Do traffic and sales generally correlate?

karomesis · 2006-04-28, 08:47 PM

In an adult market, does the correlation of traffic to sales generally occur across the board? I know blogs convert differently than TGP's or LL, but have you guys experienced a correlation?

Let's say you submit to TGP's and recieve 500k visitors to your galleries a day and you make 5 sales a day consistently off that, would it be safe to say that 1 mil visitors equate to 10 sales? And likewise with a blog, let's say you recieve 1500 visitors a day and make 2 sales consistently, would it also be safe to say that with 3000 visitors a day you make 4 sales?

I know there are too many variables with niches, bookmarked, or unique ect, I'm just asking in a VERY general sense.

Is traffic really king?

Or is my thinking too simplisitc in this particular market?

RawAlex · 2006-04-28, 08:59 PM

Increases in traffic cannot be directly connected to sales because it depends on where that additional traffic is from.

I would take 100 targetted SE hits extra over 1000 TGP hits.

Increasing volume dramatically, almost regardless of the source, will bring you some additional sales, either directly as buyers, or indirectly as you trade that traffic with other sites that send other surfers back to you. It isn't clear that the increase in traffic by itself made the sales, but it could lubricate the wheels to make them happen.

If you are getting mostly SE traffic to a page (say 500 hits per day, 1 sale) and suddenly get it listed on the hun, well, you can't take the hun's traffic and figure that it will convert at 1 in 500. The hun has tons and tons of traffic, but not as many buyers in the mix on ratio.

Source is so important.

Alex

karomesis · 2006-04-28, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Increases in traffic cannot be directly connected to sales because it depends on where that additional traffic is from.

Yes, of course, but with a particular source of your traffic are your projections "roughly" accurate? In its respective market segment? If you knew that your blog recieved the majority of the uniques from SE or other filtered blog traffic would that assist you in consistenetly getting a correlation between traffic and sales?

And would you say that bookmarkers provide assistance in determining the correlation itself? Is bookmarked traffic more reliable for projecting sales figures across the board?

tickler · 2006-04-28, 11:40 PM

Keep in mind that it's probably fresh surfers that are creating the sales. That is one reason that SE traffic out performs TGP traffic. The surfer probably hasn't learned yet that they can go forums/groups and download terrabytes of full length porn DVD movies from the masive file sharing places for free.

SirMoby · 2006-04-29, 08:23 AM

It's a good question that's very simple and direct but the answer is complicated.

Some correlations can be seen between traffic and sales but it's rarely a 1:1 ratio since so many factors are involved. Let’s say that you get traffic from targeted blog trades. Now you have to think about where your trading partners are getting traffic and what ads they’re putting in front of surfers. If they’re all using the same ads and trading with the same partners, which is pretty common in the same targeted niche, then how will that effect surfer response to your ads?

Even SE traffic varies a great deal. If you get traffic from 1 key phrase that happens to match your ads perfectly then you can probably estimate a 1:1 ratio and be close to an accurate projection. But if you get additional traffic from other key phrases it’s difficult to say exactly how those surfers looking for something slightly different will respond.

I don’t agree at all that sales are only made from fresh surfers. About ¾ of the emails I get from members appear to be veterans. Sites with a lot of bookmarkers seem to have better ratios then sites that don’t so if you provide a savvy surfer with the right product they will come back and buy from you again.

Ramster · 2006-04-29, 08:34 AM

If you are getting 500K in hits a day from TGP listings and that number goes up to 1million then yes sales SHOULD increase. But as already said it depends on the traffic. If the new traffic is from a chinese tgp then you're out of luck. If it is niche then you might make more sales per ratio.

Bottom line is........get as much traffic as you can!!!

ynuahayt · 2006-04-29, 03:09 PM

Adding to what others have said this definitely does not hold true for TGPs. Most thumb preview based TGPs can send way more traffic your way than text ones but almost everyone I know (including myself!) would rather submit to text TGPs because generally their traffic converts better. There are many different qualities of TGP traffic, it pretty much varies from TGP to TGP so no correlation here at all imo.

