Newbie to the Affiliates scene... a couple of newb questions

Discussion in 'Affiliate Programs' started by BigEasy, Jul 15, 2005.

  1. #1
    This is for those of you who are making decent to good money through affiliate programs.

    I have recently added some affiliate links to one of my sites but I'm wondering if there is something I can do to increase conversion ratios. What do you usually see for a conversion ratio (on affilates that are pay per sale/lead)? So far I have a conversion ratio of about 0.6% of the clicks I have generated - is this normal?

    Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
     
    BigEasy, Jul 15, 2005 IP
  2. Uban

    Uban Peon

    Messages:
    144
    Likes Received:
    7
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    It depends on how targetted your traffic audience is. I send targetted traffic for weight loss consumers to a site of mine and my conversion ratio since I started using Google's converions tracker, has been roughly 2%. But that's a very targetted market. The ROI math add's up in my favor since my margin for the product is high enough to make it decently profitable.

    Now if your traffic isn't of good quality, it's really hard to estimate what figures.
     
    Uban, Jul 15, 2005 IP
  3. yo-yo

    yo-yo Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,619
    Likes Received:
    206
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    185
    #3
    This depends on many things.. for example (not all)

    1. amount of traffic
    2. age, sex, race, education, location of your users
    3. the product/lead's industry/price
    4. the placement of your affiliate links and the attention they grab
    5. the web site you're an affiliate for.. there conversion ratio also matters a LOT


    For example...
    I ranked #1 in yahoo for a specific weight loss product. Linked to the affiliate site. Out of 1,000 visitors to that page 230 clicked the affiliate link. Of that 230 that clicked the affiliate link, 8 of them ordered.
     
    yo-yo, Jul 15, 2005 IP
  4. BigEasy

    BigEasy Peon

    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    6
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #4
    Thanks for the example, yo-yo. That's a far higher conversion ratio than what I have experienced thus far.

    To be fair, the main focus of my site is not the affiliate programs to which I belong. However, I do generate a significant amount of click-throughs because of my traffic numbers and relevance of the affiliate programs, I believe.

    So far, however, I'm seeing a conversion ratio less than what is advertised by the websites I'm an affiliate for. That's why I wanted to know if this was common or if people usually get conversion ratios in line with what the websites publish. (I think I'm calculating it correctly, using EPC, but if not I'd like to see how you convert EPC into conversion ratio for websites that you are an affiliate for).

    Perhaps my site visitors click on affiliate links simply out of curiosity and therefore end up buying less, though it seems reasonable that if they click on an affiliate link they are interested in that particular thing enough to click on it over the other content on my site.
     
    BigEasy, Jul 17, 2005 IP
  5. yo-yo

    yo-yo Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,619
    Likes Received:
    206
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    185
    #5
    Here's another good example.. my first affiliate experience was with a very niche product , "mud wrestling videos" and even site memberships.

    The site i signed up with claimed 20% conversions. I ranked very for several mud wrestling terms and ended up getting thousands of click thrus per month. For 3 months and over 10,000 click thrus I had only 1 sign up.

    When i emailed them about this they made a pretty good point.. most of my traffic was coming from people looking for free pictures and free videos... so converting them into $30-40 sales was not easy. I gave up on that program and moved on.

    Some hit, some miss. It's all trial and error.
     
    yo-yo, Jul 17, 2005 IP
  6. BigEasy

    BigEasy Peon

    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    6
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #6
    Interesting... thanks yo-yo. It sounds like you have had some success with affiliate programs though - at least with the weight loss product. Would you mind sharing the URL of that site so I can check it out?
     
    BigEasy, Jul 18, 2005 IP
  7. yo-yo

    yo-yo Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,619
    Likes Received:
    206
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    185
    #7
    I don't own the site anymore. And I wouldn't attract any publicity to any affiliate programs that were working well that I didn't need to.. the more people know about it, the more competition you have, the harder it is to make $$$
     
    yo-yo, Jul 19, 2005 IP
  8. BigEasy

    BigEasy Peon

    Messages:
    182
    Likes Received:
    6
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #8
    I understand. Thanks for the info you have shared.
     
    BigEasy, Jul 19, 2005 IP
  9. girl

    girl Active Member

    Messages:
    1,059
    Likes Received:
    26
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    90
    #9
    i got some affiliate progs that convert a 1:25 (and with a 40% commision that works out to a lot)

    but only because the traffic is strictly search engine......
     
    girl, Jul 19, 2005 IP
  10. jg123

    jg123 Notable Member

    Messages:
    6,006
    Likes Received:
    387
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    295
    #10
    "Some hit, some miss. It's all trial and error." - That quote from Yo-Yo is very good and just about the best and most honest advice out there. I have had no success yet on any affiliate programs (mostly through shareasale) but I will keep trying and I am confident I will hook onto something good and will definately learn something along the way.

    good luck!
     
    jg123, Jul 19, 2005 IP
  11. yo-yo

    yo-yo Well-Known Member

    Messages:
    4,619
    Likes Received:
    206
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    185
    #11
    Thanks Jg :)

    When i first started out i found it very hard to make a single sale.. it's very frustrating and for a while i quit and focused on my sites making money from adsense.

    You really have to find "niche" products that can produce good results. There are affiliates out there making tons of cash (I'm not one of them, yet) but there are 10x more making nothing. I can only suggest that you have patience and work hard, something good is bound to happen.
     
    yo-yo, Jul 19, 2005 IP
  12. affiliateintel

    affiliateintel Guest

    Messages:
    12
    Likes Received:
    0
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #12
    I am promoting an affiliate program at the moment thats converting at 1/30
    just from forums
     
    affiliateintel, Jul 22, 2005 IP