What To Do When All Your Marketing Falls Flat On Its Face
One of the things a person must have control over in order to make money online is the landing page for what they are promoting. When you join an affiliate program you need to keep in mind that everyone is using the same page. Nothing unique there. And, maybe, just maybe, the landing page you’re sending people to just isn’t doing its job.
To add to your potential misery, the ads you use to drive traffic are also ones everyone else is using. You stand out in no way from your fellow affiliate marketers for that program.
And, even those people with websites of their own often make the fatal mistake of laying out their webpages completely wrong.
Let’s face it, all the marketing and advertising in the world cannot help a webpage that falls flat on its face.
Ideally, you should opt to take control yourself. A domain name, hosting, and putting up your own page to either your own products or that affiliate program you’re promoting can (and if you keep reading will) work. The sad part is that most people will see this as the dreaded four letter word… “Work.”
But doesn’t it make sense? If you are unique, and your presentation is unique, and the product is worthwhile, and you can get traffic to the page, logically you should be able to convert sales and make money.
So here’s some tips and tools to turn your bald-headed marketing approach into a full head of healthy hair (strange analogy, but…).
Posted on June 30th, assuming the blog video is still there, run over and check out Frank Kern’s landing page conversions video (but finish reading this post first, please 
).
I listened to the entire video (entertaining, draggy in only a few spots) and took notes. Afterward, heck yes, I went over to get their free report (there’s something that comes with the free report, access to the pages they use as demonstrations, that I really wanted us to have the links to for further market research).
Now why am I writing something on this blog that we’re not going to make a single cent off of sending people to someone else’s service?
The answer is simple. We “do blogs”, and our Network is growing quite nicely (and we’d love to help you, too). So, without being direct competition, this video covers something we do not do which is… landing pages.
Landing pages are tricky at best to create. A single sheet of paper so to speak, that has just moments to get your visitor to interact with you.
When you market, your job is to drive the traffic to the site. Your landing page is your salesperson. If your salesperson falls flat on its face, you are up the creek without a paddle. Everything you’ve done – all the time and money you’ve spent – just flush it down the toilet if you’re not willing to put the time in to have a page that converts when people get there.
The video I watched (and you can, too) is about 20 minutes long (I did not time it). And taking some notes, here are a few key points I pulled out:
* The layout you may have been taught is not right
* Opt in box upper right above the fold increases conversions by 30-40%
* You get cheaper click costs when doing adwords if you have a superior looking landing page because real humans check your pages in Google Adwords
* Forget the big header graphic
* Keep your columns to a minimum – too much stuff is too confusing (remember we’re talking landing pages, not websites or blogs, there is a difference)
* Certain niches require a more corporate look
* Do not put adsense on a page you’re trying to make money with! Duh!
* Paypal verified logos and the like give a sense of confidence for your buyers
There is more, but it’s not my video to reveal everything (only fair).
In addition, you’ll get to see Frank Kern in person and watch him ride an electric skateboard
The whole thing wraps up with a promo promising an increase of 30% in your conversion rate (if you hire the service featured on the video). In fact, they state that if you don’t see your conversions increase by 30-40% you don’t pay.
If you’re a keep it simple kind of person, and you know how (once you have that great landing page) to drive traffic, then developing the best darn landing page just makes “cents!” (pun intended)
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We’d like to thank Adam, of WealthStore for calling this video to our attention
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EXPRESS YOURSELF! Leave your comments please!
Thank you for drawing my attention to this video. You are right, the way we learn how to design a page might not necessarily be the best. There is always a new way to look at things and there is usually something that could be changed for the better.
@Lindsay like many the idea of upper left was sort of an ingrained idea. We’re testing this “new” way of looking at a page layout ourselves. Granted they talk about landing pages, but the idea being maybe it can carry over to all types of websites. Time will tell
Thanks Diane, for once again giving us a great post with lots of MEAT!
Next stop, video.
I’m back! Wow! Good stuff and FUNNY!
Thankyou for a great post, well written and full of inspirational ideas that I shall follow up on.
@Capy – thanks, hope you can use this information soon
It;s amazing how often I see people with a page selling their product and google adsense right at the top sending the money straight to their competition.
@Brad – enjoy! Like you’re not up to your neck with home remodelling LOL!
@rattitude – agreed! Why oh why would someone put something that’s going to take away that valuable visitor (or at least has the potential) right up front and center? Doesn’t make sense folks!
Good article. You hit on a key note. People are so accustomed to seeing the same old “make money in your pjs crap” that many actually believe that stuff. It is work like anything else if you want to be successful at affiliate marketing or making money online and if you’re one of those who swallowed the make $2000 for 5 minutes of your time bit, you’ll be SOOL (sh*t out of luck).
Good morning Diane!
Once again, a good read.
Thanks for a really interesting post! I’m new to online marketing and web design so I’m definitely checking out the video! Thanks again
Nice post. I think you touched on some very important topics for people trying to market effectively on the web, but none of glaring than the fact that one has to do “work.” I think sometimes people think they can just create a page and it will all happen. Nice job! ~Jerry
@Dotcom – our other business is an advertising (strictly) site and yes, day in and day out, people labor under the illusion that running just “one” anything “will” make them money. It’s a business and you need to have a business mentality to get the job done online!
