Direct linking, how do you do it?

I don't do affiliate marketing so you may dismiss what I say. However, sometimes all you need is an outsider to look at things from a different angle.

First, advertising is advertising, whether it's your own product or someone else's, offline or online. The principles are the same. You need to find those who are looking for that product (easy online, they search), you need to somehow get them through the door (literally and figuratively) with your ad and then you need to convince to buy from you.

The first two are under your control. The third is not since it's not your site. Whether it has content or not doesn't matter much. The question is, does it convince the visitor to buy? That's their and your ultimate goal. If not, neither of you makes money.

To direct link, study the landing page. Has it got a chance to convert? Would you buy this product? Compare to others selling similar products. If you are more convinced by a competitor, so will others.

If I was doing AM, I'd direct link almost every time. You said it yourself: only a small percentage don't click to the sales page. That's what your page should be doing in the first place, sell. Don't repeat what the affiliate does. So direct linking, you save one step, one step closer for the prospect to buy. Also saves from creating all those pages.

Look at it this way. If 25% click through to your affiliate, if you paid to get that traffic, 75% never see the sales message if you all you have is non-selling content. That's 75% of your advertising dollars wasted. If you direct link, you know that 100% of them will see the sales message.

As for Quality Score, that is under your total control. Download and read Adwords FAQ. Have relevant keywords and all you have to do is write great ads that get clicked on. QS has little to do with the landing page. Do your preselling in the ad. The rest is up to the sales page.

Before you say something like "but only one ad will show". True. But unless you choose the most popular thing on earth, I doubt there will be that many other affiliates doing promoting the same and using Adwords. Besides, beat them all with a great QS (that means great ads).

Luckd, I agree with most of what you say. The things that I can't agree with are the things I don't know about, so I don't disagree, I just don't know. But what you say makes a lot of sense. I appreciate your response.

I would love to hear from any that are actually doing direct linking.

Lucid,

That's a great point and I agree with it. But most advocates of Article marketing argue that you should always have your own landing page usually a squeeze page to build a list. Whereas I have found direct linking to be very effective because more people are exposed to the merchants sales page and the additional sales that result compensate for the lack of a list.

The time saving of not a having to build landing pages enables you to cover more niches. because you are not having to get involved with the SEO of a site. There is also the cost saving of not having to buy domains and hosting.

Which parts don't you know?

@Lucid,

Nice explanation. I'm not that familiar with this topic but I can see see that of the thing you have said are right.

Got something new to read here. Had no idea about this.

> If someone is searching for a canadian beef jerky they don't want to land on a contact us page

Quite right.

> that doesn't mean you should stop sending traffic to your landing page

Right again. You could optimize your page to get natural traffic. PPC too but I would tend to direct link.

> Why is it that some people say that you can't direct link to an affiliate link, and some say you can.

Probably because those who don't read or don't understand the policies get slapped. They figure it's because of direct linking.

If you are going to use a tool, you better learn how to use it. You don't put a 16-year-old who's never been behind the wheel in a car and let him drive away in traffic and expect him to know how to drive, know the rules and not to get into an accident. There are rules in PPC just as there are on the road. In each case, they are there for a reason, you must know them and not knowing them has consequences.

> I am not sure if that makes it all that much different.

It is different. I manage CN campaigns very differently than search campaigns. Frankly, I'd start with search campaigns, hone your skills for those looking for what you sell. If you can't make it work for them, it's harder to make it work when they are not looking for you.