Sad, sad CTR

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Sad, sad CTR

MadMax101

10:52 am on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

I'm running a site with personally made flash games. The content is unique cause the games aren't anywhere else, so I get almost all of my traffic from links to me on blogs, daily link sites, personal sites and such - ranging between 4k to 20k page impressions at the moment. The ads are targeted pretty well as i see it - other game sites, flash tutorials etc , but the CTR is terrible - till yesterday I was using an ad blending look which had around 0.5% - now changed it to a more constrasting one but early on it looks to have an even worse effect - I'm using a 728x90 whatsitcalled above the content.

Reading the forum i get depressed by ppl saying they got 5% CTR let alone 60!

Help me.

mike73

11:12 am on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

Me too. I rarely break 1%.

SEO2Go

11:19 am on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

Sticky me your website and I'll take a look, if you want. I have done a lot of experimenting over the years, so maybe I can give you some suggestions.

trillianjedi

11:22 am on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

Those type of sites (Flash, images, video etc) traditionally experience a pretty low CTR. Users are there to watch something or play a game, they're not there to read about it.

Try using the traffic and links you have to build additional aspects to the site containing real content - tutorials etc.

That's where you'll find your ad conversion at it's highest.

andrewshim

2:04 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

ditto to what trillianjedi said.

if I land at a flash games site, I'm there to play games and if I click on an ad, it's an accident... sorry to be so brutally honest...

i wish you well ;)

fearlessrick

2:17 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

I hate to chime in as a potential game basher (I once had to destroy a floppy because I was addicted to the game on it), but games are for wasting time, whereas content "usually" gets visitors looking for infomation. When those surfers get to the content, they may see an ad offering similar or more info and click.

I suppose game players would click on ads for more games, but if your games are good, why would they leave?

Content is KING, and it's good to be king.

mrSEman

2:37 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

You'd probably get a better CTR with Punch the Monkey, Free Ipod or Press the Fart Button type ads on a Game site.

MadMax101

6:00 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

I see, so it doesn't pay to have the content the people are looking for, but instead lure them with the illusion that you do, while making sure it ends up in the ads.

[edited by: MadMax101 at 6:00 pm (utc) on Oct. 3, 2006]

mrSEman

6:23 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

You'll get paid with traffic if people are enjoying the games you offer. It's just that you will have a much lower CTR. If you have the traffic, I would give CPM ads a try.

Pengi

8:24 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

The poor CTR could well be a feature of your site and why people visit it.
People click on Ads if they are looking to buy. It sounds as though visitors to your site are looking to be entertained.

BillyS

8:29 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

>>I see, so it doesn't pay to have the content the people are looking for, but instead lure them with the illusion that you do, while making sure it ends up in the ads.

I've thought about that one too. Right now we're going through over 1,000 articles and making them more "informative." That is, trying to more thoroughly answer the reader's possible questions.

Will it result in lower CRTs? Probably. Will it result in a better website? Definately. Will we get more traffic to make up the difference? Hopefully.

koan

9:34 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

0.5% is normal for certain topics (I have one high traffic web site with that kind of performance, I made peace with it)... flash games would seem to fit in that bracket... as for 60% CTR, don't compare yourself to that... I am rather skeptical about the quality of that web site and its long term potential success. That, or the topic really has great advertisers ready to attract people that are looking exactly for what they're offering.

andrewshim

10:24 pm on Oct 3, 2006 (gmt 0)

I see, so it doesn't pay to have the content the people are looking for, but instead lure them with the illusion that you do, while making sure it ends up in the ads.

Someone once told me that in the long-run, this is going to hurt you because your site won't be recognized for in-depth, quality content BUT....

My site uses exactly the same principle simply because I am NOT an expert by far in any topic. So I do my research and give a short synopsis of whatever topic it is I'm writing about, leading my visitors to visit the ads (which are always on target for my site).

Sad, sad CTR

MadMax101

mike73

SEO2Go

trillianjedi

andrewshim

fearlessrick

mrSEman

MadMax101

mrSEman

Pengi

BillyS

koan

andrewshim

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