Affilliate Landing Pages: NO ONE Talks About This & Its Pissing Me OFF!

[profitlancerpaul]

Firstly my hat is off to all of you here at the Warrior forum and for taking the time to read this post about..."Affiliate Landing Pages!" lol

To the Point:

No one - I mean absolutely No One...talks about the best way to do this!

Whats the best way to write, create, layout & design "Affiliate Landing Pages" for ppc? Not sales copy "presell copy".

Look, I'm an affiliate marketer, I don't own my own products and don't want too at this point, there's allot of reasons why, but I'll keep it to the point!

From all the research, days, months even freaking years I've been at this business, testing, trial & error, screw-ups and success... through
all that time, I haven't found anything on this damn subject and that's about the art of "Preselling" "Soft-selling" or whatever you want to call it!

Types of ppc landing pages I've seen - Choices an affiliate has with PPC

1. The review: reviewing 3-4 different related products, for example if I was interested in selling a few "work at home opps"....I would layout a review of what I thought were either the 4 best or 3 best.

2. Single sell - Presell landing page. Where the affiliate is just reviewing 1 in-particular product "can be anything".

3. Squeeze page - convincing the visitor to give up their email & name or leave, then redirecting them to the vendors sales page.

4. or Just send'em straight to the vendors page. - not a good idea 90% of them time!

Those are pretty much all the options an affiliate has to make a sale using ppc...I've tried them all, the best that's worked for me, was the single presell page...the 3-4 product review works too, but it sucks with conversions compared to the single sell!

Now when it comes to writing your landing page, As an experienced Affiliate....

"HOW DO YOU DO IT"...??? That's what I'm asking.

I mean, everything on the web is about teaching you how to write...Guess what, a freaking "Sales Page"

but nothing about how to write as an affiliate...whats the damn point of writing a sales page for someone else's product, if I'm gonna do that, I might as well make my own products right?

I've been studying this for months, I've learned allot about writing copy...don't get me wrong, there's allot to learn from it and has helped me write allot of stuff....copy is an art form & I appreciate anything I can get from it! But Sales Copy is a completely different planet, compared to Presell Copy!

What I'm asking? Does anyone have any advice on this?

Anyone can whip up a ****y review, but the 1 page review works so much better especially coming from a personal experience edge...The readers really like that allot!

But whats the best way to lay it out, do I use the same sales copy formula; headline (of course) sub-headline, intro, pain, solution, lots of subtitles, benefits, proof, testimonials, call to action!

how do you write to presell, Not SELL!? How do you write affiliate landing pages, whats the best way to lay'em out and what writing formula do you use?


If anyone can help me with this, PLEASE!!! It's driving me fu**ing nutts!

[Rob Canyon]

Paul,

What are your goals...

To build a list of names and emails or to make instant money and will you
focus on PPC or methods that will bring you free organic search (PPC is faster
but as the name says is costs a few bucks).

PM me with your answers and I'll give you more help.

Cheers,

Rob

[Loren Woirhaye]

You may not like what I say to you:

Take a look at what the other affiliates are doing and

WRITE THEM UNDER THE TABLE!

That's right. You BE Twice as passionate. Put your face up
there. Put your name on your pre-sell letter. Put your
phone number and address on there maybe. Stop trying
to have that secret business where you sit on your but and
poke computer buttons and stranger send you money and
have no idea who you are.

Be real. Be authentic. BE exciting and be passionate about
recommending excellent solutions. Make them say "WOW!"
this guy is a real person just like me!

More work? yeah.

Less anonymity? yeah.

worth it? you decide.

[celinemhoran]

There are two master level affiliate e-books that will answer the simple yet
pertinent question you're asking; especially the "make your copy pre-sell" ebook.

If you're interested in these two ebooks just reply with your email account
and I'll forward the links to you.

I can't add the links here as I've not submitted 15 posts yet.

[profitlancerpaul]

Loren Woirhaye, your absolutely right!

but it still doesn't give me a formula to follow....I'm not suppose to write like a sales man...should I just write like a normal joe blow, just saying "hey" this product works... ( I know it''s suppose to be deeper than that)

or go even further and become and actor, pretending to be someone else, for instance...the rich jerk (bad example lol) has got the a**hole attitude and almost everyone loves reading his stuff!

or I could be the Texas gun slinger :-) or something, see what I'm saying!

but I don't still don't have a formula to follow....

Here's another point I have, most everyone knows what a sales copy looks like, the minute they land on it...Its got the great big headline, or maybe some kick ass header graphics, just the whole sales copy look!

If I'm pre-selling, I don't want to use that same system do I?

should it be the blog look, or the cnet look or what?

I don't have any kowlegde on this at all, 90% of my presell "PPC" landing pages, look like sales copy, but when you read it, you can tell I'm not selling anything, I'm just recommending (whatever the product or products are) and first impressions means just as much as the headline does!

Paul

[Paul Hancox]

Hi Paul

I did actually talk about this somewhat in my "The Secrets Of A 10% Conversion Rate" report, but the bottom line was...

