Landing Pages: Their own site or part of a larger site?

[monkeyxg]

I'm getting ready to start my first campaign, but I've been going back and forth on which way to set up my landing page.

As an example, let's say we're promoting Hydroderm's Acne Healing System.

One way of setting up our landing page would be to create a domain such as "hydroderm-acne-cleaner.com" and use the index page as our landing page and just add the usual about / privacy / terms / contact pages. We might add a page or two about acne to raise our QS.

The other method I was thinking of would be to create a "mini-site" revolving around acne and then have our Hydroderm offer as a simple subpage of this. For example, we'd create "acne-guide.com" and have a real index page, a bunch of subpages explaining the causes of acne, common treatments, pictures explaining the different types, etc. We'd then set up our Hydroderm offer at "acne-guide.com/Hydroderm" and link to that from our PPC campaign. So essentially we have a real content website with an affiliate offer, instead of a site focused solely on the offer.

Opinions? Would it be better to try the first method first, see if the campaign is profitable, and then make a full-blown site like the second example?

 

[JamesH]

Try both, however what I like to do is picture my site, and then take away everything that has to do with the affiliate offer or monetization efforts. So lets say I'm running an EPN store. If I take away the EPN shit, what do I have left? Often times it's not much, and thats when I'll get Google slapped. Google wants to provide value to its customers. If you can provide value, you'll be alright.

Which one would offer more value; a thin landing page or a 'mini-site'? That's how I would look at the situation.

 

[yoink*gasp*]

Everyone is raging on Supernova because of his ubercamp shitshow, but he does make at least one very good point: your landing page should be what the searcher/user is looking for. If it can provide the answers required you are much more likely to get a conversion.

So, with that in mind, you can target your LP's down. If someone is searching for "fast acne medicine", for example, you can set up an adgroup around similar keywords and then target that LP so that the initial focus is on how quickly the treatment works. If someone searches for "cheap acne medicine" you build an adgroup arounds similar keywords and make your LP reflect the low-cost of the product.

Ya digg?

 

[JamesH]

So, with that in mind, you can target your LP's down. If someone is searching for "fast acne medicine", for example, you can set up an adgroup around similar keywords and then target that LP so that the initial focus is on how quickly the treatment works. If someone searches for "cheap acne medicine" you build an adgroup arounds similar keywords and make your LP reflect the low-cost of the product.

Ya digg?

And by doing that, you'll get lower bids on your keywords, and thus more money, eh? I think single page LPs are quickly dying, and if you want to stay in the game you'll need to build 'mini-sites'.