View Full Version : Blog and ratio: am I stupid or what?
InsaneSimon
04-12-2008, 01:48 PM
Hello,
here we are! After few days from the launch of my first blog (2nd in my career to be honest) I've just checked ratio with one sponsor that I promote:
0:1056
Looking ratio with other kind of traffic (tgp for example) with the same sponsor this number is really weird. I usually do really better with TGP (1:200/250). I'm not moaning or something like that but I'm just curious: is this result normal? I've ever pushed lots of traffic to site tour since day 1, are they real hits or hitbots/spider?
Thank you :(
pocoloco
04-12-2008, 03:12 PM
If these are real clicks, then the ratio is pretty bad for blogtraffic. On the other hand, you should not worry. If you manage to get two sales in the next 100 clicks, then your ratio is way different.
I always send at least 5000 hits to the sponsor, before I compare / judge.
InsaneSimon
04-12-2008, 03:18 PM
If these are real clicks, then the ratio is pretty bad for blogtraffic. On the other hand, you should not worry. If you manage to get two sales in the next 100 clicks, then your ratio is way different.
I always send at least 5000 hits to the sponsor, before I compare / judge.
Yes, I use the same "rule" of 5000 hits. Regarding real clicks, the only things that makes me think that most of them are real is the "real" relation between raw and unique hits. Hoping that every single bot doesn't have a different IP :D
pocoloco
04-12-2008, 04:08 PM
Hoping that every single bot doesn't have a different IP :D
No they haven't, but if you're pinging a lot of social bookmark services, these bots visit your blog as well. Every single service has it's own spider/bot which all have unique IP numbers. But then again, I doubt that a substantial part of your clicks are bots.
Who knows what happen in the next 4000 clicks :)
gaydemon
04-13-2008, 01:20 AM
Like you yourself and poco said, 1000 isnt really enough. But still..
What sort of advert is it? A banner, Text link or a blog article?
Hello,
here we are! After few days from the launch of my first blog (2nd in my career to be honest) I've just checked ratio with one sponsor that I promote:
0:1056
Looking ratio with other kind of traffic (tgp for example) with the same sponsor this number is really weird. I usually do really better with TGP (1:200/250). I'm not moaning or something like that but I'm just curious: is this result normal? I've ever pushed lots of traffic to site tour since day 1, are they real hits or hitbots/spider?
Thank you :(
HunkMoneyLuke
04-13-2008, 06:59 AM
I have found that blogs take time to build up a steady flow of traffic, and once that happens you start getting better listings in google and thats when you start getting better ratios.
InsaneSimon
04-13-2008, 07:35 AM
Like you yourself and poco said, 1000 isnt really enough. But still..
What sort of advert is it? A banner, Text link or a blog article?
Blog is www.teenhornyboys.com. I'm promoting 3 paysites with banners, linked images, links and text.
InsaneSimon
04-13-2008, 07:38 AM
I have found that blogs take time to build up a steady flow of traffic, and once that happens you start getting better listings in google and thats when you start getting better ratios.
Yes, i agree with you. Btw high ratio (= bad ratio) is not a problem for me, my aim is see 1:xxxx instead of this 0:xxxx. In the past I had another blog. Same behavior. When I changed it from to blog to tgp (after 5 months) I had something like 0:4700. :bang:
abostonboy
04-13-2008, 10:10 AM
Nice Template! I love that one. One thing - use the site's name in you Post Title. i.e. BlakeMason's Matt H etc. Trust me, site names get searched. Where is most of your traffic coming from now? When you will start making sales is when you actually have enough posts to get some good bookmarkers.
On another note, while I LOVE that theme. There is an issue with it. When you surf by category or month, it doesn't show the pics. Only after you hit read more does it show the pics. Not sure how to fix that.
Keep in mind that your ratios will never be the best as you are sending by text links galore and via large pics. But that's ok. You are getting a higher CTR for sure.
pocoloco
04-13-2008, 10:32 AM
Simon, you need to customize some things that are still showing the WP standards.
Your "about" page shows the standard WP text. Also your blog sub-title reads "Just another WordPress blog".
But, I like the theme and I love the way you show the pics, you are using alt tags and title tags, good titles. You should get some SE traffic already.
abostonboy
04-13-2008, 10:41 AM
But, I like the theme and I love the way you show the pics, you are using alt tags and title tags, good titles. You should get some SE traffic already.
