Posts Tagged review sites

More Pay Per Call Stuff, New FeedFront, Review Tips, Bonuses…Legacy Affiliate Podcast Episode Five

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Encouragement, Bonuses, Pay Per Call, Podcasts, Web Design on April 2nd, 2010

The Legacy Learning Systems Affiliate Podcast Episode Five is ready for your listening pleasure.

Below you can stream it or download it and you can also subscribe to our podcast in iTunes so you do not miss a single episode.

This week I talk about more Pay Per Call stuff, the new FeedFront Magazine, Review Tips, April’s Bonuses, and My Good Friday schedule.

43 First Sales in March

New ShareASale Pay Per Call Recording

Affiliate Marketing Insider Podcast Talking about Pay Per Call for Affiliates

Download | Listen

FeedFront Magazine Issue Ten - Of Golf and Affiliate Marketing

Review Site Tips Blog Post

General Web Design Tips

April 2010 ShareASale Bonuses

Good Friday Schedule

affiliate marketing insider, feedfront magazine, landing pages, Pay Per Click (PPC), review sites, shareasale

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How Many Reviews Should You Have? Part Two

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tips, Web Design on February 11th, 2010

Yesterday I wrote a post entitled “How Many Reviews Should You Have?“? Before you read more of this, read that post and the comment from Eric Nagel or it won’t make such sense.

Eric’s site has twelve reviews. Some research as I mentioned in the post suggests that too many options might hurt sales.

As “SlowCooker” said on ABestWeb where I also posted this:

Or maybe the answer is in how the selection is organized.? If all the jams/jellies are sitting together, that is a lot of info to be confronted with.? Maybe the consumer needs to be guided and the info organized for them.? Divide the jams/jellies into a couple of categories.? Then there isn’t as much to process.

So perhaps it has something to do with how Eric organizes and present his twelve options? Perhaps he would be better off with less options, or more options, or perhaps twelve is exactly the right amount.

I am redmined of Amazon’s “Buyers of this book also bought these book” feature, one that has been replicated by many. Does it confuse me and make me possibly lose track of what I originally wanted to do? Yes. But I often end up buying an extra book. I would guess for every time I lost track of my intention, I bought four extra books.

In my opinion, a LOT of it has to do with buyer intent.

In the study presented by Dr. Cialdini, no one came into the store searching for jam. But if a customer lands on your site after searching for guitar courses, I am sure that such a distinction plays a big role in the convertions. A keyword search of “guitar dvd course reviews” would certainly yield a different result than a search for “guitar lessons” as well.

What it comes down to is testing your landing page by your big keywords. “Guitar lessons” can mean anything from guitar instructors locally, guitar learning classes, to learn at home courses. These people must first be talked into the concept of learn at home and then shown a limited selection in order to not overwhelm them.

Whereas someone who searches for “guitar dvd lesson reviews” or “learn piano at home options” or something similar is much more open to many options.

Consider if the study had been done in a jam store. Anyone coming through the doors would be searching for jam. They would expect many options.

So to beat a dead horse…test, test, and test some more!

keyword test, review sites, robert cialdini

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How Many Reviews Should You Have?

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tips, Web Design on February 10th, 2010

If you have a review site and are reviewing, for example, various guitar courses, how many courses should you review?

I don’t know exactly. Some review only three courses, some as many as ten.? Ultimately you should test it and see what number results in the highest revenue.

Let me share some interesting research with you that might lead you in the right direction though.

In his book, Yes! 50 Scientific Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, Dr. Robert Cialdini (along with authors Noah Goldstein and Steve Martin) discusses the issue of how many selections to offer consumers.

One example involves a manufacturer of jams. The researchers setup two displays, one with only twenty-four flavors and one with only six flavors. The results blew me away!

Only 3% of the customers who saw the twenty-four flavor display bought, while 30% who saw the six flavor display bought.

Now think about this. The smaller display had a 4 times lower chance of having someone’s favorite flavor. The smaller one had no novelty flavors. And yet sales were 10 times higher!

Why? Their theory and mine is that having to differentiate between too many options makes the decision-making process far too frustrating. Reading through review after review, clicking on site after site, and trying to decide between so many courses often results in the potential customer giving up on the entire process.

