Any product you could ever want to sell is available already. By now, you have signed up for Google Adsense and perhaps a couple of other affiliate marketing programs. Your website is ready ads to post just a click away. You can almost smell your online fortune. Is there anything else that needs to be done? Have you created a great landing page? Is it compatible with an online business?
You may be asking yourself what is a landing page. Basically, they are what they sound like, the first page a visitor “lands” on after clicking on a search link. As an affiliate marketer, you want your potential customer to end up on your landing page after clicking your affiliate ads. Landing pages are no different from most other webpages on the internet. Many online affiliates will use their home page as their landing page. The question is, is that a good idea and should you imitate them when creating your own landing pages?
It is usually easier to follow what the rest of the business world is doing, like using a home page as a landing page. If you truly want a better result, in other words lots of money, you should make a special landing page for your affiliate ads. Why would you want to go against the current trend and do something different? Because a great creative landing page will make a huge difference to your bottom line, and here are a few reasons why:
1) It is the best way to earn conversions in affiliate marketing?
For the merchant there are a variety of affiliate programs available. Most of them are based on pay-per-click. This is where you create the ad then submit it to a service like Google Adwords. The service then places your ad on different affiliate’s websites with similar content. Now when visitors to the websites click on your ads they are sent to you website and more specifically your landing page. When the customer clicks through you are charged. This is an example of the pay-per-click structure.
Your earnings however come from conversions; this is when the visitor that came to your site buys the product. They are now in essence converted from a casual visitor to a paying customer. As you can see if there is no conversion, you have made no money. Add to this a high rate of traffic and you are looking at an ever-growing expense. The only possible way of covering that expense is through conversions.
Ok, so the importance of conversions has been established. How will you get the conversions without a landing page? You can have the best advertisement in the world and if it does not lead potential customers to a place to buy the product, it is all useless. That would be kind of like advertising ice cream on a hot summer’s day but having no ice cream truck!
Therefore, you can see that landing pages are very important to the amount of online earnings you can expect from an online affiliate program. With no place to land, your customers are aimlessly wandering and you are paying dearly for it, with nothing to show for it.
2) Your other web pages may not be sufficient
The common mistake people make is to use their home page as their landing page. They will place all their ads here. Similar are the people who use a product page or their contact page. A home page is created to host different links and multiple types of information. A landing page for an affiliate program will be more content specific. You want this page to be dedicated only to the products you are selling. This will narrow the traffic to only the visitors interested in your product, thereby increasing the chances of a conversion.
While thinking about the type of landing page you want to create the customer must be your first thought. Design your landing page around the keywords and content of the ads that point to it. Always remember that the landing pages include a call to action. While there, you want them to complete a purchase or provide you leads to other potential customers.
If you are like many people, you went into affiliate marketing to sell your products without spending a fortune on advertising. However if you get all set up but have no landing page for customers you are paying for traffic that will never pay you back. In short if you do not have a landing page it is past time to create one, and seeing as it is so vitally important to your success make sure it is a fantastic landing page.
29 Comments
Brian Carelse
October 21, 2008Hi Reed,
Great article. Just want to point out an important often overlooked undamental. offline businesses have a door to let people in. Online businesses, have multiple entrances, every window, every door represented by every web page. Links on search engines may be for a specific page.
It is important to put a link to your landing page from all other pages.
The link should be a text one offering #1 benefit of signup.
Stay working hard. All milionares work more than 8 hours per day.
Check the new feel of my site
http://www.e-marketingsolutions.info
Your Friend,
Brian
Author of The E-mail Butler and The Revolutionary Internet Marketing System.
Anita
October 21, 2008I had some nice landing pages made and lost my host where I had them. He just disappeared with no warning.
I need a place to put my landing pages I make that won’t cost me very much.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
junior torres
October 21, 2008I just wanted to know how much would it be !!
Timothy Millar
October 21, 2008Hey Reed, Nice info, But first how is the family? Landing pages are great for two things and they are: getting names and emails to follow up with and diverting to other offers of similar interest. Not only can you secure a sale but possibly snag another with great
products on your other pages. I love this blog!
i really enjoy reading and posing on it, almost as much as posting on my own. Have a wonderful day Reed. “The Leprechaun” Timothy Millar
Timothy Millars last blog post..Control your Affiliate Income
Scott
October 21, 2008Good article.
One additional point. Landing pages should be created with one goal in mind: to get the sale. Remove everything else off the landing page except that which leads the prospect down the path towards the sale.
Scott
Henrik Blunck - Denmark
October 21, 2008And top-notch graphics CAN enhance that experience.
Also, professional order buttons was the theme of one of my blog articles – reference: http://www.blunck.dk/earning-money-online/?p=132. That pack was released at $2.97, but people have since sent e-mails praising their increased CTR. Even their first commissions earned this fee back multiple times, so it was a good business decision. 🙂
Similarly you are so very right. Landing pages can also work as cloaking affiliate links so you don’t get your commissions stolen. Which is by the way a darn surprise because customers pay the same, but will apparently steal from affiliates who make an effort to present good stuff for them.
