Today’s post is an affiliate marketing website critique. After reading the feedback from the recent survey that I sent out, quite a few people asked me to do a website critique and discuss things I would do differently. This is what I’ve done in the video below.
Plenty more on the way!
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Hey, Matt here, I'm a full time Super Affiliate, 33 years old, and live in New Zealand with my wife and son.
The internet is a brilliant way to make money. I encourage you to sign up above and start with my free 12 part affiliate marketing video course, and follow on facebook
Thanks Matt for this post. I am still learning, and know I have made mistakes with the set up of my site, but “she who never makes mistakes never learns”.
My apologies for not replying to your survey, but I am enjoying your responses.
Cheers
Joy
Hi – it’s a pitty you dont show the pause button – as it’s impossible to watch with all this buffering, i usually click the pause button , enable it to take it’s time and then watch it all the way without interruption 🙁 I am going to try and watch it in teh morning – maybe it will be easier ( I have a great connection usually – but early evening hours are hard).
Perhaps enable the option in your next videos?
Thanks!
Karen
Barry Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 1:33 am
Hi Karen,
Just click on the video and it pauses. Click the arrowhead and it resumes.
Have a good day!
Barry
Susan Connor Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Will try this out now that I know. Thanks for this info
Chris Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 2:11 am
Hey Karen, try using the download helper plugin for firefox. It allows you to download ANY video to your hard drive with one click. It works great and it’s free! If you’re not using mozilla firefox for your browser, i highly recommend it. It seems to be the best for affiliate marketing with all the plug ins and tools available.
Hope that helps!
Chris
Turbo Fire Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 7:28 am
Hi Karen,
To pause the video just click it in the middle of the screen 🙂
Susan Connor Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
I too wish for a pause button.
Wow….what a great idea. It is the best way that I learn by WATCHING. Thanks again for delivering Matt!
Good stuff Matt
When you get caught up with every thing, maybe you can talk about Google news sites and how to monetize them for best results
Very informative. I like your short daily information. Good stuff!
I have the same problem because of a poor connection. I just download and file all of Matt’s videos.
Matt,
You’re making an assumption on the last site that the majority of the traffic is coming from typing in the product name. If it’s actually coming from a more generic keyword, wouldn’t you need to “pre-sell” the reader on the site before pushing the product name in their face?
Outside of my physical product sites, I rarely target product names, especially for Clickbank products. That site might just happen to rank for that keyword phrase. Everything else you said about these sites I agree with 100%.
Thanks again for the great free info.
Scott
Great advice Matt, what is more unforgivable is that the diet solution give you a bunch of stuff to spin and the video that the good site used.
I would add to this that it is always worth looking for vendor spotlight as they often have materials for you to use.
Karen you can always download the video, I do that with all content and then watch at my own leisure and usually at a faster speed to save time. Google “VLC player” which is an open source player that plays most files.
With Matt’s style I was able to watch this 19.40 video in 13 minutes because I can still understand him at 1.5x speed.
Hope this helps
Thanks for the review. One point is that I would’ve liked to see one of your affiliate sites. It is a bit more educational to have comparisons to the right site so we can easily see the differences.
Matt Carter Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 8:43 am
Hi Marcela
I only show my affiliate sites to my paying customers of http://rapidprofitformula.com
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt,
Thanks for sharing your expertise.
I appreciate it.
I also wanted to chime in and express my discontent with the latest video format.
Perhaps you’re just testing, but I always appreciate the marketers that include the time line bar at the bottom that not only reveals the total time
I’ll need to invest to watch the video, but also allows me to move it back if I wasn’t clear on something said.
This current format also eliminates the full screen option, which is something I also like, because it gives me a better look at things being shown.
Just my 2 cents and hope to see a return to your former video format.
Again, thanks for all the great information you share freely.
Don
Rach72 Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 5:36 am
Just have to second this…..
Other than that – awesome information, thanks for sharing :o)
(righto…off to tweak….again!)
Rach
It’s easy when you are building a site to get caught up in the logistics of the page layout, content, onpage seo, etc. Sometimes we forget how it actually looks and feels to the user. Ask yourself – would I buy from this page?
I know I am guilty of this. I try my best to provide pertinent usable information the person is looking for.
It’s a must to pretend your are in their shoes no matter how well you think the site/blog is built. It has to read and look well! Always something to keep in mind
Thanks Matt.
Hey,Matt and thanks for the video.Every little tidbit of information helps.I’m still fairly new and have a lot to learn. Successes at this point are few and far between. I still haven’t had my “ah-ha” moment. Any help is appreciated.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for posting this critique and providing insights on the 2 affiliate sites. This video is definitely helpful and I see how I can immediately improve the review page on one of my best selling affiliate products.
