click through rate mystery

how can I boost it

[giveawayrooms]

I have some magazine pages on my site - each one of them is optimized for the keywords "xyz magazine" or "xyz magazine subscription"

99% of the traffic these pages receive is coming from these SE phrases - very few people are 'non targeted' visitors who have followed links from my home page.

The mystery is that I am only getting a click through rate of about 15% - this seems very low for such targeted traffic - I have other similar targeted pages that easily get 30-40% click through rates.

I have experimented with different phrases inviting people to 'Buy Now' or 'Click Here For Details' - but I can't get the click through rate up - Does anyone have any suggestions for the best type of phrases to use to get people to click those links!

I am wondering if there is possibly some kind of tracking problem - although I am getting sales from the clicks that are made.

Thanks for any suggestions

[theposter]

Hi,

Please sticky me. I would like to have a look at the site in question....by the way...I taught Jackob everything he knows ;)..hehehe.

Theposter - the world's ONLY usability guru.

[giveawayrooms]

theposter - I've stickied you

[theposter]

I've stickied you back.

[Grumpus]

I think part of the problem with magazine subsriptions is that people have come to expect to read (at least in part) magazine content online. Therefore, by searching for "Magazine Monthly" they aren't looking to subscribe, but rather, are looking to read something from that magazine.

Now, you state that you have "Magazine Monthly Subscription" as a keyword and that is likely to provide a higher click-through rate because the person is truly targeted to "buying" using the word subscription.

The problem, as with most things in life, is that you're looking for an answer, but have asked the wrong question. Your flaw lies in the fact that you're combining your "Magazine Monthly" and your "Magazine Monthly Subscription" into one single statistic. Break it down one more step.

If your other pages for different things get a 40% click through rate, but the magazine pages are only getting 15% rates, we need to do some math. Using simple algebra, I can probably come up with the proper question. See if I'm right.

>>>65% of my referals for my magazine pages come from the terms "Magazine Monthly" and 34% from "Magazine Monthly Subscription". That gives me a 40% click-through rate on the people who use the word "Subscription" but a very small rate on the people who don't use the word. What are the best ways that I can increase my ratios for that deadwood 65% of my traffic?<<<

Run the numbers on your stats and see if the above question makes sense. I bet I'm within +/-4% on the "65" and "34" numbers when you're done. ;)

G.

[giveawayrooms]

Grumpus

I think you are right on the money there - 'xyz magazine subscription' is definately a better phrase to target - trouble is, a good percentage of 'xyz magazine' searchers will also be buyers - and I don't want to miss them!

I had also not factored in the 'online magazine' aspect. I was assuming that if someone searches for an actual title they must be 99% certain to be interested in buying - but think about it, probably 50% of people are just interested in finding an online version of their favorite mag.

If that is the case a 15%CTR would be equivalent to a 30% CTR on some other kind of product.

I think I will need to compare stats with some other magazine affiliates - thanks for the insight - I don't feel too bad now!