Kind of two questions.... Incentive traffic... signed up a few different places for our sites, and see "incentive traffic" mentioned. I'm assuming that there's an incentive to click on the links and sign up for the products via azoogle and others? Anyone got any examples of incentive traffic that they use? (don't have to list URL's, just examples)..... Building traffic/Overall... getting customers... always the toughest part of affiliate work.. Do most usually have larger sites where they are using these banners/links or are a lot of people building new sites for these offers? I've read alot on using adwords for building traffic, but assuming there is pretty heavy competition w/ these type of techniques. The ROI on these types of advertising can also get costly..... any insight here from the veterans? Any help to myself and others appreciated...
Incentive means that you offer something to your users if they use the ads. For example you give free ipods to people that signup for 3 incentivizable campaigns and refer some friends (this is how many of websites work). or you give them points, or money or something
you can build traffic by SEO, PPC, CPM or link exchanges... depending on the campaign you are pushing one will work better than the other. But PPC is usually the quickest but can be costly way to get going.
appreciate the insight... anyone know of any scripts for putting together an incentive type sight... have html programming knowledge but any scripts would be helpful... agree on the ppc route.. .have worked w/ adwords and bitten a large bill.
This is an example of an incentivized site: www.cashcrate.com (not advertising, just listing). There's some incentivized gift sites around (like the zune one in my sig), but they run upwards of $200 I think.
Hi Pamon. Just a heads up that not all incentive models are created equal. I don't know where you can get the script, but I have seen very simple incentive sites using seemingly identical scripts for the type of incentive site that solely offers their members a reward to click... meaning Paid To Read Email. Just wanted to warn that this is not the best model for affiliates and usually generates very low results. The flip side, an incentive site which pays members to sign up for offers, is a much smarter idea. That said, there's lots of competition in this field. There's still room for others to get in, but it is a crowded market... and word gets around quickly among surfers if you don't run your model well. (Don't pay members, or pay late, lack of responses to email, etc). So if you do decide to start an incentive site, stick with rewarding for the sign up and treat your members like gold. Take that same mentality and treat your sponsors the gold too (which will probably be the CPA networks) and be very pro-active on reducing fraudulent leads which is an ever increasing problem with this type of traffic. Bad leads just end up biting you in the A$$ in the long run anyway, trust me on this. If you're looking for offers to place, we can help you out. We work with very many incentive publishers, including all the big boys in the field, have the right offers and real time sub-ID tracking for you to run a very successful incentive website. Feel free to shop around though, as there's not a single network that has every incentive campaigns available. If I can make one more suggestion about breaking into the crowded market.... if you're still in the concept stage, try creating a NICHE loyalty program. Don't just target all surfers like everyone else, define your audience and make a rewards program for a smaller group. Just GOLFERS, or just SENIORS or something along those lines to make you stand out among the competition.
thanks for the info... looking to start up a site with an incentive based traffic plan... i.e... get x dollars for signing up for this promo, x dollars for this, and so on... maybe via a loyalty program or something similar... seen cashcrate and a few others, look interesting... I'm a one man operation with a few highly talented friends so maybe i'll give it a stab.... Mainly looking for ideas on the programming side or possibly any script ideas for building such a site... seen a couple online and 200 for a script doesn't seem to bad i guess... if anyone's had any background in building such a site or talents in the field, let me know via pm. thanks
I have to 100% agree with this! Back when..., paid to surf, click, read email and view ads programs were the way to go. Trouble is, I think that time has long since gone. The interest in these types of 1/4 a cent to click on an email ad or visit a sponsor site are GONE! Make money online surfers are no longer interested because they've realized that if takes months or more to reach a minimum payout and worse yet, when they do, many sites don't or have paid out. We're dealing with a much more seasoned surfer now. They want to see some real cash results. This is where pay per action and pay per offers come in. Trouble is, again - so many are skeptical since they've completed offers and never get paid. Companies and sites disappear or go out of business just about the time when it's time for pay-outs. With all of that being said, I know - first-hand that paying consumers for completed offers is the only way to make decent money with incentives. You have to be honest and up front and follow through with paying them. Once you do this, you've got loyal incentive program users and consumers.
As correctly pointed by others, incentive traffic occurs when someone offers an incentive/a reward/gift for performing an action. For example if a website/affiliate offers their visitors $10 for signing up for a given offer (let's say DSL), this is incentive. Incentive sites are not a problem for PAID offers, where someone actually buys a service. They can cause undesired behavior when the offers are free or trial. People would sign up just to get the reward without any intention of actually using / buying the product because they have no interest in the product. That is the concern that merchants have. If you have any questions, let me know - would be happy to assist you.
Honestly, you're probably not going to get a whole lot of insight and/or usable information from incentive site owners. Why? Because they've worked hard to get where they are. No, successful incentive sites don't use adwords for advertising, etc... Word of Mouth advertising for good incentive sites is about all that's needed. For example, check out SearchCactus.com and InboxDollars.com. Both of these sites were started by individuals. It doesn't take as much as you might think in order to own, operate and successful manage these sites and others like them.
looked and signed up for the above 2 sites (cactus/inboxdollars), and looking for insight on what it'd take design wise to put something together like that... and the est cost for design. anyone with ideas/proposals, pm me... dave
If I offer an incentive what's the best way to track it? I want to make sure I pay the ones who actually signed up.