Thanks again,
Ray
Hi Matt,
I appreciate you taking the time to do this. I would enjoy it more if I could pause the video. I don’t care to go back and watch the whole thing if I get interrupted by the phone; etc. I am also older and have difficulty with my vision at times and the full screen option would sure come in handy. I have a huge monitor and it doesn’t help without having that option.
Again, I apreciate what you are doing here!
Cindi
Matt,
What’s your advice on enabling comments on an affiliate site?
I had a look at the Diet Solution site, and they have a few problems with the comments, one of which is that people are coming to the site author with download issues.
There also appears to be some confusion over what form the Diet Solution takes – ebook or hard copy. So this is something to bear in mind I think, particularly when promoting something outside the IM niche. We should perhaps make this clear as not everybody is as familiar with ebook downloads as those of us in the IM niche!
Thanks for all your help with this – much appreciated.
Sue
PS to Karen Try clicking anywhere on the screen. This will pause the video and hopefully it will finish doing its thing while you wait a few minutes.
Hi Matt,
Thanks for this video. However, the first 2 sites you reviewed were not actually affiliate sites, but part of the actual product website. So the one *was* probably a sales page, and the other was not an affiliate blog but the actual product creator’s blog.
The exercise video was to promote a new exercise course that was recently released on Clickbank, and which is probably in a JV partnership or something with Isabel since she has been promoting it for a few weeks.
The 2nd video on the page was also a video of Isabel, not an customer testimonial. On affiliate sites, is it better to have a customer testimonial video or a video of the product creator?
Priscilla
Awesome information on conversions as always Matt, you sure do know your stuff. I personally learn alot from this video, thanks
Matt,
Thank you for dissecting those affiliate sites. I learned a lot of this when I purchased Rapid Profits but it always helps to keep me on my toes.
Looking forward to your future videos.
Best,
Michael
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the video. I took your course and used what I learned to revamp a site I built last Fall. I’d love it if you would use it as an example so I could figure out why it’s not making money.
I think the site looks great but obviously I’m missing something! Probably my copy isn’t compelling.
Anyway, I appreciate all you do…
hi Karen,
Click anywhere in the video and it will pause.
Joe.
Hi Matt,
Your review was interesting! Good job. Keep it coming.
By the way, you have a sleazy looking guy named as “Drew Clement” as the featured testimonial at the top of your right hand column on your blog. This character looks like some slimy used-car dealer in his dark glasses and gaudy necklace. Does this really represent your satisfied readers??
Cheers,
Kaitlin
Matt you keep sending me the greatest posts. I learn so much each article thanks agian.Please don’t stop your posts.
Hi Matt your advice is needed,as I started my first project (2 months ago)I visited your website very often and learned a lot.
I built a micro nich site for only one product on CB aiming for 5 “how to” KW to rank 1-3 on Google.
Little that I knew back then ,when I took the content from my vendor’s affiliate page-these where email letters they offered us to send,and sales review.I started working like crazy,doing SEO using your methods,onpage SEO – your guideness of course and even sold one product [maybe by mistake :)],I even uploaded 3 YouTube channels poiting back to mysite.
4 times a week I add content for different KWs.And I’m currently ranking 10-20 positions for 5 KWs.
Problem A: I discovered Copyscape.com only today – and guess what I found out – yep it’s duplicated content. My homepage+4 other KW pages are content dups!
Problem B : Where do I go from here?
Stress,anger,mild disapointment.Only Matt Carter can help here.
Dan Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Just happen to check one of your sites you mentioned in the paid course, at copyscape.com and it is being copied just about word for word, might want to check it out matt.
Worried Reply:
May 18th, 2011 at 3:19 am
So this might suggest that the copyscape service is not so accurate or somthing?
Matt, Thank you for the information it realy helps. This is all new to me. I am learning. Much appreciated Information. Gwenda Graham
Thank you Matt, great stuff as usual. I am often finding it difficult to choose a WordPress theme to suit what I am doing but it seems from this video that something simple and clear is good. Even then it is not easy to get the professional look but still be a blog. Keep it all coming Matt and thanks.
Hi Matt,
Thanks a lot for your help. I am learning about this business. As you may realize I am new on this kind of perception but I have sales background. So, your help and suggestions are very helpful and I appreciate that.
Staying put for farther posts from you.
Thanks again
Double-clicking on video would bring-up full screen mode.
More great information, as with many I am still learning and will continue to do so for some time. Any insight and info like this is great, thanks.
All the best
Jon
Hi Matt
great job nobody shows what a good site should look like, this will help a lot thanks
Thanks Matt.
Good information that I will take with me.
—
Stefan
Hey Matt,
Great info. as always!
It would be nice if you would incorporate a timeline into the video format, its very frustrating having to start all over just to watch the last few minutes of the video or if you want to watch a particular part again.
Also, In your survey you mentioned a possible coaching program.
