Reducing Traffic Leaks
A traffic leak is basically any link that is on your site that sends the surfer anywhere that doesn’t benefit you. Some traffic leaks are unavoidable, but others can and should be avoided.
IDENTIFY YOUR LEAKS
How can you tell if your site has traffic leaks? Really, it’s pretty simple. Go through your site and look at every link on it then ask yourself the following: “If the surfer clicks this link, how do I benefit from it?” If you answer, “I don’t.” then that is a traffic leak. Some classic examples are people putting an exit link on their warning page that goes to some kind of innocuous site like CNN or Yahoo or Google. There are some people that say this will help your rank in Google or Yahoo, but most experts I have asked say it makes no difference. Another traffic leak is your 2257 info links. A 2257 link is needed on all sites, but there are better ways to get that info to people instead of using a regular link. Remember every time a person clicks a link that takes them away from your site you risk them not coming back and you are potentially losing a sale.
SPONSOR TRAFFIC LEAKS
This is a big issue with me. Most sponsors now offer pop-up free tours. Typically pay per signup sponsors offer more per signup if you use the tour with consoles. This can be a huge traffic leak. There is a sponsor I use that has a site that converts pretty well for me. One day I clicked my link to test a page I had made and was a little shocked at what I saw. The site loaded then I was hit with two entry consoles and one of them covered the main site so you couldn’t even see the site you were there for. To make it worse my link code wasn’t in any of the consoles so if that console made any sales I didn’t get credit for them. I understand they need the consoles so they can do pay per signup, but it really pissed me off to see that they were selling their console before the paysite. I switched to the pop-up free version which paid $5 less per signup, but converted about 20% better so I actually started making more money. It was a simple solution to a major traffic leak.
I would suggest you check out all of your sponsor’s sites and see what type of leaks they have on the tour and either work to remove them through options in the program or try a different program. You might be surprised at the results.
UNAVOIDABLE LEAKS
There are some leaks that are unavoidable like recips to sites that are listing your site. There really isn’t much you can do about these. One thing I would suggest is looking into a traffic trade with the site you have a recip to. If your site is going to get a lot of traffic, maybe you can trade traffic with them and get on their toplist. At least this way the hits you send them may help return more to you.
Earlier I mentioned a couple of things that are common leaks including the exit link and the 2257 links. One way to fix the 2257 link is to open it in a new browser. This way when they see it is just legal junk they can close the browser and they never left the site. Another way is to write the actual url out on the page and not link it. This way they can copy and past the info to a browser if they really are interested. The exit button has always been a bad idea I feel. Most people who find your site are looking for your site. If you have a warning page they know where they are and can hit the back button to leave. If you insist on having an exit link I would suggest starting up a site that is non-adult in nature and linking to it or finding some kind of sponsor that has non-adult sites or products. This way you can at least, hopefully, get something good from anyone that may click that link.
JUST GET RID OF THEM
I have seen a lot of sites that link to stuff just because they think it’s funny or cool or interesting. These are all traffic leaks. If you are running a site about funny or interesting stuff than it’s fine to link to it, if you are running an adult site and trying to sell people a membership, the more you distract them from the path you are trying to lead them down the more you hurt your chances of making the sale. Look at your sites like a funnel. They bring people in at the top and funnel them down to the sponsor’s site. A funnel that has holes in it is not very effective.
As I said before you should go through your site and determine the value of each link. If the link gets you something it should stay. If it is unavoidable it should stay or be modified to have as little impact as possible. If it is not needed, it should be removed. Spend part of day going back over your sites, checking your links and taking a long look at your sponsors, you might be surprised by what you find and what you can make better.
