Quick update: Invariably, if you post saying something like “it didn’t work” that the next week things will change. This week the landing page experiment turned in sales of a DVD player, books, a DVD, and a watch. Amazon numbers are 17 clicks and 5 items ordered.

It’s been one week since I switched from direct affiliate links in Adwords to a website landing page. The results are:

• 28 Adword clicks (to landing page)
• 15 Click-thrus to Amazon.com
• 0 Sales

With my stats tracking as well I learned that nobody checked the rest of the site out either. So my thoughts of potential sales through other products didn’t work.

Another interesting thing I learned is that the Adword ads clicks are not just coming from Google.com. I got clicks from sites like www.buy.com, www2.shopping.com, www.nexttag.com, www.epinions.com, and www.become.com.

I checked these sites and they display Adword ads when visitors do a search. I received most clicks from www.nexttag.com. I was happy with the placement of the ad on the sites and think it’s not a bad thing.

More lessons learned this week. The more you try, the more you learn. I wish I had feedback from the customer as to why they didn’t buy.

Since optimizing my Adwords ad for product X, my conversion rate has dramatically increased. Take heed that your ad copy is important in drawing customers that are willing to buy, not just look.

Another happy benefit is that using a big name affiliate like Amazon, Buy.com, Walmart, etc., is that people will continue to shop and buy other products. So far I have seen the following with Amazon:

1. Someone upgraded and purchased a more expensive product
2. Someone purchased multiple DVDs and books
3. Someone downgraded and purchased a lesser model (but hey, I still got the sale)
4. Someone purchased kitchenware!

I think you’re getting the point. Get customers to a big named affiliate with a diverse array of products and you will reap the rewards.