For Testing - Direct Link - Or Landing Page

As for LP, it depends what traffic source you are using. Some traffic sources it will be essential. Others it will be a question of testing.

As for a domain, it depends what your budget is. Some people like testing on subdomains so they can still have their keyword in the domain without buying a whole new one

Or test using cheap domains like info domains which are just a few bucks.

Best, Ken

If the offer requires a credit card, or several fields, you're probably going to want to build a landing page.

If the offer is a simple zip or small field submit, you may be able to get away with direct linking.

Also consider where the user is coming from. Are you driving traffic from a social platform like Facebook where there's likely to be a high volume of chance clickers? These users are more likely to need a pre-sell than somebody who's actively searched out a page using some long-tail keyword term.

I always use a landing page except for very rare and highly targeted campaigns where the extra click is going to hurt my margins.

Depending on an advertiser to actively test and optimize their landing pages for you is like gambling.

In fact most marketing is like gambling unless you're in control of the sales funnel from the initial advertisement all the way through post click until the point where you get paid. There's so much useful quantitative information that you can gather from analysis of a landing site that will all go towards a better campaign.

The less steps a user needs to take in order for you to be paid the better. No landing page control though means your only means for improving on ROI from an ad spend is strictly dependent on how well you can target traffic and what your CTR is off of a static spend.

Like if you're paying $1 per CPM, the best you can do is improve the CTR to gain a better return off your investment. Whereas with landing page control you can do that + tweak the page for better conversions which is hands down the best way of improving your profitability.

You always want to control the landing page for that reason if at all possible.

I know it's difficult when you're doing arbitrage with CPA network offers, but it's something to consider.

As was stated above it also depends on where you're getting traffic from. Consider whether or not you need to "pre sell" the person before sending them off to the offer also. This is more likely to be your deciding factor on which you should choose.

Always be testing.