glad I was called out on the direct linking which I'm sure saved my account. I really don't feel like I did a lot but I appreciate your words. As I've said, I'm optimistic that this can look a lot better and this was about encouraging others to get out there and take some action too.

All in all, I feel like I've learned a lot and I know there's a lot more to learn on this journey.

PS. I'm also still encouraged to see that I'm still getting payouts on the CPA end as well even if it's not all the time, there's a lot left to learn there too especially since the campaign isn't costing me an arm and a leg. Making $80 off of 3 clicks the other day is pretty cool. Now if that could work out every few days that'd be even better You just never know when the commission is going to come in.

 

[codemaker]

I'm also glad I was called out on the direct linking which I'm sure saved my account.

Won't know for sure about this if you didn't withdraw money yet.
Learning affiliate is every day process, I'll recommend checking iAmAttila for affiliate and Dan Kennedy for marketing in general.

 

[bhcg101]

Won't know for sure about this if you didn't withdraw money yet.
Learning affiliate is every day process, I'll recommend checking iAmAttila for affiliate and Dan Kennedy for marketing in general.

True true. New activity will show the transition from direct linking to the traffic coming from the new site as the new traffic source. So we'll see how that goes. Thanks for the recommendation.

 

[rpmk2000]

haha, man i remember when i was doing paid ads

it's all just a scam really lol. you get so excited when you make a little bit of money, but then realize it's an unstable shit hole cause the next day the algo fucks you out of your budget and gives 0 conversions haha. it's a shit show, that's why i stopped using these shitty paid ad platforms lol fuck them

oh and btw, i suggest promoting fake hack generator, it's far superior

Could you message me

 

[bhcg101]

Could you message me

Thanks for your message. Are you referring to me or PBNsurprise ? Which one of us did you want to correspond with you because I received the alert so I'm asking for clarification.

 

[caramelrocks]

Good results.

I have a couple of questions about your Amazon PPC journey.

1. Are you tracking keyword conversions? Amazon doesn't provide conversion data on a keyword level so without knowing what keywords have resulted in sales, it would make it hard to make an ROI.

2. Can you bid on product name keywords for Amazon products or are you bidding on generic keywords? For things such as CPA offers it says on the product page if the product allows brand bidding, but it doesn't mention this on Amazon products.

 

[JohnH8Man]

can you tell me how you create bing ads? i tried many times but i get suspended almost instantly.

 

[bhcg101]

Good results.

I have a couple of questions about your Amazon PPC journey.

1. Are you tracking keyword conversions? Amazon doesn't provide conversion data on a keyword level so without knowing what keywords have resulted in sales, it would make it hard to make an ROI.

2. Can you bid on product name keywords for Amazon products or are you bidding on generic keywords? For things such as CPA offers it says on the product page if the product allows brand bidding, but it doesn't mention this on Amazon products.

Hi there and thanks for your comments.

As for the keywords, you’re right that Amazon doesn’t provide conversion data. In Bing, the only tracking measure they give you is using utm’s and I don’t care for that.

I use clickmagick for tracking but even then when I get a conversion, what helps me is that for example.. one of my campaigns is for x product and I have seen several sales on that particular product so at the end of the day I know that campaign is working well. So in “general” I can target what that campaign was set up for (e.g. targeted for) knowing that product associated with x keyword is working and there’s a lot of buyer intent there, but as for Amazon giving me keyword analytic data.. yeah.. not getting any help from them there.

All in all what I’m saying is that when you have a targeted campaign set up and you start seeing sales on that actual product or some version of it, then you know you have a winning keyword but not because you’re getting detailed analytic data.

As for product name bidding, let’s take something like a computer mouse, what I could do is bid on Logitech wireless mouse but I’m not going to bid on an exact model. Nor am I going to place bids for something ridiculously broad like “computer mouse”. As you can see in that example, I said Logitech “wireless” mouse. I’m trying to narrow it down a bit so it’s not overly broad.. don’t want to waste a bunch of money in ad spend for people that are doing research and aren’t really interested in buying anything.

As for CPA offers, just read the fine print. Typically when there’s an issue with brand bidding they will let you know up front. If not, then you’re probably okay, but when in doubt, talk to the affiliate manager assigned to you. Remember, they want you to succeed too.

 

[instinct619]

For those that don't think that Bing is worth it.. hmmm... I'd seriously question that. I have a new campaign running. CPA payout is $80 and I made my first $160 today. For those that don't think it's achievable or that Bing isn't worth it.. you couldn't be more wrong.

Campaign not even running a full 48 hours. Budget was $50 yesterday and another $100 today, but considering the traffic and the scalability of this product, I'm hopeful that there is a lot more money to be made so with some tweaks to the campaign by digging into the data I think will lead to a better ROI but in my mind it's encouraging to have achieved that in less than 2 days. CTR is amazing.. over 10% the first day and just under 7% today.

This might not sound like a big deal to some but for those that have been working on making any money online for a while.. let this be a little encouragement that CPA works and my method is Bing ads PPC.

Note: I've only been doing PPC for just over 3.5 weeks.

View attachment 150783

It's the things like these that inspire all of us. Good luck man. More power to you.

 

[bhcg101]

Just wanted to provide a quick update since it's been a while.
My site is still only generating 1-2 sales a day. Kinda bummed about that but I know I have to be patient.
I've got three social media channels going. Some of this is auto work and one channel is semi manual.
I had my first engagement from a visitor yesterday but I know the best thing I can do is keep posting because each post is still content on their platforms.
Prayerfully, it will get rolling on it's own in next 3-6 months if not sooner.. I say months because I'm keeping my expectations "extremely" conservative. If it happens faster that's great but I am not placing expectations of anything sooner than that timeframe.
Nothing new going on in the CPA front since I've got other things taking up my time but I did make some adjustments to my campaigns 3 days ago and got rid of some dead weight and added a couple more campaigns that I hope will generate some clicks and some income.

That's all for now. Still going, still believing and hoping that things will get back to multiple conversions where it was before I learned I had to get a site built.
PS. Still waiting to see if I'll get a payout from Amazon after the mistakes I made. I should know next month I believe according to their commission schedule.

 

[AnonButNotRly]

I know how to create $150 threshold accounts from Bing but lately the accounts get locked. I'm looking for a good VCC that works with Bing.

I tried many vcc and they don't work. After creating the account, it gets locked. You also need residential ip for that.

Do you mind sharing that threshold account method?

 

[msyaz]

As long as the traffic is made up of real people, there will always be money to be made.

Congrats on your earnings.

This is your gold mine. Mine the gold as much as possible before other people discover it.