The e-commerce industry and domain redirect advertising have one very important thing in common — they give people what they desire. And they do it fast.

That’s why, while e-commerce marketing is all about tapping into consumer demand and helping people move down that sales funnel, zero-click traffic helps advertisers do just that… while basically being triggered by users themselves and driving traffic to your e-commerce website.

Is there a better match made for the upcoming shopping craze?

Read on to find out how to use domain redirect traffic for e-commerce advertising in Q4 2021 and ultimately increase your chances of profit this holiday season!

E-commerce trends for the holiday shopping season

Back in 2020, many assumptions were made as to how the next holiday shopping season would be like, what would the most profitable shopping trends be, and how much people would spend.

But nobody expected 2021 to prompt changes some hoped to see happening in the next decade at the earliest. Regardless of last year’s assumptions, one thing is clear — the holiday shopping season came early and the COVID-19 pandemic has surely exerted an unexpectedly profitable impact on the e-commerce world.

Given that brick and mortar fell into a crisis that many haven’t seen coming, the e-commerce industry has become a primary source of goods for people all over the world. And as could be expected of the Golden Quarter, sales are hitting the roof once again.

Being able to take their minds off the coronavirus crisis for a short while, many consumers rushed to purchase gifts for their loved ones, or items that make our life-from-home situation both more comfortable and entertaining. But this year, millions of people who wouldn’t have done it had there been no virus, turned to online shopping entirely.

As the National Retail Federation reports:  

(…) consumer spending on gifts is on par with last year, decreasing by only about $8, while per person spending on other holiday items like decorations is actually up slightly.

That means people plan to spend just about the more money than last year, where both brick and mortar shops together with online channels made record sums. Only the 2021 shopping party is happening both online stores and in the shopping malls.

Having established that the coronavirus pandemic isn’t going to stop people from enjoying their holiday shopping sprees, additionally fueled with early sales and extra promotions, it’d be wise to think what categories or items are in demand right now.

Naturally, you’re welcome to conduct your own research. But since we’ve already done it, analyzing both past years’ and the 2021 marketing trends for Black Friday (the holiday season included), here’s a short list of products and categories that are bound to attract consumers this year.

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Top e-commerce advertising ideas

The following ideas may not become a huge revelation to marketing gurus, but that’s not the point. The point is they are very simple, and thanks to that simplicity, these products are bound to dominate our shopping carts this Golden Quarter.

The global pandemic forced millions of people into months-lasting lockdown or imposed major limitations on their daily lives at the least. Nobody was prepared for what happened almost a year ago, nobody expected to spend weeks if not months in nationwide lockdown. And even if the official restrictions have been lifted, work-from-home, remote schooling, and #stayhome situations have become the new normal for people all over the world.

And one beautiful thing that humankind does when faced with any kind of new situation is that we adapt — and we can get really creative in doing so.

Simply put, lockdown prompts new hobbies, and new hobbies prompt new gift ideas.

That’s why all those forced, or willingly participating in the #stayhome trend, have somehow become responsible for creating a whole new demand sector. After months of being confined to the comforts of our couch (and devouring the fridge), people started taking up new hobbies or finally making time for those that had been long put aside. eBay’s report mentions that 75% of consumers plan to uphold their lockdown hobbies, which we believe would make them a great source of gifts inspirations — be it for Single’s Day, Christmas, New Year’s, or Valentine’s Day.

Here’s a list of top e-commerce advertising ideas that can be used during this Golden Quarter and beyond!

✔︎   Baking
✔︎  Gardening
✔︎  DIY or home improvement
✔︎  At home/outdoor sport or fitness equipment
✔︎  Board games or jigsaw puzzles
✔︎  Crafts
✔︎  Video games
✔︎  Drawing or painting
✔︎  Photography
✔︎  Hair and beauty
✔︎  Musical instrument
✔︎  Self-development courses online
✔︎  Film/ books/ music subscriptions

Once advertisers select products or niches they’d like to bring closer to customers, it’s time to think about the channel that best meets market needs.

Domain redirect traffic in a nutshell

Domain Redirect Traffic, also domain redirect or zero click traffic, is one of the most precise ad formats in PPC advertising. And it’s not the PPC ads that require you to place ads at the top of search engines either. It’s based on redirecting traffic from parked domains (old links or old URLs) or misspelled URLs to landing pages promoted by advertisers based on keywords entered by users into the address bar of their browsers.

Whenever users put an unused or parked domain URL into the browser address bar, often by misspelling, they might encounter a domain redirect ad. It is quite common for people to misspell domain names or research things online by entering such. If the inserted keywords match the parked domain address or keywords targeted by advertisers running zero-click campaigns, users are then redirected to a new location which is one of these such domains which has a permanent redirect in place. So, you need to choose your keywords carefully so that they might match the same domain name of your new page. In this way, your customers will not be bothered by such ads as they are the correct pages that they were searching for.

What essentially happens is that as the website loads, a Real-time bidding (RTB) auction is triggered. During this auction, various ad exchanges compete to win an ad impression that will be displayed to the user who has just entered a particular web address or phrase. The auction takes less than a blink of an eye and the user is instantly redirected to a website — that is the highest bidding ad, most often a landing page to an offer an affiliate advertiser promotes.

That’s why domain redirect traffic is often considered to be one of the most precise advertising formats, especially for e-commerce campaigns. It’s in fact triggered by users who proactively search for desired content, and thanks to keyword targeting, they’re delivered very close if not the exact results. This allows advertisers to reach a highly-motivated and purchase-oriented audience who’s ready to engage with presented content. So, you can direct traffic to your landing page for your online store with ease.

Bringing the right ads to the right people has never been easier, has it?

