10K Orig Visitors, No Clickthroughs: Possible?

Ditto...

Some traffic is less valuable than other traffic...

I can buy 10k expired domain visitors for about $18, but I will be lucky to pull one sale from that...

The second issue that strikes me is that if you are pushing to cpa and affiliate offers also, you are likely not explaining to people what you want them to do, or even why they should...

If I point to an affiliate program link, I always want to pre-qualify that person to get the offer presented to them... I want to pre-sell them, so that they are more inclined to buy what I am pointing them to buy...

Yes it is possible.

I dont think you need more traffic. Looks like you are busy enough.

You need to offer more complimenting services. Keep in mind that your market is not looking to buy a product online (hence no click through) they are looking for a person service. You would likely make more money referring to less busy people (and take 10% - $50 per a sale).

Cheers,
Mukul

If you put a link to a squeeze page at the top of the page with a heading like "STOP! 5 things you need to know before hiring a minister" And then offer some advice with the promise of further wedding planning tips etc. if they input their email address. Then drip feed them content with associated affiliate links that pre sell them on whatever service or product you are promoting in that email.

I assume that the people coming to your site are looking to get married so they should be in the market for related promotions and going forward you will be able to continue to market services and products for newly weds.

THANKS THANKS for the comments. I'll try and answer some questions posed back to me as well as clarify some info about the site, where the traffic comes from, etc.

First, be clear that I never advertised, CPA'd, or anything else to get that traffic. It just came as a result of me building a website to serve my potential and current wedding ceremony clients. The only pages meant to "sell" are the home and next steps page. From that point on, it is a customer support site that just naturally drew traffic due to the depth and focus.

Second, because it does assist in the "sell" of my services (the actual service there they hire me to officiate there wedding, of which I've been doing for more than 12 years and 1400 weddings) I have to be careful to not be too blatant in any secondary sale. I would love to get some revenue from the additional traffic, but I don't want to sacrafice local reputation or sale by turning someone off.

But, I do take seriously and love your feedback that the offer needs to be more targeted to address WHY they ended up at my website, and come back more than once. It IS wedding ceremonies they are looking for. Catholics are looking for something Catholic. Traditional are looking for traditions. People looking for handfasting ceremonies are looking those. And I think you all are completely on target that my offers need to address the very, very narrow issue of not only wedding ceremonies in general, but the TYPE of ceremony they are seeking.

As for the Filipino comment, I'm as suprised as you that I've become one of the most requested Priests to do Filipono Catholic ceremonies in the Washongton DC market, but that is because I'm very good at what I do, as Catholic as possible without actually doing a full Mass in a Parish. But, again, other comments by WR friends are right on point...at the Filipino Catholic Ceremony page, there should be something for sale SPECIFIC to Filipono weddings.

As for the comment of selling the weddings for 10% of revenue, I already do that but for 20%. But due to the regional nature of all of this, there is an upper limit to that practice. We have experience in that area. But good suggestion, thanks.

Bottom line is that every year for the last 12 years, I've booked a solid 125 (+/-10) weddings a year, so the site as a sales and support site has been and continues to be a smashing success. In fact, now most come to my site AFTER having been referred by someone else and so the sale was made before they visited. But as I try and advertise and make some conversions, to take advantage of the 10K visitors a month, that is where I'm no webmeister at all and your initial comments are awesome.

Now, let me add detail about thier visit.

Of those that visit, about 200 per month use the "tools" at the website to create a custom wedding ceremony. And when they do that, they get a fresh screen to print off that has their custom ceremony. This also is a place for me to show an advertisement or pay-call number because they print the contents and use it.

Alas, the traffic is not a result of someone looking to buy something and me baiting them there with CPA or other, rather they are simply looking for ideas. And this I guess answers much of the question....why are they there? For free info.

So what can I post to grab an email address or make a related "sale"? No squeeze, it does not fit the true purpose of the site. Arg!

Thanks thanks thanks everyone...please keep the suggestions coming.

The answer in my opinion webmeister is fairly obvious. 10k traffic is strictly untargeted. You may gain 1-10 leads if you are lucky. Reason being 10k traffic if you ask me if sites like yours (wedding niche) almost always seem to have galleries posted after hosting. If this is the case than this very may just be the reason you are gaining 10k uniques all untargeted just trying to view their weddings. Is the 10k traffic from SERPS? if it is then maybe the keyword that is bringing the traffic in is useless for your type of site. What i always like to do is know the difference between 1,000 targeted traffic vs. 10,000 untargeted traffic. Just keep looking at your analytics day in and day out until you understand it. The answer is in your analytics.

