Understanding conversions

Until now, I kept the whole concept of referral conversions a bit vague. Let
me see if I can now give you a clearer picture. A conversion is an action or a
set of actions that have to happen before you get paid for a referral ad. It’s
not enough for you to place the ad on your Web page and have your visitors
click the ad. Something else — a download, a registration, or something
similar — has to happen before you get paid.
Here’s the part that might make you think twice before including referrals on
your site — some of those conversions take time. A conversion requirement
that visitors sign up for a membership on a Web site and remain a member
for a certain amount of time — usually 30 to 60 days — isn’t unheard of.
Some conversions are simple — sign up for a newsletter, request information,
and become a forum member. Others require a monetary investment from
the visitor who followed the referral link — buy a product, purchase a membership,
and donate a sum of money. The conversion details vary by product.
For example, the conversion details for a referral ad to Google AdSense are
these:
“When a publisher that signed up for Google AdSense through your referral
earns their initial $100.00 within 180 days of sign-up and is eligible for
payout, we’ll credit your account with $100.00.
A Google AdSense referral is counted only for publishers never previously
enrolled in Google AdSense. Google AdSense referral payouts do not count
towards $100.00 threshold.”
Pretty complicated, huh? They’re not all that complicated, though. For example,
here are the conversion requirements for the Ghirardelli referral ad:
Purchase/Sale — $3.00–$11.54
Purchase Online
Really. That’s all there is to it. A visitor clicks through your referral ad, makes
a purchase from the Ghirardelli Web site (It’s chocolate, folks! Who doesn’t
love chocolate?), and you’re paid the referral fees. Of course, exactly how
much you’ll be paid is still a little murky because nothing explains exactly the
percentage of sale that’s credited to the publisher, but it’s still simple enough
to understand. Visitors buy chocolate, you get paid, everyone’s happy!
The only way to know for sure what the conversion requirements are for
a referral ad you may have selected is to look. When you’re examining ads
(remember, I talk about this earlier in the chapter), you see a blue Conversion
Details link. Click this link, and a small box appears that details what the conversion
requirements for that specific ad are,