This business is the best, but also one of the darkest experiences if one doesn’t learn from past mistakes… 🙂
Henrik Blunck – Denmarks last blog post..A Very Thought-Provoking Story
Dawn
October 21, 2008Great info as always Reed.
I am just curious if you have seen the new lead capture page system that was just launched 2 weeks ago by marketing guru Dale Calvert? It has a great 2-Level Affiliate program attached to this cutting edge idea.
Here is a video Dale did about it
http://www.mlmhelp.com/rkvideo
Have a great Tuesday!
Dawn
James and Helen
October 21, 2008Great idea and we like all of the ideas mentioned here and here is ours
http://www.hbmin.net/business/index.html if any one would tell us what we are doing wrong. James and Helen
Jane
October 22, 2008Hey Reed…another great post as always.
Sorry to stray from the post, but I wanted to comment to James and Helen.
I looked at your page and there may be several reasons why people are running away from your page.
1) First off…your title is a little misleading. I expected to see something about ministries when I arrived…but instead I was presented with an entire page of banners flashing at me.
2) Your headline is small…and doesn’t really tell enough of a story to let people know why they should check out your offers. You need to pull them in and your headline simply states nothing more than “click these on and check them out”. That stuff is all over the net.
3) You’re trying to sell off of banners alone! It’s all very confusing and doesn’t offer much to the visitor.
These are the more critical issues that you should address. Let your visitors know why they should check out your offers…tell your story about your own home based business experience and why you got into it…then get rid of the banners and come up with a better way of getting the click throughs (explain the products…put pictures or icons rather than banners…etc.).
Then you might consider changing the site name. It’s disjointing with what you’re trying to do on the site.
Hope this all helps.
Jane
Your Niche Templates
Luca - Reach Success Online
October 22, 2008Hey Reed,
I agree with Jane. A landing page needs to sell but it should also state what the product is and what the benefits are to the buyer. It should also only have 1 or 2 products tops. My problem is that I don’t want to create a landing page for each affiliate program that I want to promote.
I’m planning to create a sign in page on my blog with a free product to build a list and then do mailings with links to posts on my blog about the product – like a mini review.
Do you thinj that would work?
Jane I like your product. Do you have an affiliate program??
Velma Gallant, The Queen of JOY!
October 22, 2008This all makes sense to me.
Do you mimic the product’s page on your landing page? Do you need copywriting skills to create the landing page?
For now I have a page on my site with products I recommend, and make reference to them from time to time in my newsletter.
I was also considering putting rotating banners for the various affiliate products on my radio show site as well.
Thanks for the article. 🙂
Dream BIG!
Velma Gallant
The Queen of JOY!
Lazer Clarity Coach
Host of Welcome Changes Radio
Velma Gallant, The Queen of JOY!s last blog post..Suzanne Burns ~ Download
suhaidi
October 22, 2008Hi Reed,
Great post. I can get a lot of info here..
abd gys pls lave a comment about my site here.
http://www.suhaidi.blogspot.com
normz2
October 22, 2008Landing pages are important to promote the topic that you wish to sell. You can have as many landing pages as you wish. It is probably good to use landing pages a well as your home page. Lead capture pages are like landing pages, but are used to capture mailing lists. Usually something is given away to capture leads, and not intended to make money right now. Money is in the list, I am told.
norm.
Geoff Dodd
October 22, 2008Reed, Hi. Marketers should think ‘long and hard’ about their landing pages. You need to capture name and email for a follow-up series, or offer a totally free lead in gift like a special report, free ebook, free classified ad, etc. You need to offer something with a very high conversion to get a prospect interested and not just ‘clicking away’ because he sniffed a hard sell. Don’t just say ‘order now’ because 99.5% will not order. Capture their email for follow up.
Geoff Dodd
Australia
Peter
October 22, 2008Hallo Reed,
nice text and information = 0 this is what all of the marketers are praying but make exmples what and why something is not or with changes is working…consequences —>this why might be the valuablest part. Please change some habits writing intresting blogs and placing words but giving no answers is more than boring. A page of banners and speak about this is a homepage like James and Helen is an example to ignore such BS. Where is the content ?
Peter
Nayanika
October 22, 2008Hi Reed
This website is the one, of the company in which i am working. The Director of this company altered a page and he then assigned me to get it altered. Would you get a blog on how to get this done as a shortcut since copying the whole webpage and then using ftp make the necessary changes on the page, is much longer
Do you think you can make a blog it would be meaningful to my work Reed…
This present blog is very interesting. I have got myself a site where I can make free money yesterday…will let you know when I am at the home computer okay
Great work Reed
Thank you once again, my dearest
PV Reymond
October 22, 2008Hi Reed,
I agree with you, having a landing page is crucial, no matter if you are selling your own product or other people’s products… you need it Period!
If you are just starting out and you don’t know how to structure your landing page just study the top affiliates.
