AVERAGES in Affiliate Marketing, do they exits at all and how to figure them out? (3)
AVERAGES in Affiliate Marketing, do they exits at all and how to figure them out?
I'm LOST, gimme some AVERAGES to go by!
Most of the Affiliate Marketing newbies are looking for some kind of pointers, when starting out fresh in the business. Since it's “ALL” new, they don't know what to aim for, they don't know if what they are doing is good enough or not … they're feeling like a lamb lost in the forest, waiting for the seasoned wolfs to feast on them 
In order to get at least some kind of confidence, a typical newbie tries to figure out one thing : the AVERAGE figures for pretty much everything. I know we have dozens of threads here on STM, that try to find the average for one thing or the next … what's the average CTR, what's the average CVR to aim for, what's the average price for traffic … OR even more unrealistic … what's the average income in AM after 3 months
As much as this was naive, I knew I was exactly the same, when I started to work with paid traffic. I simply needed to figure out somehow, whether I was on the right track or not. And an average of something, seemed like the logical thing to look for. The problem is, there is nothing like an industry-wide average, not even a niche-wide average or a traffic source performance average.
No AVERAGES? How is that possible?
Well, the answer is pretty simple … there are too many variables coming into play. All it takes is to change one of them and the final result will be completely different. Let's break it down a bit.
OFFERS : the same offer can have several lander urls, with completely different design, which will affect the final conversion rate. So basically the same offer can have a COMPLETELY different CVR, depending on the lander url you use.
TRAFFIC SOURCE : every traffic source has TONs of publishers in the mix. Except for those like FB, Adwords or Bing … Different publishers operate different sites or apps (placements), and obviously each of their traffic properties have different demographics of users. This means that 2 placements on the same traffic source can perform TOTALLY different.
And it doesn't stop here, even particular placements have several ad zones … think about a website that has 5 different zones for ads/banners … header, footer, sky-scrapper etc … the more prominent zones will get more clicks and the quality of such traffic will be higher too.
ADS : there are so many different ad formats and traffic delivery methods … and obviously, with different performance levels. POP traffic VS banner traffic … that's like comparing apples and oranges. One is an intrusive format (pops), while the other one requires user action and gives an extra chance to pre-sell with the angle (banners). The CVR will be wildly different.
FUNNEL : direct linked or through a landing page? Misleading or very detailed? Simple flow or some more complicated setup … The results will be very different again.
I could go on, but these were the most important parts of the puzzle and I'm sure you understand where I'm going with this. To put it simple, a directlinked POP traffic campaign using a CC submit flow, will have completely different result compared to a targeted banner campaign with a good LP and simple flow SOI offer. Now try to make an average from these two
Ok, no AVERAGES, I'm doomed and will stay in the dark forever.
Well, not really. First of all, you don't really need to know the average of anything, in order to make money. In the end, it's about whether you make more $ than you invest. The bottom line is what matters the most, everything else is just data to support your decisions.
And to give you some hope, there are averages actually, just on WAY more detailed level So whenever you feel like you need to figure out the average “something”, describe your situation as detailed as possible.
Define your traffic type, traffic source, funnel, offer type … the more details you provide, the more likely you are to receive a reply that has at least a trail of reality. Still, keep in mind that the value will be just a rough benchmark that you should only use to get a rough idea of what it is possible to achieve.
Make your own averages, get to know your market in and out!
Pretty much every affiliate focuses on a smaller segment of the market, these do change over time, but chances are that at any given time, most of us are focusing on a limited amount of niches, verticals or traffic types.
And it's actually a good thing. The longer you spend in a market segment, the more you know about it … you develop some sort of a “feel” for it. Once you've been working with the same traffic sources, verticals, offers … for some time, you will actually figure out what the averages are, with what particular setup.
Let me give you an example : adult dating is the vertical I'm running the longest, I work with other verticals too, sometimes I stop dating for a while... but always get back to it in one form or another. After the years, I pretty much know all adult traffic sources that matter, I know the main sites in the business and I know where to go to buy ads on them. I know what a good SOI or DOI offers converts like and I know what GEOs are working good with dating offers.
Based on my experience I know that if I cannot reach 10% CVR from LP clicks on a SOI offer … I have a problem somewhere. So let's call that my SOI CVR average. I also know that I need to reach certain banner CVR in order to even stand a chance to make profit with a particular banner type. SO I know that average too, but I know it's gonna be different if I use more misleading banners. I also know that the CTR will be higher with a NTV-A spot on the premium inventory at TrafficJunky, compared to RON I can get at Exoclick…
So what's the outcome of this... are averages to be ignored or should I seek them?
It definitely helps to know what kinda metrics are considered “average” in a segment, but as you already know, it's EXTREMELY hard to get figures that relate to your situation and setup. If you can get them, fine, just take them with a grain of salt.
If not, no biggie either … study your market, do your own tests, develop the feel for the segment you are active in. Nothing beats personal experience and there are no shortcuts to obtaining it, it simply takes time and effort.
Thanks for reading!
Going straight into the next newsletter! 
Amy
Originally Posted by vortex
Amy
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