Understanding Some Data Types (Clicks, Leads, Sales, and more) Including Metrics (CTR, CPM, etc.) Displaying in A Publisher's CJ Account Manager and Reports

     Below are some important information that you'd find within your CJ Account Manager and its reports as a website Publisher. 

      I had been a member at Commission Junction known as CJ for several years now and had added a few websites to my account. There are terms and data that automatically welcome you as you log-in. I always see these things and they are important to me. 

     One of them for example are the "Impressions". The impressions are automatically generated when a text link or banner that displays on your web site had been seen (this could happen even within seconds) and this indicate as to how many times your web site's page is visited. There could be other software that you can use out there but CJ's Impression can provide you a helpful tip as to the amount of visitors it takes and you could only hope that they will generate a transaction through your ad links through Impressions.

     Many Publishers are familiar about Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM), this is a metric used for online advertising where a rate (cost) is set for every thousand impressions shown while a Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of clicks registered compared to the number of advertising impressions shown on your website. So for instance, if an advertisement appears 100 times and as a result 8 clicks were registered on it, then that ad would be said to have an 8 percent Click-Through Rate (CTR). 

     The most exciting part for Publishers is when they have a huge percentage of visitors who take a desired action on the advertiser's links through their website. This is known as the Conversion Rate (CR). Commission Junction monitors these links but the action that determines conversion is determined or chosen by the advertiser. They will check if it could mean a sale on their part through their advertiser’s web site, a completed lead form, and or another action. Based on CJ's website, their Conversion Rate is calculated by dividing the number of resulting actions by the number of clicks registered in the same time-frame.

     When I log-in through my CJ account, I am just glad to see if I can generate a lot if Clicks. These means that I had visitors in my website since "Clicks" are generated when someone had visited your site, and decides to click one or more of the advertisers through your web page's ad links. Clicks show on your CJ's Performance Reports but not on Transaction Reports. 

     The other one that displays on your Performance Report is the Lead. It's generated or brought out when a potential customer visits the advertiser’s web site and then signs up with their program, fills out an e-form for more information, and much more. In this way, advertisers may be able to take some consumer information in a way that could suit to their needs, but this doesn't mean that it already had equated to an initial revenue-producing activity. If you can see a lead in your CJ account, you can only hope that it will successfully turn out into a higher commission.

     It's better to read the advertisers’s program policy and any other special terms and conditions very well if you want to promote any advertiser that offers commissions for the submission of any kind of lead. Commission Junction strictly prohibits submitting a false or fraudulent leads. 

     If you want to get HTML or Javascript code/s, always click "Links" and get ads under "My Advertisers Only" or click "Get Links" followed by another click via "By Relationship" which means that you are an approved Publisher by these advertisers. You can only have a "Sale" when a purchase has been made from an approved advertiser through the links that you have posted in any of your website's page.

 What is EPC?

      Commission Junction uses network earnings ratings that are based on a scale of zero to five bars and ranked them using a bar graph system. If you log-in through your CJ account, you may notice that their new advertisers are ranked as “New” for their first three (3) months in the network and those who pay zero commissions are excluded from the overall calculation and received a Blank rating. This ranking is then calculated in connection to the whole network based on commissions paid to publishers during the previous month. 

      When I was still new to CJ, I wondered what EPC meant. It stands for Earnings Per (One Hundred) Clicks. A Publisher's EPC (Average Earnings Per One Hundred Clicks) is a relative rating that demonstrates or exemplifies the ability to convert clicks into commissions. There are CJ Advertisers who use EPC as one way to decide to which publisher programs to approve and/or make offers. If your website have little content, just wait for a little while until you can research more and post quality content before you apply to their advertisers for a higher approval rate especially when you apply for the advertisers that you really like. 

     Check your website's traffic because your success also depends on the number of visitors that you can drive through for your website that will generate those sales for the advertiser you are currently promoting. EPC in your CJ account does not mean that if a visitor clicks on an advertiser's link 100 times you can earn the dollar amount in the EPC.

     A Publisher's EPC is calculated by taking each publisher's total commissions earned regardless of currency and then converted that total amount, if needed to US dollars. Once every publisher's commission total amount has been converted to a common currency which is the USD, the amount is divided by the total number of clicks times (100) one hundred, then a Publisher's EPC is established. If your EPC is not based on USD it will be converted back to your functional currency upon viewing it on CJ's Home Page of your Publisher's Account Manager.

     In order to assist in the betterment of the overall correctness or accuracy of EPC, CJ screens or filters out the number of c licks that are generated by those search bots and spiders when they index publisher websites, since they do generate clicks in the Commission Junction system. These clicks are not associated with real users, and this is the reason why they don't result into transactions. Commission Junction screens or filters out these clicks so they wont distort conversion metrics including EPC.

3 Month EPC

7 Day EPC