Understanding The Sales Curve
written by John Chow
A few readers have questioned the $13,500 income made by Rich4Life.Us. If they did indeed made so much, then why are they flipping the ad again? The answer is actually quite simple - most of the sales were done in the first few days when the ad was fresh and new. Sales have now slowed to the point where Rich4Life.Us would make more by re-flipping the ad.
The sales curve is a lot like a Digg or John Chow effect - there is a huge spike follow by an equally huge drop unless the advertiser does something to maintain momentum. My review of The Million Dollar Wiki generated 110 page sales in the first two days. My post about the Million Dollar Wiki contest resulted in 11 page sales the following day. A classic case of the sale curve at work. Most people who wanted to buy bought when the offer was first presented.
For Those Who Asked For Proof of Earnings
Making $13,500 from a $1,000 ad spot does seem incredible so I can understand if readers doubt the claim. It seems Rich4Life.us has read the comments and decided to address them. Not only have they posted the above screen shot of their earnings, they’ve also made a video of them logging into their account to show the screen shot wasn’t doctored. To date, the ad has produced 30 sales and made $15,250.
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Making a new add image could help stir up a few more visitors. At the least, this ad flip and re-flipping has made for a very interesting experiment.
I think that was a great idea.. now it also gives his ad flip MUCH more value.
I agree this internet real estate flipping is a fantastic accomplishment. My question is John how much control do you have over the appearance of the ad showing on your blog? What if an advertiser moved in that is tacky and does not match with your blog theme or is of an let’s say unethical nature? How would that reflect on you and your blog?
It definitely was worth it to walk away with an approximate 20,000 profit THAT IS GREAT.
I have full control over ads appearing on the blog. Any ads Rich4Life submits has be approved by me first.
I kinda figure as much, but thank you for taking the time to answer my question
You should be charging for ad edits, I’d be tired of continuously changing ads for other people.
Or telling John you’re going to reflip it will bring the surge back up.
I don’t doubt it at all John! People will pay a lot of money for life-help products and services. If you think about it that sort of thing is worth thousands if it helps a person to be more productive and successful. I’m sure their product has a huge price tag and it probably should.
Cool - that’s Post Affiliate Pro they’re logging into. One of the better affiliate tracking scripts.
That was a short but interesting post, it makes a lot of sense that things would slow down after the initial surge, I never thought about it before. Smart move by Rich4Life.
Simon
John, how much the guy paid you…
So far, nothing! I’m hoping she at least buys me a beer.
She?
Girls are smart too
Yes, Rich4Life is ran by a girl.
John, you should watch ur belly lols…don’t beering so much lols
Nothing, which is ridiculous, for all the success.
That’s simply amazing!
Only 15,200 in sales? I don’t think the ads in the right place
$15k in sales since Jan 2003. I’m still not convinced…
That’s commissions not sales. Sales would be 4x that as the commission is about 25%.
Sorry, I meant commissions.
The site was created on 2007-08-08. The reports has Jan 1, 2003 as the start date because that’s the default. I guess she should have changed the date range.
Well that’s also assuming that this site is the only one that they’ve been using to promote it as well.
She claims it was in her blog post.
exactly what i was going to say.
she states somewhere on this blog (I think it was in her mail to John that you posted) “this is the highest converting advertising im using” or something to that effect.
Im still not convinced that this is the only advertising, but that is neither here nor there.
The important thing is that there is value in that ad spot.
I think one of the most unbelievable things is that rich couldn’t find another affiliate program to use on your site for the remainding period… instead of flipping it.
I’m also wondering if you’ll (JC) consider doing more affiliate marketing to see how high you can get the site income… if that particular spot can be used to get 7 or 8 grand a month then why sell it as ad space for 2?
Affiliate offers are one of this site’s biggest moneymaker. However, I have never used a banner to promote it before. I may have to change my stand on that.
I’ve never used a banner advert to push products like this because I always assumed nobody would buy from something that looked “tacky”. I blame Google a bit as well for brainwashing us about text adverts.
It’s nice for somebody to prove that it’s worth doing.
You should definitely use the ad space to promote your own affiliate programs. At least test it out to see what happens, then tell us all about it. That would be pretty cool if you can pull 15k or maybe even 20 or 30 grand.
Simon
I remember Steve Pavlina doing very well with some kind of Speed Reading program. Sure, he blogged about it, but also had banner ads on his blog with the text “Recommended by Steve Pavlina” below them.
If not link directly, you could link the banners to the pre-sell blog post.
Google…brainwashing…? It is well known that in internet marketing an ad should APPEAL to visitors attention, what best appeals than a graphic ad banner? A video spot maybe ..
I had no doubts she has made the money off of the ad … but i kinda don’t like the “flip again” thingie…
Good point in theory but wasn’t one of the main reasons it was able to make so much because of all the attention drawn to the fact that this was the first time John sold a private ad spot in place of Adsense on this site?
That and the hype behind the fact that the initial person who bought it immediately sold it on. From there the hype just grew and grew with more and more people wanting to see what had been done with the ad space - hence all the affiliate sales made initially.
If this was a regular occurence the hype wouldn’t be there and people wouldn’t be as interested to see what the ad (or affiliate scheme) was all about.
This is best illustrated by the fact that the earnings from the affiliate scheme have plummeted recently after an initial spike.
wonderful insight. Glad to see someone showing some sense around here, and letting people know what really could happen.
John,
My doubt isn’t in the fact that they produced these results. It seems entirely possible, and now, it seems clear that it is true. My issue is, despite the sales curve, we are only talking about 8 affiliate sales over the course of two weeks. Given the fact that they have made $11500+ since you posted about them making $3500, doesn’t it stand to reason that the ad spot is worth more than $4000 for the last two weeks or more?
Mike
Exactly. This site get’s new visitors every single day and while the initial rush is over, you would think that it would still be worth it to keep the ad.
My guess is if she doesn’t sell out, she would use the unsold spots to continue to advertise her program. Her ad is still running and will continue to run until the 28th.
According to the site they are selling it for a minimum of 4k they could get more depending on bids. Also there arent too many affiliate programs that can make 4k off a ten day ad spot even if it is on jc.com
Simply insane ROI. Interesting about the curve too John
The sales curve idea makes sense, and applies to pretty much anything. Movies always start out packed at the theaters and then dwindle off to being rentals.
Yes, than the movie comes out on rental, and than a multi-package dvd blah blah blah.
Thats what a good internet marketer would have done with this spot UPSELL!
Call me the eternal skeptic but why not limit the time of the report to the days since the ad has been running here. The screen shot is showing all affiliate earnings since Jan 2003.
I’m convinced enough, just looking at the number of impressions would seem to match nicely to John’s traffic figures.
As for ROI, I’ve had clients in the real estate area make $250,000 sales commission from $300 on Adwords spend so I’m not such a big doubter about peoples claims.
You are the eternal skeptic
Simon
wow… incredible
hi john im readin your make money online ebook and thanks for the advises your giving on that book, just wanted to tell you that your Kontera ContentLink link isnt workin for me, is there a reason? doesnt it exist anymore? thanks for an answer
wow … coool
I was one of the 110 that bought a Million Dollar Wiki page on your first post. For those that didn’t and your still considering it, well let me tell you this. This thing has caught the eye of the media and is just going to keep gaining traffic which means more exposure for you. Nuff said! Get get one.
Yeah it’s like a snowball… now all we need is for it to appear on the BBC!
Very impressive!! Is there any way to make a long tail sale?
Write an ebook.
Fantastic the way this stuff generates income.
Man you should not have to explain its all logical
Not all that logical it appears if you read the previous post on this and the controversy it caused!