Menu

• Dictionary
• Hot Shots

Directory

• Sponsors
• Billing Options
• Content Providers
• Web Hosting
• Traffic Counters
• Website Designers
• Resource Sites

Well if that was the weekend then maybe I missed something because Steve and I didn't seem to do much relaxing. Instead we cleaned and did some of the preparation we've got to do for Christmas. We're expecting about 30 people here for Christmas lunch and at least 10 of those will be staying over for a couple of nights so there's a lot of stuff to get done just so that we're ready.

We also spent some time looking at the value of some of the work we have been doing for clients. It's interesting to see how our charges stack up against the value that our work brings to our clients. Of course sometimes it can be hard to give a client a clear picture of how valuable their website is if its aim is to generate leads and our customer can't convert the lead when they're generated.

In many ways that's a problem that we face when we're selling memberships to our sponsors' sites here in adult. We can do a great job of getting the surfer hot and horny and ready to buy a membership and then see it all go cold when they get over to the sponsor's site simply because that site can't close the sale.

The same goes for affiliate sales in mainstream and it can be very disappointing to watch all that traffic vaporize when it lands on the sponsor's sites. That's why it's important to look carefully at more than just the dollar amount on the check from each sponsor - despite what others may say. You might be getting some nice checks from them but might those checks be even nicer if you were sending the same traffic to a better-converting sponsor?

Another aspect of your business that you need to be looking at is just how much you are really making. Sometimes you can seem to be making a lot of money when the fact is that you may have been making more when you were back working in your day job.

For example 10 sales a day sounds like a hell of a lot when you're just starting out but what if you're spending 12 or 15 hours a day in front of your computer to make those 10 sales? The check at the end of the month will look wonderful but divide it by the number of hours you have had to work to make that money and then decide if it was really worth it.

Of course the longer you stay in this business the more you will make for each hour of work ... experience and a long-tail of old sites that still generate sales will help you ... but that shouldn't be enough for you. You might also think that the relatively low pay for each hour you put in is offset by the fact that you're now working for yourself ... but that shouldn't be enough for you either.

And the fact is that there will come a time when it simply won't be enough for you. The longer you stick at it the closer you will get to the point where a meager hourly income won't be enough compensation for all that hard work even though you are your own boss.

So no matter how good those sponsor checks are looking right now ... and even into the future ... don't be satisfied with them. Measure your income against the amount of time you're putting in to make that income and see just how little you are earning. And then develop a hunger to make those long hours worthwhile.

Look at every way you can possibly think of or find to work smarter rather than harder. Watch your traffic as though each hit was a gold coin and become miserly with it. Every single sale you make is more money in your pocket so become more focused on getting each and every surfer who hits your site interested in seeing what your sponsor has to offer.

Make sure that you're sending those hits to sponsors who really know how to convert your traffic into sales and don't listen to the lame excuses your sponsors will want to feed you about unproductive traffic. Sure there's going to be a percentage of the traffic you send who simply won't buy from your sponsor but make sure that you're using sponsors who are really converting.

Don't be afraid to move your traffic to other sponsors if you're not happy with the conversion ratios and don't feel that you have an obligation to keep on feeding traffic to sponsors that have stopped converting. The fact is that nearly every sponsor out there would burn you without a second thought if they thought it was worth their while to do so.

Don't think in terms of loyalty because loyalty to sponsors who can't convert will only put you right back with those who are working for a worse hourly rate than you would get flipping burgers. And never be satisfied till you're working less hours for a lot more money than you're getting now.