Affiliate Marketing Part 2 - The right niche find

After reading the first article in the " affiliate marketing have explained "series, the fundamentals and vocabulary, I would like to go over the first important step.

The idea is to find the topic of your own affiliate website, generally referred to as a niche.

Because this definition of the niche is very important for the subsequent implementation of the affiliate website. Then the design of the site, the selection of affiliate programs, content, marketing, etc. based

Let's get out to find the right niche.

What is a niche?

To get straight to the point, there is not a generally accepted definition of a niche.

If you are looking to Google, you will find a wide variety of definitions. The one makes it on to the number of visitors, the other on the periphery of the subject, and the third to something else.

I define a niche like this, as well as Wikipedia does. It says something like: "A niche market in a part of a market that is not yet or insufficiently served by the competition."

Applied to the Internet, I would define it as follows: "A niche website includes a special topic, which is so far from other websites not operated or only inadequate."

Thus, from a niche market but one niche market is, we need a further condition. It must be economically profitable!

And so I would optimum affiliate niche defined as follows: "An optimal affiliate niche covers a topic that has relatively little competition, a lot of visitors and a lot of revenue potential."

Affiliate Niche find

To find a niche for affiliate website differs somewhat from finding a niche blog. This is simply because that affiliate site is managed as a rule, quite different from a blog.

While in the blog daily writes, an affiliate site is not maintained as regularly. Usually depends less lifeblood of a affiliate website, so that one can safely go to the slightly different niche selection.

Nevertheless, it is obviously not first seek to wrong issues where you know your self. This has the advantage that it is relatively simple and fast as well can create content.

But as you can see in my definition of an affiliate niche, especially three factors are important:competition , attendance and revenue potential

How can I investigate this?

Niche Research

Advertising

Here I will go through an example of the research affiliate issues. That's just my approach, which must by no means be the only one. If it goes on another, then I look forward to your comments

1. Theme Ideas
   First I gather my theme ideas. These can be things that interest me or that I'm stumbled as the internet. The ideas usually have in common is that I am interested in them and me as well as more or less well-versed. But now and then there are also themed ideas that are completely new to me.
   In addition, it is also worthwhile to look for trends that could fit for an affiliate site. In addition I have already written a detailed article: " Current trends find and use "
   So you can for example on eBay look very good, which is currently doing quite well and since it may be worthwhile to start an affiliate site.
2. Attendance
   Then I look at how many people are also interested in these topics. After all, a niche can not be too small, or you will indeed at position 1 on Google, but can still be found only 100 people per month to a.
   This can be done the " Google AdWords Keyword Tool to use. " Even Google Trends is quite useful, as you will also see seasonal fluctuations.
   Very interesting I find the new " Google keyword tool based on search queries . " The possibility that on the left side provides select categories and subcategories.
   So you can for example, in the category "Computer => Computer Accessories => Computer Cables" go and get a long list of keywords listed. This then is the number of searches per month, the strength of the AdWords competition and estimated cost per click.
   Is the number of visitors for a theme idea too large, then one should consider splitting up the subject again.
3. Competition
   , the strength of competition can be analyzed not as clear. Of course, you should check first if there are any websites or blogs that deal with the topic in question. This one can search in Google for the main keywords and analyze directories, such as Yahoo.
   How good is the competition, possible, eg with the Firefox plugin " SEO for Firefoxanalyze ". If you active the plugin, then the Google search result is supplemented by interesting information, such as Pagerank, Alexa value backlinks of different search engines, domain age, and other values.
   That just looks very good, whether the rather specialized niche sites, or more general, but for large sites are.
   Google Suggest, which is the automatic recommendation of Google when entering keywords is also a good opportunity to check out the competition. In addition, one comes so again on new niche ideas. Simply go to Google.de and enter something in the search box.
   In the ideal case, the competition is not very strong, no matter how specialized, as one himself intends. There are already very specialized websites on the subject, then you should change the subject, or at least the approach (instead of online role playing games such as online racing games)
4. Revenue potential
   The third important factor is the revenue potential. A niche may be ever so interesting, because if you can not make money, then that is uninteresting from affiliate perspective.
   To determine whether you can make money with a niche topic, you should visit as the affiliate networks and there look for the theme. Are there any affiliate programs that fit the theme own good?
   But the analysis of the AdSense prices is interesting. What is expected cost per click there for their own keywords?
   In addition, you should take a look at major online stores such as Amazon throw. Are there products that fit the niche topic?