So how many reviews should you have? I still don’t know the answer, but I would bet it’s not over five for sure. So start testing the different numbers and see what works best for you!

review sites, robert cialdini

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Random Web Design Tips for Review Sites and Others

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tips, Web Design on February 5th, 2010

For some reason over the past week I have been oft asked the same questions by affiliates regarding their review sites, so naturally I decided it would be helpful to share some of the tips that I gave them. These are the things that Google likes and prevents them from slapping you silly. These are the things that site visitors like and prevents them from going back to Google to seek out another review. They lead to more visitors and more buyers.

I have rewritten some of the most useful tips here and hope that help you.

One of the most common themes was the presence of very salesy content. I actually covered this topic yesterday somewhat in this post. Of course, you want to convert them into a buyer, but the more salesy you come across on your review site, the less genuine your review becomes. Trust me, we will try to sell them, so let us do that. Say a few nice things and tell your story…then let them come to us for the sales pitch.

You definitely need a privacy policy, contact page, and the like. I have written about this twice in FeedFront Magazine and I can’t think of anything I would add.

The Five Most Common Missing Pieces to Affiliate Sites and my Top Ten Web Site Design Tips from 2001 articles cover these topics in depth.

Review sites often have a boatload of outgoing links and very few in-site links. This is backwards.

On review sites, for every outgoing link, affiliate or otherwise, you have, you should have at least two or three in-site links. Add a ton of content pages, tips, articles, a glossary of terms, whatever, and link early and often to these pages.

Ultimately, the objective is to come across as what you are presenting yourself as: a review site; a site that reviews products, gives the reader the pluses and minuses of each product, and makes a recommendation.

Good reviewers aren’t trying to sell anything and they aren’t afraid to get asked questions by their readers.

This ended up being a much shorter post than I expected since a lot of it is covered in the other posts I link to, but I do hope it helps!

copywriting, google, review sites

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Creating a Landing Page: Questions to Ask

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Pay Per Click (PPC), Web Design on November 17th, 2009

Kim Rowley of Key Internet Marketing had a great guest post by Rado Parling about the 12 Questions to Ask While Creating a Landing Page.

So often affiliates and even large merchants get caught up in what looks pretty rather than asking the important questions when designing their landing pages.

They are definitely good questions to consider and offer a checklist for your landing page design.

One great question he poses is:

Whether the desired action you want your user to take after visiting your landing page is easy to complete?

Think about the desired result (hint: it is probably to buy something, sign-up for something, or to register for something) that you want for a visitor.? What is that result?? How easy is it for them to get there?

I think this extends far beyond call-to-action buttons.? It has to do with your headline, text copy, images, sales funnel…everything on your site should lead them to the action you desire for them to take, and make it easy for them.

There are so many great questions, covering everything from content to page speed, the trust factor, and testing.? It is by no means an exhaustive list, but certainly a good start or refresher.? If you have a review site, be sure to read my Common Advice for Review Sites post.

Also check out: Optimizing PPC Landing Pages to Increase Conversions

call to action, conversions, landing pages, review sites

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Even Negative Reviews Increase Sales

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Tips, Web Design on October 15th, 2009

My friend Geno Prussakov recently posted about negative reviews and reviews in general on his site, quoting and utilizing much data from a recent CNN article about the subject.

I cannot add much to it other than to say “right on, Geno!” and that I have been giving this advice for a while now.

One quote from the CNN article:

Consumers are becoming used to searching for reviews when they shop online. Internet shoppers rank reviews as the most desired feature of a Web site, according to a recent survey by Forrester Research.

It?s important that site owners resist the temptation to edit or delete reviews they don?t like. ?If everything is positive, that raises a red flag among consumers,? says Forrester?s Anderson?

Did you catch that?? Most desired!

And those negative reviews…they typically RAISE sales!

Here is Geno’s post.? A definite must-read.

affiliate reviews, geno prussakov, negative reviews, review sites

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FTC Disclosure Tips

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on October 12th, 2009

As I expected after I posted last week about “New FTC Regulations Impact Review Sites,” I have been getting questions about what affiliates need to do to comply with the new FTC regulations.

There is no shortage of Tweets, blog posts, forum posts, or other commentary on the subject, but I did want to address what you need to do.

First, don’t panic.? It is MY opinion (and my opinion only) that this is not that big of a deal.? It is not armageddon for affiliates.? It can actually be a good thing for you…see #2 below.

Second, compliance is pretty simple.

So what do you need to do?