... you've got to TEST your own pre-sell pages, including headline, copy and even the wording of the action link.

Few people are going to tell you their specific magic formula because affiliate marketing can be highly competitive, and it also depends on other factors such as the keywords you are targetting, reputation, etc.

You've already tested what kind of general PPC layout to use, and concluded that the single presell page worked best for you...

... but why stop there? Now test different formats of your single presell page...

... different headlines...

... different copy...

... different calls to action.

As you said, even the style may make a difference. Test a blog style vs a cnet style page.

There is probably no single definitive guide on this because there's no single best way of doing it... but rather, lots of things you can test.

And yes, you can split test with a landing page. You can then measure click-thrus from each version. To track sales, you'd need to use something like Clickbank's tracking code (TID), as explained in my report.

[profitlancerpaul]

PAUL, your right as well!

I guess being an affiliate is kinda like being a pioneer, when it comes to copy writing, but at the same sense it's not because plenty of others have already been their but aren't willing to share their experiences! (which I can understand)

So in the meantime, all of us have to start from the beginning with no blueprint to follow or rules to play along with and our own trial & error to figure out the magic formula sort a speak! It sucks...

and I'll tell you right now...I'm gonna break that silence if someone doesn't do it before me, once I figure it out myself first! :-)

So all I can do is test.test..test...& test some more!

I'm testing everything, I've got all the tools... I'm tracking the moment they click on that adwords ad, how long their on my page, what links their clicking (CTA LINKS OF COURSE), headlines, parts of the copy, different arrangements, i.e

testimonials, CTA, then Bonuses or testimonials, CTA or any other order, anything i can test, I'm testing it!

It just sucks, I can't find a book, or know someone that's already been their and knows what works best being an affiliate.

But like you said...no one wants to share that knowledge!

[Paul Hancox]

The good thing about being an affiliate marketer is that you don't have to be a copywriter as such, you just have to be able to (a) write well, (b) write persuasively, and (c) write with authority.

Copywriting skills can certainly help with these, but a landing page is simply achieving a different thing to the sales page.

A sales page is about clinching the sale, but a landing page is about getting the prospect warmed up for the sale, and clinching the click-thru.

So, to my mind, the trick to writing an effective landing page is to put yourself in the mind of a trusted friend who wants to recommend a product to you (instead of a salesperson who wants to sell the product to you).

How would the trusted friend speak?

(a) The trusted friend would have your best interests at heart, over earning an affiliate commission. (At least, that is how it should be perceived.)

(b) A trusted friend would tell you the bad points as well as the good.

(c) A trusted friend would be enthusiastic but not "sales-y". (They're less likely to use typical sales page language like, "Buy now!" and more likely to urge things like, "Go and take a look and see what you think...")

Just a few thoughts off the top of my head

[Chris Stigson]

You asked what I do personally... and I can tell you "it depends".

Why?

Who am I talking to?

Is there a chance of potential residuals?

Reverse Phone Detective is a one pop sales, but say, dating or dog training is a list building niche...

Same with "antispyware" it's just hit or miss, not much backends (on cb except other products), but "work at home" would have hundreds of backends, etc..

Think about it...

/Chris

[cloudchaser22]

Great post! I've been looking for the same thing too but yeah I agree, no one talks about it - landing pages even when I think it's the second most important thing next to articles. Without landing pages, it's pretty much over since I've tried that method of redirect links straight to the merchant's sales page. It's not that popular of a subject, I don't know why.

[BobsCash]

A couple of Questions I have about LP's, as pertaining to Google QS (I know that Google wants more than a single landing page in order to give a good quality score):

- Will Google give you a decent QS if adding just a couple of content pages (or do you need several)?

- Do the content pages have to be as targeted as the landing page (for instance - ...Should a landing page that targets a long tail keyword also have supporting web pages that target that SPECIFIC long tail keyword phrase - or can the supporting content pages/keywords be more general)?

Thanks!

[profitlancerpaul]

Originally Posted by BobsCash

- Do the content pages have to be as targeted as the landing page (for instance - ...Should a landing page that targets a long tail keyword also have supporting web pages that target that SPECIFIC long tail keyword phrase - or can the supporting content pages/keywords be more general)?

Thanks!

Just make sure you have a contact me link, terms & conditions, privacy policy, site-map & a home page link (that says home) and the most important is to have a link that says "resources or Blog"

all at the bottom of your landing page. I find it better to put them in grey text and on "font size="1" because you don't want your visitor clicking those links, and anything you can do to prevent it is better, they are there only for adwords - "to make them happy."

Go build a 6-7 page blog all about whatever your selling, it doesn't have to be the best. That will work just fine! and link it back to your landing page "Resource | Blog"

Now - Lets Back to the Topic Please.....

Does Anyone have any insight they'd like to share about how to write and test affiliate landing pages?

[travlinguy]

I wrote a couple of pre-sale or landing pages for a client a couple of weeks ago. He's getting a 30% conversion on one and a 41% on the other.