The search for a suitable affiliate niche is thus based on the following key principles:

• Niche ideas find
• Visitor numbers sufficient?
• How strong is the competition?
• What can you earn in this topic?

Soft factors

In addition to this analysis, but one should not forget the soft factors in the search for an affiliate niche.

So it is worth most, friends and acquaintances to listen. They often talk about wants and needs, which can be implemented in any affiliate sites.

Because that's the most important. People have to have a need that they want to be satisfied by the purchase of a product (sale) or the details of contact (lead).

But the visitors existing websites and blogs often give clues as to what they would like you. So you can see by careful observation of the online and offline world needs and gaps in the market.

Thus, a gap in the market may simply be a lack of knowledge. So there are products that satisfy the corresponding requirements. Only the audience knows nothing about. With a special niche sites can to change that.

I already have a website / blog

Many readers of this series will probably already have a website or blog. They start not from the ground up with the search for a topic on.

Even if you are there already bound a little, it does not hurt to check in for the topic or topics of your website / blog to your affiliate suitability. Possibly. find so there is a matching additional issue, which can integrate it and very good for affiliate marketing is.

Conclusion

If you want to actually make affiliate marketing (and not just blogging, with a bit of affiliate marketing), then you should investigate the choice of the topic very carefully and find the optional ideas.

If you find issues where the three factors look very good (traffic, competition and revenue potential), then one has ever laid a very good foundation.

In the next part of the affiliate marketing series looking at the affiliate networks. I will show what these and what the advantages and disadvantages of these networks.

Read More

Affiliate Marketing Part 1 - Introduction

I use affiliate marketing now for some time in yourself and have learned a lot during that time. However, I am not an absolute affiliate marketing professional and will therefore not safely reveal all secrets, nor for any situation have the right answer.

But I will share my knowledge with you, and that will certainly help many of you like to earn money with affiliate programs.

Otherwise, the same motto as always, you never stop learning and you should always test, test, test.

Okay, enough of the preliminary apology and go.

[Click here for the summary page with all the articles of this affiliate marketing series ]

Introduction to Affiliate Marketing

For those who have not been involved in affiliate marketing, I would like to explain the concept behind it for now.

Basically, it is of course true that companies want their products and services to the man or the woman. This goes in completely different ways and usually you have to stir it well the word.After all, thousands of companies are trying to sell their products.

The Internet offers the opportunity to pursue a purchase process very closely and it is a new form of advertising incurred, the Affiliate Marketing.

By making a website or blog operator installs a specific product link to his site, he can get this commission when someone goes through this link in the respective shop, where they can buy something.

As an example, Amazon is mentioned. There you can sign up for free as an affiliate and generate categories or individual products in Amazon Store special links. I build you as a link with me, then I get a commission of a few percent when someone clicks on these links and then buys something from Amazon.

It sells itself as an affiliate nothing, but gives buyers (or prospective customers, but more on that later). The dealer

The course ensures that you can apply without any financial risk hundreds of products, and then collects commissions. But of course, the commission is as high as if you would sell the product itself.

Commission models

Advertising

The best known way to earn a commission is the "pay per sale". One builds eg a link to a product on Amazon in its website and someone clicks on that link and then buy this product from Amazon. I get 5% of the product price as well written as a commission.

But apart from the "pay per sale" There are a number of other payment models:

• Pay per sale
  is As I said, here paid a commission when I teach a client about my links to the merchant. Usually be enforced by a cookie that I also get the commission when it mediated the customer a little later with the store bought. (Usually 30-60 days after you click on the affiliate link)
• Pay per Click
  Similar to Google AdSense here you get a commission when someone clicks on an affiliate link. These rates, however, prices are usually quite low.
• Pay per Lead
  This type of remuneration is quite popular and is used eg for insurance. I'm already writing a commission good when someone on my affiliate link makes contact to the dealer or the insurance example. This type of commission is most often used for consultation-intensive products, because hardly anyone buys or ordered something immediately.
• Pay per SignUp
  This fee is, if for example someone has logged into an online game and has come through my affiliate link to it. The compensation is usually quite low even here, but again, it makes the ground.
• Pay per view
  is also the traditional billing per 1,000 banner displays it in affiliate marketing. However, this compensation model actually goes against the advantages which distinguish the affiliate marketing.
• Lifetime
  There are some affiliate programs that not once, but over a longer period to pay commissions. That is usually the case with dealers who sell subscriptions. As long as customers switched so the merchant has a subscription (eg, server rental) I get every month an amount X. It may be worth it if the customer referred term for merchant remain.

