When I am considering a new site, I first determine if I can get each page in the top 3 results - and exactly what that would take.

I’ve been told that the top 3 results on the major search engines share 50% of the click-through’s on any given search. I’m not sure how accurate that is, or where I first heard that tidbit now… and I’m not sure if that would be even thirds, or if the #1 result would get 50% and the other 2 results 25% each (of the 50% of all click-through’s)….

This is a “guesstimate” at best
… but so far has worked out well for me.

If I feel I can get in the top 3, I will take the monthly # of searches (multipled by 30 if daily results from WordTracker), and divide it by 2. Then take 30% of that number… and multiply it by a .5 or 1% conversion rate. (Low, of course, but better results are always expected ).

For example, let’s say that keyword x gets 400 searches a day, according to WordTracker. Approximately 12,000 searches per month. Divided by two, it’s 6,000 - and about a third of that is 2,000. That’s assuming every search results in a click - and that a #2 or #3 spot would get around 2,000 click through’s a month out of 12,000 searches.

A 1% conversion rate would equal 20 sales. If your commission/profit for the product sold on that page were $30, you could anticipate approximately $600/month in revenue.

Not accurate, but a good general guage. This would, of course, have to be done for each page of your site, and the total of all pages would be your ‘guesstimated’ potential monthly income from the site as a whole.

If you have a different method, or other factors that should be considered in the equation, feel free to leave your thoughts in the Reply box below!

Tags: affiliate sites, niche sites, profit potential, market research