Do you think that is something you’ll be doing in the near future, as
I for one would be very interested.
Thanks,
Ron
Matt Carter Reply:
May 17th, 2011 at 8:40 am
Hey Ron
Yes I will be doing this coaching program in the very near future, I will email out about it
Thanks
Matt
Thanks Matt for preparing this video, it’s always good to see it through the eyes of a professional.
Thanks heaps!
Hi, Mat.
Thanks for the great free articles you keep emailing me at the moment.
I have just purchase your Rapid Profit Formula a few days ago, and I think it is a quality product which you don’t get much of these days, it gives you loads of information in pdf which I printed out & read them first, and now I am slowly going through the vast amount of videos which this course come with.
Once again thanks for a superb product Rapid Profit Formula is well worth buying.
Regard D. Allen
Teeth Whitening Kits
Hello everyone
If you are interested the video is just over 19 minutes in length.
Regards
Hi Matt,
I think you and Mark Ling the only two guys out there I can trust.
Great lesson as usual.
Thank you.
Sergiy
Thanks Matt,
I learned a lot from your website critique and plan to make some changes on my sites.
Best regards,
Maureen
Hi Matt
Thanks for another useful information.
Your expertise is priceless.
http://www.inforbank24.com
Time factors made a quick look possible. Found what i heard and saw very interesting. Will be back. Thank you for this.
Great critique video Matt.
I learned a lot of good tips on how to improve my landing pages.
I’ve been doing great with SEO, but I’m trying to now optimize my site for better conversions.
Watching this video was highly informative, I’ll be implementing some of the things I learned right away.
Hi Matt.
Great information.
This stuff really helps to get the best from our sites.
Regards.
Greg
Hi Matt
All great points as usual. I guess this will only come with practice, and with doing more affiliate sites. I enjoy your lessons.
Neil
Hi Matt,
Wow in just a really short space of time you have managed to highlight where I am going wrong with ALL my 12 sites. I have been using my sites more as a full on sales page rather than a Pre Sell page.
I guess it’s up to the product owners site to do the final sales pitch.
So I see my roll is just to accurately inform and I guess, excite people as to what they are about to buy.
Well I have some work to do now …thanks for your help Matt
regards Jeff
This is so good to see, has helped me to do some tweaking – thanks – Jane
Thanks again Matt. It makes sense to to stick to the key words that the client has used to find the site. If you think of how to lead them along to keep thier interest. Keeping the page clean and easy to read.
Nice share Matt.
I find it interesting to here different opinions about building affiliate sites. Some say keep it simple so it is not obvious you are out there promoting a product, but other say jazz it up with video and images to make it look more professional.
You have been successful with very simple sites like Caralluma Burn, which does not have the video and image content of one of the above examples you went through…..but….it still works.
I guess it is all about finding the right balance for the different customers who land on our sites. We all relate to web sites in a variety of ways…e.g: some don’t like video and some don’t. Personally I think it is a MUST.
In saying that, there are still basic things we need to do to our sites and you always make sure we understand them.
By helping us all with these little critiques you make it easier for us all to obtain a sense of balance in our sites…..so thanks for that.
BTW…I like your new site [this one]
This is excellent information Matt.
I would really be interested in a coaching program hosted by you. I have gotten a lot out of Rapid Profit Formula and your blog posts. Unfortunately, the little bit of money I was making has dried up, and I don’t know why.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks again, Matt, for the time and effort you put into this free information! Of course you go into more depth in your Rapid Profit Formula, which I highly recommend to anyone who doesn’t have it yet. I have my checklist of on-page SEO steps to take for each page of my websites taped to the wall over my computer. This, along with your theme from the RPF and other tips such as you commented on in this video makes for a nice-looking site that will rank well. I look forward to your next post!
Thanks Matt,
I picked up some great tips in that short video, and I look
forward to seeing some more could you please do a couple more
website-critiques?
Just gives a good idea of the good, the bad and the ugly.
Again thanks Matt enjoyed this clip and not to long either.
Regards
Daniel
Thanks Matt, this is good information. It’s always good to know what to do, and also what not to do. Al and Regina
hi matt, i’m subscribe with your blog yesterday to receive some lessons from you.I’m a newbie in internet marketing and most interested in CPA.
Today a try to build a website but still dont know what i should do when already publish my article post. what i must do in order that big search engine like google or yahoo and others can find my site. thanks.
you can see my blog what it look like and if you want you can give me some advice to develop it.
thank you
adhy
Matt,
As Priscilla noted, the first two sites are part of the vendor’s site. Thanks for your pointers.
Patrick
Thank you Matt
I love the live on screen approach I can really relate to opening my browser and rinse and repeating what you do.
Thanks Matt for providing insight on affiliate reviews. Some marketers probable aren’t aware of these types elements that help conversions.