There are a few more obscure payment models, but in reality play little role.

Market Data

Affiliate marketing is basically taking place in 2 ways.

Either you work directly with the dealer, as it is for example the case of Amazon. You register directly on Amazon, where it can then generate the affiliate link and choose the ads.

Or you can use one of the many affiliate networks. These have been connected as an intermediary between merchants and Blog-/Website-Betreiber. Make the technique to measure sales, clicks etc. and settlement of accounts with affiliates ready.

This primarily use many small firms and traders affiliate networks and rely on no own. The Blog-/Website-Betreiber finds in this way hundreds of interesting affiliate marketer and everything is running an account. This is of course the time factor is not insignificant when you consider that you would have to log otherwise, as with Amazon, with each dealer separately and put all the different billing software etc.

The affiliate market is growing despite the economic crisis continues. The Online Marketing Group BVDW expected for 2009, a 15% increase in affiliate marketing to around 308 million euros. In order for the affiliate marketing is growing faster than the normal online advertising market (+10%), although the absolute volume far less.

And it is likely that in an economic recovery, the growth of affiliate marketing will continue to grow.

Who can benefit from affiliate marketing?

Naturally Afffiliate marketing not the best choice for everyone.

There are still many other ways to make money on the Internet . This example is part of thesale of advertising space , paid content , Google AdSense and many other sources of revenue.

Affiliate marketing has a lot of potential and if the needed traffic to a sufficient extent to let go of the right affiliate links, then it is possible to earn very well.

According to a recent study, at least in the U.S. earn 17% of affiliates (450 took part in the study) over $ 20,000 per month with their affiliate programs.

The broad mass of affiliates (46%) earned relatively little (between 0 and $ 500).

Also Here again, that affiliate marketing is not automatic. Only if you really depends purely and constantly tested and optimized, it increases its revenue. But why I am writing this series of articles, too.

Affiliate marketing on blogs?

There are always claims that affiliate marketing blogs in poorly functioning. And if you affiliate links and banners incorporating equally unkind, how to do that as with AdSense banners, then it usually works well only very poorly.

But there are also use blogs for very good methods for affiliate marketing. I will focus on these methods in detail in an article of this series.

Basically, blogs and the appropriate software, such as WordPress, but no obstacle to the affiliate marketing. On the contrary. There are many successful affiliates that use WordPress. It depends, as with many things in life, just depends on how one uses the technique and of course I will also go out in an article.

And just blogs offer a great advantage over normal websites. You can not build a reputation as a blogger. And if the readers trust you, then Product recommendations are naturally absorbed better than on any website.

Why the future belongs to affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a so-called Peformance-based marketing tool. The cost is coupled with the income and it will never happen that one has cost, but as a marketing tool has brought nothing.So it is indeed in classic banner advertising from time to time.

Especially in difficult economic times, companies look really close, how effective a marketing instrument. And in the case of affiliate marketing for the company falling yes you only pay when sales were also made.

Therefore it is so popular right now. Cost is clearly calculable and if its Portal well as business plans, then there is also no surprise.

But for blog and website owners affiliate marketing is very interesting. If you do it right, then you can earn very good money.

Therefore I assume that the importance of affiliate marketing in the future is increasing. Many companies have to get used to it but for now that marketing is no longer centrally located in their hands. This is hard for some companies.

Pros and cons of affiliate marketing,
the end of the introduction to affiliate marketing, I would like again to list the pros and cons of affiliate marketing.

Advantages of affiliate marketing

• There are no up-front cost for affiliates. So you do not build an expensive shop, shop or similar products.
• It has a wide range of partner programs. In Germany, thousands of programs from all areas to choose from.
• Affiliate links and banners are to be installed quickly and easily.
• One can use affiliate links very closely to appeal to a target audience.
• The reason is that you have full control and only displays what you really want.
• Affiliate marketing offers a lot of potential for improvement. This does indeed work, but it can increase the earnings, ideally, as much as on any other source of income.
• Affiliate marketing is very good for the long tail. You have a website or blog with hundreds or thousands of old articles? Perfect!

