Effectively Using GoTo.com with Affiliate Programs (continued, part 2)
Now, at this point, you might say that 2% of visitors would need to purchase to simply break-even. Which is true. So, there are several important tips that can improve your conversion rates, while at the same time decreasing your GoTo.com click-through costs:
1) Use very detailed titles and descriptions for the keywords you purchase.
Make sure a GoTo.com surfer knows exactly what they are going to see when they come to your site. If you are simply trying to sell them the Titanic video, let them know purchasing the Titanic video is what your site offers if they click. This will help reduce the number of people who click-through that aren't really interested in making a purchase.
2) Bid carefully on search terms.
Only bid on terms closely related to what you are trying to sell or promote. This will improve the focus of your visitors, and again, reduce visits from those not really interested in what your site offers.
3) Bid on a variety of keywords, including common misspellings.
For example, 'free stuff' has a top bid of $0.33 per click-through, because it is a commonly searched on term (15753 searches). However, 'free web stuff' can be bought for only $0.02. There will be less searches made on 'free web stuff' (only 52) but bidding on many smaller search terms can often produce comparable results, for a much lower cost per click.
4) Create an entry page so that the visitor is brought right to your offer, rather than to your home page.
This will not only make it easier for them to find what you are trying to sell, but also fulfil GoTo.com's requirement that the search terms you bid on match the content of your site.
5) Focus on affiliate program offers that pay high-dollar commissions per sale.
This will allow you to be able to afford more clicks, or higher bids, for each sale you make. Also consider pay-per-lead programs which have higher conversion rates than standard pay-per-sale programs.
6) Watch closely how many click-throughs you are receiving and monitor your commission reports to determine effectiveness.
Don't be afraid to drop search terms that don't seem to be producing results, and raise the bids on those that are working well.
If you would like to promote your site and affiliate programs with GoTo.com, visit their Client Tool
Kit which offers a variety of free tools to help you get started. Perhaps the most important is the Search Term Suggestion List which will allow you to look for related search terms and see how many GoTo.com surfers searched for specific terms last month.
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