Hey everyone,
I thought I’d start a follow-along to share one of my current affiliate campaigns — the good, the bad, and the learning moments in between. Hopefully, it’ll be useful for anyone curious about running mobile banner ads for sweeps offers.
Campaign Snapshot:
Getting Started
I’ve been wanting to test mobile banner ads for a while now. Sweeps seemed like the perfect vertical to start with — they’re straightforward, they grab attention, and they’re a proven format in many geos. I went with two offers that looked promising in terms of EPC and payout, both targeting similar geos so I could test them side by side.
Once I had the offers picked, I designed a couple of simple but clean landing pages. I kept them lightweight so they’d load quickly on mobile, and I matched the look and feel to the sweepstakes theme — bright colors, bold call-to-actions, and simple forms. For banners, I created multiple variations in different sizes, making sure they had high-contrast elements to stand out in the ad placements.
Launch Day
With everything ready, I set up my campaigns in Avazue DSP, targeting mobile devices only. My initial approach was broad — I wanted to gather data first before getting into heavy optimization. The tracker was set up to monitor everything: impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversions.
The first 24 hours… let’s just say it wasn’t the kind of launch that makes you pop champagne. CTR was okay, but conversions? Pretty much flat. Leads were trickling in at a painfully slow pace, and the cost per acquisition was way higher than I was aiming for.
Reality Check
Banner ads are notoriously tricky. The ad blindness factor is real, and even when people do click, getting them to follow through on a sweeps form can be hit or miss. Still, I knew going in that this wouldn’t be plug-and-play success.
The challenge now is in the optimization phase:
What’s Next
The campaign isn’t profitable yet, but I’m not shutting it down. I believe there’s potential here if I can find the right combination of creative, targeting, and bid strategy. Plus, even in the “bad results” stage, I’m gathering valuable data — and that’s the real fuel for future campaigns.
I’ll keep this thread updated as I test new elements and hopefully turn this around. Sometimes, affiliate marketing is about quick wins. Other times, it’s about persistence and fine-tuning until the pieces click.
Stay tuned — the banner battle has just begun.
If you want, I can also prepare the next update post in this same follow-along style so it feels like a real-time journey for forum readers. That way, it flows naturally like a live case study. Do you want me to draft that next?
I thought I’d start a follow-along to share one of my current affiliate campaigns — the good, the bad, and the learning moments in between. Hopefully, it’ll be useful for anyone curious about running mobile banner ads for sweeps offers.
Campaign Snapshot:
- Ad Type: Mobile Banner Ads
- Traffic Source: Avazue DSP
- Vertical: Sweepstakes (Sweeps)
- Tracker: Bemob
- Network: MaxBounty
Getting Started
I’ve been wanting to test mobile banner ads for a while now. Sweeps seemed like the perfect vertical to start with — they’re straightforward, they grab attention, and they’re a proven format in many geos. I went with two offers that looked promising in terms of EPC and payout, both targeting similar geos so I could test them side by side.
Once I had the offers picked, I designed a couple of simple but clean landing pages. I kept them lightweight so they’d load quickly on mobile, and I matched the look and feel to the sweepstakes theme — bright colors, bold call-to-actions, and simple forms. For banners, I created multiple variations in different sizes, making sure they had high-contrast elements to stand out in the ad placements.
Launch Day
With everything ready, I set up my campaigns in Avazue DSP, targeting mobile devices only. My initial approach was broad — I wanted to gather data first before getting into heavy optimization. The tracker was set up to monitor everything: impressions, clicks, CTR, and conversions.
The first 24 hours… let’s just say it wasn’t the kind of launch that makes you pop champagne. CTR was okay, but conversions? Pretty much flat. Leads were trickling in at a painfully slow pace, and the cost per acquisition was way higher than I was aiming for.
Reality Check
Banner ads are notoriously tricky. The ad blindness factor is real, and even when people do click, getting them to follow through on a sweeps form can be hit or miss. Still, I knew going in that this wouldn’t be plug-and-play success.
The challenge now is in the optimization phase:
- Creative Testing: I’m planning to rotate in new banners with stronger “instant reward” hooks to see if I can get a higher CTR without attracting low-quality clicks.
- Geo Segmentation: My initial targeting might be too broad. I’m going to look at which regions are producing better CTR and double down there.
- Time-of-Day Bidding: Banner engagement might be better at certain hours, so I’ll test dayparting.
What’s Next
The campaign isn’t profitable yet, but I’m not shutting it down. I believe there’s potential here if I can find the right combination of creative, targeting, and bid strategy. Plus, even in the “bad results” stage, I’m gathering valuable data — and that’s the real fuel for future campaigns.
I’ll keep this thread updated as I test new elements and hopefully turn this around. Sometimes, affiliate marketing is about quick wins. Other times, it’s about persistence and fine-tuning until the pieces click.
Stay tuned — the banner battle has just begun.
If you want, I can also prepare the next update post in this same follow-along style so it feels like a real-time journey for forum readers. That way, it flows naturally like a live case study. Do you want me to draft that next?