Whichever affiliate programs you use, not knowing them well could mean losing money - lots of it.
It's something we come across again and again: "I had 20 clicks today and was only paid 2 cents for each!" Or "I've hardly earnt anything with this program! I'm leaving to find another."
Of course, if a program really doesn't pay well once you've done everything you can to optimize your earnings, it's definitely time to look elsewhere. But if you never take the time to look into ways to boost payments, the odds are you'll be disappointed wherever you go.
Every program has its own, slightly different user interface, and in fact, we'd recommend checking out every option available. Why? Because sometimes the key to changing what you earn might be less obvious than you think. All admin areas allow you to create ad code and check earnings, but if you think they're identical in other ways, too, it's time to investigate further.
We're not going to scrutinize every single program we showcase, but to illustrate the kind of earning possibilities many affiliates simply pass by, we'll give a few examples of how much difference a little tweaking can make. If you're new to online marketing, some of them just might surprise you.
Pay Per Click - at the best click prices
One of the most commonly used (and discussed!) ways of influencing payment for ads is through the careful use of keywords - a technique that's particularly useful with Google's AdSense. Since it's quite a large topic, we'll cover this in a separate article - the link is also at the end of this feature if you prefer to carry on reading for now!
But in fact, most Pay Per Click advertising programs have slightly different pricing systems to Google, and one very common method involves advertisers bidding amounts to display ads.
With this kind of system, if you want to optimize your earnings you really need to know exactly how much each advertiser is paying.
In AdBrite,
one of the largest contextual advertising services, you'll find this information
under the Statistics tab
at
the top of the screen. Once you've clicked it, you use the pull-down menu
to select any of your ad zones and are then shown a table of all the advertisers
using this particular advertising space.
The all-important maximum cost per click appears in the far
right column, and as you can see, amounts vary considerably.
What's more, if you're using AdBrite's auto-approve system (it's the default setting, so most people do) accessing Statistics is the only way you're ever going to know exactly which ads appear on your pages.
Notice that Rejected label in the illustration above? The Statistics zone also allows you to turn down ads you'd rather not accept, an important option if you're working with additional ad providers who may have guidelines regarding page content. And of course, if ads aren't offering the kind of payment you'd like, you can simply remove them with a click of the Reject button that's shown below.
Think very carefully about your personal ad planning, however. While it might
seem tempting to remove each and every low-paying ad, if they attract a high
number of clicks (which is something you can also check right here in Statistics)
they're almost certainly worth keeping.
Ultimately, the decisions you make with regard to your campaigns are a juggling act designed to optimize your site's money-making potential, and most programs give you far more control over earnings than many affiliates assume.
But as we've already said, finding these options often requires a thorough investigation of your user interface.
PPC... CPM.... or would that be CPA?
Using a particular affiliate program doesn't necessarily guarantee a particular payment scheme. For example, while product referral schemes such as Clixgalore or AffiliateWindow generally pay on a Cost Per Action / Per Lead basis, you're likely to find a couple of ads that are paid per click.
In the same way, programs such as AdBrite, AdToll or Oxado all offer some CPM ad options although the majority are Pay Per Click. And just to confuse things further, Oxado features CPA (Cost Per Action) ads, too!
It goes without saying that choosing a payment structure suited to your site can have a dramatic effect on your earnings; for example, CPM ads may not be the right option for low traffic sites. And although you've probably thought about this carefully already, unless you pay close attention to ad set-up procedures, you may find that decisions are actually being made for you.
To take just one example, any ads you create with Oxado automatically have the potential to be CPC, CPM or CPA, depending on what ads are available. You are only given the option to specify a preference once you've created your code, and do this using the modification filters shown below.
Since these important settings are located out of sight for users with lower resolution screens, they're not as obvious as we'd like them to be (although you can also access them using the Edit button that appears next to all active ads, pictured below).
Once again, it's the small details - and knowing where to find them - that can make a substantial difference to what you actually earn.
Name your own price
If you think your site's advertising space is worth more than the rates currently being paid, you might like to try setting your own price.
This option is offered by most CPC programs (Google being the main exception) but again, it's a setting you may have to look out for.
Depending on the overall success of your site, it's often worth trying, as it may turn out that even if you raise your prices you'll still get plenty of ads.
On the other hand, there's also the risk that they'll dry up completely, so it's important to be as objective as possible about your site's strengths. Is the traffic high? Are clickthrough rates good? Again, knowing your admin area well will give you easy access to these statistics.
The price setting option shown below is from AdToll, and the words of advice that come with it make perfect sense. By starting low, you can edge the price up gradually to find out just how much advertisers are ready to pay to use your site.
Taking action with action-based payments
If any part of your affiliate marketing consists of Cost Per Action referral products, it goes without saying you'll want to make sales. They don't come easily, however, so sometimes you'll need to give things time, particularly if your site traffic is on the low side.
Having said that, a slow moving product may never sell well, and there's no better way to judge this than through the statistics your program should provide.
Always make sure you know where these are located - the image below is from the AffiliateWindow interface, and although the stats are extremely comprehensive, they do require a bit of digging around to find.
Here, impressions (views) compared to clicks tell a revealing story.
An average 'clickthrough' rate is said to be about 1 click for every 100 impressions, so although the first ad is performing normally, the second isn't doing well at all.
In fact, if the lack of clicks continues, we'd have to conclude that something about this particular product isn't attractive to our users - and replace it with another.
Statistics such as these can be valuable in many other ways, too. Imagine,
for example, that either of these products was producing a high number of
clicks, but no sales.
In a situation like that you would want to check out the landing page (the page visitors are taken to when they click an ad) to find out exactly what your users were seeing.
Sometimes an ad works very well, but the actual offer seems much less attractive, preventing purchases. (In fact, it's always a good idea to check out landing pages before choosing products for your site, and most affiliate programs will provide you with links for this purpose).
When it comes to deciding which products to stick with, which to replace, there are no hard and fast rules to follow - but at least those vital statistics give you a good overall insight on which to base any decisions.
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