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Need a guiding hand or two for my first attempt

by enochfung
12 replies
Hello,

Well, after a month of reading, I finally braved the waters to try out affiliate marketing 'cept I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. For my first try, I selected an online writing business to experiment. The rundown...

- not allowed to use Facebook, Google, Yahoo!, or Bing.
- not allowed to change any of the text links or use their name/logo in image links (except for the authorized ones)
- action: to get paid, the visitor must complete one application.

I chose to use POF (I'm thinking this was my first mistake?). I created several ads that look like this: POF Creatives . The targeting for each campaign looks like this: POF Creatives . Each ad links to this landing page: www.enochfung.com/write_suite101.htm .

I've found that from the POF side, though the CTR is incredibly low, the few clicks I get are lost once the visitor arrives at my landing page. Out of all the clicks, only 1 actually headed on over to Suite101's landing page. This one person did not sign up.

I'm stuck. I'm not even sure what I'm doing wrong on my landing page. Come to think of it, maybe I should just point the ads directly to my affiliate link. I might have more success with that!

Could really use a few pointers from experienced eyes.
#attempt #guiding #hand
  • Profile picture of the author GameVoid
    I'm not an affiliate expert but I *am* an article writer (for suite101 even) so let me tell you my opinion of your landing page.

    1 - That girl in the picture is awesome.

    2 - Bullet point 1 makes no sense to me. Why would there be a financial commitment to write FOR someone else?

    3 - Bullet point 3 is not a selling point as it's too obvious. Very few writers these days ever have to leave their home. I can conduct interviews online with thousands of experts without having to get out of my pajamas. It could be replaced with something more compelling.

    4 - Bullet point 4 I am on the fence about. If it were worded differently it might be better.

    5 - Bullet point 5 could also be made simpler, like "Easy to join" or something.

    Writers are looking for 2 things : exposure and money. Emphasize more on how writing for Suite101 can help them get those things.

    Don't be afraid of word count. Most writers also love to read so you can spend an extra 200 words of persuasion.

    Just my thoughts, I thought the page itself looks clean and well laid out.
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    • Profile picture of the author enochfung
      Originally Posted by GameVoid View Post

      I'm not an affiliate expert but I *am* an article writer (for suite101 even) so let me tell you my opinion of your landing page.

      1 - That girl in the picture is awesome.

      2 - Bullet point 1 makes no sense to me. Why would there be a financial commitment to write FOR someone else?

      3 - Bullet point 3 is not a selling point as it's too obvious. Very few writers these days ever have to leave their home. I can conduct interviews online with thousands of experts without having to get out of my pajamas. It could be replaced with something more compelling.

      4 - Bullet point 4 I am on the fence about. If it were worded differently it might be better.

      5 - Bullet point 5 could also be made simpler, like "Easy to join" or something.

      Writers are looking for 2 things : exposure and money. Emphasize more on how writing for Suite101 can help them get those things.

      Don't be afraid of word count. Most writers also love to read so you can spend an extra 200 words of persuasion.

      Just my thoughts, I thought the page itself looks clean and well laid out.
      lol glad you like the photo.

      I see what you mean - I was focusing on the wrong target. Someone who would join probably writes already and would have a different set of needs.

      I made some changes, what do you think? I felt I should keep the description short - Suite 101's landing page has more details. I just want them to get siphoned over to their landing page.

      As for the other "problems"... any ideas?
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  • Profile picture of the author perfectlovehere
    @gamevoid: LOL at your first comment!
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  • Profile picture of the author rapidscc
    One of your bullet points ("An enormous readership of 5 million per month!") conflicts with the first sentence of your copy ("Suite 101 needs articles for their 30 million MONTHLY readers")
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    • Profile picture of the author enochfung
      Originally Posted by rapidscc View Post

      One of your bullet points ("An enormous readership of 5 million per month!") conflicts with the first sentence of your copy ("Suite 101 needs articles for their 30 million MONTHLY readers")
      Oops, thank you. It's 30 milllion >.< Fixed now.

