Conversion Creep

If you have been doing affiliate stuff for long enough you have probably seen a phenomenon I call ‘conversion creep’. Basically it is the gradual decrease in the number of conversions over time. It’s important to note, I’m saying the number of conversions, not conversion rate. Why does this happen? Well in scientific terms, you can relate it to the second law of thermodynamics, whereas in a closed system, unless acted on by another force any system will increase in entropy. In layman’s terms that means: if you don’t get off your lazy ass and work on your campaigns occasionally, you will lose money.

So what are some sources of conversion creep?

• Loss of keywords: This is the main problem. In Google they go inactive, in Yahoo the are removed, and in MSN you get the annoying emails. All these need to be acted on, because you are losing valuable keyword real estate all the time.
• Landing page leaks: Once you have a landing page running, things can pop up over time that you wouldn’t expect. Php/sql errors can happen, hyperlinks can stop working, and redirects can fail. It’s a good idea to check your landing pages often as well as your server logs for errors that could be costing you conversions.
• Ad fatigue: This one may be a small factor because you would think that searchers for a specific term are always new people, but that’s not always true. If you shake things up a bit by changing ad copy you can often bump up conversions that have slipped off.

Running a PPC to affiliate campaign is definitely NOT a set and forget system, like some people seem to think. You may get lucky right off the bat, but it takes constant work and tweaking to stay successful.