I decided I'm sitting on a gold mine of my own so I put this page up earlier in the week. I'm still tweaking but should be ready to begin promotion in a day or so. I like to use the story format to warm the prospect. BTW, this story is 100% factual.

Free Promo Home

[profitlancerpaul]

Originally Posted by travlinguy

I wrote a couple of pre-sale or landing pages for a client a couple of weeks ago. He's getting a 30% conversion on one and a 41% on the other.

I decided I'm sitting on a gold mine of my own so I put this page up earlier in the week. I'm still tweaking but should be ready to begin promotion in a day or so. I like to use the story format to warm the prospect. BTW, this story is 100% factual.

Are you sh*ting me?

I saw that the other day...Is it a similar style and layout that you used for your friends pre-sell pages?

Man if it is, I would have never known,

If it's working for you, way to go dude...I've been testing like hell and spending a ton of money trying to find the right words to say and the layout to use for mine.

Paul

[travlinguy]

"Is it a similar style and layout that you used for your friends pre-sell pages?"

Yep. It's pretty much the style I use for all of my writing. Of course there are occasionally articles that have to be written in a straight informational narrative style, but most stuff lends itself to the story format. And people like reading stories. Conversions are usually through the roof.

[tryinhere]

why are people talking landing pages and pre sell copy, when it could be landing sites, as for the pre sell copy stuff i simply do not follow that thinking in many ways ? what are you exactly meaning by pre sell copy ?

do you want to take the vendors copy and then try and water it down so you can warm their cockles before sending them in ?

I would think passion would be a key here, as the story example points out.

working on this as well so will tag this and follow it through

[TheAtHomeCouple]

Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye

You may not like what I say to you:

Take a look at what the other affiliates are doing and

WRITE THEM UNDER THE TABLE!

That's right. You BE Twice as passionate. Put your face up
there. Put your name on your pre-sell letter. Put your
phone number and address on there maybe. Stop trying
to have that secret business where you sit on your but and
poke computer buttons and stranger send you money and
have no idea who you are.

Be real. Be authentic. BE exciting and be passionate about
recommending excellent solutions. Make them say "WOW!"
this guy is a real person just like me!

More work? yeah.

Less anonymity? yeah.

worth it? you decide.

I know it really doesn't help the guy who posted this, but I totally agree with you. I'm super competitive when I write copy and I'm constantly trying to be innovative and real - and it pays off 99% of the time, regardless of how I'm sending traffic or which medium I'm using.

Write them under the table in deed. Then go out with the money you made and drink someone under the table at the local bar.

Whatever you're doing.. just focus on putting people under tables who are currently not where they belong (under a nearest table).

[wordwizard]

What a great thread!!!

Thanks so much for sharing this info.

I think I'm going to do some experimenting (and then write a report, especially if I find a version that works really well ;-)

I do have an idea...

If you have to have several pages on the landing page site anyway -- why not turn them into split testing material and use them as different landing pages for the same thing.

Okay, so this wouldn't work (probably) with almost identical pages, but I can see it work easily with a longer page (see example given above) vs. a much shorter page, and maybe a medium page...

then maybe have a sister site that has the same stuff except with small variations from site A -- so you could split test long version A vs. long version B (i.e., different headlines etc.).

Elisabeth

[sirox]

Another piece of the puzzle: if you use Google at all, you will have a hard time with a thin landing page, even a thin landing site, be it pre-sell, review or what not.

[Cryp]

I hope we can get more examples going and the OP is right, no one talks about this stuff!!

What I usually do is google a couple of warrior names, check out their ezine account and see where that takes me hehe

[mddynamics]

Hello,
Would you be so kind as to forward me the 2 links you mention below? Thank you very much and best wishes to you!
thenetdynamics at gmailcom

miles davenport


There are two master level affiliate e-books that will answer the simple yet
pertinent question you're asking; especially the "make your copy pre-sell" ebook.

If you're interested in these two ebooks just reply with your email account
and I'll forward the links to you.

I can't add the links here as I've not submitted 15 posts yet.[/quote]

[Ronak Shah]

Interesting thread. Awesome contributions.

Thank you all for the amazing response to the OP's queries.

I love this thread.

[Jennie Heckel]

ProfitLancerPaul,

Pre-sells. Best to be who you are. Just write about your using the product like an average guy/gal. Don't sell at all, just give a "this is what I liked about it and maybe you will too idea..." and a simple link to click.

I find the less high end graphics and the better, since you want to come across as a average joe or josey. What also works best is the original plain blue Wordpress theme.

Makes you look like an honest guy giving an honest review. I get my highest conversions doing this, not with my glizty graphic presells....

And don't forget the new FTC -- I get some money when you click this link...if you buy disclaimer.

Good Luck,

Jennie

[AlanCarr]

To the OP, you're finding stuff about copywriting and sales because that's what you're looking for.

Instead try searching with term 'affilate marketing'. There's a wealth of free info out there.



AC