New Member Saying Hello

Just wanted to say Hello to everyone here.  My name is Phyllis and I own an internet directory.  I joined in hopes of learning some valuable lessons from some of you, so that I may not have to repeat those mistakes myself.  I'm also wanting to get more ideas on how to be successful with my directory.   I'm always open to new ideas, and if anyone would like a listing all you have to do is ask!   One more link somewhere can't hurt!  :)

Looking forward to meeting all of you!

Phyllis

Hi Phyllis,

A warm welcome to the community :o) How interesting that you're running an internet directory - can you post a link so we can check it out?

... people are very generous with their advice and suggestions around here, so I'm sure you'll get some good food-for-thought!

Cheers,

Niki

Hey Niki,

Thanks for the warm welcome.  I'd love to share my directory with anyone interested!  There is a link at the top of the main page to a blog I recently started that explains more about Surfalink.  Surfalink has been out in cyberspace since 1999.  I originally started it off as a hobby, keeping my favorites list online and playing around with affiliate links.  Of course once it started to make money is when my hobby turned into a full time job.  This hobby has now taken over my life.  I never thought I'd be so grateful for that!  

My goal for Surfalink is to create enough income to be financially independent the rest of my life.  Therefore, useful ideas, suggestions and comments are always welcome!    :)

Thanks,

Phyllis

 I just thought to let you know.  I added links on several pages in Surfalink to Inspired Entrepreneur.   I do remember off the top of my head that http://www.surfalink.com/employment.htm is one of the pages it's listed on.  I remember adding both a text and adbox for the ecourse.  If there is anything wrong with the linkage, please let me know.

Hi Phyllis

Welcome on board - what you are doing looks interesting - let me know if I can help with anything

Best wishes

Nick

Hey Nick,

Thank you.  Any feedback is always welcome, as are suggestions for new links.  Right now with Surfalink I'm just not sure which route to take, and where to best focus my attentions.  As a one woman team, my main problems right now are prioritizing what things need to be done, and in what order, ex posting new links, advertising, finding advertisers, etc..

Sometimes I feel like I'm just going in circles!  At that point, I find myself looking for others online with experience to learn from.  I'm really looking to avoid wasting time with trial and error as in the past, and start focusing on things that are working for others!  Often, I find myself needing to stop and analyze the situation, regroup and try a new direction. 

I was told by one marketer I need to change my background on my site to white or a lighter color.  I may be beating my head against the wall, but the idea of the site being different was part of my intent.  Do you have any feedback on the background color comment?

Phyllis

Hi Phyllis,

I've never run an online directory before - but might beable to give you some general feedback...

First of all, I do agree that the background colour is not ideal. There's some good research to suggest that black text on a white background is the best combination of colours for readability (and out performs white text on a black background). This means that people are more likely to stay on your website for longer - and click more affiliate links - so you'll make more money.

... I think this is the reason why you rarely (never?) see major websites opting for white on black.

Looking at Surfalink - there're plenty of design issues you could address -

• The design / graphics seem very dated (it looks like on old BBS).
• There's a gigantic gap at the top of many pages - this is your prime real estate.
• The flashing background is distracting.
• Page layout is inconsistent.

... but - having said that - if you're making good money with the site as it is right now, I think you could make even more if you updated the design.

I'd begin by making a shortlist of your major competitors (e.g. http://botw.org?), and then reverse engineering the best elements of their designs. I could probably help you to do this... There'd a way to arrive at a design that's functional without sacrificing the individuality of the site. 

... also, how does your business currently make money? What's the split between advertising revenue, affiliate commissions and paid inclusion? I think there's probably much you could do in terms of your business model...

Hope this helps,

Niki

Hey Niki,

Thank you for the feedback.  I'm digging on the page with the color results you gave.  Interesting!  I may just have to change it up a bit.  Thank God for CSS!  Through the years I've experimented with various colors, but have yet to find anything I really like.  Now that traffic is up a bit, it may be worth really doing something about now, whether I like the colors or not!

The gap at the top of the pages, the prime real estate you referred to, is where I was thinking of offering paid ads.  What I've been doing in the meantime, is just giving programs that have been paying off, extra advertisements on some of the pages there.  Any ideas or feedback on that one?

I've been using Google Analytics for the last month or so to try and get a better feel for where my traffic is.  Right now, I know it's just a trend happening at the moment, as the majority of revenue I'm making is coming in from credit cards.  I know this wont' last, although I sure hope it does! As far as for affiliate links, I've used Linkshare and CJ for years, neither producing anything for me but eventual deal links where advertisers come and go.  So far ShareResults is an affiliate I've just started working with, but am already seeing traffic from them whereas I see none from LS or CJ.  I've seem people say they have made money using those 2 companies, but neither of them have impressed me at all, especially LinkShare!

Phyllis

Hey Phyllis,

I think the question of which advertisements to show, and when, is a bit of a balancing act between a number of factors. Basically, all you really care about as a media owner is your revenue per page impression and your number of page impressions - so your looking for a setup that maximises both...

... the first thing is to strike a balance in terms of the number of advertisements you show per page. Adding more will increase your revenue per page impression - up to a point - but  if your website gets too ad-heavy you'll loose page impressions (bounce rate will increase, time on site will decrease, and repeat visits will decrease, if you get too greedy).

... secondly you can think about where your ads are positioned and what dimensions to use. There will be lots of good research out there on the best places to position adverts and what sizes to use. I know that Google Adsense fanatics measure this to the nth degree. I guess your goal here is to lift the Click Through Rate (CTR) of each ad-position as high as you can for affiliate banners, but interestingly, the CTR doesn't impact your bottom-line directly for advertising you sell.

... thirdly you have the question of which adverts to show. Again, the aim would be to maximise your revenue per impression for any given advertising space. If you, say, sell your advertising space on a CPM (cost per 1000 impressions basis), and show affiliate banners, this is fairly easy to figure out (of course, these are just two options, there are others)...

... revenue per impression for advertising you sell on a CPM basis would = cost of the advert / 1000. Revenue per impression for affiliate banners would = revenue received / total page impressions. You could solve this problem by cycling your banners (show them alternately), then compare the results (£ / impression), and show the winning adverts. Again, your goal will be to charge the highest CPM you can get for your inventory.

This is basically an ad-serving problem, and you can get software to help you with this (for example OpenX - which a free adserver)

Very interesting that most of your profit is coming from credit card banners - maybe you could consider setting up a website that keeps people abreast of the best deals on credit? Then you could collect leads, and build a mailing list, which is another nice tangible asset to own...

Cheers,

Niki

Hey Niki,

Wow!  Thanks for all of the information.  It will definitely take a few times of reading and re-reading to absorb it all for sure.

Up until this point, all of my attentions have been focused on site structure, finding better affiliates, adding links, educating myself on keywords and SEO, etc..   So far the advertising has just been an idea that I've recently contemplated.   Looking at your paragraph on .... revenue per impression... my homework pile just got tons higher!!   I know very little about ad-serving!   This should be interesting!

I think it's pretty cool that my revenue is coming from credit cards, since most places I have visited say to RUN FAST from credit card affiliates as there is too much competition and no money.   I'm not sure what I'm doing right, but again this morning I checked and my commissions for June and July are up!  If I could find a couple more affiliates who are actually as good as this one I'd be one happy lady!

I did take the sparkles off the website, but I'm having a really hard time taking down the black bg. I think for now I'm just going to work with it.  I just don't want my site looking like everyone elses generic white background.  I'll just have to take my chances on that one and may be my own worst enemy.  I guess time will tell!

Thanks for all of the information.  I definitely need to get busy!

Phyllis