Affiliate Web Site Leaking? Call the Plumber!
Is your site leaking visitors who are gone before they browse or buy? Jim offers six tips for plugging those leaks.
Is your site leaking visitors who are gone before they browse or buy? Jim offers six tips for plugging those leaks.
My wife and I went grocery shopping last Saturday. I love shopping on Saturdays. That’s the day they pull out all the free samples! If you plan correctly, you can have quite the snacking experience.
First stop, breakfast sausage bites in Aisle 3. Then, Aisle 7 for chips and dip. Top it off with a refreshing drink of diet cola in Aisle 9. Burp. Straight to Aisle 12 for antacids.
What does grocery shopping have to do with affiliate marketing? In essence, both business models revolve around selling other people’s products. Manufacturers (e.g., Lipton, Coke, Ajax…) are merchants, and grocery stores are affiliates.
It’s the same online, for the most part. We have merchants and affiliates just like they do. The big differences are:
What Are Leaks?
Leaks are when visitors prematurely leave (click off) your Web site before you’re ready for them to go, which can mean they didn’t have time to sign up for your newsletter, bookmark your page, absorb your brand, or, heck, even buy something.
The most common soakers are home pages with far too many outward links, allowing the visitor to click away too quickly.
Let’s say a surfer finds you via a search engine. He comes to your home page, finds what he came for, clicks, and boom! he’s gone. Think how valuable it would have been to have that customer bookmark your page first or subscribe to your newsletter.
You should never bury information just to keep a visitor on your site longer. What you need to do is find ways to make sure that visitor doesn’t use your Web site as an roadside truck stop in Nowhere, TX — never to be visited again.
Build your site specifically to guide a visitor to what you want her to look at first and to what you want her to buy. Imagine you’re writing a story. Your goal is for the visitor to peruse the pages of your book in the sequence you want her to.
How Do I Stop the Leaking?
These guidelines ensure you’ll never again have to “jiggle the handle.” If you have any additional tips for avoiding Web site leaks, please let me know.