Category: Niche Marketing

Landing Pages: Essential to Affiliate Marketing


Landing pages

Put a landing page in your marketing toolbox – As an affiliate marketer, you will need to perform certain tasks and you’ll need a set of marketing tools to assist you in the performance of those tasks. However, what you don’t need to be concerned with is the development or creation of the products and/or services (‘products’) you are going to market, because they are all ready to go whenever you are. Consider the following scenario.

You have already signed up with the Google Adsense program or with other affiliate marketing programs, and you have already prepared the ad you want to post on your affiliate’s site. Your mind is now set on being the next most successful online businessman; but is there something else you might have forgotten to prepare? Maybe nothing! However, have you thought to prepare landing pages? Are they all set for your business?

Landing pages are simply web pages where visitors are directed to when they click a search engine results page link or an ad on the Web. For affiliate marketers, landing pages are utilized to entice website visitors to spend more time browsing their pages; and for merchants they are used to direct potential customers to particular product pages on their websites. Keep in mind that most product links on an affiliate’s website would lead to unique landing pages created by the merchants.

Landing pages are, at most times, not really different from other web pages in a particular website, especially if the website referred to is an e-commerce site. Some online business persons would even use the homepage of their websites as the landing page for their ads. Are these business persons making a big mistake? Or should you follow their method in creating landing pages for your ads?

Well, you can always follow what most online retailers do: direct their potential customers to the homepages of their websites. But if you want to achieve something more from your online business, and if you want to earn a lot of profit, you’d be better off creating a special landing page for your web ads. Why? There are a few reasons why you need to use landing pages for your web ads. And take note that it would be much better if you create a great landing page as oppose to a so-so one.

Pay-per-click

It is the only way affiliate marketers get conversions – There are a variety of affiliate marketing programs today, but most of these programs let the merchant pay the affiliate in a pay per click (PPP) basis. Basically, all you have to do is sign up with the program and submit your ad. The program owner would then distribute your ad to various affiliates who would then place your ad on their websites. Whenever your ad is clicked, a visitor would be directed to your landing page and you would have to pay the affiliate for his/her service.

As a merchant, you earn money through conversions —that result when a visitor is directed to your site and actually buys a product before leaving. Without these conversions, you actually earn nothing from the program. Also, the more visitors your affiliates have directed to your site, the larger would your expense wpould be. And the only way you can recover from these expenses is through conversions.

Of course you probably won’t get any conversion if you post an ad on your affiliate’s site without an actual landing page for the potential customer to be redirected into. It’s just like advertising a product without actually having a store from which to sell your product. Your advertisement may be enticing enough to encourage people to purchase a product, but without the landing page, how will they know where and how to purchase that product?

It is therefore important to have landing pages for your ads because it is the only way for you to earn some money in an affiliate program. Without landing pages, all you do is spend money paying your affiliates without actually getting anything in return.

The home page

Other web pages may just not be enough – Many affiliates make the mistake of making their website’s homepage as the landing page for their ads. The same is true for those who make use of other pages like a “contact us” page or a product page. Homepages are often designed to serve multiple users and contain a lot of links to other pages or to other websites.

The same is true for the other two pages mentioned. If you want to be successful in an affiliate program, it is best not to have your landing page to cater to the needs of various people, most of which may not be really interested in your product.

When choosing a landing page, you must always have the customer directed into that page you intended. Therefore your landing page must be relevant to the keywords and content you placed in your ad. It is also important that the landing page induce your visitor to take action by clicking on one of your product links or at least provide leads for potential customers.

A primary business tool on hold

Final Word

You probably entered into an affiliate marketing program with these things in mind: to save on advertising expenses and to gain more profit. But if you get into an affiliate marketing program without actually having a landing page, you’ll end up paying too much without getting anything in return. So if you still don’t have a landing page for your ads, you better start creating one now; and don’t get wrong idea; it isn’t enough for you to have just a landing page…it should be a great landing page. Good luck!

A Boost to Your Affiliate Marketing Business




Affiliate marketing is a very popular business on the Internet (Web) which consists of a partnership between merchants and affiliates. An affiliate’s role involves advertising and/or promoting a merchant’s products and services at no cost to the merchant until a customer referred by that affiliate makes a purchase from the merchant’s website, at which time the affiliate is credited with that sale and paid a commission in accordance with a previously agreed-upon percentage rate.

Affiliates’ commissions have at times been thought of in terms of a portion of the profit realized by the merchant from customers purchases; and based on this school of thought, the relationship between affiliates and the merchants is also known as revenue sharing partnership.

However, whether the relationship is viewed as a partnership, an independent contractor-client or an agent-principal, the fact remains that both parties derives benefit from that relationship as long as each perform his/her duties satisfactorily.

Considering that affiliate marketing has long been recognized the best way for merchants to sell more products on the Web, and affiliates (also referred to as webmasters at times) have long been known to derive income with their own website via their affiliate marketing activities, the relationship is seen as a “win-win” for both parties since each has the opportunity to make really good money – the merchant by increasing sales, and the affiliate by referring more customers – from each other’s participation.

Keep in mind also that affiliate marketing is a business (would industry be too strong of a word?) that already has widespread popularity; but having said that, it is also true that affiliates must be willing to work hard, and be diligent, persistent and consistent in making their websites stand out from the crowd in this highly competitive field.

No, the work is not easy for affiliate or merchant; but if the merchant creates unique and affordable products, and affiliates devise effective USPs (unique sales propositions), these secrets will lead to each being successful in his/her respective roles.

If you are an affiliate you’ll need to find new ways to increase your earnings or commission and turn your business into a success. You’ll obviously need to manage it the right way, since proper management will make yours and most other businesses grow. One other aspect of affiliate marketing which must be touched on is the fact that success does not come overnight as some sales people will have you believe; but having the right mindset for a long term commitment and sticking to the business pay huge dividends down the road.

To grow your affiliate marketing business, you’ll need to advertise your site, and in so doing, the merchants’ products; and the most common (effective?) way to accomplish this is with banners and links, as they also help you to get paid from your merchant. Banners and links are often placed on affiliates’ websites or blogs; but they should be placed very carefully as too many on a single page can be very annoying and confusing to your potential customers.

Another way to make your affiliate business grow is by going to forums and message boards that relate to the products you are marketing. This method can be a smart way to boost your income, since you’ll meet many different people with similar interests and, perhaps, effective techniques you could use. When you first start commenting try not to promote and sell anything; rather you must develop and nurture relationships in a genuine way, and these relationships have great potential of blossoming into reliable customers later on.

You can also make yourself a free ebook with advertisement tips and links to your affiliate website, as this can be a great resource for potential customers, and it helps to demonstrate your knowledge of a particular topic, as well as letting potential customers know that you are there to help. If you use the proper methods for advertising and letting customers know about your affiliate programs, you’ll be well on your way to making a lot of extra money as an affiliate marketer. It is truly one of the best ways to make money on the Web and all it takes is work, dedication and commitment.