Have you tried Adsense ads? That might work.

Also, you could start a wedding business directory on your site and charge businesses a few hundred dollars per year for a listing. I'm sure you have many contacts in the industry who would love to be seen by your visitors, so it wouldn't be a difficult thing to start.


Andrew

125 weddings per year = 1400+ weddings! You're bound to have learned a thing or two about popular music choices, cake flavors and all kinds of other wedding details. Instead of focusing solely on converting people trying to hire an officiant, why not start a blog or second website to make use of that expertise? Brides-to-be are always looking for more options and ideas to make their wedding day perfect. You could easily pick up some extra revenue just by being an informative resource.

Most wedding books and magazines recommend choosing an officiant at a certain "stage" in the wedding planning process. What are your customers going to do next? If you know 50% of the brides looking into your services are going to look for a florist next, cold call local florists to sell ad space on your site or promote an e-book about wedding flowers.

You could also easily create products based on your expertise. This is also a good way to break out of your local niche. Since you're experienced with different types of ceremonies, you could make one type the focus of your book. "Planning the Perfect Filipino Wedding," "Selected Scripture Passages for Weddings," "101 Tips for Writing Your Own Vows," etc.. With your experience in the field, you probably have enough knowledge to fill 10 or 20 different niche books.

Fr. Lance,

First, congratulations on having such a successful business. I started to post wondering why you would want to get people to click a banner for a few pennies when 90% was converting at $500 services, but then saw the part about your knees.

It's been suggested by others, but you're not getting any clicks simply because the visitors are there for a laser-targeted reason. A generic "one stupid old trick to a flat belly" ad won't get much attention.

In fact, I would venture to say (if you can track it to this level) that putting those ads up HURT your business. If I came to the site after being referred and was all set to pay good money but saw cheesy ads there, I would wonder if you were any good - if you were, why would you need those irritating ads there?

(Please understand I'm not implying you aren't good - with 1,400 weddings under your belt you must be doing something right!)

>>Realize that whatever you do here may dry up when you do retire. If you find a method to monetize now but your traffic slows or stops because you retire, that money will stop too.

That said, here are some strategies.

Flip it:
With that kind of traffic and business, consider selling the business or in marketing speak "flip" the web site. Find a young wedding official and nurture them a bit - then sell them your web site and your business referrals when you are ready to retire. (Think like a dentist - they all bring in a young dentist, have them gradually start seeing existing patients, then the "old" dentist retires with a big check from the young one).


Market it electronically:
We ALL know that a wedding day is totally about the bride. If you're going to put some type of monetization on your site, make it VERY related. Find something that pushes the BRIDE'S hot buttons.

What would the bride need with an impending wedding day?
- weight loss tips
- hair style ideas
- gown design samples
- party planning ideas

Anything that is going to be *emotionally* driven. Then, do some searching on the web or at clickbank for products in those areas. Add their banners or links to the site with your affiliate link and you could earn referrals for the sales.


Offline Marketing:
Partner up with local service-oriented shops. Every wedding needs:

- Flowers
- Cake
- Entertainment
- Party Rental stuff (hall, furniture, dance floor, etc)

Just think through a wedding from "YES!" to the morning after. Make a short list of the EXPENSIVE things needed.

Now, you have two options. You can find local businesses that offer those services and arrange a referral fee with them - you send your brides-to-be to them for flowers and they give you x% of the sale. You have to track it somehow and trust is involved, but you get the idea. It doesn't have to be complicated - the bride takes your business card to them for a special discount or free upgrade.

The second option is to get those service providers to pay you for ads on your site. If you can tell them that you'll put their ad in front of x number of their absolute target market each and every month, that should be worth a LOT to them.

Finding targeted customers is not easy in the offline world and you're ready to hand them a bunch on a silver platter.

If you do the advertising thing like this (the local shops pay for ads on your site) that would make the value of the site go up when you flip it because now there's another revenue stream.

Hope this helps give you some ideas. Sorry it's so long, but you're sitting on a lot of potential.

All success,
Gary

From my experiance when placing others ads on my site. It is all about location. We will just take adsense as an example. I have found that it is best to show an adsesne image and text right below the menu options and once again in the sidebar options. This has been converting well for me. However that does not mean it will work for you. The trick is to test different locations and see where on your site works the best. For you may get better conversions at the bottom of post. Its all about testing to see what is going to work for your site. If you do not test other locations you will never know what may be the best locations for such other offers.