The 3 Rules to maximizing profits from banner ads!Written by Derek Arnold
Placing those ads on your site are designed to do just one thing, make you and advertiser money. No it’s not rocket science but there is a science to doing it right. There are 3 simple rules to follow and you will convert those ads into revenue you intended them to be when you decided to place them in first place. 1.Don’t sell Viagra to pregnant women! – Basically what this means is that each page on your site probably offers something different than all other pages on your site, otherwise you would have terrible redundancy on your site and that would be bad, but that’s for another discussion. Let’s say you have a site offers travel services, and this particular page is about a certain destination that you offer. Then your ads should fit page, an offer such as “Home Loans”, or “Grocery Coupons” would be what is know as “Shotgun Marketing”, which basically means that you are just firing an ad at there and praying that someone who sees it will be interested. This click and buy ratio will prove to be VERY disappointing. A proper ad such as “discount air tickets”, or “Travel Insurance” will produce a much higher, click and buy ratio, this is what is referred to as “Target Marketing”. Remember, internet is a spontaneous buying medium, so when visitor is on that particular page, this is when interest in this particular subject is at it’s peak! They are already thinking travel, you are offering them “Up sell”, meaning you not changing visitors train of thought, your offer is just blending in. 2.Put steak in middle, and leave salad on side! – Where do you place you banners? On side? At bottom of page? Somewhere between “I’m offering this for free” and “Look at my fancy graphics” area of page? Obviously most profitable place to set banner is on top of page, and is highly recommended if that space is available! Most of time website owners have reserved that spot for they’re own offers and like. The second best place on a page is just before your start page content. An animated 468 x 60 banner should be centered and placed just before you begin your page content. Remember these banners are what pay you money to keep your site going, and if all goes right, some change in your pocket. Move other items on your site to side and make room for those banners. Banners placed inside test of page content (not at end) would be third option.
| | What Do Affiliate Tracking Services Do?Written by Clay Mabbitt
Some affiliate programs design their own internal software to track affiliate referrals, calculate commissions, and process payments. It is far more common, though, for programs to outsource these functions to an affiliate tracking company. Knowing which affiliate tracking company a program uses allows you to quickly assess how many of aspects of their affiliate program will operate. What follows are some of aspects of an affiliate program that are largely influenced by affiliate tracking company used.Targeted linking Also known as “deep linking”, targeted linking is practice of allowing affiliates to direct traffic to whichever page on affiliate programs site best fits their pre-selling strategy. The alternative to targeted linking is to direct all referred traffic to home page of site. Programs that offer targeted linking often, though not always, have much higher conversion rates. Tiered commissions Some programs will reward affiliates for bringing new affiliates into program. While this reward can take many forms, it is usually a small percentage of what new affiliates earn. In such programs, there are often a handful of affiliates who are very successful recruiting and earn a steady income even though they make few direct sales. Some affiliate tracking companies do not have capacity to offer tiered commissions, although most do and leave choice up to individual program manager. Tracking return customers Most purchases on internet do not occur first time a visitor comes to a page. Often they will bookmark page and return to site hours, weeks, or sometimes months later to purchase. Using a combination of cookies, IP tracking, and domain referral tracking; affiliates can still receive commissions on customers that do not make immediate purchases. While exact window of customer action may vary from program to program, most affiliate tracking companies use same tracking methods (cookies or IP tracking) across all of their programs.
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