The Great Article Marketing Clickthrough Rate Debate - How To Get a 50% CTR On All Of Your Articles!

I agree, and I think that when people post things like that (unnaturally high CTR) it ultimately causes newbies to become discouraged when they don't see similar results. Perhaps the newbie is doing great, having some sales even, but then they may read they are supposed to be getting 50% CTR, so they abandon the campaign and move to something else. What a shame.

Thanks for the post, good info.

Agreed, a higher CTR is desirable but the more articles you put into circulation the harder it becomes to maintain a high CTR across the board for every article.

Some articles will do well, others will do poorly and will require some form of adjustment (testing/tweaking) in order to increase their CTR. At that moment it becomes a decision point do you create more articles or improve the existing articles.

If you can afford outsourcing then the choice is easy. You outsource new articles while improving the existing inventory but if you are a 1 person operation then you have to focus your efforts on whatever task provides the best ROI for your time.

Respectfully,
Tim

Exactly - conducting an article marketing campaign for backlink purposes is completely different from conducting an article marketing campaign for traffic generating purposes and so on....

Once you know the purpose of your articles you create them in a different manner.

Respectfully,
Tim

For those asking about how to increase their CTR, here are a few tips that
might help.

1. Understand the psychology of your target market. I could probably write
a book on this but for the sake of brevity, you need to understand what it
is YOUR market is REALLY after.

For example, are they an info seeking market? Meaning, are they reading
articles just for the sake of getting information and not really interested in
any purchased solution? If so, you're probably wasting your time writing
for them in the first place. This is a common market for things where there
is a ton of free info out there at many authority sites.

For example, if you're into Texas Hold 'Em, you will find many huge sites
out there with complete instructions on how to play the game (rules)
and tips on winning. If you write an article with tips in this niche, that's
about as far as it's going to go, in most cases.

So, the way you tackle this market is with articles that don't share tips
but maybe just rules of the game and then winning potential. This will
excite people to want to learn how to play the game. THEN they might
check out your resource box if they're interested in getting that edge.

But this will only work with those absolutely newest to the game. Those
who are already fairly knowledgeable will probably just go to your article
to see what tip you have. If it's something they didn't know before (which
is unlikely at this stage) then they MIGHT check out your product. But in
most cases, they won't.

Point is, each market is different.

If you really want to increase your CTR through this point (understanding
buyer psychology) then you want to hit niches where there is a real
burning need for an immediate solution, such as when somebody has a
serious health issue.

My best CTR is in the health niche...hands down.

IM, is so-so and gambling is horrible.

Dating is good.

Debt relief is excellent.

The greater the need, the greater the CTR if....

2. Your Resource Box Is Well Constructed

This is the next problem that needs to be corrected. No matter how
great the need for a solution, your CTR is only going to be as good as
the quality of your resource box.

Again, each niche is different. Don't believe the generalization that
resource boxes that read like bios are no good. In most niches, they
aren't...but...

If you are targeting professionals like doctors, lawyers, etc., they will
want to know what your qualifications are.

So if you can say something like, "John Doe is a doctor of <whatever> for
30 years..." that is going to carry some major weight with the people
reading that article IF they are professionals like yourself.

However, in most common niches, you want to stick to the pain/solution
resource box.

Essentially, here is how I construct them.

1. Remind them of their pain first.
2. Give them the URL where their pain will be alleviated.
3. Tell them what will happen if they go there.

For example.

Tired of not being able to get a date because you look like something
out of an Mary Shelley novel? Visit my site at (URL) and get
rid of your acne naturally in just 3 days.

Something like that.

If the person reading your article is REALLY serious about wanting to
get rid of their acne, trust me, they'll at least check out your site. They
may not buy the solution, but they'll check it out.

3. Increase The Quality Of Your Article

You want more click thrus? Write a better article. If the article is so bad
that it's not worth reading, nobody will make it down to your resource
box.

Ah, but this is a double edge sword. If the article is too good, they may
have all the info they need and thus no reason to click through.

It's a fine balancing act.

4. Offer A Bribe

Want to get click thrus? Offer a bribe. Give the reader a good reason to
click through. Free reports work well in some niches and not so well in
others. Again, this comes down to understanding your target market.

IMers are the worst. It is almost impossible to get them to click through
unless they're just checking out what you're doing for research purposes.

That's why, in that niche, you really have to know your stuff and have
something to offer that is BETTER than what that IMer already has stuck
in his head.

In other words...

5. You Have To Know Your Stuff

There is no way around this. You want to increase your CTR, you have
to not only know what you're talking about, but you have to do it with
a confidence that jumps out from the page when they read it.

They don't have to like you. Hell, they may think you're the most pompous
ass ******* that ever walked this planet, but after they're done reading
your article, this is what they have to say to themselves.

"Damn, I gotta know what it is that HE knows that's made him so
successful."

There you go. You want to increase your CTR, that's how to do it.

As I said, my CTR is nothing to write home about, but I still get my 10 to
20 opt ins every day like clockwork.

I still make over 1K with every broadcast to my various lists.

So I must be doing something right.

Aha......love that wisdom. In the never ending quest to increase the CTR some marketers could go to the extreme to make wild claims and outright lie in order to obtain the click but on the other side of the fence there awaits no sale because the click is what I call a fabricated click instead of an earned click.

The fabricated clicks usuallly fail to do anything but increase an article's CTR but the earned click more often then not creates an income producing opportunity for the author.

Work towards obtaining the earned click and not the fabricated click...just one more piece making up a successful article marketing campaign.

Respectfully,
Tim