The Converting Visitors to Revenue Interview Series :: Kris Jones, Pepperjam

I’m super-pleased to add Kris Jones’ thoughts to my series on converting visitors to revenue. Kris is probably one of the most talented affiliate marketers I know, once being a super-affiliate himself, and today is at the helm of the fastest growing internet marketing agency on the planet. He’s also recently launched the Pepperjam Network, a fantastic new affiliate network with an impressive roster of advertisers (and if you haven’t joined already, you should, and it’s free!).

I also met Kris last year while at Elite Retreat - his breadth of knowledge is really incredible, and he’s also coming out with a book soon as well!

Kris, at Elite Retreat, I remember you being very clear on the fact that there was no one factor that got traffic to convert into affiliate sales, and that you always tested a variety of variables to find the right conversion “formula”. What are the most important variables that you change in that testing phase?

Earnings-per-click or EPC is one of the more important factors to consider when attempting to evaluate profitability, especially for affiliates using pay-per-click advertising. For instance, if your EPC for a particular affiliate program is 36 cents and your average cost-per-click (CPC) is 40 cents, you are losing roughly 4 cents on every click you purchase. On the other hand, if your EPC is 36 cents and your average CPC is 20 cents, you are making on average 16 cents everytime you generate a click (not bad!). If your EPC is lower than your average CPC on a particular campaign then you should lower your CPC; if your EPC is great than your CPC you may consider increasing your CPC so that you can generate higher volume. There are many large search marketing affiliates that use this simple formula to make a lot of money with affiliate marketing.

Another important factor when evaluating Web site performance is Web analytics. In short, Web analytics programs like Google Analytics - www.google.com/analytics - are free and allow you to better understand the sources of traffic to your Web site. This information is very important to affiliate marketers since Web analytics programs provide data on the specific kinds of traffic being generated across multiple sources ( i.e., organic search-engine traffic, pay-per-click traffic, ad networks, traffic from other Web sites, etc.).

How do you choose which products to spend the most time on in this testing process?

Most of the most successful affiliates on Pepperjam Network test offers based on seasonality. For instance, with Valentine’s Day coming up there are a number of offers that will convert especially well, including flowers, dating Web sites, gourmet food / chocolate / candy sites, day spas, etc. The key is to get your campaign ready to go with enough time to take advantage of early shoppers and then have enough staying power to make profits when many other marketers are vying for seasonal sales.

Another suggestion is to test offers that peak based on something that is happening in the world right now. For instance, American Idol just started up again recently (it was hilarious!). Now is the time to launch a blog or Web site talking about the show, including the contestants, the judges, and what you like and dislike about American Idol. On your Web site you can monetize your Web traffic by promoting American Idol ringtones, apparel, etc. In short, playing seasonality and “what’s hot” is a great way to test the affiliate marketing space. Your imagination is the only limit to your success as an affiliate marketer.

If you were a blogger with an excellently written article/review with affiliate links in the post, how would you go about promoting that post?

First, I would make sure the post is search-engine optimized. For instance, make sure your title includes the “target” keyword(s) you would like to rank for. Your exact target keywords should also be used in the post. Second, you may also want to have others link back to your post with the anchor text (aka, target keywords) you want the post to rank for. You can do this by asking other blogger friends to link back or consider pay per post networks such as PayPerPost.com or ReviewMe. Thirdly, another idea is to supplement the natural traffic to the post with pay-per-click traffic from Google AdWords or Yahoo Search Marketing. Lastly, if you still want to purchase more traffic you can use networks such as Adbrite and Etology.com or send out a press release through PRWEB telling the world why your post rocks.

(From Wendy - Google doesn’t like you buying links, so be careful and do your due diligence on research before you decide to make a link purchase. But I do wholeheartedly recommend testing out pay per click traffic on your posts, which has worked well for me in the past. Kinda sad to see those two sentences together… makes me feel like Google is winning the war on squashing the competition paid links!)

More from this series:

Jim Kukral, The Daily Flip

Darren Rowse, ProBlogger

Rosalind Gardner, Net Profits Today

If you would like to request that I interview a particular person for this series, or want to be interviewed yourself, please email me with the details such as name, URL, and why you think this person (or you) would make a good addition to this series on Converting Visitors to Revenue.