[freediver]

Hi everyone,

It is a bit terrifying to see such a concentration of experienced affiliates in one place.

I am asking for a bit of affiliate advice. Here is the setup:

- About a month ago I made one site as an experiment
- Due to twist of faith the site is receiving about 400 US visitors per day all of them are coming from Google
- The site is about Nintendo Wii console and it is holiday season now so I think this surge will last until Christmas
- I signed up as an affiliate for Ebay yesterday
- My site does not support javascript so I can not use editorial kit. So I used couple of text links to ebay and one banner nothing else

Yesterday I had 800 impressions and 140 clicks. But earned 0. Can someone explain me what this means and how to improve earnings? I hope this doesn't sound too stupid for you guys.

[Howard Gottlieb]

Sounds like you are getting plenty of unqualified traffic.

[freediver]

Not at all, 100% of search queries are about finding a nintendo wii.

[Howard Gottlieb]

If you want to post your page people here can review it and tell you whether the page is compelling people to actually purchase.

[Lanadili]

It sounds like you need to tweak your landing page with pre-sell information. Read up on how to pre-sell, and implement it within your site.

[Trust]

Originally Posted by freediver

Not at all, 100% of search queries are about finding a nintendo wii.

I think a major problem is the availability or lack of. My brother's wife wanted me to try to find one, the wii alone, not the bundle and nobody has it in stock. And on ebay, it's probably way overpriced and people are probably going to wait for now to see if they come in stock. So I wouldn't expect too high of conversions right now.

[Rexanne]

Freedriver,

Getting slightly off topic but wanted to offer this:

You have an outstanding start in this business with the amount of FREE visitors you're getting to a new site. Stay with it! If the programs you're currently promoting are not converting, switch to a new merchant with the same products. You'll be surprised how different conversion rates between merchants can be.

Also, sometimes on certain products, it takes more than even a few hundred clicks to see a sale. It can be discouraging but with natural search traffic, you've got to stay with it. You're doing something right so keep doing that with other products or merchants. We'd all love some f the WII sales right now. Do not let this stop you from continuing in affiliate marketing.

Try new things, find something not everyone in the world is promoting. You will fall into a niche that will work for you and then you'll realize what this business is about.

Again, you've got a LOT going for you in the arena. Stay in the battle. You've got an awesome ally with Abestweb. You're not dead, just still learning. :-)

[ReallyBigGuy]

Isn't ebay delayed by a couple days on reporting?

[Tracy]

If people are bidding on eBay, here are a few things to consider:

They may bid today on an auction that doesn't end for a few days. You don't get credit for the sale until the day the auction ends.

On the day they do win a bid, you won't see it post until late the next day. The winning bids for the previous day have been posting around 1:00 AM ET for the last few weeks.

Finally, you said you can't use the editor kit because your site doesn't support Java. But, you said you are using text links to eBay? Are those links taking people to the eBay home page, or are they providing them with a list of Wii items they might be looking for?

The reason I ask is that even if you can't use the Editor Kit, you can use the Flexible Destination Tool which will provide a text link directly to the items you want to show. For instance, if you wanted to show only the auctions for Super Mario games, you can use the Flexible Destination tool to create a link that only lists those items. Just do a search for exactly what you want at eBay and copy the URL into the Flexible Destination kit to create a custom link. Be sure you use your correct CJ PID number when creating the code:

http://affiliates.ebay.com/ns/FlexTool.htm

[freediver]

Hi all!

Thanks for the overwhelming number of comments. I really like it!

Here is my page http://wiifinder.weebly.com (I would have posted it previously but was afraid it was against forum policy).

As you can see I tried to maximize ebay exposure by linking to "how to get started" and similar articles on ebay. I have made those using flexi tool. I have then two links (ebay and buy it now on ebay) using ebay keyword tool that link directly to nintendo wii items.

And I get 400 users per day coming from google with search word "wii finder". But I have no idea if I am doing it the right way.

As you can see I added one more affiliate (game rentals) and on the accessories page I have another affiliate for wii accessories. Still no sale

Fire up with ideas!