      Well, I think that's all there is to a landing page. :confused: Just wish I knew why the clicks aren't converting. First disappointment, I guess. Could it be that the product is already over-saturated? Or perhaps I really should not be using POF?
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      • Profile picture of the author rapidscc
        Originally Posted by enochfung View Post

        Oops, thank you. It's 30 milllion >.< Fixed now.

        Well, I think that's all there is to a landing page. :confused: Just wish I knew why the clicks aren't converting. First disappointment, I guess. Could it be that the product is already over-saturated? Or perhaps I really should not be using POF?
        Enoch,

        What's POF?. Sorry it's my first time to hear that term.

        By the way how much traffic are you sending to your landing page? If it's a lot and it's not converting then there could be a problem with your offer. Try changing your copy and once again driving traffic. Monitor the click through to learn if the problem is on the destination site.
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        • Profile picture of the author enochfung
          Originally Posted by rapidscc View Post

          Enoch,

          What's POF?. Sorry it's my first time to hear that term.
          Oops, POF = Plenty of Fish.

          Originally Posted by rapidscc View Post

          By the way how much traffic are you sending to your landing page? If it's a lot and it's not converting then there could be a problem with your offer. Try changing your copy and once again driving traffic. Monitor the click through to learn if the problem is on the destination site.
          I'm glad you asked or I wouldn't have checked until tomorrow morning. I have 25 unique visits to my landing page today. Of the 25 visits, 14 click to go to Suite101's landing page. So, that's a CTR of 26.92%. Originally, the stats didn't update and I thought I only had 1 person continue to Suite101's site.

          So, I guess it's not my fault that they're not signing up? Or maybe they are but because they need to submit some articles, they don't go through me the second time around and I'm not being compensated.

          This is getting frustrating.
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          • Profile picture of the author rapidscc
            Originally Posted by enochfung View Post

            Oops, POF = Plenty of Fish.



            I'm glad you asked or I wouldn't have checked until tomorrow morning. I have 25 unique visits to my landing page today. Of the 25 visits, 14 click to go to Suite101's landing page. So, that's a CTR of 26.92%. Originally, the stats didn't update and I thought I only had 1 person continue to Suite101's site.

            So, I guess it's not my fault that they're not signing up? Or maybe they are but because they need to submit some articles, they don't go through me the second time around and I'm not being compensated.

            This is getting frustrating.
            I think your click through rate is actually 56% - isn't it computed as Clicks/uniques * 100
            in your case it's 14 divided by 25 * 100 = 56% CTR or maybe I'm missing something.

            I haven't checked Suite101 yet but I observed that you'll get very few conversions if you are pushing a get paid to program or even a free CPA that requires a lot of action from those who signs up.

            I think it was just a few months ago when I drived several thousands or views to a landing page, I had about 900 plus clicks but only a couple of sign-ups. I was so disappointed that I emailed my affiliate manager about the bad results. What she said was that my traffic just didn't converted when it reached their end.

            The reason for this is because they had a very long survey form that the visitors had to fill up, then the survey form had to be approved before the visitors get the freebie. So I guess a huge percentage of the traffic I sent simply left the page.

            You seem to know what you are doing, so why not try other offers implementing the same strategy. I think peerfly.com has some CPA offers that only require email submits.

            Maybe you'll get higher conversion there.

            All the best,
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            • Profile picture of the author enochfung
              Originally Posted by rapidscc View Post

              I think your click through rate is actually 56% - isn't it computed as Clicks/uniques * 100
              in your case it's 14 divided by 25 * 100 = 56% CTR or maybe I'm missing something.
              I think it's per 100 clicks. But it's higher than 1% which is all I'm really looking at lol

              Originally Posted by rapidscc View Post

              I haven't checked Suite101 yet but I observed that you'll get very few conversions if you are pushing a get paid to program or even a free CPA that requires a lot of action from those who signs up.

              I think it was just a few months ago when I drived several thousands or views to a landing page, I had about 900 plus clicks but only a couple of sign-ups. I was so disappointed that I emailed my affiliate manager about the bad results. What she said was that my traffic just didn't converted when it reached their end.

