Cost per hit

[Jane_B]

I'm looking for some figures. Can anyone suggets a site where I can find out figures (for no cost) which relate to ratio of hits to spend on a website in B2B and B2C situations.

[Marcia]

Jane, the best thing to do is dig through our PPC forum for discussions where those figures are shared. You won't be getting a sales pitch here at the board, just information.

[webmasterworld.com...]

[Mardi_Gras]

The cost per hit (let's use the term visitor) that most sites are willing to incur will depend greatly on the profit per visitor. That is, those with higher profit margins will probably accept higher costs per visitor than those with lower profit margins.

It is not any different than how you would evaluate what you would be willing to pay for a magazine ad or a tv commercial. What do you need to get in return to justify the expense? Or, more likely, what expense can you justify based on the expected return?

With the current trend toward PPC generating much angst amongst webmasters on this board and other places, understanding what a visitor is worth to you is becoming increasingly important.

It really does not matter what "other" people are paying for a visitor. What is that visitor worth to you? Look at your own average profit per sale vs. average sale per visitor. How much can you justify to get a visitor, knowing the average visitor will spend X (although some will spend nothing, and others might spend 100X)?

Only you know the value of a customer to your business!

Don

[ggrot]

Mardi_Gras, with PPC it also depends on % clicks. If youpay $1 for #1 position and only 72c for #2, then you might want #2 if your earnings per visit is only $1.10 and the difference in click count is less than 10%. Although, calculating numbers this way is far more difficult.

[Mardi_Gras]

I agree, ggrot, particularly when the difference between #1 and #2 is fairly large, as in your example. Rather than trying to jump into the number 1 spot, it might be more prudent to settle for #2.

Any realistic numbers out there on clickthrough percentage for 1,2, and 3 positions?

[Travoli]

>Any realistic numbers out there on clickthrough percentage for 1,2, and 3 positions?

It is very difficult to make generalizations across industries, general terms, and specific keyword phrases.

I usually try manipulating the term's position and keeping it there for a (non-holiday) week to compare clicks from the previous week at the different position. The variance for each term is significantly different. Takes a lot of research, but it is necessary for maxing your ROI.

[nell]

I find that a good "attention grabbing" description in even a 3rd to 5th position can easily outpull a 1st position ranking.
This is especially true where people are using multiple word searches. These people know exactly what they want and usually read the descriptions of the search results before they click on one. They will also click on and visit a few sites to get the best deal before buying.

People with a general interest tend to use single word searches and robotically click on #1. The sales conversions for those people are usually quite low.

Case in point:
A client sells perfume. The single search "perfume" is a very highly searched term.
Now take a multiple search "Calvin Klein CK One Perfume" and wordtracker can't even come up with a count as it's searched so infrequently.
In not only conversion rates but in actual hard sales the latter genre of listings outperform the former.

The exception to this is during Holiday season buying when people who usually don't buy on the internet do so by searching single terms.

Another variable in the equasion is where people visit from. i.e. AOL - less sophisticated buyers.