Thanks Matt reading most of the responses after the video indicates that I am not alone in making errors particular content and design. However I endorse what everyone says that you are great. For me it comes down to working smarter not harder and your video’s demonstrates that for newbies like me.
I understand more and more of the methods you discuss and utilising the techniques to do advanced search in Google and grappling with SEO etc. I have enjoyed to date the free video’s and the many take home messages you inspire me to put into action.
You have discussed and demonstrated that keywords, content and web page design is important and should be incorporated to make visitor experience what it should be.
This video illustrates there are a lot of pages out on the Internet that are shameful if not insulting to one’s intelligence. To you Matt you are lifting IM to a higher standard and I believe that is what’s needed now. Great Work
Hi Matt,
Great video. It gave Gordon and I a great deal of information about how to lay out our site. I think (although Gordon is a little against it, due to the cost) that you should read the product you are selling first, then the info/review you are supplying is authentic. – what do you think?
Regards, Joan
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the video. Watched your webinar on the affilorama members area, got your 12 vids and the free Word Press theme and recently bought TT through your link. You are quality Matt, I appreciate your genuity.
How could I enlarge this video? I can’t see any button to change it to FullScreen view. Thanks for the very informative content!
Hi Matt, thanks for taking the time to make this critique. It confirms what I thought a good affiliate site should look like and contain in terms of content and layout.
Thanks Matt, for letting us watch over your shoulder! I was glad to see that my first intuition of the different sites was right. Sometimes I think something, but don’t have anyone to tell me if I’m right.
Thanks again!
Ruth M
Hi Matt your analysis is great an on point..
The affiliate support pages for the diet solution program are full of information.
and I agree there is little to sell on the main landing page and depends on the videos to lure you in.
Thanks again
Great tips Matt. Will look at my sites with a different eye – have lots to learn yet.
Matt,
Thank you for sharing your review thought process. It’s amazing how much we can learn just by observing how you approach the process.
Thank you again,
Theresa
Matt-
You always over-deliver. You are a true credit to the IM community.
Awesome video Matt. Thanks for pointing out the importance of pre-selling on the sites. I think alot of times people forget the actual purpose of the affiliate site is to PRE-SELL the sales page.
Thanks Matty,
I thought your review was great – its good just to see the way you go about reviewing an affiliate site because you have obviously tried aot of things before and know what works.
Very valuable info mate – appreciate it!
Hello Matt,
Thank you for the information it’s really helpful and informative. This is all new to me. I am learning.
Much appreciated Information keep it coming..
Thank you for the information. I agree that many sites do not give viewers enough information to allow them to make an informed decision before signing up or even buying the product. Looking forward to more of your posts.
Thanks for this Matt. I found it very useful as I am trying to build an affiliate site of my own but still thinking about how to construct it and what to include.These are great tips to take on board.
Thanks again,
Keep the tips coming!
Marjorie
Hi Matt,
First time commenting. Brand spank’n new to affiliate marketing. I have seen a zillion offers and programs for learning this business and have even purchased a few. The learning curve is pretty overwhelming to say the least, but your approach gives me some confidence that i might actually be able to learn what I need to know to make some income in this industry. I am looking forward to purchasing the RPF! I can’t wait to quit my job! Thank you for all of your hard work!
One question before I get started:
How do you blog about or write an honest review about a product that you have not used or purchased?
Thanks Matt,
Just starting out, I have had a pretty harsh time getting going, this is definitely a jump-start to starting up!
Hi Matt
Great content as usual.
It all helps to get an overall picture of what different people expect to see when opening a web site and what type of layout/content retains the persons attention and hopefully guides them to your sales page.
Regards
Hey Matt ,
That’s great mate.What you’ve done is fantastic for new affiliate marketers.
Hi Matt
Good video.
Hi Matt,
Thank you Matt for the video. It was an eye opener for me. Btw my site is now on first page on Google (on page SEO) Fender Electric Guitar. I need to fine tune it according to your suggestings on the video to drive traffic.
Hi Matt,
Great video. Thanks! I switched one of my sites over to your affiliate WordPress theme that you provided. I know you said there was no support for it because it was free, but do you have any suggestions as to how we can figure out how to add a header or image to the theme. Any videos or pdf’s that would tell me if I have to edit the CSS or get into the code on the theme??
Matt,
Once again, thanks for the great information.
Each time I view one of your videos, I make a forward step.
Your videos are very informative and well explained.
The way you explain things is very helpful an helpful.
I am really thankful for your tips.
Matt,
Once again, thanks for the great information.
Each time I view one of your videos, I make a forward step.
Your videos are very informative and well explained..
I am really thankful for your tips.
Thanks Matt, you bring out some finer points that get overlooked by many affiliate marketers. Just the idea of having good headlines and knowing where you are at when you land on the page is so important to getting people to sign up or buy.