Halfdeck · 2006-04-29, 05:53 PM

Traffic is like gas in Nascar. Without it you can't race, but having gas in the tank won't guarantee a win.

Say you get 20k uniques/day to xyz.com. The site averages 10% CTR and converts at 1:600 over a two months period, which translates to about 3 sales a day.

Two months fly by: traffic stays at 20k/day, but you bump up CTR to 20% and chisel ratio down to 1:200. Now you're averaging 20 sales a day at the same traffic level.

Two more months in the books - You boost daily uniques to 80k/day, but CTR recedes to 5% and ratio plummets to 1:1500. Your increase in traffic translates to a loss of 18 sales a day.

Now, if you tweak your site, pump up CTR to 25% and get ratio back to 1:200 (that would rock, wouldn' it?), you might just turn that 2 sales a day into 100 sales a day.

karomesis · 2006-04-30, 12:41 AM

While I'm more of a Lemans man myself, that was an interesting analogy Halfdeck.

So the variations can result from the pit stops along the way.

The sales tecnique, and CTR are your pit crew.

Is it normal to experience such dramatic changes in the timeframe you gave?

AdultSeriesCash · 2006-05-10, 07:23 PM

Great answers above!

I would just like to comment that more traffic is not always better:

I run a program, and have had a few affiliates that sent MASSIVE amounts of junk traffic. And junk traffic is just that, no matter how much of it you have. I even had to upgrade our hosting account to accomodate for the huge amount of burned bandwidth.

As stated above, geographic and language targeting are key. Niche, clicked, etc. are also very important.

Good traffic is gold, and with it, you can more easily determine expectations.

2006-04-28, 08:47 PM	#1
karomesis Are you sure this is the Sci-Fi Convention? It's full of nerds! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: pepperell,Massachusetts. Posts: 264	Do traffic and sales generally correlate? In an adult market, does the correlation of traffic to sales generally occur across the board? I know blogs convert differently than TGP's or LL, but have you guys experienced a correlation? Let's say you submit to TGP's and recieve 500k visitors to your galleries a day and you make 5 sales a day consistently off that, would it be safe to say that 1 mil visitors equate to 10 sales? And likewise with a blog, let's say you recieve 1500 visitors a day and make 2 sales consistently, would it also be safe to say that with 3000 visitors a day you make 4 sales? I know there are too many variables with niches, bookmarked, or unique ect, I'm just asking in a VERY general sense. Is traffic really king? Or is my thinking too simplisitc in this particular market?

2006-04-28, 11:40 PM	#4
tickler If there is nobody out there, that's a lot of real estate going to waste! Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 2,177	Keep in mind that it's probably fresh surfers that are creating the sales. That is one reason that SE traffic out performs TGP traffic. The surfer probably hasn't learned yet that they can go forums/groups and download terrabytes of full length porn DVD movies from the masive file sharing places for free. __________________ Latina Twins, Solo, NN, Hardcore Latin Teen Cash

2006-04-29, 08:34 AM	#6
Ramster Life is good Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 11,693	If you are getting 500K in hits a day from TGP listings and that number goes up to 1million then yes sales SHOULD increase. But as already said it depends on the traffic. If the new traffic is from a chinese tgp then you're out of luck. If it is niche then you might make more sales per ratio. Bottom line is........get as much traffic as you can!!! __________________ Pornstar Legends \| Live Cam Model Shows \| Hungarian Girls Skype: robmurray999

2006-04-29, 03:09 PM	#7
ynuahayt My wife is not a doobie to be passed around! On our wedding day I promised to bogart her for life! Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 274	Adding to what others have said this definitely does not hold true for TGPs. Most thumb preview based TGPs can send way more traffic your way than text ones but almost everyone I know (including myself!) would rather submit to text TGPs because generally their traffic converts better. There are many different qualities of TGP traffic, it pretty much varies from TGP to TGP so no correlation here at all imo. __________________ Free Blog/Free Site Traffic @ yLovesPorn.com

