When to cut your losses and move on

I have been asked what you should do when an income stream “goes bad”. The enquirer had set up a website that promoted a Clickbank product. The website was promoted using Google Adwords. For three months the income stream was profitable, but then profits decreased, slowly at first but then more quickly until the site was only just breaking even.

The first thing to do is analyse why. Look at the traffic to the site and analyse it by source: Google Adwords, search engines and direct traffic. Compare this with the period when the site was profitable.

Then look at how well the web site is at sending on traffic to the Clickbank merchant’s selling site. Compare this with the period when the site was profitable.

Then look at how well the Clickbank merchant’s site is converting traffic into sales and hence commissions. Again, compare this with the period when the site was profitable.

If the problem is with a decrease in the rate at which Clickbank merchant’s site is converting traffic into sales, email the merchant and ask why. If they have already identified the problem and are addressing it consider giving the income stream some more time but place tighter limits on the Google Adwords spend. If you don’t get a satisfactory reply, cut your losses and move on. Cease Google Adwords immediately. You may wish to continue with the website if any reamining income covers its costs.

If the problem is a decrease in the number of your website’s visitors who are clicking through to the Clickbank merchant’s site then it is up to you to change your site to return the rate to profitability. If you cannot within a reasonable time, cut your losses and move on.

If the problem is with your Google Adwords ads then you need to change them so that they work again. This should be possible unless you are attempting to promote a product that is obviously “past its sell by date”.

But remember, you have only a limited amount of time, all of which you need to be spending on profitable income streams. If an income stream has really “gone bad” do not waste any more time on trying to revive it – drop it and move on. There are loads of profitable opportunities out there.

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