Maximizing Visitor Value From Your Affiliate Programs
| Category: Affiliate Marketing - Development | Date: 2003-04-28 |
There are no simple answers to these questions, and even as you find answers that work, the landscape will change. Theres not even a good visitor value reference point for you to compare yourself against, because some niches generate more per visitor than others. But I can offer you some general advice to help you maximize the value of the audience you have. Start by looking at your current value per visitor.
LOW VISITOR VALUE (less than $.05 per visitor)
If your site doesnt generate at least a nickel in value a visitor, you need to rethink the way you are doing things. But dont give up hope; most of the affiliate program participants with low-traffic websites are dealing with the same issues you are.
First off, concentrate on the basics. Do you build links using techniques that maximize sales? Have you tried advertorial techniques? Are you participating in programs that sell to your audience well? Are you encouraging your visitors to opt in to a list to help maximize their lifetime value?
Look at the audience and programs youre focused on. Some audiences just arent as valuable as others: one obvious example is sites that promote themselves as guides to free stuff. By definition, the audience doesnt want to pay. If youre commission depends on them buying something, youve got an uphill battle from the start.
If youre pinning your income hopes on banners that generate a penny a click, youre never going to build a model with a high visitor value, no matter what the audience is. For example, even if youre getting a 2% click-through rate, a program paying you $.01 a click produces a value per visitor to you of .01 of a cent. Youd have to sign-up for a hundred of these programs (and maintain the same high click-through rate) to climb to $.01 per visitor in value!
But dont become discouraged. No one said success would be immediate. Successful affiliates learn and improve; unsuccessful ones give up. Continue your education in as many ways as you can.
FAIR VISITOR VALUE ($.05 per visitor to $.15 per visitor)
If your site is already producing a value per visitor higher than five cents, you probably dont feel like youre rolling in money, but youve at least seen a small commission check or two. And youre already in the top 20% of all affiliates. Congratulations--but dont rest on your laurels yet. I just checked what the high bidders on GoTo.com are paying for a few keywords: "dating," $.33 per click; "nutrition," $.53 per click; "golf," $.90 per click; "Viagra," $1.01 per click; "flowers," $1.28 per click; "gambling," $3.13 per click; and "web hosting" ($3.50 per click).
Obviously, advertisers paying these rates have models that make a visitor worth a lot more than $.15! Your challenge is to determine how to get those click-through and sell-through rates higher. How else can you sell to your audience? How can you increase the lifetime value of your visitors? Experimentation and measurement is the key here--try new techniques and measure their results.
One area you might focus on is "stickiness," or the amount of time people spend on your website. Youll need a good website statistics system to generate averages for you. You can gauge stickiness by measuring average session time (sticky sites have longer session times) or by measuring average pages read per session (sticky sites have more page reads). Focus on expanding the sticky features in your site, such as bulletin boards, classifieds and other content. Youll find that this not only increases your sell-through rate, but also increases the word-of-mouth referrals.
STRONG VISITOR VALUE ($.15 per visitor to $.50 per visitor)
As you reach $0.15 per visitor, youve proven the viability of your website. Now the number of your visitors becomes even more important--and youve got enough margin to pay to get them. Your best bet is to find ways to pay for new visitors on a per-click basis. The new visitors provide the income that allows you to spend more on promotion. Youve established a viable growth cycle: your expanding audience constantly provides the new marketing revenues to expand even further.
More importantly, youve probably grown to the point where you can better predict the lifetime value of subscribers over visitors. You know more about what your audience will click on and buy, so you can readily spot good programs. Youre moving from being a website into being a brand--an entirely different territory, and one outside the scope of this article.
EXCELLENT VISITOR VALUE (more than $.50 per visitor)
If your visitors are worth $.50 or more to you on average, you should be selling me some consulting! Strong niche communities, high-ticket items and high lifetime customer values can produce business models that work this well, but they are far above average. If youre also making this money primarily through affiliate programs, youve got a dynamite model. For example, to be earning $.50 per visitor, you would need a 5% sell-through rate with $10 commissions on each sale.
But there still might be ways of increasing your success. I know of websites with $1 to $3 per visitor values from just first-time sales (not even factoring in lifetime customer value). A program with a $1,000 commission on sales and even a 2% sell-through rate would create a visitor value of $20 per visitor. On the other hand, many topic areas (such as free stuff) are probably near maximum value if youve found a way to earn $.50 or more a visitor.
