Subject: Why Even Use Bridge Pages?

By now you should have a good grasp on what bridge pages are, but you may be wondering if itÕs worth the effort to use them instead of simply sending your affiliate traffic straight to the sales page. After all, wouldnÕt that be a lot easier?

Well, of course it would be easier, but would it be more effective? ThatÕs the most important thing. Ultimately, you want to do whatever makes you the most money, and unless the sales page is truly phenomenal, itÕs almost always a good idea to use bridge pages of some sort.

Squeeze pages (also known as lead capture pages, or several other names) have one main purpose, and that is to collect leads. Generally these leads are in the form of email addresses, but they may be telephone numbers, mobile phone numbers (usually for SMS text messaging) or postal addresses. 

A well-designed squeeze page with a quality, interesting lead magnet (the free offer used to entice people to offer their contact details) can gather a large number of leads relatively easily with the right traffic, and those leads can be used to promote your current affiliate offer, as well as many other offers in the future. Why throw away traffic to a single offer, especially when many of those visitors wonÕt buy, when you can capture their information and market to them over and over?

Of course, you can also capture leads on other types of bridge pages. For example, if a productÕs sales page isnÕt adequate, an affiliate could create their own sales page and offer the freebie on that page. The visitorÕs information can be captured, and the product can be sold on the same page. 

Pre-sell pages are very effective, because they can perform in ways a regular sales page canÕt. LetÕs say a product has a very long sales page that loses a certain percentage of visitors that donÕt want to read so much text. The affiliate could create a simple page that details the most basic, important information, condensing the sales page into a form that is easier to read. This could significantly boost sales.

Review pages are useful if visitors seem reluctant to buy. This is especially useful in areas where there is a large amount of competition and people are inundated with offers and have a hard time deciding between products. They are also useful for products that are relatively expensive, because it helps put people at ease about making a large purchase.

If thereÕs a lot of competition, comparison pages can be helpful. These pages compare several similar products, allowing visitors to see which ones have the features they need at a price they can deal with paying. They help people choose among a slew of similar products.

As you can see, bridge pages are not only helpful for the affiliate, they can also be very beneficial to visitors by helping them make informed decisions and saving them time and money!

In our next lesson, weÕre going to take a look at some ways to make the most effective bridge pages possible, so watch for it soon!
