Category Archives: Traffic

Stupid MAD Black-Hatters! (Please Respond To The Controversy)

By Stephen Dean | Published February 10, 2010

Have you been checking your stats programs lately?

I’ve been checking mine. And my stats program has been DECEIVED by black-hatters. (Those are people who use questionnable (at the least) tactics to make money online.)

Black hat marketers tend to be the most creative in the bunch. And they realize that getting traffic to a web site is as simple as sharing a URL with someone.

One way to get website traffic might be to walk down the street and tell people about your site. Or you could send them a letter. You could wear a sticker with your URL.

Anyway you can get your URL in front of someone is a way to get traffic.

And the black-hatters have discovered that one way is to “link” to your site from theirs… and then have a BOT click on the link to your site so that the Black Hatters URL will show up in your stats program!

(All stats programs will tell you where your visitors came from. In this case, it looks likes visitors are coming from the Black Hatters site… when it’s most likely a fake visit from a computer program.)

Because there are so many webmasters addicted to their stats, people will naturally click the link to see who’s linking to them. And that’s how you find yourself on the black hatters website.

Several of my sites have been targeted by these Mad Black-Hatters lately.

My question is… Is this a clever, innocent way to get traffic? Is it dishonest? Is it wrong?

I think at the least it’s very disingenuous. It’s not a very good way to introduce your business to someone.

But tell me, is this free traffic method too tempting for you? Would you use this technique for your business?

Please respond below, cheers!

View Comments

A VERY Telling Conversion Story On Twitter

By Stephen Dean | Published February 4, 2010

Some traffic sources convert better than others. You might get a 10% conversion rate from JV partner traffic and 1% from banner ad traffic. That’s normal, but…

…Recently I made an interesting discovery about two wildly different conversion rates from the SAME source, Twitter.

I’ve been experimenting with a Twitter traffic system with some success. I’ve been able to get hundreds of clicks in a day without too much effort.

I’m excited about that. But it’s also important to monitor the conversion rates of that traffic.

Right now there are two ways I get traffic from Twitter: 1) links within tweets themselves and 2) a link in the bio of my profile.

Both links go to the same squeeze page, but the two links have wildly different conversion rates.

When people click on the link in my bio, the conversion rate is DOUBLE that of clicks from promotional tweets.

Why? I’m always careful when making assumptions. But I can offer a guess.

My guess is similar to a post I just read on the Internet Business Box blog titled “Sales Letters vs. Blogs.”

Their theory is that people resist being sold to. Copywriters are taught this as well.

The author believes that when people are allowed to click around and control the shopping experience, they are more likely to buy. It’s an interesting experiment and I look forward to seeing how it works out.

So what’s the difference between the two conversions coming from Twitter?

Links that appear in Tweets come off as advertisements that the reader responds too. They’re being sold to and they know it.

But when a visitor clicks a link in the bio, they may feel like THEY’RE initiating the shopping experience. They may feel more in control and feel less resistance to the offer.

It’s just a guess, but I think a good one.

What do you think, is there a better explanation for the difference in conversion rates from nearly the same source?

Clixsense – Penny Traffic That Converts

By Stephen Dean | Published February 2, 2010

Recently I discovered a traffic source that can send thousands of visitors to your site for a penny each.

It’s from a site called ClixSense. And that’s an affiliate link, because I highly recommend this service.

Penny traffic is known for being POOR QUALITY and can kill a conversion rate. But because it’s so cheap it can still be profitable.

For $12 (which included a $2 processing fee) I sent around 1000 visitors to a squeeze page. The squeeze page wasn’t too polished, although it did contain 6 of the 7 traits of a successful squeeze.

Even with a mediocre squeeze page I got 28 opt-ins. That’s 43 cents per targeted lead.

If you have a $100 product that converts at 1%, then each visitor is worth $1. If it only costs you 43 cents to get a visitor, then you’re profiting 57 cents per visitor.

If I add the 7th element of a successful squeeze page and polish it up a bit, I believe I could easily double the squeeze page’s conversion rate. That’d bring the cost per targeted lead to 20-some cents. Very nice!

I highly recommend giving ClixSense at least one shot. I ran my ad 3 times and noticed the subsequent visitor-buys got me repeat visitors that didn’t convert. In future tests I’ll be looking for a way to avoid this repeat traffic and I’ll share my results.

And a hint on setting up your campaign.

ClixSense allows you to narrow down the traffic you’ll receive in to a smaller demographic.

If your market’s customer base is heavily female or male, then make sure your ad only is displayed to that gender.

You can choose to only display your ad to premium members, meaning people who have paid money, and that’s a very good idea.

And you can also restrict the ad to English speaking countries, which can help for obvious reasons.

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

Category Archives: Traffic

Stupid MAD Black-Hatters! (Please Respond To The Controversy)

A VERY Telling Conversion Story On Twitter

Clixsense – Penny Traffic That Converts

Subscribe To Blog Updates

Don't miss a thing. Enter your email address in the form below to stay updated.

Hot Topics

Hire Me To Write Your Copy

"My conversion rate has skyrocketed..."

Socialize

A+ Links

Blogroll

Web Links

Categories