Top level domain name redirect VS Product Review Landing Page
A product review page can greatly increase the conversion rate, but because you are filtering out more people, it may not be more profitable in the short term.
Let's use an example:
Two Warriors are promoting the same affiliate product (which earns them a commission of $45. Let's say over a weeks time, they both generate 500 visitors from their articles.
Warrior A has been doing a top level domain name redirect, so he is sending his traffic from his articles straight to the affiliate salespage. His sales conversion ratio is 2%.
Warrior B send his traffic to a product review landing page. He gets conversion ratio is 5% at the affiliate salespage because he is "softly" preselling the affiliate product.
So who do you think will make more?
My answer is: Warrior A.
Yes, because of the awesome product review that Warrior B gave, his conversion rate is more than double. But...because he added an additional step, he's filtered out some traffic. So of the readers who got to the product review page, how many clicked on the affiliate sales link (your CTR on the review page)?
I would say that it would range in the 15-45% of people clicking the link and getting to the affiliate salespage. For this example, we'll say that its a strong 30%.
Do you see the problem here?
So both Warriors A and B each get 500 people to click on the links in their resource boxes. How much did they make?
Warrior A sends 500 visitors to the affiliate salespage. His conversion ratio is 2%. He generates 10 sales @ $45 each, giving him a weekly commission of $450.
Warrior B sends 500 visitors to the product review page. His product review convinces 30% of the readers (150 of them). His conversion ratio is a superior 5%. He generates 7.5 sales (just for calculation purposes) @ $45 each, giving him a weekly commission of $337.50.
Warrior A made $112.50 more than Warrior B.
So what's the point of this? I guess that you should really play around with numbers to see what actually is the best solution for your income goals.
If you need money quicker, then you are going to want to direct as much traffic as possible to the affiliate salespage.
If you are looking for long-term, stable income than you'll want to add steps along the way (namely capturing their names and email addresses for further communication and relationship building). A mailing list of tightly targeted individuals is a powerful asset.
Best wishes,
JoeMack