Read this email from a guy in the CPA world in response to someone asking him for his traffic sources. I liked it and thought I'd share it here.
So as of late I've received e-mails similar to the following:
"Hi... you don't know me, but I'm starting out in internet marketing and CPA. I have launched 5
campaigns and haven't converted on any of them. Should I quit? Can you give me your traffic sources
and a campaign that will work? Thanks."
Awesome isn't it?
When I started out I wish I would have just taken this route. It would have probably got me
profitable much quicker than I did. Instead I did the following and failed over and over:
- First campaign I ever launched, I didn't bother checking my tracking redirects, set my budget to
$100/day and went to bed. Woke up the next day, spent the entire $50, and realized none of my clicks
actually got to the offer. Pretty badass way to start.
- Learning from this mistake I realized that if I just stopped campaigns MUCH earlier before getting
any significant amounts of data, that I could avoid losing a lot..... at once.
- After about 80 more campaigns like this, 80% of them probably being stopped too early, I realized
that maybe I wasn't buying enough data, so basically I was bleeding money in small amounts over and
over and just moving on from campaigns saying "Bah! The offer sucks! It doesn't convert!"
- I then started to make some money. I started buying more data, and setting thresholds on specific
elements in my campaigns (keywords, landers, etc). Lot's of split testing.
- BAM! I hit a really successful campaign that generated me 5 figure months a few months in a row. I
rock, I'm the greatest AdWords user of all time. Or was I a one hit wonder?
- Google bans me. I go from mid 4 figure days to 0 overnight. Fantastic.
- I frantically get another Google account up and running. I hit a different vertical, now I'm back
to the money.
- Instead of learning from my mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket, I get complacent YET
AGAIN and scale up only on AdWords. I rock.
- Yet again, Google bans me. Not sure why this time, everything was above the board but whatever.
- So now, finally, I decide to branch out, and I go towards network buying first. Yes, this makes no
sense but I had cash to burn and obviously at this point in my progression, this was a dangerous
thing.
- I proceed to LOSE $6,000 on a campaign with a relatively obscure network. I made the cardinal sin
of trusting my rep more than my own knowledge. He was smart, I thought. He talked a good game. He
now doesn't work at that network.
- I now finally understand that the way I've been running things isn't best. I go back to basics,
and start launching tons and tons of campaigns on Facebook, and Direct to site buying. I focus on
those 2 channels the most, particularly direct to site buying. I start building a business and
generating front end leads. I focus on building strong relationships as well.
I've failed a lot. Over and over. A lot of guys have heard me say that I launched well over 100
campaigns before I started finding real profit. I put skin in the game. I bought data in the
beginning using credit. I don't recommend this, but it's what I did.
And even now, I'm not always 100% certain something is going to succeed. For example, now I'm
launching my own products outside of the IM niche. I'm building a fitness offer. Cost per sale,
upsells/cross sells, and continuity is all new to me. I'm studying lots and soon I'm going to put
more money down to test. I've already got money into it and haven't fully tested. That's my first
mistake here, I should have tested more in depth before product development.
Lesson learned, and I'm sure there will be many more lessons to be learned.
I guess the point it, it irks me sometimes when I see people wanting a hand out and have the nerve
to actually get mad if you don't do it. Yes, I understand that internet marketing can be
frustrating, and when you don't have money in your bank account things can get desperate. But that's
the game right?
Only once did I EVER get a successful campaign from someone, and do you think that came for free?
Hell no, we split it 50/50. You don't get anything for free in life. The people who win will grind
and test a lot.
As of this writing I've sold over 1000 copies of my Traffic BlackBook course with very few refund requests. But in
feedback surveys I've had some people say they wanted successful campaigns to go and test..... Ya,
there have been other products that "offer" that, and how often do those campaigns work out for the
customer? Maybe never? 1 out of 10?
Why's that? It's because I could put someone that doesn't know how to drive behind the wheel of a
Lamborghini and they'd most likely smash it. I could put my baby on Lance Armstrong's bike and she'd
definitely fall off.
