Failed at media buying - lost $215

[Sleinad]

After seeing a few posts here about some people having success with media buying, I though I'd give it a go.

Signed up to SiteScout, deposited $500, set up a campaign. I was simply sending traffic to clickbank offers, no landing page of my own because I simply couldn't be bothered just for this test (could have wasted hours on landing page to learn the niche isn't profitable at all). I quickly realised how awful my first campaign was turning out, so I changed to a different niche and clickbank product. I did this 5 times in the end...some had better stats than others.

One campaign was actually decent, the CTR was nearly 0.3%, the clicks were cheap. However...no sales.

I just wanted to make this post to warn anyone thinking of jumping into media buying without a proper plan and/or research beforehand. You need to know what you are doing, you need a lot of money to test, and a lot of time to experience frustrating results.

I foolishly went into this thinking I could deposit some money, set up a campaign and make a nice big return. I've learnt my lesson, and I'm taking my $285 I have left in my account to use it to make money in ways I know I'm good at.

 

[danailo]

You need a lot of tests and at least $2000 to figure out where to invest IMO.

 

[Yupefer]

Gotta take those kind of Risk if you want to make money! it wasn't a complete lost. you Learned.

 

[forvenz]

you can't start mediabuy with SiteScout ,try BuysellAds.
Sometimes you lose ,sometimes you learn

 

[IMTopgun]

Using media buying can be profitable but does require a lot of testing and closely monitoring your campaigns before you find the right combination of niche and ads. IMHO it should only be done after you have established good casdh flow in another area and then use profits from those other activites to test PPV media buys or even PPC.

 

[salhammers]

My friend, well done to you for taking the plunge!! It's easy for us to say, "you need 000's just to test the water", or "you could have picked a better offer". But you took action and gave it a shot, something 90% of others won't.

Question I would ask: if you could invest that 215 dollars again, what would you do differently?

 

[2011nfl]

You now know one way that will not work for you in media buying Edison. Don't give up. Go make that light bulb!

 

[erickishere]

You live and learn man

 

[Sleinad]

My friend, well done to you for taking the plunge!! It's easy for us to say, "you need 000's just to test the water", or "you could have picked a better offer". But you took action and gave it a shot, something 90% of others won't.

Question I would ask: if you could invest that 215 dollars again, what would you do differently?

If I had to use the $215 in media buying, I'd use a landing page and get some signups. I just read from someone else who made money that you don't have to and you can make just as much money direct linking if you have good banners and good products that you're promoting.

At least with use a landing page and opt-in I would have something left over that I paid for instead of a tiny bit of data that I no longer want because I'm not willing to put thousands into testing further.

If I could go back before I deposited the money and use it elsewhere, I'd probably just use the money for more content/SEO or just build a new site with that much. Oh well, at least I know now I'm not exactly good at media buying, and should just stick with what works for me.

 

[TheArticleMan]

You didn't fail. You found out $215 worth of ways not to be profitable.

 

[Pollux0R]

^Exactly. Plus you should use the search button and find some helpful threads on media buying, will help your gameplan.

You didn't fail. You found out $215 worth of ways not to be profitable.

 

[dgfalk]

Post like these scare me!! I just started out with Sitescout as well, spend about $50 so far but I'm going slow just to get the feel for things.

I'm no expert by any means, so correct me if I'm wrong, but here's what I see wrong:

The first campaign you let run way to long, you had 201,000 impressions with only a .05% CTR. I would of stopped it after about 10-15000 impressions if I had that CTR.

The second campaign looks good with that .29%CTR but 300 clicks and no sales tells me the offer sucks and doesn't convert. I would of stopped promoting that offer after about 1-150 clicks and no sales.

Again, those are just my opinions, does it sound about right? Hopefully I can learn something from your data as well.

 

[Orval]

Don`t give up after 5 campaigns. Try a 100 and if it doesn`t work try 1000. You will get 1 profitable eventually

 

[prospect7]

my 2c:

stop using all these shitty middle man services. they're probably just ripping you off that's why you get no conversions..... for $500 to get nothing back is horrible and practically unheard of if the traffic is targeted and real!

contact webmasters directly and setup a media buy. only buy on trusted websites even if it costs more CPM the results will be better..

some huge trusted sites may have a $1000 minimum. you can usually find out minimum ad spend from the sites media kit or by talking with the webmaster. to get around this say you want to do a test buy before you start buying serious volume and that you do intend to meet the minimum.

-

my first media buy was on a large gaming website.. I was promoting a world of warcraft guide off CB - using the ads provided on CB, no landing page. I spent $250 made back about $170 if I remember right. Make sure your traffic is TARGETED that's the most important thing then just work on improving your conversion rate with better ads, landing page etc.

I would take the experience as an expensive lesson. don't deal with middle men, instead deal directly with site owners, especially when starting out.

 

[GiorgioB]

I was simply sending traffic to clickbank offers, no landing page of my own because I simply couldn't be bothered just for this test (could have wasted hours on landing page to learn the niche isn't profitable at all). I quickly realised how awful my first campaign was turning out, so I changed to a different niche and clickbank product. I did this 5 times in the end...some had better stats than others.

I think the problem was here.. it would have been good to split test to 1 with landing page and one without.

 

[IamNRE]

Hi buddy,

congratz on taking the leap!


Did you get any people to click the on check out button (or order button) ?

I think media buying becomes profitable when you track every action, know the demographics of your traffic, provide them with the right offer and you re-target them.

 

[Smileyヅ]

Congrats that you have learned a lesson

 

[Yizrael]

Don't think of it as failing. You paid $215 dollars for your first lesson in a course toward a PHD in media buying. Pretty cheap if you ask me.

 

[SMMCity]

You learn from mistakes, so you learnt something

 

[Sleinad]

Hi buddy,

congratz on taking the leap!


Did you get any people to click the on check out button (or order button) ?

I think media buying becomes profitable when you track every action, know the demographics of your traffic, provide them with the right offer and you re-target them.

I didn't get one order form impression from all those clicks! That's why I have given up...people recommended that even if you send a hundred clicks or more without getting a conversion that it is totally normal, so I though I'd send like at least a few hundred but that turned out to not help because I still didn't get any more order form impressions nevermind conversions.

I think if you are doing CB and media buying, it is all down to the product you are promoting. A lot of stuff on CB is pretty crappy, and the stuff I was promoting obviously fell into that category. If people can find a really good product with a good sales page they'd be way more successful than I was here.

I just shouldn't have really deposited the $500, because I kind knew from the start I might have to spend thousands for testing and I didn't want to. I kinda just tried to get lucky and make a quick bit of cash or at least not lose all the money

Don't think of it as failing. You paid $215 dollars for your first lesson in a course toward a PHD in media buying. Pretty cheap if you ask me.

Except I now have no intentions of doing any more media buying lol so It's more like I've dropped out of college after my first day