If you’re an article marketer, you’ve probably heard all the stories about click through rate (CTR) and wonder why, when people are reporting CTR of 50%, you’re lucky to get one that’s 20%. Well, there are several reasons for that. But the biggest one is that these people claiming rates of 50% are simply full of it. What you just heard is the sound of about a dozen article marketers getting ready to send me some nasty emails. So be it. But the truth needs to be told.

Article marketers, especially the ones who are trying to sell you their hottest article marketing “how to” are out to do just that…sell you something. And they think that in order to do that, they have to jack up their click through rates. Well, I have a news flash for you. Most of these rates are bogus. The ones that aren’t, well…there are reasons.

One of the biggest reasons for initial high CTR is your competitors. That’s right. You come up with a new article and maybe a new resource box and your competitors will want to know what it is that you’re selling so that they can maybe take your idea and create their own product from it or, if it’s an affiliate product, sell it themselves. This explains the initial high rate. After a while though, when you start to get more REAL visitors, you will notice your rates go down.

Another reason for high rate reports is that many articles just don’t get a lot of views. Think about it. If you have an article with just five views, three clicks gives you a CTR of 60%. But the percent means nothing because the number of clicks themselves are meaningless. Remember the old saying…lies, damn lies and statistics. Anybody can skew numbers to make it look like something more than what it is.

So what does this all mean? Essentially, this. Don’t worry about CTR so much. If you can get a 10 to 15% click through on your articles that is real, you’re doing well. What matters more is how those clicks translate into income. I’d rather have a rate of 10% in a niche that makes me a good income than a rate of 40% that hardly brings me any real visitors at all.

At the end of the day, it’s how many real prospects you’ve gotten to your opt in page, sales page or autoresponder…whatever you may be using. So the next time you hear big claims about 50% CTR, take it with a grain of salt. Because more likely than not, those claims are more fantasy than fact.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to really increase your income through article marketing? Check out my book at http://www.honestincomeprogram.com/tcawamg.html and turn yourself into a real article marketing pro like me.