Domains and lander for affiliate marketing

discoverwebwork

discoverwebwork

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Sep 14, 2009
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Do you usually get a generic domain to use for ALL of your CPA marketing? I was thinking about getting a generic domain that will encompass everything I'm trying to market in the PPC/CPM world. Is this a good idea? I mean, I was thinking about even getting a .info for these offers. These offers are the ones I could care less about organic SEO btw.

Also, do you use your own landers for affiliate marketing? I mean, if you have somebody that checks out your lander and then click to the product lander, wouldn't they be confused? Is there a way to get somebody to do a zip/email submit from your own lander?

Thanks all
 


I have been attempting both methods.

It is very tempting to pick up $1.00 .info domains for landing pages because you can have your primary keywords in the URL. At first whenever I have submited a landing page on a .info domain I get a really bad quality score from Adwords, but then after it gets reviewed it jumps way, way up because I make really good landing pages. I think it's some kind of penalty similar to the google search results for .info domains with Adwords, but it appears to be a short term penalty that can be ignored.

The downside is that my clicks on ads for the .info domains (only have theories on the reason) is significantly lower than on .com domain landers.

This makes the clickthrough rate on Adwords go down and thus your cost per click go up. Since I cap my maximum CPC pretty low the net result is a lower placement in the results or good keywords not showing my ads anymore. Its been pretty much a downward spiral with the .info domains. Start out good then start down the slide. I know you save $8.00 each over .coms but it is now looking to me as if it is better to spend the extra money on a .com or .net .

I have also attempted the other idea of doing a primary site with subdomains for landing pages to specific affiliate programs, as you discuss above. It does not seem to get me the same results as a stand alone domain seems to do. However....

One thing I've been toying with is to use the subdomains as landers and then have the primary domain set up as a mall type advertising hub fully crammed with ads. A lot of people seem to head strait for the main domain from the subdomains even though they are not prompted to do so, prolly looking for additional related products or information creating cross selling opportunities. That is what I am figuring out to be the one advantage to a generic domain.

Please note that I'm fairly new and this data has been put together over just 4 months from my own experience and mistakes, so hopefully one of the old-timers will also comment.
 
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I have a couple generic domains, but ever since I had a PPC campaign's CTR increase by 50% just by changing the display URL, I've realized that domain name is important even for PPC. Domains are cheap. It's one thing to have a domain about, say, polls or contests, then use that domain for all your polls & contests -- the domain still makes sense. But if the domain has nothing to do with your ad text at all, it might hurt your CTR, and you'd be better off shelling out the $8.62 to get a new .com.

As for landers, yes, most people use their own, and yeah, the double-lander thing is kind of a weird customer experience. You can sometimes work out with an advertiser a way to have the first page zip/email collection on your page, then redirect straight to their second page -- but keep in mind that while they may pay you based on the email/zip, the stuff they actually *want* is on the subsequent pages, so they're not going to pay you for sending them a bunch of zip codes or email addresses. In any case, though, you'll have an easier time working this out with an advertiser if you're already driving them significant traffic the normal way.
 
Just go to namecheap and get a .com domain for 6.99. If $6.99 is a problem for your budget then I would advice you to save some more money up before getting started in affiliate marketing.
 
bprimeelite said:
Just go to namecheap and get a .com domain for 6.99. If $6.99 is a problem for your budget then I would advice you to save some more money up before getting started in affiliate marketing.
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No, 6.99 is not a problem. The problem is buying a ton of domains and not knowing if it's going to convert.
 
IMO you are thinking too small. You are afraid of losing a couple dollars and so you are jeopardizing your revenue. Apply a 'fake it til you make it' philosophy. You can always sell those domains, or build them out into 10 page SEO optimized info sites later and use Adsense or a good CPA offer to make more than enough to pay for the domain renewal each year (and then sell them for $50 when they get a PR3 badge).
 
stevehnsn said:
IMO you are thinking too small. You are afraid of losing a couple dollars and so you are jeopardizing your revenue. Apply a 'fake it til you make it' philosophy. You can always sell those domains, or build them out into 10 page SEO optimized info sites later and use Adsense or a good CPA offer to make more than enough to pay for the domain renewal each year (and then sell them for $50 when they get a PR3 badge).
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That's a pretty good idea :). I like it! That's thinking outside the box.
 
I use .coms, because I actually make (non-monopoly) interwebz dollars.

.info- would YOU buy something from a .info? If you answer "well, sure" go ahead and throw your computer out the fucking window.
 
discoverwebwork said:
No, 6.99 is not a problem. The problem is buying a ton of domains and not knowing if it's going to convert.
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If you stick with domains revolving around your vertical you'll always be able to use them later. Don't be so specific if you're worried about the costs. e.g. Don't register "DazzleBrightWhitening.com" go with something more generic e.g. ShittyYellowMolarsBegone.com
 
Regarding using the domain sans subdomains as a wall of advertisement: I promote some for a second tier network in sweden that uses this, its even their main landing page. It makes the landing pages shitty and possibly costs me longterm income since its branding their domain, but a lot of people clicking for say a motherhood magazinsubscription ends up with a free makeup-box or a chochlate-rebill instead. In the range of 5-10% or so (Mind you though that the low quality of the acutal offers landingpage due to this certainly has cost me more than that, but you can always take what you like from this if you got complete control of the destination).
 
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