So recently I’ve been discovering more and more about my affiliate landing pages…
1. The Crappier the Better.
2. How’s Usually Help.
3. The Crappier the Better.
So there was this great offer that I’ve been watching for about 3 months… solid conversion rates at 11-18%, pretty good price in the PPC networks for the keywords, nice payout, and just a great product. So I build this nice landing page/mini-site with php rotating html automatically optimized to style with best click through rate, conversion tracking, dynamic keyword insertion… the works… So I started sending targeted traffic to it, and got a couple of conversions…. then poop. For like two day, lots of traffic no conversions… NONE! That really gets to me considering I was counting at least a 5% cr… So yesterday I said screw it and scrapped the whole site and started from scratch. I spent about an hour designing a mini-site in Dreamweaver (it’s UGLY), then wrote all my copy and ftp’d to my server. Today I’m seeing what I wanted… conversions.
On that offer I had an eCPC of $2.30. And spending $.05-.40 a click. Thats pretty dam good. My revelation is that people want ugly sites. I also made the big change by adding a “how is this done” section. Pretty much I explained the offer in detail to the end user, no bullshit.
Anyway I’m embarking on an experiment to test effectiveness of landing pages tested under identical conditions. I’ll upload some plans for it tomorrow!
I’ve been reading Nate’s blog since it started back in January 07. I must say his content has continued to increase in usefulness and his rich advice has helped me through a couple tough times during my online endeavors. Anyway I’ve been hearing nothing but rave reviews about his new business (along with the two other fellows), Unique Blog Designs. Really though it’s a great idea and filled a big gap that needed to be filled. Their designs are featured on sites like Shoemoney.com and JohnChow.com (not a big fan but you do a great job john!).
… Seriously. I tried to login today (which I rarely do) and apparently Yahoo is finally merging the service to theirs. I know it makes sense for Yahoo but it deleted my avatar and the data was screwy for a while. This reminds me of when Google merged the blogger accounts to Google Accounts and everyone had a REALLY hard time doing anything with blogger if their login was a gMail id.
Anyway, I wish they could keep it simple instead of having to input Yahoo account id’s and such. Please just leave the things I like alone!!!
A complaint that I hear all to often relating to CPC advertising is that it doesn’t convert well enough… and I’ve had this problem from time to time as well. What you must remember with CPC is that you have 1/10th of a second to make an impression on a surfer.
Within that fraction of time the surfer see your ad and makes a conscious decision to click or not to click. So when he clicks, he is taken to your landing page (let’s talk affiliate for a bit) and then he converts or presses back. Now most would tell you that you must always be optimizing your landing pages (which is true) and that you want as many clicks as possible… which is semi-true.
Since the competition has risen is virtually every vertical of CPC advertising you can’t just get all the click in the world, you have to target them more efficiently. One way is negative keywords, which most of us use. For example lets I’m running a campaign for a Free T-Shirt offer that has a shipping cost. I would want to add negative keywords for popular terms that don’t relate or are contrary to my add, like “Free T-Shirt Designer” and “100% Free T-Shirt” if I am broad matching. The second way you can have more targeted clicks is by fixing your adcopy, something often overlooked. So lets say my simple ad is…
Get a Free T-Shirt
Limited Time offer! Tons of Designs to Choose From.
Ok, ok… I know shitty adcopy but anyways, this is going to attract lots of clicks from people wanting a free t-shirt… FREE. Now this offer is for a free t-shirt with a shipping charge, so what are surfers going to do once the see a shipping charge? I’d say 90% will leave feeling emotionally violated and robbed of their innocence… ok maybe not that bad . So we are going to waste a ton of money and get few conversions… So let’s adjust this adcopy.
Get a {Keyword:Default_text} T-Shirt, Free
Limited Time Offer! Tons of Designs, only $4.99 Shipping!
This is a much better ad that will attract more relevant clicks because a keyword your targeting will appear in the headline and more importantly it mentions the $4.99 shipping charge. This way when users click the ad they won’t feel violated that there is a shipping charge involved and people that just don’t want to pay anything won’t bother to click. TaDa! Improved conversions and lower spending! (now just expand your keyword list to offset the possible loss of traffic)
Just be straight forward and honest! Bait and Switch don’t work here!
And Goodle Google does it again… Mobile adsense is here and I’m sure the iPhone hysteria has accelerated G’s push for this service. The iphone and it’s unlimited data plan allows for it’s users excellent internet access and viewing, so this has obviously caught the attention of big G. Anyway I don’t really see users that are surfing the internet on their phone clicking ads, as the more technologically aware we are, the more ad-blind we seem to be.
More so I do see a better market for email marketing via SMS for phones, although this is relatively untapped as well. I’ve experimented with this and continue to develop this vertical.
Anyway, I don’t see this (mobile adsense) as a huge revenue producer as of yet… Next.
Presently is out! This brings Google one step closer to a an ms office killer. I’m a big fan of there spreadsheet software because I can open them straight out of gMail, and I’ve used there text editor a couple times… I believe (along with hearing the news that gMail will soon have a desktop app) that google is going to be delivering a downloadable office suite that has free online storage and collaboration for email, presentations, spreadsheets, and text editing. I’m already a big fan of Open Office so this will probably give students and others a very useful alternative to M$ Office.
What we must remember as internet marketers, is that things rarely go our way or as planned. Everyone knows what I’m talking about: companies treating their affiliates like dung, ad networks over-regulating, and the ever changing environment we work in. So just a few words of encouragement for all, don’t give up! And never settle for your current ways. When left sedentary campaigns will often fall into exponential decay, often leaving up wondering why. Always be expanding keyword list, testing new adcopy, and always look for long term revenue(subscription, investments, etc.)!
Overall what I’m saying, and currently experiencing, is that nothing always goes as planned so work to diversify your earnins and get a strong foothold in the markets your currently occupy. oh yah… and the video make me laugh.
… Seriously. I tried to login today (which I rarely do) and apparently Yahoo is finally merging the service to theirs. I know it makes sense for Yahoo but it deleted my avatar and the data was screwy for a while. This reminds me of when Google merged the blogger accounts to Google Accounts and everyone had a REALLY hard time doing anything with blogger if their login was a gMail id.
A complaint that I hear all to often relating to CPC advertising is that it doesn’t convert well enough… and I’ve had this problem from time to time as well. What you must remember with CPC is that you have 1/10th of a second to make an impression on a surfer.
. So we are going to waste a ton of money and get few conversions… So let’s adjust this adcopy.
And 