Creating a successful Internet business is all about bringing in users and turning them into cash. The more of those users you can convert, the more money you'll make.
Your clickthrough rate - the percentage of users who click on an ad - is a measure of your ability to convert your users. A good website will have a clickthrough rate (or CTR) of around 3 percent.
Or to put it another way, even a good site wastes about 97 percent of its traffic.
There are things you can do to reduce that wastage. Adding cost-per-mille (CPM) ads to your site will mean that you're getting something for every thousand visitors you receive. Pasting in other ad units will tempt users who skip the AdSense ads to click the affiliate or Chitika ads.
But there are other things that you can do to increase your CTR too.
The first is to play with implementation. Changing the format, size and color of your ads can have a dramatic effect on your CTR and profits. It was implementation that first made the difference for me between earning a buck a day with AdSense and making as much as a thousand dollars in one day.
Once you've tested implementation strategies, move on to keywording. Sometimes something as simple as using one keyword on a page instead of another can mean that you're getting a completely different set of ads. And the new ads might look more tempting to your users.
But one of the most important things you can do is change your users.
Your readers will be reaching your site from all sorts of different places. Some will come from a search engine. Some will click through from Twitter or Facebook. Some will click a link from a website, and others will already know you and reach your site directly.
Those different types of users will have different levels of interest and different clickthrough rates. Your site stats will help you to break down the figures.
Don't stop paying attention to the sources with low clickthrough rates but work closer with the sites that are sending you the most valuable users. Even if you don't end up with much more traffic, you should end up making a lot more money.
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
November 10, 2009 09:31 AM
Great post Joel! That's been my experience.. testing, testing, testing.. :)
The source is such a big factor; a lot of people don't realize starting out that volume of traffic isn't everything. It's the source, what part of the buying cycle they're in, how well they are pre-sold before they even hit your page that makes more of the difference.
..you learn this even more doing things like PPC; because one small difference in a phrase or keyword (the source).. plural vs singular, one letter or word left off as examples.. can totally change the results.
You can have one merchant's affiliate banners/links that convert sales like crazy (no other changes to the page, content etc) swap them out with another merchant's banners/links and get nothing.
-Matt
November 10, 2009 10:44 AM
More or less it looks like you are pointing at the longtail. I love look at longtails! Looking for well converting keyword combinations is fun to do.
Look at the difference for people who search for cancer or another one on cancer treatment or the third: breast cancer treatment. The last one, it is clear what it is about. There is a big chance somebody has this kind of cancer or is worried about having it. Or a family member or friend has it...
The more you know of people who see your ad, the higher your click through rate and conversion rate can be.
Tom
November 13, 2009 02:09 PM
Different types of ads have different click-through rates.
As you mentioned, a direct visitor who has visited your site tens of times is more possibly to click on an affiliate banner rather than on a adsense ad
Do you have any current data Joel? I mean what ctr's do you have for adsense? for your own products ? (books) and for other affiliate programs?
I would be interested to know them
Regards
November 29, 2009 10:42 AM
best explanation about adsense on the web .