Cons of affiliate marketing

• It is just the "pay per sale" very different from the optimization of stores pending. Then you have no control. If the shop is done badly, then I can still give as many potential customers, it will barely make sales and therefore commissions.
• There are no guarantees of income. If you want more security, which is the sale of banner places better off, since one can have a certain predictability.
• A big issue is transparency. Since dealers usually manually activate the commission, no one can really say for certain whether the dealer paid for all sales correctly. There's certainly daily black sheep.
• There is certainly affiliate programs that are not without concerns. If you are applying eg, drugs or gambling, then the legal consequences entail.

I hope this introduction first gives a comprehensive and comprehensible picture of affiliate marketing.

Of course this is just an introduction. Details of affiliate programs to choose from, the optimization of affiliate sites, the traffic generation and so naturally follow. So not the same complain.

As always, I welcome comments and suggestions.

Read More

What heatmap solution is best? 11 Tools and suppliers at a glance

Having stayed in the first part had declared the heatmap series of articles, which are heat maps and really what makes it so useful, I would like today to introduce some solutions.

There are some free services and tools, but also premium services.

What are the advantages and disadvantages they have learn, her below. In addition, I'm a little more detail on the service that I use.

What are the options?

There are 4 basic ways to create a heat map:

• Heatmap simulation
  There are several online tools that simulate a heatmap. Here are not really real visitors tracked and then summarized in a heat map together. Instead of a dataset, algorithms, experience, etc. resorted to generate a heat map within seconds.
• Scripts and plugins for local evaluation
  There are WordPress plugin and scripts that can be directly run on your own server.Basically make this the same as the online suppliers and track via JavaScript mouse movements and clicks, in order to generate one heatmap.
• free services
  online, there is little heat map services that offer this service for free. Most important here is sure Google Analytics, which is "only" involves a Clickmap.
• Paid service
  professional who wants it, then grab the paid providers. These are available in various price ranges. The heat maps generated here are usually very good and also there are usually several variants (see Article 1) and other features.

Below I present vendors and tools in these 4 categories.

Heatmap simulations

First I want to introduce some heatmap simulations. It is, as already been said, in order to simulate the experiment, human behavior on the basis of formulas and empirical values

Google Analytics
Google Analytic is free, however, and for a while there is the so-called In-Page Analytic.

This is not a right heat map  but an interesting step analysis.

As you can see in the screenshot at least some will be displayed next to each link, how many times this was clicked in a specific period.

The problem has been, however, that it performs no real Google click tracking, but its own page view data easily on the screenshot will "stick". However, if we had the same link more than once on the page (eg header and footer), then both links were the same values. Therefore it has been useless.

End of 2012, but Google has what is called the "Enhanced Attribution link for In-Page Analytic , in German "Advanced Link assignment", was introduced. By 3 lines more code in the Google Analytic tracking code and a setting in the Analytic account the click data should now be accurate.

If a link so many times before on a page, the clicks will now be tracked separately. And it works, at least partially, as I found out in the first test.

One can make the individual better links by color visible and distinguishable. In addition, you can filter certain clicks. And Google Analytic also shows you how much% of the clicks below occurred on the page.

Makes sense?
If you use Google Analytic anyway, you should add the code accordingly to use the correct click tracking can.

While that is not visually as beautiful as a heat map, but by the percentage values ​​can be evaluated very well, which links are clicked and which are not.

pay providers

Now we come to the paid providers. Of which there are a lot that I will not think in great detail.

Instead, I present some of the more popular services and also briefly discuss my tool of choice in more detail. However, it will go until the third part of this series detail when I present the findings of my practical heatmap analyzes.

Crazyegg.com
Crazyegg.com is heatmap my tool of choice. After I had a look and compare the various features and evaluations, my decision was easy.

In addition to a heat map, there are other evaluation methods. So a Scroll map as indicating how far how many of the visitors have scrolled.

The overlay report is similar to the analysis of Google Analytic. Here you can see exactly where which clicks were made.

Unlike Analytic can here but be sure that the clicks for each link were counted and really there is no problem if the same link appears more than once on a page.

Very good and almost the best part is the confetti CrazyEgg report. Here you can see every single click and it has powerful filtering capabilities. So you can see exactly where certain visitors clicked (eg, visitors from Google and Facebook).

In addition, you can filter by browser, operating system, country, keyword, and more. This can be very revealing. You can also view a list of all the clicks and it recognizes as if users ever click on a graphic, because they think that would be a link.

