There are most definitely good “and bad advertisers’.

In a previous article I mentioned bad conversions, some advertisers’ simply don’t stack up.

There is the advertiser that you send hundreds of genuine visitors to without ever making a sale, or making so few sales that you end up questioning who’s to blame.

In our case, we do a good job of pre-selling a product or service before the visitor ever leaves our website.  In most cases, our reader has already made the ‘buy’ decision and then just have to be presented with a nice pleasing checkout to finalise the sale.

So why no sale?

Possible reasons include;

• Conditions of sale; check that the seller does not include unrealistic T&C.
• Telephone confirmations; if a call is required to make a sale, then its a hurdle in the process.
• Poorly designed web site/shop-front:  make sure it includes T&C, contact and return information.  Things we all want to see before making a purchase.
• Costs: Realistic prices and delivery costs.

I include the reasons so you can go and check your poorly performing advertisers’ and if they tick any boxes, sack ’em.

Another thing to be wary of is the payout type.

Some pay a percentage of sale (good), some pay a flat fee per sale (can be OK), some pay per click through and subsequent action (survey) while others pay per lead.  I am cautious about any affiliation that includes human intervention.  Sorry, but invariably it will involve sales people who are also part of the process, so you cannot be guaranteed a payment.

Not all advertisers’ are as they seem!