That theme and the old Blix are my two favorite themes. Unfortunately Blix used some weird "blix" scripting and few have been able to update it to 2.0+
UGH!
InsaneSimon
04-13-2008, 10:55 AM
Thank you for all tips: I'm working on that blog. Hoping to find out how change archive pages.
InsaneSimon
04-13-2008, 11:14 AM
On another note, while I LOVE that theme. There is an issue with it. When you surf by category or month, it doesn't show the pics. Only after you hit read more does it show the pics. Not sure how to fix that.
The answer is in these lines
<? if (is_home() && (!$paged || $paged == 1) || is_search() || is_single() || is_page()): ?>
<?php the_content('Read the rest of this entry »'); ?>
<? else: ?><?php the_excerpt() ?><? endif; ?>
I'll check them later. Now I'm too hungry! 666
abostonboy
04-13-2008, 11:14 AM
Thank you for all tips: I'm working on that blog. Hoping to find out how change archive pages.
That is one damn thing that really threw me off. I fucking love that theme. Let me find a blog that uses it that did manage to change that.
abostonboy
04-13-2008, 11:21 AM
http://male.thedailymodel.com/
That blog figured out how to show pics in the archives and cats.
Hammerhead
04-13-2008, 02:00 PM
I'm in a similar situation, with a lot of experience in TGPs and just getting started with blogging.
Overall I've found that the sales ratio is better with blog traffic than with my TGP traffic.
So I think the ratios you're seeing now are a bit strange.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to install a plugin like ShortStat which will show you what percentage of the hits to your blog are coming from spiders and bots.
InsaneSimon
04-13-2008, 02:04 PM
I'm in a similar situation, with a lot of experience in TGPs and just getting started with blogging.
Overall I've found that the sales ratio is better with blog traffic than with my TGP traffic.
So I think the ratios you're seeing now are a bit strange.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to install a plugin like ShortStat which will show you what percentage of the hits to your blog are coming from spiders and bots.
I have already installed this plugin and:
Crawler/Search Engine 2%
Feedfetcher-Google 1%
Googlebot 2.1 1%
msnbot 1%
abostonboy
04-13-2008, 02:40 PM
I'm in a similar situation, with a lot of experience in TGPs and just getting started with blogging.
Overall I've found that the sales ratio is better with blog traffic than with my TGP traffic.
And a LOT less BW!
Fister
04-14-2008, 03:06 PM
As your picture clicks lead right to paysite tours, you will get some surfers clicking the picture expecting to get a larger version of the picture. These hits may make your sales ratio look worse than it actually is.
InsaneSimon
04-14-2008, 03:15 PM
As your picture clicks lead right to paysite tours, you will get some surfers clicking the picture expecting to get a larger version of the picture. These hits may make your sales ratio look worse than it actually is.
Great tip. Thank you. I'll try to make several galleries with a clear link to paysite so just interested people will click on it.
Fister
04-14-2008, 05:13 PM
Great tip. Thank you. I'll try to make several galleries with a clear link to paysite so just interested people will click on it.
I prefer to link my blog pics to 1. a paysite page featuring that model/movie/scene or 2. a freehosted gallery featuring that model/movie/scene. If neither of those is available, I link the picture to the paysite tour. You just may make a sale to one of those surfers hoping for some free content or a larger pic, but it may make your sales ratio look worse. I do always have at least one text link to the paysite somewhere in the blog entry.
abostonboy
04-14-2008, 05:57 PM
Great tip. Thank you. I'll try to make several galleries with a clear link to paysite so just interested people will click on it.
NO! don't do that. Since I stopped linking to FHG my sales went up. Once you get some good SE hits, you will be fine.
The BEST blogs in the business link pics to paysites. Blog surfers know that. Just give them enough pics and they will bookmark. Why give all the pics you are giving then ANOTHER bunch of pics.
abostonboy
04-14-2008, 05:58 PM
http://queerclick.com/
Best blog in the business. If the model works for them it can work for you.
InsaneSimon
04-14-2008, 06:15 PM
http://queerclick.com/
Best blog in the business. If the model works for them it can work for you.
