Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

Webmaster Discussion
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#1

I’ve seen Bjorn and others post saying the revenue per click is down this year. What I’m seeing is a healthy increase in traffic, but almost absolutely flat in terms of revenue. I’m just wondering if I should be worried.

I’ve put the analytics below - the graphs show weekly numbers, not daily and it’s for all of my blogs, not just one - I do have other sources of traffic and revenue, but this is the bulk of it. The bottom line is that since December I’ve made almost the same exact amount every month. Meanwhile traffic to my sites is up - 51% since December. Organic traffic has seen the biggest increase - up 86%. Referrals are up 52% (mostly due to Google Images), while direct traffic is flat with a 1% increase.

I should mention that direct traffic is unique for me 'cause I have so many people coming to my blog to see who I’ve fucked and I’ve been on a sexual slump the last 6 months (with the exception of IML a few weeks ago) and some of my fans lost interest, so the fact that that’s flat doesn’t mean much.

One difference between now and December is a fair amount of the growth has been with my condom/solo blog - Wily Willy - so it’s condom traffic, not bareback, and honestly the site needs some design work. So that may factor into my conversion ratios.

The other thing that’s different is Gay Pay. Back in December they were about 22% of my revenue, but I stopped doing new blog posts on them, so they’re now about 5% of my revenue. If I take Gay Pay completely out of the equation, my other revenue is actually up 18%, but that’s nowhere near the 51% increase I’ve seen in traffic.

I know there are things that can be tweaked on my blogs, but I’m not doing all that much different than I was back in December. I’m actually thinking I shouldn’t have stopped promoting Gay Pay - just did a blog post the other day 'cause I’d like that revenue back, but I do feel a bit weird about their cross-sells, and the fact that they don’t update their sites means it’s got a limited life one way or the other.

I’m not asking people to spill the beans completely with where they’re at, but should I be worried given what I’ve laid out? My one consolation is that if it’s the economy or if I’m doing something wrong, once the problem is corrected my revenue will bounce up since I’ve got the traffic - and it’s good organic traffic. I’d just like that to happen sooner than later, so if I am doing something wrong I want to figure it out.

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#2

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

We are actually seeing some decent growth in the past few months. One thing I would like to know, are total sales per month up/down/flat? Units sold that is. If units sold are up and revenue is flat, then you need a better mix. More PPS will increase Revenue. At least I have always made more money on PPS vs Revshare. So, if the percentage of your sales has shifted more to Revshare vs. PPS, you may want to look at that.

#3

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

That’s sorta what I was saying with the Gay Pay comment - they were a major PPS sponsor for me that’s sort gone away. The vast majority of my sales now are rev share.

If I take out AEBN sales which completely screw up the stats - the stats are wobbling around a bit. Rebills are up pretty dramatically - about 30%. Initial sales are down from December, but same as January (it’s waffling up and down). Total sales (initial+rebills) is about the same, possibly trending up.

So it looks like the rev share vs. PPS issue is indeed a major factor. Thing is, there’s not that many bareback PPS sponsors, and even fewer with the promo materials that I need.

But given that I’m sorta bottoming out with my percent of PPS, it means revenue should go up since I can’t get much less PPS than I have now.

#4

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

[QUOTE=rawTOP;43996]
But given that I’m sorta bottoming out with my percent of PPS, it means revenue should go up since I can’t get much less PPS than I have now.[/QUOTE]

I think the best way to increase revenue is to increase the PPS as much as possible and focus mainly on sites that convert best and have the best rebills. Sometimes it’s just a numbers game and you have to look back at the months that made the most money and see where it came from.

Does a sale to a revshare sponsor = what you make from a PPS sponsor. I am not sure about the BB niche, but I know those non revuc one months really kill any chance that an affiliate will make anywhere near with revshare what they do with PPS.

#5

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

I’m seeing revenue per click going down as well. It’s not just worse ratios, but also smaller sales on my revshare sponsors.

#6

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

What do you mean by smaller sales if I may ask?

#7

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

Yeah, I’m seeing the same thing. Traffic for Gay Daily Hot is just fine… but sales are down. Not huge, but down enough for me to notice.

