Subject: Creating the Perfect Bridge Page

YouÕve learned how bridge pages can be useful not only for the affiliate, but for visitors, too. So how can you create that ÒperfectÓ bridge page? The one that is beneficial to both the affiliate and the visitor?

Well, first, you should always include an opt-in form on any bridge page you create. Building a list is crucial to your ongoing success, because youÕll be virtually immune to business-killing changes like Google slaps and changes to the terms and conditions at various free and paid traffic sources. 

You should never depend too much on any one single source of traffic, but once you have a large list built, you can depend on that traffic for quite a while, and itÕs much more stable than any other traffic source.

A squeeze page alone can be effective, but if youÕre trying to promote a specific product, you could create a hybrid bridge page that combines the lead generation of a squeeze page with the selling power of something like a review page or pre-sell page.

So which should you use? Should you go for a review page, a comparison page, or a pre-sell page?

Review pages are ideal when you have a product with a good sales page but conversions just arenÕt quite what you hope. Your review can help boost the effectiveness of the sales pageÕs message by introducing social proof that isnÕt part of the product ownerÕs own marketing. People have come to distrust a lot of the ÒtestimonialsÓ that appear on sales pages, because they know some marketers solicit those testimonials from friends and other marketers. Your review, especially if you present a few negative points in addition to the positive, is easier to trust. This is especially true if you have a good reputation in your field.

Comparison pages are ideal if you have a large number of products competing in a specific niche. You can help people differentiate between the different products by presenting the benefits and features of each in a form that is easy to understand, along with prices that help visitors choose between the different products.

A graphical table is a great idea on comparison pages, because it makes it much easier for people to compare products at a glance, thus saving them a lot of time. ItÕs also a good idea to include prices so people can decide which product offers the best value for the price.

A pre-sell page is a good idea when the sales page just isnÕt up to snuff. A review can be part of the pre-sell page, or it can be formatted in some other way. Maybe the sales page doesnÕt mention, or go into enough detail about, a key feature. Perhaps itÕs too short or too long. It might lack a lot of detail, such as a simple retail sales page that only briefly describes the product. It could just be that it doesnÕt hit the right notes for your specific audience. But a pre-sell page can be a great way to boost sales of a good product with a sales page that just isnÕt working as well as it should.

When you create a pre-sell page, be sure to make some notes on what you feel the sales page does well and what it doesnÕt so you can make up for its shortcomings and include all of the information the main sales page didnÕt.

In our next lesson, youÕre going to learn a few of the additional reasons why you might want to use a bridge page instead of sending traffic straight to your affiliate link, and trust me, you donÕt want to miss these!

