Nowadays, it is not a secret anymore that native ads are one of the most promising tools for sales and content monetization. However, that leads us to a major disadvantage of native advertising – a high level of competition on the market. To overcome that competition rate native ad campaigns usually require a significant amount of investment. With that in mind we can draw out a conclusion: NATIVE ADVERTISING CAN’T BE DEFINED AS BEGINNER FRIENDLY.

I understand that after such a disclaimer we lost a huge amount of the audience, but for others who are still here, let’s talk about what budget Media Buyer should have to succeed with Native Ad Networks.

First of all, let’s discuss the role of budget in native ad campaign. The logic is pretty simple: the bigger budget you have, the more tests you can run with your banners. And the better banners you have, the more quality traffic you attract.

On the contrary, the smaller budget you have, the lower chances you have for success. Small budget can even lead to а complete disaster when not experienced Media Buyer can not only lose all of his investments but also he won’t gain any experience. So, bear in mind old but gold saying: «If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly.»

Secondly, there is no definite answer to what amount of money beginner Media Buyer should have in his pocket to start a campaign on Native Advertising Network. Usually that number will be between $5,000 and $20,000 depending on where you are looking for relevant information. That’s a huge gap you may say, well, it is, but we can say what campaign budget depends on:

1. The number of spots the Native Ad Network has;
2. The amount of banners you use;
3. Spy tools you use;
4. Payment per Lead and the difficulty of conversion.

all of it you should take into account when forming one’s budget.

Now let us discuss how budget strategy is formed. Researching the market will save you a significant amount of resources and time. You’d better use the spy tools you have access to. They are perfect for monitoring your competitors’ advertising strategy and can save you a lot of money. Don’t rush here and take your quality time to analyze market, because you should have the information about what targeting options are best to use, as well as what banners are most suitable. Trustworthy ads are usually those which are having the majority of views and are being run for a minimum of 7 days. Out of those trusted ads, choose landers and the offer to test.

As Picasso once said and then Steve Jobs repeated: «Good artists copy; great artists steal.»

Once you’ve completed that stage, you should start forming the blacklist and the whitelist. You should decide on the spot prices and make a list of sites with positive conversion rates. Only those sources will have a good potential for your native ads. For example, with a payout of $20 for each lead, like AdCombo has, we strongly recommend to spend only 80% of that sum on your campaign ($16 in our case). That’s how you hedge your risks. So, if there is no conversion at all, you will lose only $16, but if there is at least one lead your gross profit will be $4. To make it clear, with two leads you will earn $24, with three – $44 and so on. Unfortunately, we all understand that at the beginning you should lose some money to get experience but for the sake of future profits add those unprofitable spots to the blacklist to avoid them next time.

As we discussed earlier, the more money you have, the larger variety of sites you will be able to test. If there is a thousand sites and you spend again $16 per every spot (but then you see that there is no conversion on all of them) – you will lose $16,000 but eventually your blacklist will gain 1k new sites. And then, based on it, you will set a new campaign with an already existing blacklist.

However, if after reading this article you are still willing to experiment and take a risk, feel free to contact us on Skype. We will recommend you most profitable offers as well as best landings. Just don’t hesitate.

Cheers!

Always yours,

AdСombo

So you decided to be a Media Buyer and you are full of ambition. Found a high-paying affiliate program, ready to earn millions but those networks won’t accept you and won’t tell you the reasons. Why? Let’s see.

It’s not a secret that it’s hard to get into affiliate networks if you’re a newbie. If affiliate networks accept you, they will take risks. What risks? Well, they have to check creative materials, show you how it works and if you make a mistake, they could lose money. Eventually, they spend their time helping you and their time costs a lot. Managing a new one is a lot harder than managing a seasoned affiliate, that’s why nobody wants to raise newbies. So if network refuses you, don’t get it personal, don’t be upset and, most importantly, don’t give up!

The problem is, to become a seasoned affiliate you need to start somewhere. Every super affiliate started as a newbie someday. But how will you gain experience if no one will give you a chance, right?

Some people try to fake their proofs of successful projects but it doesn’t work at all. Newbies make fake screenshots of the last offers where they (of course) have earned a lot of money. Don’t be like that, professional AM understands that it’s fake at once so better don’t even try or you will have a bad reputation or even can get banned.

So, what can you do? When you decide to be a Media Buyer, applying to a network shouldn’t be your first step in affiliate marketing. You should begin from researching, then see what others are doing, learn about the available verticals, different traffic sources, tracking, read blogs and forums. Better pick one or two verticals to focus on and learn all you can find about it. You have to be ready so if AM wants to test you, you will act like «Yeah, I know that». And don’t try to look like a super affiliate, if you’re a newbie, tell them that, be honest.