[ReallyBigGuy]

it seems like an ad for ebay.. I'm not a design expert, but I think moving the banner up to the top, and not focus with the making an account, and rules for ebay stuff.. I'd just make it bigger and bold, that says "FIND A WII IN STOCK AT EBAY NOW" with the link to the ebay search., and keep it down there, but also maybe put it somewhere higher up too. Some people are kinda trained to ignore banners, so having it in text also should help.

Good luck!

[bobby131313]

Most of your links are bad. You have plus signs (+) after the PID. Need to fix ASAP!

[freediver]

Bobby if I use the flextool http://affiliates.ebay.com/ns/FlexTool.htm it produces a link with a + sign.

I don't know if it was you guys but someone seem to have stumbled upon the site, and it's now receiving hundreds and hundreds of stumble upon visitors as I write this.

ReallyBigGuy do you have an example of what it should look like?

[bobby131313]

Bobby if I use the flextool http://affiliates.ebay.com/ns/FlexTool.htm it produces a link with a + sign.

You know you come here looking for advice, you get it, then don't listen.

Now take it from someone that has about 60K flexlinks out there. Stop guessing, and go look.

[ReallyBigGuy]

Originally Posted by freediver

ReallyBigGuy do you have an example of what it should look like?

No, but the idea is to have the site look like a meaningful resource of where to find wii's, and entice the clickthrough to ebay for people to get the wii.. right now it reads more like an ad.

[freediver]

Originally Posted by bobby131313

You know you come here looking for advice, you get it, then don't listen.

Now take it from someone that has about 60K flexlinks out there. Stop guessing, and go look.

Fixed the links, thanks. I was just pointing the fact that ebay is giving it wrong.

[freediver]

Originally Posted by ReallyBigGuy

No, but the idea is to have the site look like a meaningful resource of where to find wii's, and entice the clickthrough to ebay for people to get the wii.. right now it reads more like an ad.

Made changes according to your suggestion

[bobby131313]

Fixed the links, thanks. I was just pointing the fact that ebay is giving it wrong.

FlexTool is working just fine. I don't want people thinking it's broken.

[Packy]

Originally Posted by freediver

Yesterday I had 800 impressions and 140 clicks. But earned 0. Can someone explain me what this means and how to improve earnings? I hope this doesn't sound too stupid for you guys.

As RealyBigGuy mentioned, Ebay batches sales so you might have some that haven't showed up yet. I think the new sign up leads hit right away though but I'm not sure. Good Luck!

[freediver]

Ok it worked. I have 1,133 impressions 159 clicks, and 3 leads with total commision $25 Can someone explain what these numbers really mean and what should I do from now?

[Lanadili]

To understand these numbers, first you have to divide your clicks with your impressions. 159/1133 = 14.03%. This is your CTR (Click Through Rate). Then you take your sales and divide it by the clicks. 3/159 = 1.89%. This is your Conversion Rate (CR).

This seems to be the "average" CR (around 1-2%). To raise your CR higher, give your customers more options, and more information. Use presell information to help convince your visitors to buy from you. This will raise your CR.

[freediver]

Are impressions the number of time links were displayed? Clicks are number of time someone clicked and sales are number of actual sales from that clicks. So my numbers are average?

[Lanadili]

Originally Posted by freediver

Are impressions the number of time links were displayed? Clicks are number of time someone clicked and sales are number of actual sales from that clicks. So my numbers are average?

Yes, that is it exactly. You might want to start tracking these numbers with an excel spreadsheet so you can get your average at the end of the month.

[Trust]

You know what will also help in conversions, stuff like:

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/to...aspx?GT1=10623

I use stuff like that sometimes on pages, basically telling them if you want one of these, it's going to have to be thru the company I have on my page because the others aren't going to have it.

[freediver]

I changed the design today using tips I got. I tried to focus on the shortage question, nice one.

Sales are fluctuating since I started. Two days no sales at all and three days about 1-2 leads and 1-2 sales each.