mr coolerer

Ok, I've done enough reading, time to start asking so I can start doing.

How much money do I need to do the following:

Test a campaign?
Run the campaigns that I find to be successful?

And probably more important, how much will I have to spend to get over the learning curve, and working 5-8 hours a day on this project, how long will it take?

I'll also say this, at the moment I've got $200 in my bank account that I can afford not to see again, is there any one who'll back me for a cut? I ask this because I suspect that I'll need more than this.

Also, how long will it take to see a return on the campaign? Cash flow is king as always.

eVandals

Before you get tarred and feathered I just want to point out that this is not the place to get "backed for a cut". Anyone here would just invest it for themselves so they get 100% profits, outside the unlikely case of gracious angel investors trolling through on a christmas morning (hell you never know). You will need more than $200 to run paid traffic campaigns. A few thousand is good for testing. That's not for returns, that's to find out converting sources, targets, keywords, ad copies, etc.

Most of your questions are like asking "how long is a piece of string?" How much money do you need to run campaigns? That depends on where you are running it, how much volume is available, your budget, competition, etc. How much time will you have to spend to get over the learning curve? That is dependant on factors like how good your brain is to begin with and what you already know.

What do you already know? Do you know simple things like setting up hosting, domains, nameservers, ftp accessibility, creating redirects? Do you know how to track converting keywords/targets by passing appended variables onto links using tracking scripts like tracking202 or the like? Do you know how to write ad copy? Do you know how to research and find traffic sources? Are you already a part of cpa networks?

You haven't done enough reading, contrary to the claim that you have. Granted most of the hurdles are through testing and trial and error and not just reading but there is nobody that has "done enough reading".

This is a serious suggestion and one that is probably in your best interests right now: look into seo, leveraging authority sites, link building. $200 is not enough to even collect solid test data against paid traffic.

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mr coolerer

Thanks for the reply.

I thought it was a bit of a strech to ask for a backer, but as you said, you never know your luck.

I've got a few domains and a few shared hosting scattered around the place, and I've been building sites for fun since I was 12. I've got a few blogs set up, though from what I've read, blogs aren't real money makers, they're more used for SEO in mininets and linkwheels.

I've set up prosper 202 on one of my shared hosts but realised that you can't use it for direct-linking (or am I mistaken?), so I've yet to do anything with tracking of conversions. I was unsure how I'd use a landing page to push the traffic from the landing page to the ebook sign up page, so I kept with the direct link method.

I tried to run a test on a clickbank promotion through MSN a few hours ago and was a little overwhelmed by the process, and the amounts of money needed to get things moving, hence the questions. I ask more because I could pick up a few extra hours at work and use the money to get things rolling, but if that isnt going to be enough then I'd look into other ways.

I wrote a few ads for the MSN campaign, and was going to split test them, but I didnt have much money to throw at it, so I've got it sitting on pause at the moment.

As for different traffic sources, is that using different keywords? Or is it putting the ads on different ad networks? Or would it be pushing the ads on social networks or social media?

Jonyk

Just let me say that $200 isn't enough to do good testing in my experience.

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eVandals

prosper/tracking202 will do direct linking, It's under the setup tab, #7 get links, then choose direct link setup. You will have to place conversion pixels from #8 onto the confirmation pages of your offers in order to see conversions in your t202 panel. Some tracking scripts let you place pixels globally like Neverblue, direct track does not, so you have to ask your affiliate manager to place them for you for DT networks.

I think you are on the right path, it's just your budget really isn't suitable for anything serious right now so do whatever you have to in order to raise a couple thousand if you are adamant about getting paid traffic to work. Pick a good niche, enough keywords to make the volume worth your while, track them, eliminate the non-performers, then run the ones that are working.

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papajohn56

honestly I started with around $200-300 in my first real campaign, and it ended up well for me. It's harder, but not impossible to do. In a case like that just ride the wave and hit what's hot, talk to your AMs and get some EPC info

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