@Brad – always great to see you!
@LucyVet – walked away with something new to test ourselves – the moving the signup field. Funny how we just tend to believe what other people tell us. Lucky we like to test, test, test
@Jerry – had an email last night in fact from someone wondering why their affiliate url wasn’t “already” listed in Google. Geezzzz… where to begin answering that one (though I did, and extensively LOL!)
Hopefully I can get a landing page up this week…its been on my to do list for a while.
I started my blog out of bordom and quickly figured out that I would not really be making any money with it. I haven’t the time or patience. I am not even goint to start with things like landing pages. Good post though.
@OddRachel – thinking I should clarify my position on the video a bit… while lots of bloggers read our blog, we also get lots of internet marketers who haven’t yet discovered the joys of blogging for fun and/or money. So presenting all sorts of idea/tidbits of information means stepping outside blogging. A landing page is fine, but never replaces a full fledged site or blog. And we opt for blogs when it comes to getting listed quickly and building links (over a website which takes immense amounts of SEO knowledge and often a lot of time & money).
Hopefully those not yet ready for blogging find the information of interest
@Ryan – see above LOL!
good post and some good tips there.
This is a great post! I think even if our blogs are doing well we can learn from it!
@Breezie & Lisa – thank you both! very appreciated!
@Lisa specifically – sometimes a person really needs a page – be it a static one on their blog or a standalone page (or site). All around, knowing ahead of time what works (eye catching) is a definite leg up in a highly competitive place like the net.
Lots of things here…
There are a lot of “rules” I apparently didn’t respect but I guess I don’t blog for money. I love getting some $$$ from my blog but there are things I’M not ready to compromise on.
I agree 100% with losing the big header graphic; some people go overboard and put an image on there that takes up the whole page. 200px high is all that’s needed.
@Zhu – while some might see these as rules, what they really are are time-tested strategies that someone else has taken the time to test LOL (say that one fast 10 times).
I don’t believe there are any hard and fast rules, but there most certainly are suggestions. Most suggestions have no basis for fact, but once in a while you get lucky.
The other sad thing is that often by the time you are hearing about something its had it’s day.
However, I don’t think this video was that – and to be honest we are getting more sign ups directly just by moving the subscription from the left to the right. Overall though, you take what you can apply, apply it, test it, and decide for yourself.
You know your audience best, and your goals you are striving for…
@tokyotom – it does usually turn out to be the simple things that need tweaking. As you point out, why use up all that precious real estate above the fold with a huge image.
Pictures do speak a 1000 words, but words also say a 1000 words LOL! I like visuals, but numerous testing has proven (at least to us) that the big ones aren’t necessary.
However, in the case of a landing/lead capture page, big, bold (red) headlines are a must – with the perfect words of course!
Grabs your visitor and pull them in!
There’s this whole market around marketing web pages, and it’s blown up in the past year or so when everyone decided they needed a blog, and that you could make money off of said blog. I really believe that this is an internet marketing bubble, and it’s going to burst sometime because it’s a self sustaining ecosystem. For instance, a lot of these marketing companies/sites intend to draw people into your site using their methods, whatever they may be. But what they’re not taking into account, and what you’re not either, is that the same people marketing their sites are also visiting YOUR site, so, your site traffic is just fake traffic of people trying to get traffic to their site. We’re all feeding this together, but the true consumers, the grandmothers of the world for instance, do not take part in this, and are thus unlikely to ever see your page. There needs to be a new method to draw untapped internet users to these pages. I haven’t seen it yet though, and doubt this method will do so either.
@Katherine – thanks for your well thought out opinions. The thing is though that blogs are not a bubble waiting to burst, blogging has been around for a long, long time. And, being in the marketing and advertising arena myself for the past decade online and past 28 years online and off, the one thing people not only want but NEED is traffic.
It’s what you DO with that arriving traffic. Don’t give me clear cut direction on what you are trying to accomplish, and of course I will be cast adrift trying to figure it out for myself. Which is frustrating, and yes I will leave.
You are right that something new blending the best of all worlds would be ideal. You are also right again, that that does not (yet) exist.
I do know that traditional marketing, without a list, can be expensive and frustrating – I interact with affiliates all day and night who don’t have their own spot – nor the expertise to handle a full out website with all the html and seo involved.
Blogging solves that problem quickly and easily.
I also think that many people (maybe even reading this now) would be offended that someone would consider the fact that they’ve taken the time to come to your blog or even website for that matter as fake or bogus. I know, the last time I checked, that I am a real live human and I visit tons of blogs and websites. I also keep my eyes open for things I need. If you give me great information, and have what I’m looking for, I see no reason not to buy it through you.
I also do not believe that just because you blog you are knocking the “traditional” approaches to internet marketing. What’s required is a nice blend of the two, and one’s ability to get the job done with the right kind of site – and to know the difference.
All that said, I hope your quality of traffic picks up and puts a smile on your face
Best to you!