Affiliate Experiment

[Jeffro]

I've finally gotten off my butt and am trying an experiment. I've had those Advertise On The Tavern banners displaying for awhile with no bites. So instead of wasting the space, I've uploaded some banners for products I have affiliate links for but instead of pointing the banners to the product via affiliate link like you would normally do, I've linked the banners to the reviews I wrote. For example, the 125X125 GravityForms banner links to the GravityForms review which will be published today.

The affiliate links are within the review post. This way, users are directed to a page filled with with information related to the product and THEN, if they decide it sounds good, will hopefully click one of the affiliate links within the article to make the purchase. Anywho, I'll let you all know at the end of the year if it worked or not to increase affiliate sales.

I'm also trying something else out but it requires the cooperation of some of the businesses/corporations working with me.

[andreasnrb]

Splittest it =)

[brandingdavid]

Andreasnrb isn't wrong, a split test could help. I will say though, that I've done what you are saying, and it usually does convert better. The only issue is the number of clicks to convert.

Say they click on it and it bring them to your review, read over your opinion and decide to buy. They are then brought to the Gravity Forms site where they are hit with yet another marketing message before they can buy.

But if they click on it and are brought right to the Gravity Forms site where they receive just one marketing message before they can buy, which one had to jump through less hoops? Which route has a higher barrier to entry?

Also, do you think your review will have enough weight to convince readers to purchase it versus the overview on the main page of Gravity Forms?

This is just an example of course. Some WP plugins have very poor landing/marketing/front pages on their site and could definitely use a peer review as a gateway into their product.

I look forward to hearing your results though. :) Good luck!