That's all I got for today. Keep grinding, and most importantly, keep learning from your mistakes.
So as of late I've received e-mails similar to the following:
"Hi... you don't know me, but I'm starting out in internet marketing and CPA. I have launched 5
campaigns and haven't converted on any of them. Should I quit? Can you give me your traffic sources
and a campaign that will work? Thanks."
Awesome isn't it?
When I started out I wish I would have just taken this route. It would have probably got me
profitable much quicker than I did. Instead I did the following and failed over and over:
- First campaign I ever launched, I didn't bother checking my tracking redirects, set my budget to
$100/day and went to bed. Woke up the next day, spent the entire $50, and realized none of my clicks
actually got to the offer. Pretty badass way to start.
- Learning from this mistake I realized that if I just stopped campaigns MUCH earlier before getting
any significant amounts of data, that I could avoid losing a lot..... at once.
- After about 80 more campaigns like this, 80% of them probably being stopped too early, I realized
that maybe I wasn't buying enough data, so basically I was bleeding money in small amounts over and
over and just moving on from campaigns saying "Bah! The offer sucks! It doesn't convert!"
- I then started to make some money. I started buying more data, and setting thresholds on specific
elements in my campaigns (keywords, landers, etc). Lot's of split testing.
- BAM! I hit a really successful campaign that generated me 5 figure months a few months in a row. I
rock, I'm the greatest AdWords user of all time. Or was I a one hit wonder?
- Google bans me. I go from mid 4 figure days to 0 overnight. Fantastic.
- I frantically get another Google account up and running. I hit a different vertical, now I'm back
to the money.
- Instead of learning from my mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket, I get complacent YET
AGAIN and scale up only on AdWords. I rock.
- Yet again, Google bans me. Not sure why this time, everything was above the board but whatever.
- So now, finally, I decide to branch out, and I go towards network buying first. Yes, this makes no
sense but I had cash to burn and obviously at this point in my progression, this was a dangerous
thing.
- I proceed to LOSE $6,000 on a campaign with a relatively obscure network. I made the cardinal sin
of trusting my rep more than my own knowledge. He was smart, I thought. He talked a good game. He
now doesn't work at that network.
- I now finally understand that the way I've been running things isn't best. I go back to basics,
and start launching tons and tons of campaigns on Facebook, and Direct to site buying. I focus on
those 2 channels the most, particularly direct to site buying. I start building a business and
generating front end leads. I focus on building strong relationships as well.
I've failed a lot. Over and over. A lot of guys have heard me say that I launched well over 100
campaigns before I started finding real profit. I put skin in the game. I bought data in the
beginning using credit. I don't recommend this, but it's what I did.
And even now, I'm not always 100% certain something is going to succeed. For example, now I'm
launching my own products outside of the IM niche. I'm building a fitness offer. Cost per sale,
upsells/cross sells, and continuity is all new to me. I'm studying lots and soon I'm going to put
more money down to test. I've already got money into it and haven't fully tested. That's my first
mistake here, I should have tested more in depth before product development.
Lesson learned, and I'm sure there will be many more lessons to be learned.
I guess the point it, it irks me sometimes when I see people wanting a hand out and have the nerve
to actually get mad if you don't do it. Yes, I understand that internet marketing can be
frustrating, and when you don't have money in your bank account things can get desperate. But that's
the game right?
Only once did I EVER get a successful campaign from someone, and do you think that came for free?
Hell no, we split it 50/50. You don't get anything for free in life. The people who win will grind
and test a lot.
As of this writing I've sold over 1000 copies of my Traffic BlackBook course with very few refund requests. But in
feedback surveys I've had some people say they wanted successful campaigns to go and test..... Ya,
there have been other products that "offer" that, and how often do those campaigns work out for the
customer? Maybe never? 1 out of 10?
Why's that? It's because I could put someone that doesn't know how to drive behind the wheel of a
Lamborghini and they'd most likely smash it. I could put my baby on Lance Armstrong's bike and she'd
definitely fall off.
That's all I got for today. Keep grinding, and most importantly, keep learning from your mistakes.