From $ 9 a month you are reduced and can tracken 10,000 visits. That does not sound much, but since we analyze only individual pages and not the entire site, which is usually sufficient.Even for me that is enough to analyze 4-5 pages a month.

30 days, you can also test the service for free.

More information and details about CrazyEgg it in the next part of this series.

Mouseflow.com
Almost a web analytics tool is Mouseflow.com .

This offers click-and Movement heatmaps inter alia, a mouse-recording.This allows individual users to look over your shoulder, so to speak.

The tool will automatically capture individual user sessions and then you see in real time what the user has done with his mouse.

The service looks very interesting, and was only 10 bucks a month you get 1,000 shots, including among others.

There is also an open-ended free account which allows 100 shots a month. But this is something little to get really solid results. But it's ideal for testing.

Clickdensity.com
Clickdensity.com is also an established provider for some time.

However, the evaluation work but a little older. So you have to manually enter the filter rules and the display of Klickmap looks a bit weird.

The results look good, but it lacks something special.

5000 clicks you get for free in the trial account. So you can then analyze only 1 page. The other charges go off at 75 euros a month and that is probably "normal" for bloggers and site owners a little too much of a good thing.

m-pathy.com
A German supplier behindm-pathy.com .

Again, different analyzes around the mouse-tracking are available. So there is a Clickmap / heatmap, a Movementmap, an analysis of the scroll behavior and form analysis. The latter is very interesting and special.

In addition, you can perform this service on-site surveys and pattern recognition. The latter are photographs of individual users, as they are also offered by Mouse flow.

Typically German, however, the prices are on the website and when I look at the references Sun, it is probably intended more for larger websites. Too bad.

Clicktale.com
also clicktale.com is a well known player in this segment.

Besides HeatMaps there click maps, visitor recording, conversion funnels, form analysis and more.

This makes it a very wide range of services that meets many needs.

There is a "Free Plan", which heat maps and 400 photographs included in the User-month.

Who wants to use the other features must use a premium plan for which there is online but no price information.

Makes sense?
Different vendors (and there are more) offer basically all similar heatmap solutions. They also differ in additional features, usability and price. Here everyone must find the provider that best meets their needs.

Since almost every provider offers the possibility to test the service for free, you should take advantage of this opportunity.

Who his website or his blog professionally and wants to optimize these results should also choose a professional solution.

What heatmap solution is best?

I prefer now a paid solution, but with 9 dollars a month is not really big weight.

The heatmap simulation I am skeptical. Although there are certainly many examples of the application of best practices and experience, I am in the heatmap simulations still skeptical.

There may be scientific opportunities emulate user behavior, but really do not get real results. In the worst case you get a wrong simulation and change things that were okay. In addition, a simulation can not really consider carefully whether small changes have brought anything or not.

To use a script or plugin can burden the load time of your server and you need some technical knowledge.

The Google Analytics In-Page Analytics can benefit anyone who has GA in use anyway. But enough of this Google feature is probably a total of (yet).

Read More

What are heat maps and what do they bring? - Part 1 of the series heatmap

Today I want to start a little series on heat maps.

In the first part I clarify, what does that mean and why they are useful.

In addition, I refers to the way one can use heat maps and should.

In the other two parts of this series I put up some heat map providers before accurate and I show how I self-optimized network using heat maps.

What are heat maps?

Heat maps have been around a long time.Before they were used on the Web, you use heat maps for all sorts of purposes.

Originally derives its name from the visualization of temperature differences from (source: Wikipedia ).

But for us, the heat maps are interesting, with which one can visualize the behavior of website visitors.

But you have to distinguish between different versions, which are all commonly summarized under the title heat map:

