If you’re going to jump into affiliate marketing, eventually you’re going to need some landing pages to promote your products. Although, it is not required, it will definitely benefit you more in the long run; especially if you do not want to do PPC advertising for it. So, an easy way of creating a landing page is simply using the Wordpress platform for it.
I have done this a few times before and it has worked just fine. But I have also seen a few other people who have done it and the landing page just looked HORRIBLE! And when I say that it looked bad, these people didn’t even bother changing the default header and sidebar stuff.
Anyways, here’s a quick step-by-step if you’re going to build a quick landing page using the Wordpress platform.
1. Select a template – Personally, I usually go with a one-column template with no sidebars because you want your landing page to get straight to the point with no other distractions. I mean, it’s called a landing page for a reason… they land on your page and then they purchase whatever product you’re trying to sell.
2. Customize design for the specific product – If your product is “How to make money using Craigslist” eBook or something, at least make the header and sidebar related to it. The customized design doesn’t even have to be perfect, but at least change the name of the default template you’re using.
3. Create a few pages – Now remember, I said "pages" and not "posts." You have to have some content on your page, especially if you plan on using PPC advertising to get traffic. All you need is five pages with some content (it doesn’t have to be much). You can simply have a page with FAQs, testimonials on the product, TOS, etc.
Most of that additional information is just for show (for Google) and you’ll be basically copying and pasting generic TOS pages anyways. Just remember to change the fine lines so it matches up with your site.
But the main page you want to create is what shows up on the homepage of your site. It should be an overview of the product and why people should buy it.
4. Activating the necessary plugins – Wordpress is there to make our lives easier when creating websites so you’ll just need a few plugins but nothing special. I would say an SEO plugin, Sitemaps plugins, affiliate cloaking, Google analytics, etc. Just the basic ones that will help you with AM.
There you have the basics of creating a landing page with Wordpress. It doesn’t have to be perfect or all glamorous, all it needs to do is get traffic and convert. I will be writing a future post on some pros and cons as to why you should have landing pages.
Also, you can also use this simple format when creating niche Adsense sites as well.
Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to answer!
which theme do you recommend to start with for landing pages?
I actually was doing this today. I had a problem with the aweber form because it was too long and it was throwing off my sidebars in IE. After I reduced the size it work fine and everything was in place
A theme with no sidebars….these exist?
In #2 you mention sidebars again…
Dennis : I think there’s many one-column template out there. Or we can create it by using default kubrikck theme. Few tweaks and we have one column theme
DStudioBali SEOs last blog post..Busby SEO Test
@ point 3, why we should create page not post ?
Bali Villass last blog post..Villa Legenda
It’s amazing how I have never thought about using Wordpress for the campaigns. I have wanted to try creating landing pages on new domains in the past, but I do not know how to design, so I was helpless
-Mike
Sonny – I would go with a one column theme that has a header that you can replace easily as well as a basic navigation menu. Try http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=one+column+wordpress+theme&aq=6&oq=one+column+ and any of those links should take you to good one column themes.
Bruno – I hate when something that small happens. Like when my ad doesn’t fit right or the width is too wide that my sidebar gets pushed down… honestly, that frustrates the hell out of me!
Dennis – Yes, they do exist. Try Googling “one column wordpress themes.” And I mentioned it in #2 in the case that you DO have sidebars. Personally, I don’t use sidebar themes often when I’m creating landing pages.
DStudioBali SEO – Kubrikck theme you say? I’ll have to check that out… thanks!
Bali Villas – I use pages because it works better. For instance, my nav menu is setup to display all my pages, I can display any page on the frontpage (and thats basically the landing page I’m aiming for), etc.
Mike – Hey, it’s not hard at all man. All you need to customize is a header relating to the product. There are a lot of sites that do that for you for free.
Jay
Wordpress uses too many resources for my taste to use for a landing page with high traffic.
Without the amount of offers I run sometimes, I don’t want MYSQL queries running like crazy.
Scots last blog post..Free .EDU & .GOV Backlinks
Another way is to simply use some of your blog posts -especially the review type ones- as landing pages or at least make a new page from your blog and don’t list on the blog itself.
I agree on choosing one column because it’s direct and straight to the point. Makes it simple for people to read whatever info you have. Do you really think using the wordpress template is an ideal way to make landing pages?
I think that wordpress is a good way to do landing pages if you don’t have html experience. Otherwise it may be better to create your own landing page from scratch. Of course you won’t get all the benefits of wordpress plugins which I think are very valuable.
Never heard about this before – Lets give it a try.
Great post. I have started to do this – but I end up using one with a sidebar and use a skysraper banner because I haven’t found a single column that I really like…but I will keep looking.
Make it simple for people to read info you given. Do you think using the wordpress template is an ideal way to make landing pages???
Do we need to open the comment option for the page that we create?
Kirstin@Bali Accommodation´s last blog ..Villa Senang / 3 Bedroom Deluxe
Kirstin – Personally, I wouldn’t. If you are creating a landing page, you could put your e-mail somewhere at the end or setup a contact page. But there’s really no need to put the comments on.
Jay