Analysis of Web site conversion rates - what is the conversion rate of selling online?

THE JOEL MANGILIT REPORT

Tel: (632) 522-6912

How Many Products

Can You Sell

To 2,805,647 Visitors?

Wow… if I could only get a million visitors to my Web site… I could retire for life. This is probably what net entrepreneurs dream about. But does getting a million hits guarantee financial success? The answer is yes… and no… maybe?

Ok, let us look at 3 case studies. First is the Web site carsecrets.com, a site selling a book called “Car Secrets Revealed.” Last time I checked, the Web counter was at 2,805,647. Also based on the information on the site, about 21,027 copies of the book have been sold. Dividing 2,805,647 by 21,027 means:

1 out of 133 Visitors

Would Buy The Book

For A Conversion Rate Of 0.75%

Less than 1% of the visitors bought the book. This figure does not seem high, but according to my colleague who specializes in marketing, this low figure is not unusual. Ok, maybe so, but disappointing. Still, this site generated over $ 500,000 in sales. For a simple Web site, it is an excellent result.

Case study two involves musclegaintips.com, a Web site of Anthony Ellis promoting his $ 77 book on how to gain muscle mass. The site has over 1.9 million hits, currently averaging 3,540 hits per day, and generates $ 250,000 in sales per year. Selling 13 books out of 3,540 hits per day gives a conversion rate of 0.37%.

1 out of 272 Visitors

Would Buy The Book

For A Conversion Rate Of 0.37%

     Again, not encouraging numbers. But due to the sheer amount of visitors that the site attracts, it still manages to make a big profit for selling a simple product.

     The final case study involves the Filipino portal Tanikalang Ginto. This site has attracted approximately 1 million hits, but according to the owner, he is still not able to turn this into a profitable venture. He does sell advertisement space, but the income generated is just enough to offset the cost of operating and maintaining the site.

     Analysis? First, expect the conversion rate from visitors to buyers to be less than 1%. Second, books can be sold profitably through a simple Web site. And finally, it is difficult to make money selling advertisement space, even if your site is capable of attracting millions of hits.

                                                                         Sincerely,
                                                                         Joel R. Mangilit
                                                                         Joel R. Mangilit

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