My strategy for affiliate marketing

**student1379** · 17-01-12

Long time reader, first time poster here.

I'm looking to get in to the payday loan affiliate market and wanted to run my strategy past a few of you to get some feedback...

I have created a Payday loan site.

I plan to place an advertising banner on a website which has 3,000,000 visits per month. The websites banners have an average CTR of 1% for Payday loan ads.

This would equate to 30,000 visits to my payday loan site per month.

If 1% of my visitors apply and are accepted for a loan, that's 300 in total.

300 x £15 commission = £4500 per month.

The banner will cost me £1000 per month, so an overall monthly profit of £3500.

Is it really that simple, or have I missed something?

Thanks

**scriptmonkey** · 17-01-12

A few things to consider:

Is that 3M UVs or 3M hits/pageloads?

Is your banner being displayed 100% of the time or in rotation with other ads?

Is £15 commission the best you can do?

What is the average conversion rate for payday loan merchants?

**opensesame** · 17-01-12

I cant see that CTR and Conversion rate being right.

Especially the Conversion, try 0.something instead. If the site thought they could make 300% profit from the ad space they would do it themselves.

**D4N** · 17-01-12

Originally Posted by opensesame

I cant see that CTR and Conversion rate being right.

Especially the Conversion, try 0.something instead. If the site thought they could make 300% profit from the ad space they would do it themselves.

I agree, try and plan for the worse case scinario.

**aotagain** · 17-01-12

Rather than spend £1000 a month, can't you spend on PPC for a few long tail specific, accurate searches and see if your site converts first ?

**allthediscounts** · 17-01-12

Sounds a great opportunity, but be wary of inflated figures.

Don't be put off asking them for evidence of their stats for the last few months and the distribution amongst qualifying advertisers.

Maybe could also offer some kind of trial (half the clicks for half the money), or give you some guarantee for the first month. If they're so sure of their figures they'll have no issues working with you to get you on board.

**allthediscounts** · 17-01-12

Anyway, where's a student get £1000 from

**opensesame** · 17-01-12

30,000 visits at £1000 is about 3p a visitor, that's pretty good if you ask me.

**Coull1** · 17-01-12

It may be an obvious one. If I were you I would ask for a screen shot of the ad placement they are giving you. It may be bellow the fold and rarely seen even tho it would count as an impression. The figures they are giving you are most likely an average CTR.

This way you can challenge them, come the end of your first month, as to why your ad has or has not got the stats you were promised/hoped for.

3,000,000 page views a month is great. But not if only a tiny proportion will actually SEE your ad as it's placed far down the page.

Above the fold or close to is what you should go for. Close to the fold could get you a greatly reduced rate.

**mrh** · 17-01-12

So whats this site with 3 million visitors a month?

**student1379** · 17-01-12

Cheers for the advice. The site was Net Mums, but they've just told me they don't accept adverts for Pay Day Loan companies anymore. I've got a few other sites in mind with similar UV's and advertising rates.

I'm looking at banner advertising rather than PPC as it seems a lot cheaper and far less competition.

**-Kammy-** · 17-01-12

Be cautious, and test things out...

However, you may be onto something. Avoid some of the negativity on this thread and go for it :-)

**Ayman** · 18-01-12

Hi There

I would also look into the commission you would be earning and check out different program's as you will find providers out there that will give you more than £15.00 per accept, we have our own affiliate network that deals in payday, maybe worth you checking it out for comparison purposes.

All the best!

**nicksthename** · 18-01-12

1% CTR would be VERY high for banner advertising such a service on a website which is within a different niche. I don't think you would have got anywhere near that. More like 0.1% or lower.

**student1379** · 18-01-12

Thanks again for the advice. It's reassuring to know I've got a few 'experts' here if needed.

I've heard it's impossible to get a look in with PPC on Google with Pay Day Loans as there's so much competition - is this not the case?

I've tried to research what the average commission might be from a few Pay Day lenders, but they seem quite cagey with that sort of info.