OMG! I copied someone else without know it :whip:
abostonboy
04-14-2008, 06:20 PM
Simons,
We have a ton of affiliates that are bloggers. The ones that make sales are the ones that:
1. Offer a large selection of pics in a collage (10-12 pics)
2. Link the collages to the tour.
3. Don't offer FHG's
VERY rarely do I see a sale from a blog that doesn't do that. IF I do see a sale from a blog that doesn't do that, it's usually from a side banner on a post talking about another site.
gaydemon
04-15-2008, 12:47 PM
To me it looks like you done everything really well. The blog is clean, the pictures are good and linked up well, so is the text. ANd it looks nice.
I think one thing that is really important to keep in mind, even if ratios are worse than a TGP in some cases. You stand to gain a great deal more Search engine traffic on a Blog than you do on a TGP.
Could it otherwise maybe just be the content that isnt selling?
rawTOP
04-15-2008, 01:40 PM
We have a ton of affiliates that are bloggers. The ones that make sales are the ones that:
1. Offer a large selection of pics in a collage (10-12 pics)
2. Link the collages to the tour.
3. Don't offer FHG's
VERY rarely do I see a sale from a blog that doesn't do that. IF I do see a sale from a blog that doesn't do that, it's usually from a side banner on a post talking about another site.
OK, now I feel like an idiot for not figuring at least some of that out. I've always had my pics link to the relevant FHG (if it was available). I'll have to change things and see if it makes a difference...
InsaneSimon
04-15-2008, 05:37 PM
To me it looks like you done everything really well. The blog is clean, the pictures are good and linked up well, so is the text. ANd it looks nice.
I think one thing that is really important to keep in mind, even if ratios are worse than a TGP in some cases. You stand to gain a great deal more Search engine traffic on a Blog than you do on a TGP.
Could it otherwise maybe just be the content that isnt selling?
Thank you for words ;). I've never tried BlakeMason before but it seems that it sells really well. The other two programs/sites are my top converting sponsors/sites. I can say that after THOUSANDS of sales with them on every kind of traffic but blog. Will see. One friend of mine pretty scared about blog told me that first sale could come within 3 months. The only good thing to do i starting other blogs.
pocoloco
04-16-2008, 01:45 PM
Simons,
We have a ton of affiliates that are bloggers. The ones that make sales are the ones that:
1. Offer a large selection of pics in a collage (10-12 pics)
2. Link the collages to the tour.
3. Don't offer FHG's
VERY rarely do I see a sale from a blog that doesn't do that. IF I do see a sale from a blog that doesn't do that, it's usually from a side banner on a post talking about another site.
Don't tell the secret whistle :bang:
You are 100% right there :)
abostonboy
04-16-2008, 06:32 PM
Don't tell the secret whistle :bang:
You are 100% right there :)
About a year ago, there was a question asked on Netpond, if you would do one thing different as a blogger, what would it be. The majority said not to link to FHG or larger pics. I changed my blogs and linked only to the paysite and saw a big jump in sales.
If a surfer finds something interesting enough to click, then it should lead to the paysite. If it leads to anything else then the surfer can loose interest.
If you can't make a sale with a nice collage of pics and some killer text, then a sale isn't going to be made. A FHG is just giving the surfer another barrier between surfer and paysite that he has to overcome.
InsaneSimon
04-18-2008, 02:50 PM
Finally I got my first sale with blog! I'm so happy :D
InsaneSimon
04-20-2008, 04:11 PM
2nd sale has just come! :d
pocoloco
04-20-2008, 10:04 PM
Congrats with the sales!
InsaneSimon
04-21-2008, 01:20 AM
Congrats with the sales!
Thank you. I'm really surprised about the result. It seems that blogs are really profitable. Now it's "multiplication" time. :)
pocoloco
04-21-2008, 12:44 PM
It seems that blogs are really profitable.
Indeed they are.
Sometimes it takes some time before you really know how to play the game. Now look closely to the blogpost(s) that brought you the sales and try to find out WHY they did. Sometimes there are just small things, that helped to really convince a surfer.
Once you get more sales from your blog(s), those little things become more obvious. Learn from your previous posts, the sales texts, the number of pics, the links, etc...
