How To Improve Forum CTRs

[HomerJ]

i didnt realize forum CTRs could be so weak. from a recent thread where i posted an advertisement linking to my site, my analytics says 13 visits from this forum out of 114 views of that thread = 11.4% CTR. its not the first i have observed this phenomenon though

anyone have ideas how to maximize CTR of links you post on forums? there are probably some obvious answers and some not so obvious.

 

[iBizStart]

It all depends how relevant your site is to this site. Did you post something domain related?

 

[David G]

i didnt realize forum CTRs could be so weak. from a recent thread where i posted an advertisement linking to my site, my analytics says 13 visits from this forum out of 114 views of that thread = 11.4% CTR. its not the first i have observed this phenomenon though anyone have ideas how to maximize CTR of links you post on forums? there are probably some obvious answers and some not so obvious.

I believe a 11% CTR is in reality extremely high for a forum. I am fairly certain typical forum CTRs are in the 1/10 to 2/10 of 1% range which means your CTR is as much as 100 times better than many others forums. This refers to CTR on ppc ads.

 

[zer]

11.4% CTR is really good. Think for a moment how you personally behave when you are browsing forums. Do you click every link somebody posts or puts in the signature? Of course not. At the moment internet has only few different distinct types of behavior patterns users fall into. There's discussions, searching, socializing etc. Understanding the mindset of users is the key getting the most out of the channel you are using to get visitors. To get 1 out of 10 people to click your link in a forum browsing mindset, that's a result you should be happy with. However, keep testing and improving, that's the only way to the top.

 

[HomerJ]

interesting feedback. the reason i would have thought it should be higher, is that because we have the ability to hover the mouse over the forum thread link to get a preview of what that thread is about. normally that is what i do and if nothing seems interesting i do not bother to even click to go to the thread. part of me assumes that those taking the time to click onto the thread have already some idea that they are interested in its contents, and would be more likely to follow a link pertaining to that thread. that is how i typically browse the forum.

also, what if i posted something on a cheese eating forum that i had invented a new flavor of cheese. only 1/10 of the cheese eaters will want to know about this?? :lol:

 

[Theo]

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[papadopulos]

interesting feedback. the reason i would have thought it should be higher, is that because we have the ability to hover the mouse over the forum thread link to get a preview of what that thread is about. normally that is what i do and if nothing seems interesting i do not bother to even click to go to the thread. part of me assumes that those taking the time to click onto the thread have already some idea that they are interested in its contents, and would be more likely to follow a link pertaining to that thread. that is how i typically browse the forum.

also, what if i posted something on a cheese eating forum that i had invented a new flavor of cheese. only 1/10 of the cheese eaters will want to know about this?? :lol:

That's actually a good point, but I'd bet not everybody uses that form/method of browsing forums (then again maybe I could be wrong). But either way, I wouldn't be disappointed with an 11.4%CTR!:cheesy:

 

[Gerry]

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Bingo. Care to share your conversion on DomainGang? My guess is perhaps 40%-60%, and perhaps even higher.