CPA Networks

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An Example EPC (Earnings per Click) Analysis

First, we're going to look at a few brands in the motorcycle niche here. Then we're going to compare them with network averages.

Let's look at some basic parameters: an EPC over $100 is stellar. Anything above $50 is worth your attention. $25 an under needs scrutiny.

Here we're looking at at least a 30-Day EPC in the motorcycle niche in ShareASale and sorting by EPC to pull those with the biggest potential to the top.



At the top of the list are two advertisers who're effectively at the magical $100 30-Day EPC.

The first, EscortRadar.com, may not be the type of brand you want to associate with (maybe you don't want your brand associated with a radar detector company.) Fine.

#2 in the list, Viking Bags, specifically has motorcycle-related keywords up front and center; this is an advertiser worth a close look and almost certainly worth a phone call if possible.

But what about #7 in the list, "Motorcycle House," with its meager $8.56 EPC?

They're in the ideal niche, and they have a 10% commission per order, so let's take a closer look in spite of the EPC.



A closer look reveals a couple of things:
What You See Good Bad
Good keywords X
Online for 2 days ?
Conversion Rate 0.66%
60 Day Cookie X
Average Commission $12.99
Earnings per Click (EPC) $8.56
Affiliate Manager James Wilson
Phone Number X
Personal Email Address X


The last two things you're going to do are to:
  1. quickly calculate your projected revenue potential with this merchant
  2. look at are why they're only online for 2 days
Here's how you're going to calculate your revenue potential. We're going to do it based on 1,000 impressions of their ad in your broadcast emails.

It's simple, and to make it even easier, here's a link to a calculator you can download and use for your own projections.

A couple of important points:
  1. You're ONLY going to do this with a small percentage of the advertisers you're considering working with.
  2. These are ONLY initial projections. That's it.
  3. Once you get a better feel for your real Click-through-Rates (CTRs) and such, your projections will get better.
Ad impressions 1,000
CTR 5%
Clicks 50
Conversion Rate 0.66%
Conversions/1,000 0.33
Average Commission $12.99
Projected Revenue/
1,000 Ad Impressions		 $4.29


If this is early in your advertiser research, you may want to keep digging; if you're already awash with advertisers whose performance seems to be better than MotorcycleHouse.com, it may be time to move on.

For our purposes here, we'll keep digging, which means looking at their Status History: That link reveals exactly what has happened with their account in ShareASale for the past year.

In some cases (like accounts that have only been online for two days—and that you've decided to do some digging on) you'll want to find out why they've only been online for two days. Are they new to the platform or is something else going on?



In this case, we see a history of them going offline for a few minutes at a time as their funds are depleted from ShareASale. Each time, they're quickly, automatically replenished, so it's a good assumption they're financially sound.

If you're seeing someone who's routinely offline for days at a time, it's probably best to avoid the drama and find another advertiser when you can.

You're in this to reliably make money with a partner advertiser, not to play bank for them.

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