Go to their landing pages, print them out, analyze them, compare one against the other and see what all they have in common.
Now you build your own landing page based on this… give it your personal touch, you don’t have to copy exactly other people’s landing pages, just use the elements you think can work for you.
Another important thing to keep in mind when building your landing page is its objective. Ask yourself this question:
What action do I want my visitors accomplish?
When you have this clear then you build your landing page based on it.
Thanks,
^PV Reymond
http://www.pvreymond.com
PV Reymond
October 22, 2008@Anita Hostgator.com you can get host for less than 5 bucks, they are really professional and have 24/7 support live chat included.
Urpo Salonen
October 22, 2008Hey Reed,
great post, I’m newbie in affiliate marketing and article was very helpfull for me.
Thanks and have a nice day
Urpo Salonen
Urpo Salonens last blog post..Receive $125 Referral Bonus And Make Money Online With Your Own ‘free’ Niche Search Engine!
Slavica
October 22, 2008Everything what has been offered to a lot of online consumers could be useful.To learn a little more or release of a dilemma.To be honest i have one;There are squeeze pages,landing pages,sales letter/page/….
Does a landing page mean a sales page in the same time/to put a sale button customers to buy your product//or just a page to expose your product and put opt-in form-to get subscribers that would be sent to sales page.
Slavicas last blog post..Long Live Witches
VLADIMIR MANAKOV
October 22, 2008Dear Reed,
It’s a powerful idea.They say:”Not in the eyebrow and in the eye”.
I would like to have my own special landimg page to get this done inside the PayDotCom website like Classifieds for Free where I could see all my casual visitors and paying customers.
This would give me an useful Tool to analyze my affiliate traffic to maximize and control my Affiliate Income!
Then I will be able to refer to my landing page
anywhere like in the link above:”Website” insted of http://Notavailable and to be as a full-fledged member of PayDotCom.That’s it.
I agree to add my fees for your service to support my landing page.
Thank you for your great job!
Best regards,
Vladimir
Ray Cassidy
October 22, 2008In response to Anita’s earlier comment, I found a company called IX hosting which seems to do the whole thing and they have very effective on line live help. It isn’t “cheap” as such but the 2 year deal is excellent value for money. They have all the bells and whistles necessary for online commerce and they do seem to be getting good reviews from other users. If you are serious about setting up in business make sure you have a good scan through the reviews of the various hosting services – not the pseudo review sales sites but drill a little deeper on Google and hunt out the genuinely impartial review sites, i.e. don’t even take my recommendation at face value, always do a little bit of extra research on such a serious fundamental part of your business plan. You will be quite surprised at the comments that turn up for some of the more commonlyu plugged hosting solutions. Whatever you choose, good fortune. The main blog post was a useful reminder of how important it is to focus our landing pages when we are using adwords. Keep up the good work Reed.
Ray
Richard
October 23, 2008Hi Reed, another very useful post.
Had a look at James and Helen’s page and have to agree with Jane’s comments; it’s too crowded,small headline etc. Try reducing the banners to the minimum and splitting the others onto other pages. Attempting to sell multiple products on one page will likely result in no sales at all as it’s too overwhelming.
Keep up the excellent posts!
admin
October 23, 2008@Brian interesting point I agree that it’s best to make sure people see your landing page and join your list
@Anita have you tried hostgator.com?
@junior how much what would be?
@Timothy family is good thanks, yes getting people on a list is a great way to make money
@Scott well I’d say to a conversion such as get ting them on a list or making a sale
@Henrik please try to keep the promotion to a minimum. For your other part yes landing pages can help so you get less commissions stolen.
@Dawn thanks. I haven’t seen it.
@James and Helen what’s the purpose of your page? I see a ton of banners
@Jane good points for J&H
@Luca good points
@Velma Yes to both of those questions.
@suhaidi thanks, please keep the promotion to a minimum.
@normz2 you are right the money is in the list
@Geoff yes capture their email 🙂
@Peter I’ll agreed J&H’s page needs some work but I applaud them for asking for feedback it can be very hard to do that.
@Nayanika a blog can be a great way to manage a site it’s a lot easier to maintain however I do like static pages too.
@PV wonderful tips
@Urpo thanks
@Slavica a landing page could be a sales page but I tend to have my landing pages capture a lead first
@Vladimir can you explain this a little more? I’m not sure what you mean
@Ray thanks for helping Anita
@Richard thanks for helping J&H
Anita
October 23, 2008Thanks for the replies for helping find a new host for my splash pages.
Best wishes to all….
Anita
Damji Dharamshi
October 24, 2008It is very Important advise to marketeer.
admin
October 25, 2008@Anita you’re welcome
@Damji thanks
Jorge EZ Affiliate
October 27, 2008Content IS very important for your landing pages. Without content they are no more than affiliate link farms which search engines DO NOT like 😉
Jorge EZ Affiliates last blog post..Automate the Content for Your EZAWB Affiliate Sites
admin
October 27, 2008@Jorge agreed.
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