Kai's Journal - Getting started with PPC on Facebook

kaisdavis

kaisdavis

Banned
Nov 27, 2009
65
0
0
Oregon
Hi WickedFire,

I've spent the past two weeks reading on PPC advertising, affiliate marketing, and SEO. I'm at a point where I know I need to start learning by doing instead of just reading.

My Background

I already have hosting through a reseller account at Hostgator that I'm breaking even on thanks to some web hosting / web development work I'm doing for friends, so the cost of hosting is free. I'm comfortable with CSS / XHTML / Wordpress. I've assisted on development of some Drupal themes for larger projects, but beyond CSS / HTML work on themes, I don't have a lot of Drupal experience.

I've read through the Google Adwords documentation on Google, so I have a basic understanding of the Ad system. I've read through the Newbie Question forum, Nickycake's newb guide, and some of the stuntdubl.com posts.

I've been approved as an affiliate on Ads4Dough and the Revolution202 partner network. I've installed Prosper202 on my server.

The Project

Set up a PPC campaign on Facebook for a CPA campaign.

To Do

  • Identify an affiliate offer.
  • Register a domain name.
  • Build a LP
  • Fund my Facebook Ad account.

Questions
  • If I fund my Facebook account now, will I be unable to redeem the Ad Credit once I receive it? Am I better off waiting until I receive it to start this project?
  • Godaddy or Namecheap for domain registration? I've been using Godaddy, but I keep reading endorsements for Namecheap. I don't think this matters that much (aside from Namecheap's free year of private registration), but I'm curious what the community says the best option is.
  • Are there any active Facebook Ad Coupon offers? I searched for a little last night and signed up for the Ad Credit through Intuit, but I won't receive the coupon for a week. Are there any other active offers for Facebook Ad Coupons?

Assets

$0

I haven't spent anything yet.
 


Silence can sometimes mean that things are going well...or that the project got totally dropped.

When I first came to WF, I read everything I could then disappeared only to start posting again yesterday. In the meantime I did a lot of dumb things and a lot of good things.

He is definitely doing it right, read for a little bit then act.
 
Hey WF,

I think this post just got approved by the moderators so apologies for the lack of updates. I either couldn't find my own thread or it wasn't approved.

I know that what I need to just is pick any affiliate offer and just start running with it, but I'm overwhelmed with the number of options.

I funded my Facebook account with a $100 coupon from the Buy & Sell forum and decided to submit ads pointing to an Adult Friend Finder affiliate account. Both of my ads were denied, but I got a better understanding of the process of building a Facebook ad. I've read the Facebook Ad Guidelines and now realize that AFF ads are banned.

I'm continuing to use Godaddy for domain registration. I'm loving the BUYCOM99 special.

Question #1: Ads cannot contain, facilitate, promote, or reference the following: Gambling, including poker...

I think the answer is 'you can't,' but this means I can't promote a Rakeback site, right?

Question #2: I'm totally overwhelmed picking my first offer to promote. I know I need to pick something - anything - and just start, but I can't decide between this, that, or the other thing. At this point, is there any advantage to one type of lead based offer over another or should I just pick anything and run with it until I hit a wall?

(I'm assuming it's the 'wall' response, but I really need to hear that from someone else)

Question #3: Landing page vs direct linking. It doesn't matter at this point?

To Do

  • Identify an affiliate offer
  • Decide on direct linking vs a landing page
Assets

-$5
 
While GoDaddy may be cheaper (not sure it is if you add in the free WHOIS guard, which I consider essential), namecheap is a lot better in terms of interface and support. I got tired of all the shit spam from GoDaddy selling off my contact info and their slow buggy interface. I switched to namecheap and have been much happier.

As to picking an offer, I would just ask your AM what's working well. What offers do they have that are converting nicely. If you're signed up with any decent networks, what your AM tells you will be something that you can work with. Let them know that you're planning on running this on social networks so they can throw you something that they have seen work well with them. But no more fucking excuses after that. When you get some offers, fuck reading and start doing. Build ad's, LP's, whatever. Throw shit out there. You'll learn real quick what works and what doesn't. Trim the shit that doesn't work, expand on the stuff that does, wash, rinse, and fucking repeat.

Driect Linking Vs. Landing Page...all depends on the offer, but the general consensus is test both. Only way to truly know which is better.
 
Now is not the greatest time to get into Facebook advertising. A few companies are dropping big ad spends for the holidays, which have pushed bids up 20-50% in some demos. So either find a demo where the bids aren't sky-high or wait 'til the new year, when bids should hopefully drop off.
 
Thanks, Jarred.

Thanks for the tip pseudo nym. I asked my AMs what's converting well on Facebook and I'll see what the bids look like once I get word back.
 
kaisdavis said:
Thanks, Jarred.

Thanks for the tip pseudo nym. I asked my AMs what's converting well on Facebook and I'll see what the bids look like once I get word back.
Click to expand...

Just keep in mind that this. This is my first holiday season running on facebook. Normally, I could bid below the suggested bid and still get a solid amount of impressions. As of late, I've been having to bid about 50% OVER the suggested bid amount to get impressions. So if you're not getting any, try upping you bid slowly until they start rolling in.
 
Hey Makavelimob,

Thanks for asking.

I've emailed my two AMs (Mike on Ads4Dough and Amy on Revolution202) asking what offers are converting well on Facebook and Myspace, but I haven't heard back yet.

I want to get started with a campaign, so I'm going to start putting together a campaign for an offer off of Revolution202 - Scholarships for Moms.

Revolution202 is paying $4.50/lead on Scholarships for Moms. The information page has a recommendation to talk to my AM (Amy) for specific tips. I'll touch base with her on the campaign when I hear back from her about other offers that are converting well on Facebook.

Elements of a Facebook Ad

  • Title
  • Text
  • Image
  • Age
  • Keywords
  • Connections
I'm going to keep Keywords and Connections consistent across all ads to start, but I'm going to divide age up into 5 year increments for this campaign.

I want to split test different versions of ads, but I'm a little wary of the number of ads that I could be producing. If I use 4 images, titles, and body texts, I have 64 different ads. Adding in age, I have way too many ads.

Instead, I'll produce three different ads (unique image, title, and body) and run each ad in 3 age groups (18-25, 25-30, 30-35).

I'll direct link the ads to the offer to start. Once I set up the ads and wait for approval, I'll research a domain and landing page for future use.

Questions
None right now.

To Do

  • Generate the ad text / content.
  • Do keyword and connection research.
Assets
-$5
 
Crap. Just closed the offer landing page and it has a 'wait!' popup. Reading through the ad guidelines I saw that this was not accepted. Is this campaign eliminated because of that?
 
Thanks, dispel. I was planning to promote it with a combination of keywords and identifying groups / pages that related to moms and advertising to people related to those groups.
 
good luck dude, I can't give you much advice since i've never stepped close to edu offers but i love these threads, lookin forward to updates
 
Thanks SitPoMk! I have a side project (finishing CSS for a website) to finish up today / tomorrow, but I'm going to put in 1-2 hours on some keyword / connections ideas. I'll post them as I get to them!
 
Facebook Ad Manager is a strong consideration. Hell, I'll probably buy it soon, but I don't want to spend $200 on it until I've hit break even with a FB Campaign by hand.
 
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