The word conversion is a sacred one in the adult Internet community. To the adult webmaster, conversions are everything. Sex might be the most important search term but all those searches; visits and bookmarks mean nothing without conversions. Conversion determines success and failure. A webmaster with good conversion ratios is a god among geeks.
Conversion. Convert. To turn something into something else. In the adult webmaster lexicon, the word refers to sales. When a click on a banner results in a signup, then a conversion has taken place. That banner click converted into money. One banner click. One signup. One sale. A conversion ratio of 1:1. If the banner is clicked one thousand times and fifty of those clickers pay for fifty memberships then the conversion ration would be 50:1000.
Obviously conversions are important to the affiliate webmaster. An adult website operator spends valuable man-hours designing their sites and pages. They work hard to promote their webs in order to sell paysite memberships and adult products for their sponsors.
A good percentage of those webmasters burn their own bandwidth doing so. If they don’t convert at high enough ratios, they lose money. Affiliate webmasters aren’t paid for their labor. They’re not compensated for hosting space or content costs. Adult affiliates work strictly on commission. They might snag free hosting, they might be blessed with free content but their labor and their sweat can only be compensated by profits.
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"Just because your ICQ buddy does well with that 'crazy-frat-party-fucking' site doesn't mean you'll automatically become king of bling bling by pushing the same sponsor." |
Therefore conversion ratios are just as important to adult program sponsors. Adult webmasters talk to each other. Sponsors always describe the conversion ratios of their affiliate program in glowing terms. That’s just good advertising. Those glowing terms won’t hold up if enough webmasters state the contrary in public forums.
A good-converting sponsor is praised and recommended by affiliates. When conversions are down, the news spreads like wildfire. When a sponsor converts well and states the fact in their promotional text, they aren’t embellishing their cause. Sometimes it’s true.
Then again, there’s a truth about sponsors that escapes some adult webmasters. What converts for one will not convert for everyone. An affiliate sale is the result of a magical combination. No matter what anyone alleges, paysites and services do not sell themselves.
A money making site or gallery is composed of winning text, strategic image/banner/link placement, proper promotion, the right surfer audience, visitor quantity and proficient timing.
You might be a genius at selling teen content but you could suck at selling MILF stuff. You could be an adept designer. You could be a virtuoso at luring visitors to your page. Those talents alone won’t generate decent conversion ratios. Just because your ICQ buddy does well with that "crazy-frat-party-fucking" site doesn’t mean you’ll automatically become king of bling bling by pushing the same sponsor.
You have to know your market. You have to attract your market. You have to be able to make your audience want to click that sponsor banner or text link. It’s no easy feat being able to consistently convert surfers into customers no matter how great the sponsor converts for others.
What is a good conversion ratio?
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If you’re on paid hosting and you don’t make enough money in sponsor sales to cover your bandwidth fees, it’s pretty obvious you’re not converting well. If you’re on free hosting you don’t have such a reference point.
Conversion ratios will inform you about your productivity with a sponsor program. If you sell one paysite membership per one thousand referrer-link clicks, your conversion ratio is 1:1000. A 1:1000 average is a pretty common conversion ratio for some adult webmasters. If those webmasters are proficient at generating tens of thousands of sponsor clicks, then 1:1000 is pretty decent money.
Be warned, those same webmasters will have to acquire hundreds of thousands of site/page visits in order to be able to generate ten of thousands of sponsor clicks. A better conversion ratio is 1:500. 1:250 is an excellent ratio. If you can convert 1:50, you’re close to godliness.
The above are based on ratios when it comes to selling sponsor programs with a higher per-sale payout such as paysite memberships. There are programs/services that payout less for conversions. An example would be the monies made by selling dildos online.
Conversion ratios should not be confused with click-thru ratios, especially if you’re in a sponsor program where you are paid per click. Clicks are important but converting those clicks into sales is the ultimate goal for you. In fact, if you’re on a pay-per click program and you don’t generate a certain percent of actual sign-ups from those clicks, some sponsors will drop you from their program. Other sponsors will drop you if you don’t convert enough sales no matter what payout program you’re on.
Conversions matter to you and to your sponsor. If you can’t make a sponsor convert for you, drop them. If you can’t convert, don’t be surprised if they drop you. Just don’t drop the ball. Keep searching until you find a market where you fit. You’ll know it fits when you can convert.
Learn about your customer base so you can improve your ratios. Ask your sponsors for tips on how to promote more effectively. Sign up with a few different sponsors who have programs/paysites for your market. Put your eggs in a few baskets in case one sponsor goes under or ceases to be profitable. If you’re selling, then you’re doing something right. Do it again and again and pretty soon you could have killer conversions!