What am I doing wrong with Commission Junction?!

by JKD2012

Posted: 12 years ago 17 replies

AD NETWORKS

Hello all,

I was googling for an affiliate marketing forum and I found this forum. I have a lot of experience in SEO, Web Development and Design but I'm kinda new to Affiliate Marketing. Did some ClickBank for a few months and made a few sales, and about 5 months ago I got into CJ.com

I launched a high quality website, with really useful content, around a very commercial keyword: BUY XXXXX ONLINE. When I say high quality I really mean it: I spent money getting high quality content written and bought a great WP theme.

I managed to rank #3 for that keyword, and get around 50 hits a day from that keyword alone, with a very low bounce rate (23%) so I assume people like my site! Out of those 50 hits, about 10 of them end up clicking on my CJ offers (which happen to be HIGHLY targeted offers. They are basically retailers that sell the exact item in the keyword. Can't get any more targeted than that!).

It's been 3 months, and ZERO sales! That's almost 1,000 clicks I sent to those offers and got zero sales. Like I said, those offers are really targeted to the keyword.

I don't get it. I'm a clueless. I need help figuring out what's wrong... :confused:

Could it be my affiliate links that are wrong? Also, does the website on which I promote those offers need to be registered in CJ? Because this one isn't. The one that is registered in CJ is an older one that I decided to drop. Could that be a problem?

Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated since I'm a total noob at this!

#commission #junction #wrong

MaxReferrals 12 years ago

Well, the traffic is clicking but not converting obviously. You might want to run different creatives from the CJ links (banners) and test into whether that influences conversions.

Sounds like a lot of looky-looks, but when they get to the actual Advertiser's sales page it's a dog and not converting for you.
- Thanks
Signature

KILLER OFFLINE WSOs - 100s of REVIEWS!!
52 PLR Offline Autoresponder Emails | Offline Client Flood - 'Door-Opener Tactic | SMS Lead Machine - Mobile Domination | QR Code Tricks, Tactics, Loophole Secrets
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5137968].message }}
JKD2012 12 years ago

I did try different creatives across the past 3 months. No luck

It really worries me that I haven't made a single sale with all those clicks. I'm wondering if my links are wrong.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
Signature

Be water my friend. (Bruce Lee)
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5138087].message }}
- troybh 12 years ago
  
  You need to call them up and talk to them. Something is a miss. Advertisers have the option to reject whatever they want so they really do not need to pay out. If this is the case then you need to move on.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5138099].message }}
  
  russkampmann 12 years ago
  
  I've had a similar problem (with several sites); but now I'm changing out the affiliates and the ads if I don't see results.
  
  Thanks
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5138475].message }}
Marc Marseille 12 years ago

Some offers just do not sell...you may want to try a similar product or using a different network. I don't know what product you are promoting but CPA products also convert a lot better.
- Thanks
Signature
Discover The 7 Techniques To Successful Crypto Trading That Helps Even Newbies Rake In Huge Profits Daily!!!
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5138098].message }}
Ashley Edwards 12 years ago

Is your product/service seasonal? Are you in places where consumers are in purchasing mode?
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5140729].message }}
KirkMcD 12 years ago

Try a diffrent merchant for the product. Some merchants do not convert well.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5141174].message }}
- JKD2012 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Ashley Edwards
  
  Is your product/service seasonal? Are you in places where consumers are in purchasing mode?
  
  It's not a seasonal product. The consumers are definitely in purchasing mode since the keyword they typed to get to my site was "Buy xxxxx online" (xxxxx being a product that costs anywhere from $299 to $1500)
  
  Originally Posted by KirkMcD
  
  Try a diffrent merchant for the product. Some merchants do not convert well.
  
  Problem is there are only 3 merchants on CJ that offer this product and I'm using all 3 of them! I have a Review page with the pros and cons of each merchant, with a banner AND text link to each merchant's storefront.
  
  How can I know if the merchant is being a scammer and not crediting me for the sales? I mean, CJ is a reputable organization, I would never assume that they would do something like this, but at this point I'm seriously starting to wonder.
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
  Signature
  
  Be water my friend. (Bruce Lee)
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5142401].message }}
  
  Sojourn 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by JKD2012
  
  with a banner AND text link to each merchant's storefront.
  
