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Don't Marry Any Of Them

by Zeus66
11 replies
I get asked pretty regularly by newer article marketers about how to improve click-through rate (CTR). If this isn't one of your main focuses as an article marketer, by the way, it needs to be. This is your conversion rate on your pre-sell page, if you follow my meaning. It's incredibly important.

Anyway, I want to pass along some of my own conclusions about CTR as it relates to niches. To be blunt, some niches are better than others. Some are a LOT better than others. So, unless you're too invested into a niche to back out without a lot of pain...

Don't marry a niche!

I'm not the best at the article marketing game, but I'm pretty good at it, and I'm here to tell you that in some niches you can post the worst articles you've ever written and get a decent CTR. In other niches, even your best work will flop. Please ingrain this into your thinking. It's not always about how well or poorly you write your articles. You can get everything right and still not get over 10%-12% CTR. Sometimes it's just the nature of that niche's audience. For whatever reason, they aren't clickers.

Well, so what? Once you learn this fact, pack your bags, tell that niche you're seeing another man/woman, and hit the road, Jack (or Jackie).

There are so many niches out there that it's foolish to marry one that isn't working out for you. Test the waters with a few of your very best articles. The numbers do not lie. If the CTR sucks, get out. If you see hope, focus like a laser beam and ride it to glory.

Zeus out.
#marry
  • Profile picture of the author asset818
    Zeus, I completely agree. Some niches just don't convert well period - no matter what kind of advertising you're using.

    And this is a definite aside, but were you in the military or do you just use "out" and keep your hair short?

    Take care,
    LJ
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    • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
      Originally Posted by asset818 View Post

      Zeus, I completely agree. Some niches just don't convert well period - no matter what kind of advertising you're using.

      And this is a definite aside, but were you in the military or do you just use "out" and keep your hair short?

      Take care,
      LJ
      HA! They wouldn't have had me even if I wanted to be in the armed forces. The thought makes me giggle. I keep my hair ultra short because I prefer total cueball to ridiculous ring of hair around bald pate. Hey, you asked.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        It's one of the biggest mistakes I see - and you gave it a name!

        People get far too emotionally attached to their niches and sites. It ain't love, baby - it's just business.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          I am in so many niches, I'm a bigamist.

          All kidding aside, outside of the IM niche (which is a so-so CTR niche) all
          the other niches I am in, I am totally detached from. Some have great CTR
          and for those, I continue to write. The ones that don't, I have abandoned.

          There is one exception.

          If the CTR is low but the conversion on the product is high and the
          commission amount makes it worth writing for the niche (especially if there
          are enough views per article) then I will continue writing for that niche.

          It all comes down to ROI.

          So while CTR is important, if the ROI makes up for a low CTR, you might
          want to consider keeping that niche around as a mistress.

          Just don't tell my wife.
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          • Profile picture of the author VanessaB
            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            I am in so many niches, I'm a bigamist.

            All kidding aside, outside of the IM niche (which is a so-so CTR niche) all
            the other niches I am in, I am totally detached from. Some have great CTR
            and for those, I continue to write. The ones that don't, I have abandoned.

            There is one exception.

            If the CTR is low but the conversion on the product is high and the
            commission amount makes it worth writing for the niche (especially if there
            are enough views per article) then I will continue writing for that niche.

            It all comes down to ROI.

            So while CTR is important, if the ROI makes up for a low CTR, you might
            want to consider keeping that niche around as a mistress.

            Just don't tell my wife.
            Steve,
            I think that makes you a polygamist.

            -Dani
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            • Profile picture of the author All Night Cafe
              I'm glad you posted. I'm guility of staying with a niche
              because some guru said this niche will always be
              profitable.

              Just keep writing articles. My bad.. even when they
              stopped makeing ROI, I still kelp plugging away.

              I do know better now. I test more than I ever have.

              Listen to your own gut, no ROI move to another
              niche.
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          • Profile picture of the author Hamish Jones
            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            I am in so many niches, I'm a bigamist.

            All kidding aside, outside of the IM niche (which is a so-so CTR niche) all
            the other niches I am in, I am totally detached from. Some have great CTR
            and for those, I continue to write. The ones that don't, I have abandoned.

            There is one exception.

            If the CTR is low but the conversion on the product is high and the
            commission amount makes it worth writing for the niche (especially if there
            are enough views per article) then I will continue writing for that niche.

            It all comes down to ROI.

            So while CTR is important, if the ROI makes up for a low CTR, you might
            want to consider keeping that niche around as a mistress.

            Just don't tell my wife.
            Amen to that. It is all about ROI. Is something worth your time or money?

            I add time to this because if you are passionate about something, say stamp collecting, and you want to build a community just as a hobby, you may want to also have sites that are purely for love (with a few Adsense ads to pay the bills of course!)

            But, if you are writing in a niche you don't actually like, and you aren't making any money, stop what youa re doing and move on to something else!

            That's my $0.02 anyway.

            Cheers,

            Hamish
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            • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
              I'm still pondering how one goes about marrying a niche and how I would explain that one to the family.......

              RoD

              p.s. In all seriousness, I concur. There are definitely certain niches as well as certain keywords or phrases that convert way better than others. The challenge is to find them (thank goodness I'm a testing / tracking addict).
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  • Profile picture of the author 1960Texan
    I couldn't agree more. It's like the old adage, "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket." Let's say, for example, that your entire IM business is tied up in being an Amazon affiliate. You're making great money, your sites are pretty much on autopilot, and you're living the good life. Then Amazon decides to change its commission structure to practically nothing, or end the affiliate program entirely (this happened, by the way, in the travel industry about 12 years ago). Now you're scrambling to replace your income.

    I prefer to have, at minimum, three separate profit streams at any given time.

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author asset818
    Haha, I'm telling you, if you prefer the cueball look that's half the battle! I went through 16 weeks of almost cueballing - my hair is blonde so when it's extremely short it looks like I don't have any.

    Good point Stephen. If you're getting insane conversions on a $.60 product and mediocre conversions on a $10,000 one is definitely going to give you a better ROI, but it can be easy to forget (not with that example) when you're just hungry to do everything "right."
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    I'm so glad Wags weighed in here. As usual, he cut deeper into an issue dealing with article marketing than I did. He's definitely a step ahead on this stuff. And a funny guy, too.
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