• Heat map
  The heat map is similar to the classical representation of temperature differences. One analyzes typically via JavaScript the clicks you make website visitors to a web site and place the more clicks in a given area, the more "hot" is this area.
  Blue refers to are areas with relatively few clicks. The color spectrum is then usually about green, yellow and red.Very often clicked areas are white.
  Thus, a heat map makes it possible to quickly recognize which areas (mostly links, but otherwise much is clicked) are often clicked and which not.
• Mouse Movement Heat map
  is somewhat different function Mouse Movement heat maps. This is not the clicks, but the movements of the mouse are recorded.
  Now ask one or the other, what to do with the mouse movement?
  It's very simple. A lot of website visitors move with your mouse from the areas that they're watching Read /. This means that one with such a heat map at least can understand about what looked at the visitors and what content they have seen.
  This is certainly not a full replacement for expensive eye-tracking analysis, but it comes closest.
• Click map
  On a Clickmap the clicks are not modeled in the abstract, but every single click.
  Example, there are so-called Confetti maps that show each click. The different colors indicate different types of visitors here. Thus, with the seller that I use, for example, have different colors for different referrer (home pages) or as new vs. returning visitors.
  I find such Confetti Maps often more interesting than normal heat maps.
  Another variant is click maps that show for individual links, how many times it was clicked. This is a very analytic type of evaluation, but that you also get exact percentages and absolute number of clicks.
  Interestingly, among other things, Google Analytic offers such a form of Click map to which will discuss in Part 2 of this series then more precisely.
• Scroll map
  Another variation is called Scroll map.
  This indicates which areas of the site by how many visitors have seen. White is the area that is viewed most or has been scrolled to the most often.
  The colder the colors (to red, green to blue), the less readers have scrolled up there.
  They allow you to easily see which areas be perceived by the majority of readers.

One must certainly use all heat map variants.However often result from a combination of information for best results.

Why are they useful?

Attention is an important factor on websites. One would like to incorporate the key elements of a site as possible so that they are perceived by most readers.

However, it is in spite of best practices often not as clear whether certain elements are built well and make an impact. Moreover, the various elements influence each other.

So you should not have to guess or assume what perceive the visitors, but you should test it.And for that there is the heat map to (including their various versions).

In a shop, it is as important that the reader immediately to the "basket" - and see the "Checkout" button. This can be analyzed with a heat map very good (even if eye tracking would be better for it). But also a Scroll map is in this case a good analysis capability. Perhaps the most visitors see not at all important button.

But even in normal websites and blogs as it is very interesting to see, how they interact with visitors to the site and which areas to take this as strong or click them. The order in which the individual contents are perceived is often very important. This can be analyzed with the Mouse Movement Heatmap.

Landing pages are often structured so that the reader will be guided in a certain order to the order button (or something similar). This should be analyzed with the aid of a heat map and then really improve.

I used the heat map example to analyze and optimize my navigation. But could the contents of each structure (important) so I optimize pages.

Other possibilities are for example the increase in the residence, reducing bounce rate, increasing the number of hits on a particular page, or the perception of Sub-sharing buttons, optimizing the structure of articles, and more.

With the increase in revenue can help such a heat map also by placing eg affiliate links or banners so that more readers click on it. A heat map is here often very good evidence.

As indicated above, one can go in analyzing much detail. So I can look at, for example, where visitors clicked that came from a particular search engine or a website. This allows you, for example for certain groups of visitors locate the important elements better.

How should you use?

The possibilities are endless, but there are a few rules that you should keep and things that do have to consider.

• enough traffic
  Firstly, you should know that you need enough traffic to allow heat maps are meaningful.With 20 visitors a day you will be able to generate barely truly relevant heat maps. Even for me it needs according to the page that I analyzed, a few weeks were collected by reliable data.
  When in doubt it can just run longer, with you at this time should not make changes to the page.
• vs. dynamic. static pages
  is an important point that a heat map actually really only makes sense for static pages. If you have a page, change to the ever in content, it makes little sense to measure about 2 weeks, the clicks. These will then be distributed everywhere.
  This concerns for example the blog home page, where every time a new article appears, at least in the content area changes. Nevertheless, I have analyzed my home, because there is also static yes there are areas, such as. The header or sidebar
• Split-testing
  split testing you can connect well with heat maps. However, the different elements are successively and not tested alternately. So one week and after 1 week Banner A banner B. Most Heat map tools can filter in time so that you can then analyze that particular week and compare separately.
• individual changes
  one finds on the basis of the heat map for optimization, so you should only change one element and then see what happens to the heat map.
  If, however, changed several elements, one can end up hard to tell which of these changes is responsible for the effect.
• structured procedure
  one should proceed with heat maps structured. I have defined several pages that I wanted to analyze you. Then I created these test cases and waited a couple of weeks.
  Then I evaluated these heat maps and drawn my conclusions. After the changes, I then re-created heat maps of these sites and then wait a few weeks.

Heat maps are a useful and interesting thing, but you should keep a few things here necessarily.

Limitations of online services Heat map

In the context of this article series, I'll adjust a few online services and Heat map to mention one in particular.

However, I would previously come to the drawbacks and limitations of such online heat maps to talk.

