[Follow Along] My First Goal: Make $1 Profit with PropellerAds + Panthera Offers

[btaliat]

Hey everyone,


I’m finally diving in and starting my very first affiliate marketing campaign, and I wanted to share my journey with you all here on the forum. This is my official Follow Along thread where I’ll document everything—from testing to tweaking, and hopefully, reaching my first milestone: earning my first $1 online with paid traffic.

Campaign Setup​

• Affiliate Network: Panthera Interactive
• Offer Type: Freebies
• Payout: $1.60 per conversion
• Conversion Type: DOI (Double Opt-In)
• Traffic Source: PropellerAds
• Ad Format: Interstitial Ads
• Target GEO: United States
• Funnel Type: Direct Linking (No landing page for now)

This is a basic, low-barrier campaign designed to help me learn the ropes and understand the entire flow of traffic → clicks → conversions → payout. My goal is to keep it simple and focus on learning before scaling anything up.

Day 1: First Traffic Test​

I launched my first campaign on October 27. Since it’s direct linking, I skipped the landing page creation and pointed visitors straight to the offer page provided by Panthera. The offer is a US-based freebie that converts on DOI, so I know I’m going to need some patience and volume to get through the opt-in process.


I set a modest daily budget on PropellerAds and chose the interstitial format, hoping for higher visibility and decent click-through rates. The campaign went live in the morning and started getting impressions and clicks fairly quickly.

Initial Stats​

Without revealing screenshots here, here’s a quick summary of what happened:

• Impressions: Yes
• Clicks: Yes
• Conversions: No (So far, no conversion on day 1)

It’s a bit discouraging not to see that first dollar come in right away, but I also understand that this is part of the process. Affiliate marketing isn’t a magic switch — it takes testing, adjusting, and lots of learning.

Observations & Thoughts​

Here are a few thoughts I had after reviewing Day 1 data:

• Interstitial ads are getting me decent traffic volume. The CTR isn't bad, but it’s clear that traffic quality matters just as much.
• I might be better off adding a simple prelander in between to warm up the users before sending them to the offer page.
• Targeting might need some refinement — right now I’m using broad settings. Maybe I should test different devices or zones for better results.
• The Panthera offer is solid (good design, clear CTA), but the DOI requirement could slow down conversions if the user flow isn’t optimized.

Next Steps​

Here’s what I’m planning next:

1. Run more traffic for Day 2 with the same setup to gather more data.
2. Test a simple prelander to see if that improves conversion rates.
3. Narrow down targeting by device type or specific US regions.
4. Possibly test a second offer if I continue to see zero conversions after a few hundred clicks.

Final Thoughts​

This is all very new to me, and I’m treating it as a hands-on learning experience. If I can make even $1 in profit, that’ll be my first win and a sign I’m on the right path.


I’ll keep updating this thread as I continue testing and learning. Any feedback, advice, or questions are more than welcome — especially from those who’ve worked with interstitial ads or Panthera offers before.


Let’s see where this goes! Thanks for reading, and I look forward to sharing more soon.