Leonardo Saraceni, Outer Banks, NC
Dear preventive affiliate marketer,
Perry Marshall recently shocked nearly every affiliate marketer out there when he posted an email from Glenn Livingston detailing Google's new affiliate review page slap. From his tests and conversations with other marketers, it seems like Google's new beef is with affiliate review pages being used as landing pages.
If you're not familiar with this strategy, here's the blueprint:
This blueprint has been exhaustively used by affiliates because it is darn simple, and easily replicable: on the "review" page, a simple article copied from the product page greets visitors, who are then lead to click on the affiliate link to go to the sales letter.
What seems to be happening is that Google is tracking these "minisites" with affiliate links and slapping them pretty hard.
Their problem is with searchers' satisfaction: the quality of those so-called "reviews" is questionable, and there's very little content in the page. It offers nothing to satisfy the searcher, and therein lies the root of the issue.
Here are tips to raise your landing pages' quality score, across the board (not just for the aff. problem)
Craft two or three major bullets, and surround them with well-formed, original paragraphs.
Find at least one major resource page relevant to the product/service you're promoting and include a link on the footer, in a small font, to prevent traffic leaks.
Even if you have no idea how to write legal copy for an online service, your landing page needs contact, privacy policy, and earnings disclaimer/terms of service pages.
Do I even need to expand on this tip? Dont just copy pieces of the product description, or what somebody else said about it; come up with your review, and be honest about your experience with it.
Now for the good stuff:
1) Don't Leave ANY Affiliate Links On Your Landing Page
Obvious, huh? But exactly how are you supposed to link from your landing page to the sales letter?
Here are two scenarios:
With this solution, you're not only preventing being slapped, but building a solid foundation for recurring revenue: an EMAIL list!!!
And it doesnt mean more work: simply attach an autoresponder to that opt-in form and let it do all the selling for you. You'll see results grow exponentially with email marketing.
If you really dont want to spend 1 hour setting up an autoresponder series,
Boost your review, add some compelling copy, and split it in two pages. Add a "continue here" link to the second part, and add your link there.
Or...
Create a .pdf file with your review, and make it available for download on your landing page. Include your links in the .pdf.
This should please king Google.
This situation is no reason to pull your hair out. This only worries marketers trying to make a quick buck, to whom customer experience is meaningless.
If you're building a business and you want it to last, follow these strategies and don't worry about slaps.
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I will be glad to hear about your results.
To Fair Playing,
P.S - To learn a lot more on PPC marketing, jump over the competition, have access to the full, no punches held training, click here:
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