#8

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

Its exactly what I’ve seen. Traffic is steadily going up but sales are just the same no increase. Which as you say makes no sense at all, more traffic SHOULD equal more sales.

I can clearly see that ratios for some sponsors are getting worse, people are just not signing up. The question is why, I’m betting on one of two reasons:

Current economic climate and the credit card culture changing (who has cards, lower limits etc).

It could also be that finally we are seeing what happens when there is too much stuff around for free - file sharing, tube sites etc etc.

I really really really hope its just the economy.

#9

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

I’d add a third possible reason. Lack of Imagination or Quality.

While the production level or quality of the video/photo may have improved, the scenarios being depicted haven’t changed. Different guys, on the same couch, jacking off then doing it.

my 2 cents

#10

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

Isn’t that more of a constant than a variable? lol

#11

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

Assuming no additional advertising has been done and traffic has gone up – the same amount of advertising is bringing in more traffic – another possibility is that more people are surfing porn instead of doing other things. Meaning, instead of going out to the bars they are staying home and surfing porn. If that is the case, it is possible that once the economy gets better traffic will go down and ratios will return to normal.

#12

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

Bingo!

and, people are caught up in re-fi right now, paying down debt and watching their cash outlay, etc… so the people we’ve interviewed are joining fewer sites and changing memberships more often but I would not recommend getting into DVD production now if you can avoid it

however, DVD sales are up as people continue to collect and enjoy good quality videos world wide

#13

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

RawTop - What do you mean about your AEBN commission comment? May was actually a pretty good month for me overall… with the conspicuous exception of AEBN.

And I have built a significant number of new links to AEBN over the past 60 days, because I’ve essentially thrown in the towel on Naked Sword.

I promote the GayPay sites too – and it seems we have the same results. I’m already thinking of possible substitutes. PopBoys and CumInMyAss are like eating donuts. You enjoy them for a few couple of minutes, but all that fried dough and dry sugar forces you to quickly reach the limit of enjoyment and you’re happy to just give away what’s left uneaten in the bag to whoever will take them.

Regarding the question that you ask on this thread - I think there is a lot more tire kicking going on for all the reasons mentioned. If we all had brick and mortar companies (i.e. “real jobs”) then the idea would be to use their thrifty tire kicking visit as an opportunity to persuade these prospects to return to your website later when they are looking to spend some money.

Anyone remember the Radio Shack Battery of the Month Club where you’d get those cheap red batteries? That was a marketing concept to get people to go back to Radio Shacks a month or more later, and maybe that time someone will successfully sell them something.

So that means that keeping working on maintaining or growing your traffic, but get them to come back later when they are looking to shop.

Steve

#14

Re: Traffic Up, Revenue Flat - Should I Be Worried?

No, I’m still establishing myself and ranking for more and more terms every month (some of which are quite profitable). If I can establish and maintain authority on the term, that traffic is not going to go away (in any significant way).

Now, the ratios returning to normal - that part I am hoping for. :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=desslock;44187]RawTop - What do you mean about your AEBN commission comment? May was actually a pretty good month for me overall… with the conspicuous exception of AEBN.

And I have built a significant number of new links to AEBN over the past 60 days, because I’ve essentially thrown in the towel on Naked Sword.[/QUOTE]

I threw out AEBN from the analysis because each of their sales isn’t worth as much as a pay site sale. In fact, it’s worth about 1/10th of a pay site sale.

[QUOTE=desslock;44187]Regarding the question that you ask on this thread - I think there is a lot more tire kicking going on for all the reasons mentioned. If we all had brick and mortar companies (i.e. “real jobs”) then the idea would be to use their thrifty tire kicking visit as an opportunity to persuade these prospects to return to your website later when they are looking to spend some money.

[snip]

So that means that keeping working on maintaining or growing your traffic, but get them to come back later when they are looking to shop.[/QUOTE]

Precisely. Though I have to say convincing googlebot is possibly the most important thing, but in the process you convince surfers as well. But still, I want to make sure I’m not doing anything stupid…

BTW, the first three days of this month are looking up considerably - in part due to rejuvenated Gay Pay sales… :wink: Now if I can just keep things going… I really do want to figure out how to revive the revenue while still keeping a healthy amount of rev share for stability.