About the Author
Brian Clark provides the latest scoop on revenue-sharing and affiliate programs as the producer:To contact see details below.
bclark@gmdstudios.com
http://www.revenews.com
LOW VISITOR VALUE (less than $.05 per visitor)
If your site doesnt generate at least a nickel in value a visitor, you need to rethink the way you are doing things. But dont give up hope; most of the affiliate program participants with low-traffic websites are dealing with the same issues you are.
First off, concentrate on the basics. Do you build links using techniques that maximize sales? Have you tried advertorial techniques? Are you participating in programs that sell to your audience well? Are you encouraging your visitors to opt in to a list to help maximize their lifetime value?
Look at the audience and programs youre focused on. Some audiences just arent as valuable as others: one obvious example is sites that promote themselves as guides to free stuff. By definition, the audience doesnt want to pay. If youre commission depends on them buying something, youve got an uphill battle from the start.
If youre pinning your income hopes on banners that generate a penny a click, youre never going to build a model with a high visitor value, no matter what the audience is. For example, even if youre getting a 2% click-through rate, a program paying you $.01 a click produces a value per visitor to you of .01 of a cent. Youd have to sign-up for a hundred of these programs (and maintain the same high click-through rate) to climb to $.01 per visitor in value!
But dont become discouraged. No one said success would be immediate. Successful affiliates learn and improve; unsuccessful ones give up. Continue your education in as many ways as you can.
FAIR VISITOR VALUE ($.05 per visitor to $.15 per visitor)
If your site is already producing a value per visitor higher than five cents, you probably dont feel like youre rolling in money, but youve at least seen a small commission check or two. And youre already in the top 20% of all affiliates. Congratulations--but dont rest on your laurels yet. I just checked what the high bidders on GoTo.com are paying for a few keywords: "dating," $.33 per click; "nutrition," $.53 per click; "golf," $.90 per click; "Viagra," $1.01 per click; "flowers," $1.28 per click; "gambling," $3.13 per click; and "web hosting" ($3.50 per click).
Obviously, advertisers paying these rates have models that make a visitor worth a lot more than $.15! Your challenge is to determine how to get those click-through and sell-through rates higher. How else can you sell to your audience? How can you increase the lifetime value of your visitors? Experimentation and measurement is the key here--try new techniques and measure their results.
One area you might focus on is "stickiness," or the amount of time people spend on your website. Youll need a good website statistics system to generate averages for you. You can gauge stickiness by measuring average session time (sticky sites have longer session times) or by measuring average pages read per session (sticky sites have more page reads). Focus on expanding the sticky features in your site, such as bulletin boards, classifieds and other content. Youll find that this not only increases your sell-through rate, but also increases the word-of-mouth referrals.
STRONG VISITOR VALUE ($.15 per visitor to $.50 per visitor)
As you reach $0.15 per visitor, youve proven the viability of your website. Now the number of your visitors becomes even more important--and youve got enough margin to pay to get them. Your best bet is to find ways to pay for new visitors on a per-click basis. The new visitors provide the income that allows you to spend more on promotion. Youve established a viable growth cycle: your expanding audience constantly provides the new marketing revenues to expand even further.
More importantly, youve probably grown to the point where you can better predict the lifetime value of subscribers over visitors. You know more about what your audience will click on and buy, so you can readily spot good programs. Youre moving from being a website into being a brand--an entirely different territory, and one outside the scope of this article.
EXCELLENT VISITOR VALUE (more than $.50 per visitor)
If your visitors are worth $.50 or more to you on average, you should be selling me some consulting! Strong niche communities, high-ticket items and high lifetime customer values can produce business models that work this well, but they are far above average. If youre also making this money primarily through affiliate programs, youve got a dynamite model. For example, to be earning $.50 per visitor, you would need a 5% sell-through rate with $10 commissions on each sale.
But there still might be ways of increasing your success. I know of websites with $1 to $3 per visitor values from just first-time sales (not even factoring in lifetime customer value). A program with a $1,000 commission on sales and even a 2% sell-through rate would create a visitor value of $20 per visitor. On the other hand, many topic areas (such as free stuff) are probably near maximum value if youve found a way to earn $.50 or more a visitor.
About the Author
Brian Clark provides the latest scoop on revenue-sharing and affiliate programs as the producer:To contact see details below.
bclark@gmdstudios.com
http://www.revenews.com
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