  Just caught that part.... When you say "storefront", is the product you're promoting clearly highlighted on the landing page or does the visitor have to search for the product through the storefront?
  
  If the visitor has to work to find the product on the landing page you could see a low conversion rate. I recall having some CJ links in the past that would only go to the home page of an online retailer with multiple products rather than being able to link directly to a product page.
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  Free blogging guide with clone site | Currently running: 6 Mos Amazon Affiliate Coaching
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9488374].message }}
ebusinesstutor 12 years ago

I have always had rotten luck with Commission Junction. They always seem to lose my sales. Clients will tell me they bought from my affiliate link but the sale doesn't show in my stats.

So now, even if I LOVE the product and use it, I won't promote it with an CJ affiliate link.

ClickBank works great and I don't have that problem with stand alone sites with affiliate programs.
- Thanks
Signature

Garland Coulson, "The E-Business Tutor"
Internet Mentorship
Internet Marketing Speaker
Internet Marketing Help Blog
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[5159111].message }}
eldomarketing 10 years ago

I'm a publisher with CJ. In the last month my record shows I delivered over 70,000 clicks
and zero sales!

I called, and the response was; well it shows clicks, that means there is no problem with the links because the clicks are being tracked.
Do you understand what it took to deliver 70,000 clicks in 1 month?

I'm more than perplexed. I need to take this energy somewhere else

Imaging delivering over 70,000 click for a CPC program?

Any advice would help.
- Thanks
- 1 reply
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9487398].message }}
- rhinocl 10 years ago
  
  There are only a few things that can go wrong:
  your copy
  
  your products match with the targeting
  
  your price
  
  other things on your page (such as images) that lead customers to distrust you
  
  mechanical (i.e accidental) errors in the CJ system
  
  deliberate (fraud) failure to credit you
  
  It's easy easy enough to figure out if it is one of the last two. Have some friends (preferably from a different city than yours) make some purchases and if you don't recieve credit then you know there is a problem with CJ.
  If the problem is there then the solution(s) are obvious.
  If the issue is not there then post the url of your sales page in the copywriting sub forum and ask for their thoughts.
  
  [ 1 ] Thanks
  
  Signature
  cheap search engine optimization
  
  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9488035].message }}
Sojourn 10 years ago

Is the product you're promoting available through a merchant not listed in CJ who has a lower price than the merchants in CJ?

You can provide the best information in the world about a product but if the product is widely available somewhere else for a lower price your customer may be comparison price shopping. You could be getting them to the buy point and then losing them because you're linking to a high cost provider.

If that's the case you could test linking to both the CJ offer and an offer at a cheaper provider through another affiliate network and see if you get more sales.
- Thanks
Signature
Free blogging guide with clone site | Currently running: 6 Mos Amazon Affiliate Coaching
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9488362].message }}
swordmaster 10 years ago

Check out your links, sometimes if links are not set correctly, sales will not happen. I had the same problem with CJ, had clicks for affiliate products on my website and no sales. You need to make sure the click leads your customers to your paypal or other payment options.

Other thing to check is if your site has been hacked or not. This happens a lot. So check these two things and if this is not the issue then problem could be with the convertion tactics, content, etc.
- Thanks
Signature
Full A-to-Z Affiliate Marketing Blueprint with up-to-date Case Study, walking you By Hand through the whole process.
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9488580].message }}
FayeMcMullen 10 years ago

if everything worked perfectly and you didn't face any technical problems that you might not know of till now, then it's really disheartening that you didn't have a single conversion, something must have gone amiss..
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9489105].message }}
truebluesf Banned 10 years ago

CJ is a tough network if you don't know what to do. The only offer that worked for me are hosting offers.
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9491601].message }}
CarynDavis Banned 10 years ago

are you split testing or rotating your CPA offers in the backend, it's always a good idea to quickly find out if it;s the offer that's hindering your earning!
- Thanks
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9492112].message }}

What am I doing wrong with Commission Junction?!

Trending Topics

Been a while! Any of you Old Timers here?

How much does the rebranding affect CR ?

Are billboards still effective in driving customers?

Boat and Jet Ski Rentals...... Door Hangers Effective?

A Very Strange Internet Problem