2006-04-29, 05:53 PM	#8
Halfdeck You can now put whatever you want in this space :) Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: New Haven, CT Posts: 985	Traffic is like gas in Nascar. Without it you can't race, but having gas in the tank won't guarantee a win. Say you get 20k uniques/day to xyz.com. The site averages 10% CTR and converts at 1:600 over a two months period, which translates to about 3 sales a day. Two months fly by: traffic stays at 20k/day, but you bump up CTR to 20% and chisel ratio down to 1:200. Now you're averaging 20 sales a day at the same traffic level. Two more months in the books - You boost daily uniques to 80k/day, but CTR recedes to 5% and ratio plummets to 1:1500. Your increase in traffic translates to a loss of 18 sales a day. Now, if you tweak your site, pump up CTR to 25% and get ratio back to 1:200 (that would rock, wouldn' it?), you might just turn that 2 sales a day into 100 sales a day. __________________ Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.

2006-04-28, 08:59 PM	#2
RawAlex Took the hint. Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,597	Increases in traffic cannot be directly connected to sales because it depends on where that additional traffic is from. I would take 100 targetted SE hits extra over 1000 TGP hits. Increasing volume dramatically, almost regardless of the source, will bring you some additional sales, either directly as buyers, or indirectly as you trade that traffic with other sites that send other surfers back to you. It isn't clear that the increase in traffic by itself made the sales, but it could lubricate the wheels to make them happen. If you are getting mostly SE traffic to a page (say 500 hits per day, 1 sale) and suddenly get it listed on the hun, well, you can't take the hun's traffic and figure that it will convert at 1 in 500. The hun has tons and tons of traffic, but not as many buyers in the mix on ratio. Source is so important. Alex

2006-04-29, 08:23 AM	#5
SirMoby Jim? I heard he's a dirty pornographer. Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 2,706	It's a good question that's very simple and direct but the answer is complicated. Some correlations can be seen between traffic and sales but it's rarely a 1:1 ratio since so many factors are involved. Let’s say that you get traffic from targeted blog trades. Now you have to think about where your trading partners are getting traffic and what ads they’re putting in front of surfers. If they’re all using the same ads and trading with the same partners, which is pretty common in the same targeted niche, then how will that effect surfer response to your ads? Even SE traffic varies a great deal. If you get traffic from 1 key phrase that happens to match your ads perfectly then you can probably estimate a 1:1 ratio and be close to an accurate projection. But if you get additional traffic from other key phrases it’s difficult to say exactly how those surfers looking for something slightly different will respond. I don’t agree at all that sales are only made from fresh surfers. About ¾ of the emails I get from members appear to be veterans. Sites with a lot of bookmarkers seem to have better ratios then sites that don’t so if you provide a savvy surfer with the right product they will come back and buy from you again.

2006-04-30, 12:41 AM	#9
karomesis Are you sure this is the Sci-Fi Convention? It's full of nerds! Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: pepperell,Massachusetts. Posts: 264	While I'm more of a Lemans man myself, that was an interesting analogy Halfdeck. So the variations can result from the pit stops along the way. The sales tecnique, and CTR are your pit crew. Is it normal to experience such dramatic changes in the timeframe you gave?

2006-05-10, 07:23 PM	#10
AdultSeriesCash Rock stars ... is there anything they don't know? Join Date: May 2006 Location: 34 fantasyland place Posts: 14	Great answers above! I would just like to comment that more traffic is not always better: I run a program, and have had a few affiliates that sent MASSIVE amounts of junk traffic. And junk traffic is just that, no matter how much of it you have. I even had to upgrade our hosting account to accomodate for the huge amount of burned bandwidth. As stated above, geographic and language targeting are key. Niche, clicked, etc. are also very important. Good traffic is gold, and with it, you can more easily determine expectations.