So what is it some days? You get lots of targetted search traffic to your BANS or WordBay or whatever affiliate site, yet people just don't CLICK! So what are they looking for, why aren't they clicking?! I have some days with a good 25% CTR, and then some days where click-throughs drop to 5-10%. That's just a darn' waste of targetted traffic... I guess what I'm looking for from the community is a bit of brainstorming about improving CTR and thus conversions from obviously well-targetted traffic. Is it design issues? Is it that visitors need to be told clearly what to do? Is it that they don't like eBay or similar feed-based sites? Come on, share your secrets...
I haven't noticed that really much at all except for today... I assume your talking about EPN right? I think everything is tracking fine (alot of people don't), but today I had average to above average traffic on my sites (about 4000 uniques so far, its 6:30pm right now). but the number of clicks is way lower than any other day. first time its happened to me. regarding increasing clickthrough, you can do things like make a border appear on links/images when the mouse is over them. that seems to increase clickthrough for me.
Hi, yes I guess I am referring primarily to EPN. No, I don't use PPC - I get a fair bit of organic traffic as I said, so don't see the need, just have weird days where click-through is really low. Not a bad idea with the image hover thing. Another thing I thought of doing was harvesting visitors' search terms and highlighting them on the page - no idea whether that would help, might be worth a try though...
i don't use bans, except on one site that i don't promote at all.. i use the API (certified application) and get my traffic from google.
Some people just don't like ebay. It's best to spread your options and use various affiliate programs. I find that it takes about 12 ebay sales to match just one sale through Commission Junction. My next sites may be CJ based or I may work through Amazon or Affiliate Window. I haven't decided yet.
Now that's a very good point - people see it's eBay and just go.. naaa... Unfortunately some of my niche products just don't figure among CJ advertisers...
This time of year and this economy aren't great for getting the clicks. Need lots of income streams to handle it. -Patz
So... going by the threads here.. not a good time to setup a niche store? Did anybody work out why EPN isn't performing like CJ - different cookie system or something? A.
it's interesting to know that ebay is not liked by some people... i'm totally a newbie here, anyone could give me some suggestions where to start?
Start by reading the last couple of years' discussion on whatever forum you happen to be interested in Seriously, you'll learn a great deal and save yourself asking questions that have already been asked dozens of times before and there really is a wealth of knowledge here.
eBay and Bans is bread and butter for this marketer. If some one goes to my site looking for sunglasses and clicks through to eBay, they can buy sunglasses or anything on eBay for the next 7 days and I get the sale. Yep, 5 days later if they buy clothes, concert tickets, or whatever, it's my sale, so long as somebody did not overwrite my cookie. I also mix in other affiliate links, ads, etc, on my site and pickup as much traffic as I can. I like the eBay program compared to the other programs (use PepperJam, not EPN when you sign up). Amazon cookie is 1 da. And, most other affiliate programs are tightly targeted, so that if the visitors click through to Shoes.com, Hostgator, or whatever, they have to buy that same sort of item. Otherwise, they are not going to end back up at Shoes.com, or Hostgator, or whatever. As I said, I do fill out my sites, with Amazon and other links, but day after day its eBay that makes me the most. The economy does play a role, but I think that is what drives people to places like eBay. They are looking for a bargain. I get a lot clicks, but not everyone results in a sale. But, just think about when you visit eBay. I click on 5-10 to see who has what and then place 1 bid. You are going to find programs that are not liked by everyone. You can use PhpBay (for blogs) or Bans (store sites), these are just recommended tools. However, if you buy the tool and don't use it, your not going to succeed. However, that is true for any affiliate program or any tool. go to the first link in my sig. Its a BANS store. There you will see links in the left hand column (the 2nd one is called BANS Blog) click on that to go to my blog. Look for the post on top affiliate mistakes (avoid those). Look around and see if any of that helps you.