If you are really serious about improving the results of your affiliate site, you need to go deep. Simply throwing a Hayneedle banner on your website and shooting your customer to our homepage is pretty much a sure fire way not to convert a sale. The best thing that you can do is to really pre-sell a product on your site and then send them to us so that we can close the sale. The really important thing is where you send them and deep linking is the key. Read on to find out how to make this happen for your website.
What is deep linking?
Deep linking or direct linking is linking to a specific interior page on a Hayneedle niche website that your visitor is interested in. i.e. Linking to the product page for quilted fabric hammocks as opposed to the Hammocks.com homepage.
Why should you deep link?
While we feel that all of our websites are laid out very well, studies have shown that difficulties in getting from a website’s homepage to the desired product page account for nearly 25% of failures to buy. That number is staggering and essentially it means that by linking directly to a product page, you can largely eliminate the issues associated with consumer navigation frustration. It is proven that if you take away the steps the consumer has go through to get to their desired product, you will increase conversions. And really, who doesn’t want to get more bang for their buck?
How do I deep link?
Pepperjam has made the process of deep linking incredibly simple for you. All of our links are enabled for deep linking, so you should be able to direct your visitors to any page on any of our sites with relative ease.
1. In your Pepperjam affiliate account, go to the Generate Links section and click on Program List.
2. Choose the program that you’d like to create a link for.
3. Put your chosen destination URL into the Override Destination URL box at the top of the page and click Update.
4. All links will change to your chosen destination URL. Simply copy and paste from either the Tracking URL if you will be hyperlinking an image or text or copy from the Code section for a new destination with the given text link or banner.
Example:
I have a page devoted to the great quality of metal framed barstools and I’ve been hyping one style in particular: the Montello Swivel Barstool. Instead of linking to the Barstools.com homepage, I want to take my visitors directly to Montello Swivel Barstool product page. These are the steps I need to take:
1. Find the URL for the Montello Swivel Barstool a. I found it on Barstools.com: http://www.barstools.com/bar-height-stools/metal/montelloswivelbarstool.cfm
2. Paste the URL into the Override Destination URL section of the store that you are working on.
3. All destination links will change. Use the newly generated link on your site and see instantly improved conversions!
Deep linking really is that simple and you will absolutely see improved results if you use it on your website. If you follow the directions, you should have no problems whatsoever. Keep in mind that you can use this method to link to any page on our sites, so don’t be afraid to do some research to find the best landing pages. Just remember – the deeper you go, the higher your conversions will be!
Please note that if you are deep linking, your pages will be static and our prices and product availability do change from time to time. Please make every effort to keep your site up to date so that we don’t run into customer service issues.
As always, we’re here to help. If you are having issues with deep linking or just want a human to walk you through the process, contact us and we will be more than happy to assist you.