              The reason for this is because they had a very long survey form that the visitors had to fill up, then the survey form had to be approved before the visitors get the freebie. So I guess a huge percentage of the traffic I sent simply left the page.
              Hmmm that sucks... Suite 101's signup process is simple but you have to have two 600-word essays ready along with a paragraph on your own skills. So basically, anyone who is serious would need to prepare quite a bit.

              Originally Posted by rapidscc View Post

              You seem to know what you are doing, so why not try other offers implementing the same strategy. I think peerfly.com has some CPA offers that only require email submits.

              Maybe you'll get higher conversion there.

              All the best,
              Yea, I think I will need to do that but at least I finally figured out the basics. Just hoping that other replies will help hone the skill for the next test. Wish I had access to Neverblue, though!
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  • Profile picture of the author jdwfg4
    Here is my opinion from the top down...I can't seem to view the creatives or targeting.

    Your ctr's are slightly low but not horrible (a little hard to tell without seeing the demo's and creatives). I would target 30+ women to start with a work from home emphasis.

    If all you've gotten is the clicks above in the link 31 and 21 clicks, so 52 total...thats really not much at all. You really need 100 clicks to each creative to really get a good idea.

    Then landing page is kind of weak....just trying to help here. It doesn't draw you in at all, looks a bit boring. Use an image of a woman smiling at a desk or a woman playing with her kid. Then, focus more on the benefits for the user...something like:

    "Get Paid To Write. People All Over Are Making Money At Home Simply By Writing Articles Online."

    Stuff like: "With over 10,000 writers and 30 million readers, Suite101 is the web’s best publishing hub."

    The user doesn't care about stuff like that much, so don't put it as a sub headline. They just want to know two things:

    1.) Can I make money from this and what is the benefit

    2.) Does it actually work

    Now, you can use some of those numbers to point out the credibility of the site and that it is legitimate. If you know of anyone, or have any testimonials you can use, that will help a ton. Facts tell, stories sell.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Louis Monk
    Have you done anything to this link since creating this thread as POF Creatives

    I cannot open it up to see what it is you are talking about. Maybe you are making modifications right now.
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    • Profile picture of the author enochfung
      Originally Posted by jdwfg4 View Post

      Here is my opinion from the top down...I can't seem to view the creatives or targeting.
      Originally Posted by David Louis Monk View Post

      Have you done anything to this link since creating this thread as POF Creatives

      I cannot open it up to see what it is you are talking about. Maybe you are making modifications right now.
      That would be my bad haha. :p It's fixed now, sorry 'bout that.

      Originally Posted by jdwfg4 View Post

      Your ctr's are slightly low but not horrible (a little hard to tell without seeing the demo's and creatives). I would target 30+ women to start with a work from home emphasis.

      If all you've gotten is the clicks above in the link 31 and 21 clicks, so 52 total...thats really not much at all. You really need 100 clicks to each creative to really get a good idea.

      Then landing page is kind of weak....just trying to help here. It doesn't draw you in at all, looks a bit boring. Use an image of a woman smiling at a desk or a woman playing with her kid. Then, focus more on the benefits for the user...something like:

      "Get Paid To Write. People All Over Are Making Money At Home Simply By Writing Articles Online."

      Stuff like: "With over 10,000 writers and 30 million readers, Suite101 is the web's best publishing hub."

      The user doesn't care about stuff like that much, so don't put it as a sub headline. They just want to know two things:

      1.) Can I make money from this and what is the benefit

      2.) Does it actually work

      Now, you can use some of those numbers to point out the credibility of the site and that it is legitimate. If you know of anyone, or have any testimonials you can use, that will help a ton. Facts tell, stories sell.
      I see what you mean by focusing on the benefits. It's like changing my original list of 5 points to focus on what it is that people need or what my offer solves except I only changed the list and didn't think of changing the photo to re-emphasize the ultimate benefits of joining.

      As for the links and the weird banner ad - well, the advertiser refused to let me change that. So maybe like rapid suggested, I should choose a different offer and re-test things.
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