How do you value traffic?

[discdrome]

I have 16 very focused names delivering around 5,000 uniques per month mainly type-ins but some search engine results too. I am in the process of changing the use of these domains to affiliate sites for the retail area they are focused towards. Some were previously parked.

My question is this :-

I have seen people paying 5 cents per click for targeted traffic, based on this I should be looking to earn at least 5k x 5 cent = $250 per month.

I am using this for my minimum target, if I do better than $250 per month I am doing OK.

Any opinions in setting targets or benchmarks for value of targeted traffic?

I think $250 is very achievable for these domains, but I guess the calculation will change for different focus of traffic.

Do some of you use overture as a guide for click value? i.e. loan/finance clicks are worth 20 Cent, gifts 5 cent etc...

FYI - These names are not for sale, this is not the purpose of this post. Interested in hearing different ways that memebrs set/evaluating traffic value.

Regards

Steve

 

[dotNetKing]

Only a percentage of the unique visitors will actually click.

This percentage may, perhaps, be anything from 5-10% (for poorish traffic) to 60% (for good traffic).

So a more realistic calculation would probably be 5,000 x 33.3% x 5 cents = US$83.

Of course, as you say, the type of links are important too. If the traffic is for loans, you will get a lot more than 5 cents per click. If the traffic is for free smileys, you will probably get less than 5 cents per click.

 

[David G]

Only a percentage of the unique visitors will actually click. This percentage may, perhaps, be anything from 5-10% (for poorish traffic) to 60% (for good traffic)......

If you had access to everyone's stats I believe you would see typical CTR's are much closer to 2% than the 5-10% range on average. With gaming, lyrics, forums, dating and chat names the average CTR may be less than 1%. Not positive about all that so does anyone else have avg CTR estimates?

 

[MarkMan]

hmm, well i alwees get atlest 10%. if its less then that , something is wrong

you can get chinese traffic to click on more then 10%

 

[discdrome]

All very interesting.

I have just converted my sites over to affiliate sites, I shall be getting the 5,000 uniques hitting my sites from now on. I will see what my CTR is for gadget/gift traffic. I am hoping to get 10% + but only time will tell.

I have a heavy hitting UK domain which you can see in my sig, which made very good comisison Nov/Dec 2003 as an affiliate site. If this thread is still floating around in a month or so I will post my CTR.

Steve

 

[dotNetKing]

All very interesting.

If this thread is still floating around in a month or so I will post my CTR.

Steve

I'm sure you can resurect it simply by posting your results to the thread. I'm sure lots of people (including me) would like to see how it goes.

Thanks.

 

[David G]

hmm, well i alwees get atlest 10%. if its less then that , something is wrong you can get chinese traffic to click on more then 10%

It depends on the category of site, also the website content and layout. For example, lyrics, gaming and forum boards have very low typical CTR, often under 1%. I have also seen other sites in better CTR categories with CTR's of more than 20%.

I was referring to combined averages based on a wide number of websites in multiple catgeories, both high CTR subjects and very low CTR type of sites. Of course, individual results will vary greatly above or below the averages.

 

[mike031]

it's really hard to compare one domains traffic vs. another because there is so many variables involved... even if the domains traffic can be categorized the same as another, it is but then again it is not... i never ever generalize anything... you really have to study your traffic and find a way to convert it better then 1% because that is just horrible... if gaming traffic for example is not doing too well for you with gaming ad's you should go to some other relevant keywords that would still appeal to the visitors, in this case a few would be television, freebies, etc..... even if they pay much less per click, it's still better to get ten clicks at 3 cents vs. one click at 10 or 15 cents.....