Here, in AdCombo, we don’t have newbies. But our team is glad to help them! We’ve prepared some «Dont’s» from our affiliate managers:

1. Don`t play with fake screenshots, affiliate managers really easy to find out if you’re playing with them or you’re a serious affiliate.
2. Don’t start your messages with «I’m a newbie, please, accept me!», it looks like you’re desperate. Try to impress them with what you already know about affiliate networks.
3. Don’t write to them again and again if they don’t answer for a couple of hours. Be patient. They are pretty busy people and have a lot of applications like yours. Give them 3 days and if they don’t give you any response, shoot them a follow-up email. In that email, you can include the business plan and your credentials.
4. Don’t treat your manager as someone who can help you with your campaigns right away. AM doesn’t have to teach you stuff so you’d better be prepared and learn all the information you can find by yourself. Most often they appreciate it.
5. Don’t apply to many networks at a time. Choose one, max two and see how it goes. You don’t want 10 accounts and not enough traffic to send to all of them.
6. Don’t be shy and ask questions if it’s important. For example, ask your manager about his time zone and if there’s a huge time difference then ask for a manager who lives closer to your area.
7. Don’t be silent if something goes wrong. For example, if your offer goes into the red, ask your AM, he will help you find better creative materials and traffic sources. A manager is always interested in your traffic and will do his best to help.

We know that making the first step is always difficult – you’re afraid of making mistakes, you doubt a lot and not sure you can do it. The beginning is always the hardest part but there’s no sweet without some sweat. The more you work and try, the more you will understand. And don’t forget that the best way to learn and remember new things is practice. A lot of practice.

As we said before, AdCombo doesn’t hire total newbies. But we’re ready to work with people who already have at least a little bit of experience and a lot of ambition. So if you think this is about you, then contact us. Who knows, maybe we will work well together

That’s it for today and good luck out there!

Hi, there! We are going to tell you how to become a publisher in a good affiliate network. When a newbie starts to deal with networks he/she realizes that this business is not so easy to get in. There are several things that you should know and in order not to waste your time and to protect your nerves to get an approved account.

1. Don’t be stupid! Nobody will give you a chance to spoil its own reputation just because “you want to try yourself as an affiliate marketer”. Pay attention that in the sphere of affiliate marketing there are at least three partners: an affiliate marketer, an affiliate network, and an advertiser. And if one of them screws up his\her responsibility in this business all the others run into mischief too. When you bring traffic of low quality an advertiser doesn’t sale his\her product and an affiliate network loses its reputation because a lot of leads go to trash. That’s why be ready to prove that you know how to get traffic of good quality. For example, you can prove that you are good in it if you show the confirmed payments history which reflects your previous wins in internet marketing. It means that you can work well.

2. Don’t be upset! If you don’t have any positive experience in this sphere there is a way out. Prove that you are a real person with benevolent intentions and aren’t sharp cookie! A photo of your passport isn’t necessary, but you may give a link to your account in social networks where you have been doing posts since you had found out how to log in. You probably won’t get more “likes” for your posts from an affiliate manager, but you will increase the possibility to get an approved account.

3. Don’t fade! If an affiliate manager asks you about your traffic sources, show where you are going to get it. It may be your personal sources: website, blog or public page in social networks. Don’t be in a hurry to create a new website on an unpaid domain, it won’t help you to get an approved account. Your source must have at least 200 unique clicks per day. If you have a website with an adult content, there should be at least 600 unique clicks per day. If this is a niche resource with a narrowly targeted audience then 70-100 clicks per day will be enough.  Also, affiliate networks can decline your request if you have only one source of traffic at any postpaid resource, for example “facebook” or “yahoo!”, since in this case there is no guarantee that an affiliate has money for internet marketing tools and will pay for his traffic.

4. Don’t give up! If you are not Mark Zuckerberg and don’t have your own source of traffic or don’t have experience as Attila does just show a screenshot of your personal account with current balance at any traffic market. This is not a secret that if you are ready to invest money it proves your reliability in any case. It will show that you have serious intentions and you are interested in bringing real leads and ready to take a risk of failure. So, you get a profit, an affiliate network get a commission and an advertiser get his\her products sold. Everybody becomes happy and a bit wealthy. That is called good partnership!

5. Don’t be tight lipped! If an affiliate manager asks you to show your business plan do it. There is no doubt that an affiliate manager knows how it works, but he/she must be sure that you know that too. Your plan must contain main issues concerning how exactly you are going to bring the leads, your good knowledge of the sphere an offer belongs to. What kind of ad platforms you will choose to promote this offer. You don’t need to tell your affiliate manager all profitable key schemes, just show that you know how to monetize the traffic.

Follow this simple rules and your chance to get an approved account in an affiliate will be higher. Even if you just begin your way in affiliate marketing. Go ahead!