Landing Page Optimization

Posted by Shawn Collins on April 25th, 2008 | 16 Comments

Thanks for visiting the Affiliate Tip blog. Subscribe to my RSS feed or enter your e-mail on the top left to get updates by e-mail.

I got an email the other day from a guy who is writing a new book on affiliate marketing.

He sent a form letter to me requesting that I contribute content to the book, and how he’s written a bunch of previous books on various subjects.

He is the sort of author I don’t care to read – a gun for hire that doesn’t have a firm grasp of the subject, yet he’s writing a definitive guide on it.

So, while he’s the author, he is trying to get other people to provide the content.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are books like Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions by Tim Ash.

I had to make space on the bookshelf behind my desk for this book, because I found it so useful that I want to have easy access.

The effectiveness of your landing pages is tied directly to your success, so it’s important whether you’re an affiliate, affiliate manager, or anybody else with a site to have a firm grasp on testing and fine tuning landing pages.

Admittedly, some of the content was over my head, like when Tim gets into “The Math of Tuning,” but it was compelling content throughout and I look forward to applying what I learned.

The book by itself is a great reference, but I am all the more enthusiastic about it, because I know Tim Ash is a long time practitioner of the landing page optimization methods in the book.

Posted in Affiliate Managers, Affiliate Resources

On April 25 @ 9:43 am andrew wee said

Hey shawn,
Tks for the post.
I got contacted by the same person and they have written like 8 books on a wide variety of marketing related topics.

Still trying to balance out the pros vs the cons.
-
Looks like a good book, to go along with the marketing sherpa landing page handbook.
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On April 25 @ 10:31 am Troy Duncan said

Thanks for the information about the book. I'll purchase it today to see if i can learn something new.
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On April 25 @ 10:57 am Shawn Collins said

And I'd say it's vital for anybody that doesn't want to spend the cost for the Sherpa report.

This is less than $20 on Amazon right now.
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On April 25 @ 12:48 pm quityourdayjob said

Reading it right now. I would say it's worth 10x the cover price. Costs a fraction of Sherpa's Landing Page Handbook, and just as helpful.
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On April 25 @ 7:01 pm Tim Ash said

Hi Shawn,

Thanks for your kind words about my book. I really appreciate it. There is a lot of solid content in it, and I tried to make it as presentable to the online marketing public as possible.

Admittedly the chapter on math is a bit more dense. However, it is necessary for a lot of people who want to get past the hype surrounding various testing methods like the Taguchi Method. In fact, I recently wrote a very detailed whitepaper including extensive quotes from the book entitled “The Truth About Taguchi:
Why Fractional Factorial Multivariate testing is Wrong for Landing Page Optimization”. You can get it here: http://sitetuners.com/downloads.html

Warmest Regards,

Tim
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On April 25 @ 10:51 pm The Internet Apprentice said

Thanks for the tip Shawn. The book does sound interesting, and I think I'm going to have to check it out as well. Reading the comments from Tim about the Taguchi Method, however, makes me think the match will be over my head as well! Still, if you found it useful, I should too, right?

- Dave
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On April 25 @ 10:58 pm Shawn Collins said

The math is only part of the book, and I'd say that section is worth re-reading.

In y opinion, you can't go wrong with the book. Lots of great information in layman's terms.
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On April 26 @ 2:35 am David Turnbull said

Just ordered a copy through eBay. I'd like to have ordered via your affiliate link but I can't go through Amazon as I don't have a credit card, and the shipping kills me cos I live in Aus.
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On April 27 @ 2:14 am Cumbrowski said

Hi Shawn,

did you read my post at SearchEngineJournal.com from earlier this month or is it coincidence?

I am referring to this post.
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/six-interest...

If it is coincidence, then it is nice to know that we have the same taste in books and also very similar opinions about them. I recall that we both did a “rant” about the really bad book :Affiliate Millions”, which was just scam.

I just noticed, because you mentioned also the new book by Kris Jones, which I also mentioned in my post. If you have not seen my post before, I suggest to check it out to see, if you missed any of the other books that I mentioned

By the way, It's after midnight = April 27th, if I am not mistaken .

—=========— —==============—
.oOo. Happy Birthday Shawn!! .oOo.
—===========— —============—

Cheers!
Carsten
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On April 27 @ 2:18 am Shawn Collins said

Hi Carsten -

I did read that post – you have good taste

Kris' book is on my desk and next up for a review.

Thanks for the birthday wishes.
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On July 23 @ 6:33 am Luis said

The web is a multi-lingual environment.

By translating your landing page and conversion tunnel, you are making your company product and services accessible to customers around the globe.

FACTS ABOUT INTERNET:

1. Over 65% of Internet users speak a native language other than English
2. People are three times more likely to buy a product available to them in their native language
3. Google provides Multilingual Platforms and crawls Web Pages in more than 30 Languages
4. Online foreign language markets are growing at a faster pace than the English speaking ones.
5. More than 20% of Americans Browse and Search in the Internet using Non-English Languages
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On October 16 @ 10:50 am davidcradduck said

Hi,
How much money are you losing because of poor landing page design? In this comprehensive step-by-step guide you will learn all of the skills necessary to dramatically improve your bottom line:

* Identify mission critical landing pages & their true economic value
* Gain insight on customer decisions & make your pages friction-free
* Uncover problems with your page & decide what elements to test
* Understand the power & limitations of common tuning approaches
* Develop an action plan & get buy-in from all key players
* Avoid common real-world pitfalls that can sabotage your test
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On November 22 @ 2:19 am Jeff said

These were some great tips
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On December 7 @ 11:40 pm Racing Schools said

Landing page optimization is really important. What's the point of getting traffic without converting them. I'll take a look at Tim Ash's book.
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On December 11 @ 8:21 am Parallel Import Cars said

It's amazing how you did your video in the kids playground. You're really laid back but I lack your style. Was that your kid at the back?
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On December 11 @ 8:37 am Shawn Collins said

My kids were in the background and one was behind the camera.
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