Ok I've been in the Net business for around 11years now specialising in streaming. This week I got a rush of blood to the head and decided to start doing some affiliate marketing using the 'search publishing' or 'google cash' method. I've signed up with all the usual suspects . My first campaign has had about 120 clicks with a CTR of 1.0% with an average cost of 16cents per click on a service that pays $12 for a lead. This is through CJ and there are no sales yet. 2 Questions. 1. What are people happy with when it comes to conversion rates? Obviously ones that make a profit, but is there a typical number you should be happy with? 2. CJ showed 74 clicks on my second day with 1 impression. What is the impression? There was no web site attached although today I setup a page with a product review that I am now funneling the traffic through. Thanks in advance. Regards Jim
There really isn't a good answer, because it depends on the sector and what your placement is. Generally speaking, the higher the placement, the higher the CTR i.e. if your 16 cents is placing you at #15, your CTR percentage is going to be a lot lower than if you were placing at #4. It really does come down to what is making you a profit, and the percentage of return you are happy with. The higher you place, the more clicks but your profit percentage is going to decrease. You need to find what works for you. CTR is very important to Adsense because a person paying 10 cents can place a lot higher than someone paying 25 cents if they have a higher CTR. Google would rather have lower paying ads that are getting clicked, than higher paying ads that no one clicks. Experimenting with different ad copy is very important. Affiliate programs can be a tough business - that's why they pay so much for a conversion rather than just doing it themselves. I know people who have a monthly adwords budget that runs six figures and these guys are pros and know what they are doing. There is certainly a learning curve to find out what works for you - and it might take experimenting with different affiliate programs. I think most people wind up losing money, but there are a few who make large sums of money.
Thanks for that - I think my merchant's landing page must suck. I am getting a CTR now of 1.5 - 2% after 200 clicks and no sales.
how r u driving the visitors to the landing page? have u designed ur own landing page about the product and then from there a link to the merchants page or will the visitors go straight to the merchants page upon clicking your ad? i believe this also has on effect on the conversion into sales...
I have actually tried both. For the first 100 clicks from my Adwords ad they went straight to the merchant. For the second 100 I put together a landing page which was basically a short review of the service. CJ CTs are pretty close to Google's so I have a high CTR on my own landing page as well. So I am surmising that the merchant's page is not converting them. Thanks
If I had 200 clicks with no sales, I would toss in the towel on that campaign. My rule of thumb is at least 1 sale per 100 clicks--I know, "it all depends", but there are too many products out there that will convert at that rate. You can't force a product to convert. You can make an attempt to improve the ad, the landing page, the keywords, and other things, but in the end, it may not be enough. I'm not sure I understood entirely, are you only going to make $12 per sale? If so, I wouldn't bother with that product. I like affiliate products that either have a recurring monthly subscription, or a pay out of at least $50 per sale. The monthy subscription is the best if you can find something good. I have some that have been paying for months, over and over, and all I had to do was make the first sale.
200 clicks is quite a small number, keep tweaking the ad and keep trying other aff programs until you find an ad that converts or a program that converts (or both). With cookies valid sometimes up to a year, your conversion might only start in a couple of days/weeks - after they finished the decision process.
Thanks ElGoog and Tops30, $12 is right. Am I right in thinking though that CJ would take less than 24 hours to report a sale? How quickly do they know once it has gone through the merchant? Good advice. I'm actively looking for other merchants! Regards Jim