What percent of surfers type in url?

[Vink]

What percent of surfers type in the url to the paysites we promote? As affiliates we do alot of branding. Out of the millions of page views we get with sponsors' banners there must be some that don't click the link but buy a membership.
What's your take on this? What do you base it on?

[tickler]

That is exactly why sponsors stamp their URL all over banners and content.

[Linkster]

There is a good percentage (I dont know exactly the number but I would venture a guess around 25% if the paysite is well known) however that is why so many people also vie for the top spots in Google for the paysite name - a heck of a lot of people type in the part of the paysite name they remember into google - instead of the whole url in their browser :)

[Halfdeck]

I imagine more than a few surfers will type in the url instead of clicking on links if they don't trust your site and the link in the status bar is a mile and a half long or if it says something dubious like "free porn" on mouseover.

Also, if the link has ref codes at the end, some people have a tendency to just cut and paste the main domain url into their browsers instead of clicking the link.

[SirMoby]

I think the number is pretty high. If you go to Overture's inventory page, which gives some number based on the amount a key phrase is typed into certain search engines you'll see that some pay sites rate very highly.

If an exact pay site names shows up in search results I'm sure a lot of surfers type them in by name. I can't guess the percentage but I bet it's plenty.

[Vink]

So basicaly, sponsors don't even have to screw affiliates themselves. The surfer does the screwing for them.

[MadMax]

So basicaly, sponsors don't even have to screw affiliates themselves. The surfer does the screwing for them.

That's one way to look at it, but if you promote PPS all those typein sales are factored in to what the sponsor can afford to pay PPS, even when the $1.95 trial surfers never convert. :)

[Greenguy]

How many times have you had a buddy come up to you in a bar, tell you that he saw this awesome website & gave you the URL of http://refer.ccbill.com/yada-yada-yada/

There's a lot of them typing them in due to word of mouth or stolen images, but I think that most of the surfers will click a link instead of typing the URL :)

[Agent]

I'm guilty of typing in URIs that I've seen on banner adverts myself. Anytime I see a banner on a site I'm not familiar with (don't worry GG&J, I'm more than happy to click your banners ;) ) I rarely give them a click.

It's mostly because I've been conditioned to hate flashy banners so I don't feel I should give people who annoy me any revenue, even though I'm reading their site for free. I can't help it.

Sites run by opinionated pricks usually don't get my clicks because at one time or another they've pissed me off with their opinion. I read a lot of video game websites (even though I haven't played video games in years |huh) and they're the worst.

Where they fail is making me a loyal reader.

[Vink]

To answer my own question.
I started my own paysite 3 months ago, I promote it like an affiliate with a NATS code in all my links. I have no affiliates it's all traffic I send. Here is what I found so far.
13.82% of the revenue generated is from type in traffic. That's sign ups and rebills from those sign ups.
13.07% of my sign ups are type in traffic.
Don't know if this is typical or not. Just thought I'd share some info.

[GenXer]

That is exactly why sponsors stamp their URL all over banners and content.
Yep and I never have never used a banner with the URL stamped on there. Never have, and never will. |thumb