how does cj work for you

place highest monthly amount

[usacustomers]

I feel really discouraged by cj because I've had a consistent amount of traffic flow but nobody is buying. Can you just list your highest payout to keep me going please. Any tips are welcome

[Mackin_USA]

This dude made $$$

[en.wikipedia.org...]

[images.businessweek.com...]

[LifeinAsia]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

consistent amount of traffic flow but nobody is buying

Were people buying before with the same level of traffic? Or are you saying that people have been consistently not buying?

What are you doing to promote your merchants? Are you much more active than just slapping up their banners on your site?

Clickers are very different from buyers. So in sections where affiliate programs don't work, test out pay-per-click programs (like AdSense).

For US, CJ has been spotty. Some months are bleak, others are not so bleak. Never great, but decent enough to continue with them, especially since certain merchants only use CJ.

[incrediBILL]

This dude made $$$

And that check says Google, not Commission Junction.

Totally off topic and irrelevant.

I used to make great money on CJ sending them over 1M impressions a month. Then the cookie washers came about and nuked my income and CJ wouldn't do a damn thing about it so I walked away to AdSense.

I tried them a year or so later and the same thing, tons of traffic and clicks but ZERO conversion which just wasn't possible as they were the ONLY affiliate program having that problem.

Waste of space, time and money.

AdSense paid buckets of money when CJ went south.

FWIW, the only way to find out if it works for you is to try it, it's just as easy to take it off as it is to install if it fails.

I suggest putting CJ plus a bunch of others in a rotating ad program and see which ones work best on your site.

[LifeinAsia]

Clickers are very different from buyers.

By this I meant that the example Mackin_USA gave (of an AdSense check from 5+ years ago) doesn't compare to what's going on today in the affiliate space.

Some people do make good money as affiliates. But most of them do a lot of work to promote the merchants they work with. Similarly, some people do make good money with pay-per-click programs as well.

But in all cases, there's usually more to it than just building up traffic to your site.

[usacustomers]

Thank you. My PPC is doing good. I seen so many horror stories about cj that it kind of discouraged me and on top of what I heard I sent them over 300 clicks but no sales generated. It's only been open a little under a month and I have between 300-1000 users a day visit and everyday is increasing but I haven't had one sale since it opened. I place merchant links other then that what else can I do besides build up traffic to my site?

[skibum]

I always did very well with CJ when I used them which hasn't been for a few years now. I used Plc ads and generated organic traffic from people looking for specific things, brands, model numbers, specific products.

Just putting CJ ads on a site when the referral and/or the content didn't line up with exactly when the person seemed to be looking for and intent on buying never did much.

[incrediBILL]

300 clicks but no sales generated

That's statistically insignificant IMO assuming if you only got a 1% CTR, which happens, it would only be 3 clicks.

Depending on where the traffic is coming from they may never click your ads it they aren't in a shopping mood.

You need to target traffic from keywords that generates shoppers and clickers, not just surfers.

Additionally, ads can be valuable content. One site I run the ads are as equal to the content for the members. For instance a site about plumbers running ads from plumbers would be a situation where the ads carry nearly equal weight to the content and clicking skyrockets.

Sometimes the ads need to be creative for the page such as a related topic which the visitor may have overlooked, or DIY videos, etc.

Until you A/B test some ads, you won't have a clue what works, and with that low traffic it might take weeks or months to figure out the right formula of ads to content.

[usacustomers]

Basically what your saying is in order to generate sales I need to:

1. Match ads with content.
2. Generate traffic from users looking for your exact content.

I've done all that and still no sales. Why did everyone stop using cj?

[LifeinAsia]

Why did everyone stop using cj?

Not everyone has stopped using them. But I have seen a lot more advertisers leaving for other platforms.

As to the why, as iBill pointed out, many people have gamed the system by hijacking tracking cookies and CJ has done little to nothing about it. They don't care, since they still make money on the transactions. most of the advertisers don't care, since they still get the sales.

[usacustomers]

What are some alternative platforms that are better?

[Planet13]

How are the session cookies getting hijacked?

[not2easy]

Mostly via browser toolbars. Loyalty, cashback, savings clubs, all have ethical and unethical sites. Some actually provide value. Many just snipe session cookies inside the shopping cart. CJ is known to encourage 'software affiliates'. Another major network put out their own branded version. They steal from merchants who are paying good money for the service. Do a search for the term "parasiteware". It is well documented.

[Planet13]

Thank you, not2easy.

[jberry803]

I just left CJ for Amazon.. New domain but traffic from organic and some backlinks have generated a few sales. So, no sales with CJ and within a week I've had 7 sales through Amazon. Nothing to write home to momma about but it's showing better results and that's what you're looking for.