How to split test "Direct Linking" VS "Landing Page" easily (7)
Hi everyone,
Since my subscription here, I was wondering what I could share with you.
You guys are so expert in this industry that I didn't have any idea on how I could bring some value.
Here's a modest technique for split testing "Direct Linking" Vs "Landing Pages" with Prosper202 easily.
It's a tutorial for newbie there, most of you won't learn anything. But maybe that the script I share here will help some of you.
Please note I'm not technical at all, I understand how and why this code works, but I just can do some very basic php coding.
If you have any question, I'll try to help as much as I can.
And please note I totally consider myself as a noob too 
I'm sure most of you use this script:
http://prosper.tracking202.com/scrip...landing-pages/
If not, and if you have built your own system, it's great.
If not, and if you just duplicate your ads on your traffic sources, changing the tracking URL for testing "Direct Linking" Vs "Landing Pages", here's a little trick that could change everything 
This tutorial is based on the assumption you use this on your campaigns for testing different offers.
If you use another solution, don't worry, the process I give here can be applied as well.
So, what's the point with this script?
I love to use it because it allows to:
- Rotate different Landing Pages that belongs to one advertiser
- Rotate different offers from different advertisers
- Rotate different Landing Pages you own
- Doing a mix of all of that
- + Split testing direct linking Vs Landing Pages, as I'll explain here.
During some times, I also used this great script from CTRtard to rotate several offers:
http://ctrtard.com/affiliate-marketi...n-tracking202/
I don't use this one anymore.
The fact is, for some reasons, I was tired to set up "Advanced Landing Pages" in Prosper202. It was boring.
And it was confusing to use the two scripts at the same time.
I thought it was way more simple to just use the first prosper script:
http://prosper.tracking202.com/scrip...landing-pages/
and simply duplicating, literally, my landing pages as much as needed.
For example, always using this script, I can rotate the Landing Page from BeNaughty with the blond girl Vs the Landing Page from BeNaughty with the brunette girl Vs the original Landing Page from Cupid Vs the Landing Page from Be2 with the mature dating angle.
It doesn't matter at all, all of that can be done very easily with this script.
And I can also make some split tests with my own LPs.
If I have 3 Landing Pages pointing to these offers, I need to duplicate 3 (LPs) X 4 (Offers' LPs) = 12 Landing Pages rotating on my server.
I like to test things in this order:
1/ What offer converts?
2/ Which one of LPs available for the top offer converts best?
3/ Which one of my LPs converts best for the top landing page of the top offer?
4/ Does direct linking beat my best landing page that redirect to the top landing page of the top offer?
Doing this have a HUGE benefit for me, and it's important for what's following: I just work with ONE file.
I don't have to deal with ads approval at all, I just have to make sure that a little bunch of high converting ads gets approved.
My process is to always submit my ads for approval without rotating at this stage with the following URL,
or something I can remember: http://www.mydomain.com/rotate.php.
(I recommend to use a less affiliate name, like "welcome.php" 
)
So I just comment the lines that rotate the variations on the .php file the time for my ads to get approved.
Once they're approved, I start to rotate.
I'm sure most of you know how to play with this script.
If not, I really encourage you to test by yourself, it's easy to understand and it saves a lot of times.
Now, when you are finally comfortable manipulating this rotate.php script, you can understand how to split test a Landing Page Vs Direct Linking.
The concept is to build another Landing Page, as you would do if you would like to test another variation of your best LP again, but this one will just have a very basic fonction: it will redirect straight to the offer...
BUT... being sure that your tracking pixel is fired.
It's like a 302 redirection, for those who know SEO or have some bases in server programming, but without any tracking loss.
Here's the step:
1/ Set up a new Landing Page in Prosper202. The URL of this LP is the same as your other Landing Pages you're already rotating:
http://www.mydomain.com/rotate.php
2/ Be sure to name it accordingly, you'll have to remember this name for a better reading in "Group Overview".
For example:
BeNaughty-LpWithBlondGirlDirectLinking
3/ Go to "Get LP Code" in Prosper202. Copy the .js tracking code we will use on our LP that will make the redirection straight to the offer (direct linking) somewhere, and copy also the script we need in the .php file that usually do the redirection.
4/ Use the following template:
http://www.julienbagein.com/script/r...linking_direct
- directlinkingoffer01.php is the file you want to use as a Landing Page, although it just does a redirection.
You paste your .js tracking code here.
- gooffer01.php is the file you use for the redirection process through the tracking system and cloaking system of Prosper202.
You paste the .php script from Prosper202 here.
5/ Paste directlinkingoffer01.php in http://www.mydomain.com/rotate.php
(as explained here: http://prosper.tracking202.com/scrip...landing-pages/)
6/ Run and collect data.
All the data will be readable on "Group Overview". Just select your traffic source, as you usually do, and filter by Landing Pages.
You will quickly identify the "fake" Landing Page which is in fact the direct linking one, and compare its performance with your other Landing Pages.
Why do I use this script?
Using jQuery allows two things:
1/ The page won't do the redirect until everything is loaded.
You should not have any tracking issue.
2/ jquery loads fast, and this page is very simple so everything goes fast.
I'm sure there are a lot of ways to do that better.
It's just a process I'm comfortable with, it works like a charm and I just have to work with one file, which is a solid advantage.
I hope you understood my post, and I hope my script helps.
Feel free to share your advice on this
Julien
Awesome tutorial man. very detailed.
Great post. Thanks!
But what do I do if at first I want to run let's say a couple hundred clicks to the offer page directly without it being rotated? I'll test it with a landing page later if I see that it doesn't convert. Do I just edit the rotate.php file (
removing
"$landingpage[1] = 'landingpage1.php';
$landingpage[2] = 'landingpage2.php';
$landingpage[3] = 'landingpage3.php'; " ?
Thank you for your comments guys, I was afraid that my post was totally useless.
2 comments, it's better than none
nils>
I would just submit my ads with the following lines on my rotate.php:
$landingpage[1] = 'fake-landing-page-that-makes-a-direct-linking.php';
//$landingpage[2] = 'landing-page1-for-later-after-testing-direct-linking.php';
//$landingpage[3] = 'landing-page2-for-later-after-testing-direct-linking.php';
Then, once my ads are approved, and when I've collected enough data on 'fake-landing-page-that-makes-a-direct-linking.php' to be sure that the offer converts, I'll run each of the three variations in order to see which one performs best:
$landingpage[1] = 'fake-landing-page-that-make-a-direct-linking-1.php';
$landingpage[2] = 'landing-page1-for-later-after-testing-direct-linking-1.php';
$landingpage[3] = 'landing-page2-for-later-after-testing-direct-linking-1.php';
So I can know if direct linking outperforms my LP1 or my LP2.
Great. Thanks for the quick reply!
Hi Julien,
Sorry for the noob question, but wouldn't it do any harm if I use "index.php" instead of "rotate.php" or "welcome.php" for the rotator?
So my final tracking link would look something like:
"http://mytrackingdomain.com?t202id=xxxx&t202kw=xxxx"
instead of
"http://mytrackingdomain.com/rotate.php?t202id=xxxx&t202kw=xxxx"
...hope I'm still doing fine that way. lol.
thank it's awesome!
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