If you study your succesful posts carefully and benefit from the things you notice, you know how to fully optimize your blog. From that point, it only gets easier to convert blog traffic and you probably can't believe, you ever worried about conversions on blogs in the past.
Believe me, monitoring where your sales came from and study these posts is really helpful.
rawTOP
04-21-2008, 01:40 PM
Now look closely to the blogpost(s) that brought you the sales and try to find out WHY they did. ...
If you study your succesful posts carefully and benefit from the things you notice, you know how to fully optimize your blog. ...
Believe me, monitoring where your sales came from and study these posts is really helpful.
That's one thing I really wish affiliate programs did a better job of - telling you the referring URL for sales. It can't be THAT hard, but I don't think I've ever seen a program do it. I've seen referral URL histories in one program, but I don't think they were matched back to sales (can't remember the program right now either)...
Or another cool thing would be a URL that could be called (say in an invisible iFrame) on the confirmation page that would let you get the details of the sale... You could integrate that with your analytics package to really take things to the next level... But the problem is unless a lot of sites offer it, no one's going to do the programming necessary to use it...
InsaneSimon
04-21-2008, 01:42 PM
Indeed they are.
Sometimes it takes some time before you really know how to play the game. Now look closely to the blogpost(s) that brought you the sales and try to find out WHY they did. Sometimes there are just small things, that helped to really convince a surfer.
Once you get more sales from your blog(s), those little things become more obvious. Learn from your previous posts, the sales texts, the number of pics, the links, etc...
If you study your succesful posts carefully and benefit from the things you notice, you know how to fully optimize your blog. From that point, it only gets easier to convert blog traffic and you probably can't believe, you ever worried about conversions on blogs in the past.
Believe me, monitoring where your sales came from and study these posts is really helpful.
Thank you for this wise and precious tip! I'm trying pretty much everything. For example my last experiment was http://www.teenhornyboys.com/english-boys/blake-mason-interracial-twinks-nathans-rimming-and-fucking.html a text with tons of links. Will see if it works or not.
pocoloco
04-21-2008, 02:02 PM
That's one thing I really wish affiliate programs did a better job of - telling you the referring URL for sales. It can't be THAT hard, but I don't think I've ever seen a program do it. I've seen referral URL histories in one program, but I don't think they were matched back to sales (can't remember the program right now either)...
Both NATS as well as CCbill are showing the real referring URL. Sometimes it can be hard to see which post made the sale (in case the referring URL is an archived page with a lot of posts), but mostly you see that the reffering URL is the actual URL where the post is located.
InsaneSimon
04-26-2008, 04:29 PM
3rd! :D wow!
rawTOP
04-27-2008, 06:15 AM
Both NATS as well as CCbill are showing the real referring URL. Sometimes it can be hard to see which post made the sale (in case the referring URL is an archived page with a lot of posts), but mostly you see that the reffering URL is the actual URL where the post is located.
Thanks for that tip. I hadn't followed the link and found the referral URLs in NATS (it's a bit obscure). Now I just have to figure out why other people's blogs are showing up in my referral URLs when they're not scraping my content!
Fister
04-30-2008, 11:08 AM
Both NATS as well as CCbill are showing the real referring URL. Sometimes it can be hard to see which post made the sale (in case the referring URL is an archived page with a lot of posts), but mostly you see that the reffering URL is the actual URL where the post is located.
When a sponsor stat system such as NATS has a campaign code or banner code, I am using a different code for each blog post, so I can tell which post sent the sale.
OK, where's the moderator to scrape the post above into virtual waste??
Gaystoryman
06-12-2008, 08:52 PM
Done and Done oh ever watchful one... :cool:
Done and Done oh ever watchful one... :cool:
Thankudahling rofl
Gaystoryman
06-12-2008, 09:07 PM
For you, anytime ... and glad to see you around... :love:
Blog is www.teenhornyboys.com. I'm promoting 3 paysites with banners, linked images, links and text.
So what happened here? You give up on the blog?
InsaneSimon
11-13-2008, 01:37 AM
So what happened here? You give up on the blog?
I forgot to set auto-renewal and the email that I used with namecheap was an old email. As a result of that I've lost about 3 domains. Not a big loss but neither I'm happy. Usually I use auto-renewal with very very important domains.
ouch, that had to suck big time :(