Read the FTC’s report - it’s 81 pages long, but you need to read it.
Write a disclosure page.? DisclosureReport.org is a good place to use for making a simple one.? It is the lazy affiliate’s way to make a disclosure and I don’t really recommend it.? What I do recommend is using your disclosure statement as a selling point, while, of course, complying with the rules.? Be confident in writing your disclosure.? There is nothing to be ashamed of.? Copyblogger has some great tips for doing this in this post.
Put this disclosure on your site and link to it from every page.

So far, as I can tell, that is just about it.? Yeah, it is that simple.

I will be posting more on this as I learn more.? Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts as well

affiliate disclosure, ftc, paid sponsorships, review sites

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New FTC Regulations Impact Review Sites

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Legal Matters on October 6th, 2009

Effective December 1 of this year, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) will begin heavily regulating review sites, paid sponsorships, blogging, and what kind of hair products I use (the last one is a joke).

They recently released a report about these new rules and regulations. It is quite a read (81 pages of boring government junk), but it is worth knowing the details.

One alarming note: Reviewers face fines up to $11,000 if they fail to properly disclose endorsements or paid posts.

I am hoping to have time this week and next to read through all of it and keep up with the discussion on Twitter and the forums.

I also want to hear from you!? What are your thoughts on this pending regulation?? How does it impact the way that you will layout your site?? How will it effect your social media strategies? (the report includes regulations on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

It is unclear (to me so far at least) exactly how this will impact our affiliates, but if nothing else, it is the beginning of something that could greatly impact what you do every day.

ftc, paid sponsorships, review sites

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Common Advice for Affiliate Review Sites

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Web Design on September 2nd, 2009

As you might expect, about two times each week, I get requests for help with designing affiliate sites. Usually I am able to offer at least 2-3 tips that should improve their conversions to our site and make the affiliate more money. Sometimes, I may have 10+ suggestions.

I thought that I would share some of the more generic ones I have offered, of course, without mentioning any specific things about particular web sites. They are pretty basic, but if you just starting your site or looking to improve your site, these could be some useful tips.? They are in no particular order.

Let’s cover the basics of web design first.? Here are a few great articles and posts that address general PPC and Web Design practices for affiliates:
Use Calls to Action but don’t forget that you are review site.? A large “Buy Now” button may just scare customers away.? Try “Visit Site” or “Order Now” or both.
Link often. Often review copy gets long, as it should, but then the visitor can spend 10 minutes reading and not see a link to buy.? Give them some in-paragraph links to click on and link all images to your affiliate link.? Always include a link at the top and bottom of the copy as well as after each section.
Use our product shots and screenshots.? You can find these in your account.? Link to your affiliate link on each of these and make sure to use alt tags on each for extra SEO benefit.
Of course, check your copy for typos and grammar.
Mention all the features we offer, even the little ones like the Jam-Along CDs and Online Support Forum.? Tell a little about each. Speaking of them, deep link to the pages for each of these. Don’t know what this is? Check out our tutorial on how to create a deep link/custom link in ShareASale. Link to the forum for each course. You will have thousands of our customers helping you make the sale!
Don’t have more than one paragraph of copy at a time without some sort of break (see #3 and #4).? Aside of images, you can list things in bullet points, numbered lists, etc. to break up the monotony of endless text.
Use customer testimonials!? Testimonials are without a doubt the best way to convince someone to buy.? You can find them here:
- Ballroom Dance
- Drums
- Guitar
- Painting
- Piano
Use videos.? If you need our videos, just email me and I will get them to you.
In the text of the review, mention the award we have won such as:
- 008 Acoustic Guitar Magazine?Players’ Choice Awards
- Two Telly Awards
- AEGIS Award for Excellence in Education

I hope these basic suggestions help you better design your review site!

review sites

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Fake Reviews Could Land You in Hot Water

Posted by Matt McWilliams in Affiliate Marketing News, Affiliate Tips on July 16th, 2009

Geno Prussakov posted today on his blog about fake review sites and fake customer reviews getting on cosmetic company in serious trouble with the State of New York.

The New York Times reported this morning that Lifestyle Lift “ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on Web sites” and “created its own sites of face-lift reviews to appear as independent sources.”

New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo presented very incriminating evidence against the company including emails that said things such as, “devote the day to doing more postings on the Web as a satisfied client.?

The message?? It’s simple, obvious, and comes down to a matter of ethics…don’t make stuff up and post it on the web.? Not only is it wrong, it could land you in some serious hot water!

Geno’s Blog Post: Affiliates and Merchants, Stay Away from Fake Reviews