ShareThisTry an Affiliate Network Revenue Model for BringIt
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Use Commission Junction Affiliate Network for advertising on BringIt to see if this generates more relevant ads and delivers revenue. (Amazon Widgets didn't deliver well but it could be a limitation of Amazon and lack of relevant content). |
2 |
If users buy products through the Affiliate Network and see if the revenue amounts to anything. Ads have to be relevant to the signup sheet content. CJ seems to have a good range of Advertisers from which to choose. If we find users aren't clicking/buying we will try new advertisers until we find the right match to the content. |
3 |
If the ads generate revenue. |
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This is a learning process, it will reveal new information. |
Comments & Observations
Liza Cunningham So far Commission Junction looks promising. Thousands of advertisers to choose from so we can get highly targeted ads. Cool stuff. I thought Amazon and Google were the only players until a colleague gave me a list of "Affiliate Networks". Lesson: asking the right questions is critical to getting quality answers. And sometimes knowing the right term to ask for is everything.
Oct 01, 2009
Matthew Cornell Very interesting - can't wait to see the results! Re knowing what to ask, when starting something new I often make my last question: "What should I be asking?" Anti-knowledge...
Oct 02, 2009
Liza Cunningham Affiliate Code was just implemented on BringIt. Official tracking starts now. We are starting with banners for online coupons. For every coupon a person prints we received a commission. Coupons seem universal to all users of our site, and the commitment is low (purchase not required). Hopeful that coupons are a good fit, will learn soon.
Oct 15, 2009
Liza Cunningham [Liza wrote] Four days using the new affiliate network, and while traffic was lower still have yet to see a converted user (meaning, someone who prints a coupon). I will give it it two weeks to see what happens. There is the sales ratio theory of 1000:100:10:1 (meaning 1k viewers to convert 1 sale). So if we reach that mark without a sale I will try another affiliate. The big questions to answer are: <br>
Are ads going to deliver revenue? <br>
And do we have enough volume?<br>
Are we using the right ads for our audience? <br>
Do you we need to put copy above the ads which reads "Our affiliates keep this tool free, please support them"? (my least favorite approach but may be worth a test!)
Oct 19, 2009
Matthew Cornell Your assessment makes sense to me, Liza. Sounds like you've teased out a few variables (i.e., related experiments) to try. I wonder: What have you got to lose trying them. You said your least favorite was the plea. Still, it's an easy one to test, no?
Keep it up!
Oct 21, 2009
Liza Cunningham Its been about two weeks using Commission Junction and so far the return has been 0. We've had enough traffic (about 4,000 page views, 2,000 unique visits) so in theory the conversion should yield at least 4 users. Conclusion, Coupon ads didn't work. Perhaps another type of ad would work. Next experiment to try... creating a direct feed from the database to an Affiliate so the ads are highly relevant.
Nov 03, 2009
Matthew Cornell Surprising results! Good experiment, Liza. You did a relatively low-investment (?) experent that, had the coupon ads worked out, would have been sweet. As it is, your thinking is sound - maybe they need to be customized. Testing this requires sig more investment, but now you need to know. It's the frontier you need to explore.
Nov 03, 2009
Andy O'Shea Targeted ads definitely seem like the way to go. Not sure if its the fact that the CJ ads so far are coupons or that they are untargeted which is resulting in such a low response. Would be interesting to identify which of the two factors is more of an influence.
Nov 03, 2009
Liza Cunningham Interestingly, I looked at Commission Junction the other day and it looks like BringIt has earned $1.78 total. So while that isn't much money, the test proves a point... the coupon idea has some merit.
Jan 14, 2010
Matthew Cornell As you say, if you can sell one you can sell 1,000. Or something like that. ;-)
Jan 17, 2010