Sun clicks alone are not the whole truth. Just because many visitors clicked on a particular link, it does not have to be all right. And thus you see no reference to a heat map where, although many people click on a link, but then add on this page, it is not what they expected and the blog then maybe leave immediately.

This means that you should link a heat map with other data. In the example, so you should look how high is the bounce rate and time spent on the linked page.

One should also be aware that heat maps can not replace eye tracking. With the mouse movements you can indeed adjust the eye movement almost, but it's just not the same thing. In addition, you can right in eye tracking studies also provide feedback and define such specific tasks.

It is very important also that a heat map itself still not saying much. It is only the interpretation of the heat map data, which is crucial.
Here lies the crux. It is always said that you can measure anything on the web so well, but that's only half the story. Most data must be interpreted to obtain meaningful and useful results.

This raises the question as to why such a large proportion of the readers clicked on a particular link. Is it the color, the label that position or something else?

These points show that heat maps are not automatic. Instead, you have to deal with it, gain experience, and a lot of testing. But they can be very useful.

Read More

AdWords Express - Is it worth the local Google advertising?

you see more articles please see

1. What is AdWords and how is it a success?
2. Initial planning and AdWords Create account

AdWords Express Experience

For about 6 months, I have run an AdWords Express ad. AdWords Express is based on Google Places, and thus could not be created via the AdWords account and managed, but in Google Places.

Places per entry you can create an AdWords Express campaign. How to do that, I already have in the first article explained. This is also done well and in a few minutes you display on his first start.

This is then automatically displayed within a 25 km radius around my location.

The preparation is very simple, because you can influence very little. The text's own display is one of them. The keywords for which the Express ad shows not.

So far so good.

Insights

After the 6 months I have looked at the statistics now again in more detail.

Let us look first at the basic data. In normal AdWords account, you can look at the performance data from AdWords Express, but unfortunately nothing set.

My ad is displayed 4698 times and 69 times clicked. That makes a click-through rate of 1.47%, which is okay.

The average cost per click was around 2 euros, which I think is very expensive. If I do this with my normal AdWords Campaign compare where I pay per click with very similar keywords below one euro per click, which is not exactly cheap. And there is the radius greater than 25 km and thus, in principle, of course, the competition.

So I see my "real" AdWords campaign with the Express campaign, then the latter has far less optimized and therefore too expensive.

Keyword Quality

On the Internet there are several similar reports. Often the problem is with incorrect keywords associated.

The reports are often an indication that the separate display is also just switched on keywords that are not really fit for their own business.

The results are then clicks that cost money, but where the user does not find what he really expected. Countermeasures can be here only by formulating the AdWords Express ad as precise and clear as possible. Thus be reduced to clicks from people who expect something else.

It seems overall to be that especially the lack of opportunity to influence the keywords responsible for the higher costs.

This is far too obvious, since AdWords books and instructions put particular focus on the keywords management. The selection of appropriate keywords that are suitable content, but also fits behind the intention (eg whether they reflect a purchase interest) is one of the most important "work" in the creation and maintenance of normal AdWords campaigns.

This control option is not for AdWords Express. Instead, Google will decide what is appropriate.

When I look at the keywords in my AdWords Express campaign, then it looks at first glance does not look so bad. There are many long-tail keywords for example the combination of keyword and site were created. These are not often sought, but are of good quality and are also quite good with the click price.

The problem with me is not the inappropriate keywords. This in my case was quite appropriate.

The problem was more in very general search terms, to deal with normal AdWords campaigns mostly because these very competitive and therefore expensive.

Failed precisely at this point AdWords Express in my opinion, simply because it ensures that you bids, for the most expensive keywords. From Google's perspective, of course useful, but often not from a business perspective.

comfortable flying blind

Insofar Google AdWords Express is therefore a "comfortable flying blind."

The device is very fast and more care and administrative work are not necessary.

However, just the impact is very small, so that you see only in the statement, which you have to pay for and what.

Pros and cons

AdWords Express has advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages are:

• quick and easy creation ads
• Automatic regional orientation
• automatic long tail keyword generation
• little care expenses

However, they are compared with a few drawbacks:

• no controls on the keywords
• highly competitive keywords always there
• sometimes simply inappropriate keywords used
• the bottom line is often more expensive than normal AdWords ads

The final disadvantage of course comes at the time savings. If you were to invest several hours per month in the AdWords care, then you would come with many good self on three-digit amounts that has cost them this time. So it is not quite so absurd that AdWords Express is more expensive.

