Menu on landing page?

[Kyle Howard]

I am trying to make a decision about a website I am launching, and would like input from experienced warriors.

One of the staples of the Internet marketer's diet is the "review site." You make a review site, post good reviews of the products that you really like (along with aff. links) , then you point your traffic toward these pages.

Now, the question is, do I dress this site up like a real review site, including a menu with links to my other reviews? Or should the landing page be devoid of any distractions?

Thanks for any input.

[James Schramko]

Keep it simple. Assume that your visitors are lazy and stupid.

In other words - they won't want to have to guess what to do and it must be obvious.

There are a lot of research surveys that conclude too much choice can paralyse.

(Look at the Google Home Page for example)...

[Kyle Tully]

What do you want the user to do?

Click on your affiliate link for a product he was just searching for?

Or start browsing your site for other products that he may or (more likely) may not have any interest in?

[Easy Cash]

From my experience having a landing page that has no distractions whatsoever is best.

The more distractions = less conversion rate.

Even having a sign up box for a free report is a distraction.

Structuring how you capture email addresses and then combining this with sales is something to think about carefully.

[DavidO]

"No menu, no links, no choices" is one of the sacred cows of IM web design, one which can and should be broken at times.

The right answer has a lot to do with what you're presenting and what action you want visitors to take. But don't take the "no links" advice as gospel.

For example, I've built a content site with not only a sales page but documentation, articles, videos, demo, etc. All this support is not just a distraction but is all designed to help sell the product.

Yet evertyone who reviews the site keeps trotting out the same old thing: get rid of the menu on your sales page!

I've actually tested my page with and without menu in the past and I'd have to give a slight edge to the menu version.

The concept of avoiding distraction is sound: but if your menu links contribute positively to your sales message they are not a distraction. I believe also that a complete menu can increase the credibility and professional image of a site. There are some products that are not well-served by a bare one-page salesletter.

The decision depends on your circumstances and you should probably test it as well.

[ClarksScoop]

Thats great

[Ralf Skirr]

Hi Kyle,

it depends on what the purpose of your landing page is.

If you want them to sign up to your list (=if it's a squeeze page) then:
- either add no menu
- or add a menu that only leads to pages that are sign up pages themselves. Thus no matter which way they go they will always end up on a page that adds them to your list. In that case the menu offers the illusion of choice, while in reality in all cases they end up on the same list.


If you want them to click through to a specific affiliate merchant's page:
- don't add a menu but several affiliate links throughout the page

If you want them to click any of your affiliate links:
- add a menu to your other review articles. Have links to the affiliate merchant's pages throughout your articles / reviews.

Ralf

[sparrow]

The key here is when someone lands on your page from search they are looking for what they cicked in the search engine

so serve it to them and don't distract them

this is one of the biggest problems when people build pages, they give someone too many pages and wonder why they don't make money

think about when you surf and you see this link and that link and follow them after a while you ask yourself what was I looking for initially

this is what you do when you give to many choices

Ed

[Kyle Howard]

Thank you guys for the good answers. I like:

If you want them to click any of your affiliate links:
- add a menu to your other review articles. Have links to the affiliate merchant's pages throughout your articles / reviews.

But, I am worried that perhaps if they see other products that are similar, it will only lower their confidence that they are making a wise decision in buying the one they initially found.

I think I will make an index page with links to all my reviews, but the actual review pages will not have any links other than the affiliate links and the newsletter opt-in. That way people looking for a review site will find it, and people looking for information on a specific product will not get distracted.

[dvduval]

It depends on your goals. Sometimes people want to know more about you or the product before making a purchase. Sometimes people just want to buy and move on. You might try running both and see which works better.