Challenge: £3,000 profit in a month with PPC

**hpops** · 15-01-07

I doubt he'll make it - but remain impressed with the fact hes not going to stop trying and (hopefully) keep us all updated (not doubting your skills mate - just looking at the numbers)

**chromate** · 15-01-07

I would be amazed if beejeebers pulls it off in the remainder of this month. Would be great to see that happen though!

But even if it takes longer than a month, it would be great to see him develop it into a profitable campaign (if that's even possible).

**drivetowin** · 15-01-07

There are more than 16 days to go - beejeebers didn't actually start until the 10th January as far as I can see, so we are only 5 days in - so at least 25 days (26 if you're generous) to go.

**csn** · 15-01-07

Originally Posted by drivetowin

There are more than 16 days to go - beejeebers didn't actually start until the 10th January as far as I can see, so we are only 5 days in - so at least 25 days (26 if you're generous) to go.

Didn't realise that.

Even so, that is £115 profit a day (26 days) and given the figures so far, that may be too much for the retailer he has chosen.

**morleymouse** · 15-01-07

Originally Posted by csn

... that may be too much for the retailer he has chosen.

I've tried to just let this thread pass, watch it and obsverve but things like that really do get to me. Granted we're no lastminute, expedia or opodo but we do value affiliate activity and pay out several thousand pounds a month in commission.

This January has actually been the best January to date for Alpharooms.com so far and its majoritively down to affiliate efforts, those doing well are doing very well and benefiting from the work we put in to help and keep our affiliates happy. Those not doing well... well, I can only but try and help.

From this thread to date, yes beejeebers hasn't quite cracked it yet, although I have the gut feeling if he slowed down a bit and stopped trying to go for gold, build things up slowly then he could easily build a nice revenue stream for himself. We've already gained two PPC affiliates just from the PR of this thread who look to be doing 6 figures come April, so i've succeeded.

The developments we have lined up for 2007 will make you wet yourself, and affiliates that are already promoting Alpharooms.com will benefit greatly.

£115 profit per day? If some of our affiliates made less than £1150 per day id ask what we'd done wrong

**ben01** · 16-01-07

Hi Dan,

With respect, how do you know what your top affiliates really make? I consider what I "make" as being profit.

Sure, you see what you pay them but do you know what their cost per sale is?

I presume that when you say some of your affiliates "made less than £1150 per day" you mean just commission. Let's not forget that beejeebers is talking profit. Unless i've misunderstood you, which is quite possible!

Ben

**monk-i** · 16-01-07

Originally Posted by ben01

I presume that when you say some of your affiliates "made less than £1150 per day" you mean just commission. Let's not forget that beejeebers is talking profit. Unless i've misunderstood you, which is quite possible!

Very valid point.

At the end of the day its the 'profit' which matters to affiliates.

Its easy to spend money. Its making that money turn into even more than you started with.

Anyone could spend £100k a month on advertising and get only £50k back but say oh we do this £X in sales. The bottom line is profit. Anyone can put any spin on figures you have to read between the lines and work to profit.

I hope he succeeds I think its a good thread and as you can see alot of new affiliates are inspired by it so its served its purpose and Alpharooms have gotten some very good business from it.

Nice one Dan and all the best for 2007.

**morleymouse** · 16-01-07

Hi Ben,

To be more accurate thats my 'guestimated' profit, that isnt the payout ammount in commission, the payouts a lot more

Your right I dont know the exact spend but I can make educated guesses

Hope that kind of clears things up

**purple** · 16-01-07

I am not big in the Hotel Sector, but I know that £1000 a day profit is do able.

**Michael_Anthony** · 16-01-07

"We've already gained two PPC affiliates just from the PR of this thread who look to be doing 6 figures come April, so i've succeeded"

Just two, and only six figures

We've done a fraction better

**haggul** · 16-01-07

Jesus

No doubt the doorways in the Anthony household are shaped like keyholes?

**morleymouse** · 16-01-07

Originally Posted by Michael_Anthony

"We've already gained two PPC affiliates just from the PR of this thread who look to be doing 6 figures come April, so i've succeeded"

Just two, and only six figures

We've done a fraction better

Many more and it just makes the PPC unstable with affiliates all fighting over the same terms.

I'd love to get you signed up Michael, in house links in my signature if you want to give it a try

**hpops** · 16-01-07

Originally Posted by morleymouse

Many more and it just makes the PPC unstable with affiliates all fighting over the same terms.

Very true - still lots of space for margins in some sectors - but travel ain't one!

**taabish** · 16-01-07

Not wanting to start a new topic as it is related, can anyone suggest any software tools to create keyword lists? I often hear of people compiling lists of thousands in very short spaces of time and wonder how they do it.

Thanks!

**beejeebers** · 17-01-07

Originally Posted by morleymouse

Many more and it just makes the PPC unstable with affiliates all fighting over the same terms.

Well a little update, I got two more sales, and have been running the ppc campaign on a trickle while I do more keyword research. I haven't lost anymore money on this, so I'm happy. I do have a bit of a way to go, but I know the numbers I need to do are possible, as I do much more then what is required already everyday in other industries.

The above quote is so true. If you bid on all the same terms, you'll never find those wonderful golden nuggets that everyone wants. So you have to think outside the box a bit. The past couple days I've been trying to find keywords that not many others are bidding on, less competition equals lower bids. It's a tedious process, but I'm up to 250 terms that I think will do very well for me. I ran most of them through google and most do not have much competition at all, (maybe 4 or 5 others bidding on it or a variation of it).

This travel industry is very new to me, having never touched it before. I liken my experience to a Pro Basketball player trying to play Professional Hockey. Sure they both involve pros, but the knowledge required is totally different. I had to spend time learning a bit more about the industry. Did some research and am still doing some now. The biggest mistake you can make is to jump in head first and that's exactly what I did. BUT I did it for a reason. I want to challenge myself to learn something new and go outside of my comfort zone. I look at this challenge as a constant learning experience. I am the type who does not learn by reading I learn by doing.

One thing I wanted to mention is do not think that the program is crap or cannot work if I don't reach my goal. The program is fine. Sure it's got some things I'm not used to, (like no rooms being available sometimes), but that's something that is par for the course in the travel business. Dan does offer some good advice with travel, start slow. I didn't. I jumped in head first and tried to find the nuggets in a way I was used to. Unfortunately my technique does not work in a challenge such as this. That doesn't mean I'm tossing in the towel, I'm still forging ahead. I have recieved several pms and appreciate the kind words from people.

So, I have 22 days left. I need to do £130.43 per day which is about £1,863.35 per day in sales at 7%. That number is not very big at all, (in fact it's quite small). It's just a matter of slowly finding converters instead of blasting too many keywords out there and reducing the effectiveness of your daily budget. One other thing to look at is expanding into msn and overture. They don't have as much traffic as the mighty goog, but they do convert. So my plan is to add more original keywords to adwords today and possibly tomorrow add some keywords to msn and overture. Those are two networks where blasting things does work, because there is no QS bull like in adwords. You can enter a crapload of words at min bids and just see what's converting. They're both a lot more straightforward then adwords, which I really like.

So, that's where I'm currently at, feel free to call me a loser or failure or whatever you want so far, I could care less. Challenges motivate me and even if I come out at the end missing my mark, I've won because I've learned something new. Now let's hit that goal.