AdWords or AdWords Express?

If you want to advertise on Google, then the question arises whether it is better to use the classic AdWords or AdWords Express.

Who wants to deal with the matter, wants to make improvements and generally would have much impact on its advertising and related costs, which should definitely opt for the classic AdWords. Also national and national companies can only be happy with AdWords.

Who is only a regional basis, however, and just want to have a quick Google online advertising, and thus will not be further engaged to test the AdWords Express. This also applies to those who wish to deliberately advertise in the highly competitive keywords.

Read More

Initial planning and create AdWords account - AdWords Tutorial Part 2

1. What is AdWords and how is it a success?
2. Initial planning and AdWords Create account
3. AdWords Express - Is it worth the local Google advertising?

Initial planning

Before taking action at all with AdWords, you should always first make a few thoughts.

In normal case, this basic rule: AdWords only makes sense if you won with the visitors can obtain direct or indirect revenues.

First of all we should define goals you want to achieve with their AdWords campaigns.

It is important to define precise goals that you can then measure and evaluate well.

A destination for online shop would be: 20 sales of product A with a maximum of 80 Euro AdWords costs.

In order to define ever quite well a few key points that you can use in the subsequent campaign implementation and control. Using conversion tracking, which I will discuss later as well, one can measure exactly how many sales have been made as to which keyword.

It becomes more difficult even if you use an affiliate advertisers want. Because you can not really tracken how many leads or sales are created at the end really. One can, after all, own the AdWords tracking code installed on the merchant site.

But at least you can measure how many clicks were made on advertising through AdWords circuit. And assuming you can even measure the success relatively well, if you know the average earnings per click.

An affiliate may consider a goal like this: 20 clicks on advertising by Portal A with a maximum of 20, - Euro AdWords costs

The definition of clicks resulting from past experience. If you know that 1 in 10 people who have clicked on an ad, then also buys what, in this example, would then come out as 2 sales.

What are my AdWords clicks worth?

The max. Fares depend on one's margin, that what you want to earn at least.

Example:

I get a lead on Portal A 50, - Euro. So far, on average, 10% of people have switched to the Merchant then also provided a lead.

If necessary. you have yet to factor in cancellation rate. For a cancellation rate of 50% so you need 20 people who could instill the Mechant to end one have valid Lead.

I want to keep the 50 per lead of at least 30 euros in profit. So I have 20 euros to win these 20 visitors. That would be an average of 1 euro per visitor.

Of course, the above objectives averages. The online shop owners would be the same if he makes at the end of 200 sales of product A with a maximum of 800 Euro AdWords costs. It is only important at the end of that one under his set limit of "cost per conversion" remains.

If you want to achieve with AdWords but things that do not immediately money, so it is difficult.

For example, one could try to AdWords new newsletter subscriber to win. Then, you would have once analyze what you earn with a newsletter subscriber, on average.

Example:

Eg if you have 1,000 newsletter subscribers who stay an average of one year there, then you could calculate the value of a subscriber, in which one turns the advertising revenue of the weekly newsletter.

At 50 euros per ad revenue newsletter dispatch makes per year (52 weeks) in total advertising revenues of € 2,600. Pro newsletter subscribers you deserve so on average 2.60 euros.

Thus, the cost per recruited newsletter subscribers are lower. Depending on the desired profit of course much lower.

The secret of success of AdWords, then, that its maximum cost per conversion (lead, sales, newsletter subscription, etc.) knows and remains below.

But do not worry, I'm sure when you create the campaign and again a more accurate budgets.

New AdWords Create an account

We come to the preliminary to the practical part.

Signing up for your own AdWords account is not difficult. Step-by-step, I lead you through this process.

1. AdWords page
   under adwords.google.com you'll find the following page: There you can either log in with an existing AdWords account or create a new Google AdWords account. 
2. New Sign
   After clicking on the button "Start Now" you see this: Here, you choose whether to sign up with an existing Google account (eg Gmail, AdSense), or whether you want to create a new account.
3. Time zone and currency
   in the next step you will select your country and time zone, but these are usually already pre-selected correctly. 
   Among these are a select field for the currency: Since you have to select "euro".
4. The settings for time zone and currency can not be subsequently changed. So be careful and select everything right.
   Then click on "Next".
5. Done
   That was it with the account creation and first: You get sent but still a confirmation email. 

Read More