Top-performing verticals for domain redirect traffic in Q4 2021

While e-commerce is one of the most profitable verticals for the Golden Quarter season, we need to emphasize that there’s a number of verticals that tend to do equally well.

Mind that all these verticals are universal to Q4 advertising and can be run with various ad formats, too. The reason why they’re so popular during the last quarter of the year is mainly because of their direct connection to holiday shopping trends or newly prompted hobbies of the COVID-19 induced shopping craze.

Whatever the reason, they’re profitable and ready to be run with domain redirect traffic just next to your e-commerce campaigns.

How to build an affiliate landing page that converts

There’s one more thing that needs to be done before you can enjoy the profits of your zero-click campaigns, though. That thing is building a landing page that will provide both the ultimate user experience for your audience and any advertiser’s desired action — that is conversion.

First impressions count the most, remember? That’s why the moment users land their eyes on your offer website it needs to grab their attention, keep them engaged, and lead straight to whatever action you want them to take. And it truly is a matter of seconds that people decide to stay or leave.

That’s why using all the intel you can get to build a well-converting and user-friendly landing page for your offers is essential. Naturally, you don’t need to build them from scratch every time.

High-quality and eye-pleasing landers are often included with an offer.

Sounds fabulous, doesn’t it? But what about tens of advertisers promoting the same offer who use the very same landing page? Sadly, banner blindness and creative fatigue are a thing and that’s why tweaking your visuals a little bit can really make a world of difference.

Remember to check, include, test, and optimize the following items to make the most of your landing page.

• Page loading speed — even if you have a perfect lander, but it takes ages to load, users will switch it off before you even have a chance to display the promoted offer.
• Optimization — it’s a never-ending process that might seem tedious, yet it’s essential. Especially now. That’s why limiting HTTP requests, optimizing visuals, using asynchronous loading for JS and CSS elements, reducing the number of WordPress plugins (they do have a great impact on the loading speed!), using file compression, and minimizing redirects/CTA so as not to disrupt users is much recommended.
• Hosting — use quality servers only to ensure stability, quickness, and broaden your reach especially during Q4 when even the biggest players in the e-commerce industry suffer from technical problems due to heavy demand.
• Engaging content — motivate users to engage or buy promoted products. Show them its worth, make their lives easier by explaining the product’s benefits, show them the problems they’re facing every day and how you’re able to solve them. Quickly.
• User-experience — always optimize for mobile, keep your CTAs above the fold (don’t add too many, though), and be both credible and neat — no place for shady landers here.
• Credible language — use translation tools to make your landers understandable for various viewers. It saves both time and energy having one offer that can be run and tested in various GEOs as long as people can understand what you’re saying.
• Q4 mood — always tune your visuals and copy to match the occasion. With Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve happening soon this has never been easier.
• Spy tools — using them can save your time, money, and energy figuring out the best designs and strategies. Do not just copycat content as you’re risking falling prey to banner blindness before you’ll even test your campaigns.

Regardless of whether you take your landing pages directly from the affiliate networks, you rip them straight from spy tools or build from scratch, remember about the items from the list. A good landing page might be the break-or-make element for your domain redirect ads campaign, especially for the e-commerce vertical during the holiday season craze.

10 targeting and optimization tips to succeed with domain redirect ads

Just like with any other ad format, there are some targeting and optimization tweaks that can be put in place to make the most of your zero-click campaigns. Once your offer, its marketing angle, and a winning landing page are ready to go, it’s time to work on data.

1. Start with broad campaigns first. Even the most promising offer and the most compelling lander won’t bring you any profits if targeted wrong. To find the most profitable sources of traffic, start broad and then test your campaigns for a few days to identify the best and the worst performing sources.

2. Create your own whitelists and blacklists. Testing traffic placements allows advertisers to create their own unique lists of top-performing sources that allow for scaling your campaigns.

3. Get your keyword targeting right. Using exact keywords means that only the exact version of submitted keywords will be used to match the traffic, which can significantly narrow down the scope of targeted traffic. While using broad keywords means all variations of the submitted keyword will be used to match the traffic. This can significantly broaden the scope but also bring volumes of traffic irrelevant to your campaigns.

4. Remember about misspellings. They are crucial to zero-click campaigns. That’s why using popular domain names or URLs that are often misspelled by thousands of people, adding highly searched phrases may also bring desired volumes of relevant traffic.

5. Don’t forget to test and optimize your landers. This is the exact place where users meet your offer. That’s why advertisers need to make sure this meeting is going as planned while providing an excellent user experience and effective sales funnel.

6. Plan your advertising budget. Account for both the testing and scaling phases. Try to estimate how long you’d be able to run your domain redirect campaign and how much money you’re ready to spend on it.

7. Track data for the best campaign optimization. Tracking all possible variables for your domain campaigns allows for monitoring the performance, identifying the most profitable areas, and enabling AI-powered solutions for the automatic campaign optimization process.

8. Get your bidding strategy ready. Whenever you see a placement that wins all the traffic, bid down a little. If it’s on the verge of winning ca. 80% — don’t wait and bid up!

9. Optimize whenever and wherever you can. Use the Rule-based-optimisation feature to allow quick reaction to any sudden market changes.

10. Stay connected. Talk to your traffic source representatives, affiliate community, or anyone who can share valuable knowledge and insights. They’ll be able to help on the spot whenever needed while also supplying new ideas for your business.

Conclusions 

Landing profit as an affiliate marketer has never been easier. With Black Friday coming soon, the majority of holiday shoppers deciding to move their purchase online, and new product categories triggering even more holiday sales than ever before, this seems like manna from heaven.

Especially when you’re able to deliver exactly what people want, to those who actively search for it, the second they start their shopping journey. Proper use of domain redirect traffic gives you just that.

Black Friday Is Coming
Scale Big Running Domain Ads in Zeropark

Kinga Gawron