How about some honest sales reports?

DavidO · 04-02-2009, 10:36 AM

People in this business hate to let on when things are not going well. It's always the "life is great" attitude.

But, come on, is anybody else experiencing a slump lately? My conversions have fallen off a cliff the last couple weeks. This is with an established website selling regularly for 3 years and no changes in the past 6 months.

No changes except... traffic is up by a good 25%! And it's quality traffic from all the usual sources. Go figure.

I don't think it's the economic crisis because I was doing fairly well over the winter when consumer confidence was at its lowest.

I had a slump about this time last year and recovered so I hope it's the same this year. But this is the worst I've seen in three years. I'm talking a 75% decline overnight.

So how's it going? It'll cheer me up a little if others are feeling the pain too!

JayXtreme · 04-02-2009, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidO

People in this business hate to let on when things are not going well. It's always the "life is great" attitude.

But, come on, is anybody else experiencing a slump lately? My conversions have fallen off a cliff the last couple weeks. This is with an established website selling regularly for 3 years and no changes in the past 6 months.

No changes except... traffic is up by a good 25%! And it's quality traffic from all the usual sources. Go figure.

I don't think it's the economic crisis because I was doing fairly well over the winter when consumer confidence was at its lowest.

I had a slump about this time last year and recovered so I hope it's the same this year. But this is the worst I've seen in three years. I'm talking a 75% decline overnight.

So how's it going? It'll cheer me up a little if others are feeling the pain too!

Hi David...

Some niches are down, some are up for me...

The ones that are down, are down in BIG numbers.. as you said about yours... but the ones on the up are up a little bit, nothing crazy, but they are up.

I find that it encourages me to test more niches, work on additional sites that I had left/forgotten about.. which is always fun

Peace

Jay

TimG · 04-02-2009, 11:06 AM

I'm seeing ebook sales decline in a few niches with other niches seeing a slight increase. The niches with the increase are focused on helping to solve problems that people have and want/need to fix regardless of the economy. I'm talking about things like yeast infection relief, acne prevention and other health/beauty related products. One exception is my Texas Hold'em product, continues to sell well despite the tough times.

On a different note, my adsense numbers are up overall but again, it is a few niches going extremely hot whiel the remainder do about the same.

Tim

Neil Morgan · 04-02-2009, 11:22 AM

Hi David

This should be an interesting thread.

One thing that people say is that in a recession, the "make money" (yuch!) IM niche is always up because people are looking for new ways to supplement their income.

And it's easy to think, yeah, right.

I'm in the IM niche and I just pulled some figures right from our accountancy system specially for this thread, since you asked for honest reports.

Comparing Q1 2008 with Q1 2009, sales are up 103% (ie more than double).

So, at least from my point of view, the supposedly apocryphal tale is actually true.

Sure, there are other factors, like work I did to make this happen but it shows what's achievable.

Cheers,

Neil

jerrymoore · 04-02-2009, 11:39 AM

Hi David,

If I were to chart my sales it would be peaks and valleys over the last few weeks in my main niches - collectively. I was just looking over my web stats and noticed a little less traffic to the websites I accurately track, which receive between 70,000 to 100,000 uniques/month. My PPC traffic is still converting the same but conversions in affiliate and organic traffic have decreased.

As far as income, I am making more per visitor because my follow up emails are converting better.

Neil Morgan · 04-02-2009, 11:42 AM

Hi Jerry

Quote:

As far as income, I am making more per visitor

For me, little else matters.

I doubled the business by focusing everything I could muster on that one number - visitor value.

Cheers,

Neil

Steve Peters Benn · 04-02-2009, 11:43 AM

Hi Neil, great answer!

04-02-2009, 10:36 AM	#1
DavidO Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: United Kingdom, Spain Posts: 2,031 Thanks: 10 Thanked 101 Times in 58 Posts	How about some honest sales reports? People in this business hate to let on when things are not going well. It's always the "life is great" attitude. But, come on, is anybody else experiencing a slump lately? My conversions have fallen off a cliff the last couple weeks. This is with an established website selling regularly for 3 years and no changes in the past 6 months. No changes except... traffic is up by a good 25%! And it's quality traffic from all the usual sources. Go figure. I don't think it's the economic crisis because I was doing fairly well over the winter when consumer confidence was at its lowest. I had a slump about this time last year and recovered so I hope it's the same this year. But this is the worst I've seen in three years. I'm talking a 75% decline overnight. So how's it going? It'll cheer me up a little if others are feeling the pain too!

04-02-2009, 11:06 AM	#3
TimG Article Marketing Maestro War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Southern California, USA. Posts: 3,081 Blog Entries: 6 Thanks: 356 Thanked 852 Times in 389 Posts	Re: How about some honest sales reports? I'm seeing ebook sales decline in a few niches with other niches seeing a slight increase. The niches with the increase are focused on helping to solve problems that people have and want/need to fix regardless of the economy. I'm talking about things like yeast infection relief, acne prevention and other health/beauty related products. One exception is my Texas Hold'em product, continues to sell well despite the tough times. On a different note, my adsense numbers are up overall but again, it is a few niches going extremely hot whiel the remainder do about the same. Tim
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04-02-2009, 11:22 AM	#4
Neil Morgan Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Lanarkshire UK Posts: 2,487 Thanks: 98 Thanked 314 Times in 223 Posts Social Networking	Re: How about some honest sales reports? Hi David This should be an interesting thread. One thing that people say is that in a recession, the "make money" (yuch!) IM niche is always up because people are looking for new ways to supplement their income. And it's easy to think, yeah, right. I'm in the IM niche and I just pulled some figures right from our accountancy system specially for this thread, since you asked for honest reports. Comparing Q1 2008 with Q1 2009, sales are up 103% (ie more than double). So, at least from my point of view, the supposedly apocryphal tale is actually true. Sure, there are other factors, like work I did to make this happen but it shows what's achievable. Cheers, Neil
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04-02-2009, 11:39 AM	#5
jerrymoore HyperActive Warrior Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: North Carolina, USA. Posts: 440 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking	Re: How about some honest sales reports? Hi David, If I were to chart my sales it would be peaks and valleys over the last few weeks in my main niches - collectively. I was just looking over my web stats and noticed a little less traffic to the websites I accurately track, which receive between 70,000 to 100,000 uniques/month. My PPC traffic is still converting the same but conversions in affiliate and organic traffic have decreased. As far as income, I am making more per visitor because my follow up emails are converting better.

04-02-2009, 11:43 AM	#7
Steve Peters Benn Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Leeds, United Kingdom. Posts: 3,519 Thanks: 598 Thanked 334 Times in 165 Posts Social Networking	Re: How about some honest sales reports? Hi Neil, great answer!