Hi there!
Landing pages or squeeze pages are one of the primary tools of any internet marketing campaign. They're different from a home page in that a landing page has a singular focus. There's one primary action that all content on the page is driving towards: signing up with an email, buying a product or clicking to engage in some way. The home page, on the other hand, serves to get the visitor to the right content rather than to take an action.
Landing pages can be powerful and effective because of their clear intent towards one action. The visitor becomes engaged, then decides to learn more and knows clearly what to do next.
It's important to remember that when people come to your website, they have one objective: to eliminate you from consideration.
With that in mind, it's critical to make your page optimized for your visitor, so they are compelled to stay and then take action.
Here are 12 keys to optimizing your landing page:
1. Purpose: are you sending people to the right landing page?
If you have multiple products, content and resources you're using paid ads or emails to drive traffic to, it's essential that the visitor is directed to the most specific page related to the keyword or product they clicked on.
2. Congruency: why did the visitor click through to your page? For a special offer or because you have the best rating? Was it due to a specific keyword from a PPC campaign or a search result? Make sure the message the user gets when they land on your page is congruent with the reason they came.
3. Focus: focus on one objective for each landing page.
4. Layout: use a vertical flow through the center of the page to pull the eye to the objective. Do not distract with multiple columns, other un-related information or links, etc. If you have left or right columns, they should be used to have supportive information to drive to the objective (like testimonials).
5. Supportive Elements: use visual elements to draw attention to the call to action: size, motion, color and shape. Eliminate any other elements that might distract from the main objective.
6. Links: avoid off-page links. Use passive pop-ups if you need to display more information.
7. The Hook: use an effective "hook" to keep the user on your site. For example, product or money-back guarantees, free or discounted shipping, special offers, free trials, etc.
8. Credibility: use third-party credibility indicators, like testimonials, ratings, reviews, site security (SSL Ceritificates, Verisign, etc.).
9. Readability: don't overwhelm with too much information. Strategically placed bold, colored, italicized or enlarged fonts can break up the information. Use bullets, headers and white space to let the copy "breathe".
10. Test: test background colors, button styles and link styles. MarketingExperiments.com testing shows that white backgrounds work best. Traditional blue, underlined style works best for links.
11. Reduce Friction: only require the least amount of information possible. Make it fast and easy to sign up and buy.
12. Test Price: pricing too high or too low can make your other optimizations lose effectiveness. How do you compare to competitors? Can you add more value to the offer? What would your prospect pay for an alternative solution?
I have three examples of sites that display these key points that might help you to see what it can look like to pull all the elements together. See if you can find what I have described above in them:
www.catchhimandkeephim.com - both a landing page and a home page, in this case
http://www.
http://www.
Here's what to do next:
1. Review the examples above to get some ideas, then take a look at your own website to see if you might be able to find ways to make it more effective.
2. Visit my website and download a PDF, "Landing Page Optimization: 20 Keys to Success" from a recent webinar I led.
3. If you get stuck or aren't clear, send me an email and I'll review your site with a 15-minute consultation to help you with ideas.
Here's to landing with both feet,
Chelsea
(The Tech Diva)
http;//www.techdivamedia.com
Landing pages or squeeze pages are one of the primary tools of any internet marketing campaign. They're different from a home page in that a landing page has a singular focus. There's one primary action that all content on the page is driving towards: signing up with an email, buying a product or clicking to engage in some way. The home page, on the other hand, serves to get the visitor to the right content rather than to take an action.
Landing pages can be powerful and effective because of their clear intent towards one action. The visitor becomes engaged, then decides to learn more and knows clearly what to do next.
It's important to remember that when people come to your website, they have one objective: to eliminate you from consideration.
With that in mind, it's critical to make your page optimized for your visitor, so they are compelled to stay and then take action.
Here are 12 keys to optimizing your landing page:
1. Purpose: are you sending people to the right landing page?
If you have multiple products, content and resources you're using paid ads or emails to drive traffic to, it's essential that the visitor is directed to the most specific page related to the keyword or product they clicked on.
2. Congruency: why did the visitor click through to your page? For a special offer or because you have the best rating? Was it due to a specific keyword from a PPC campaign or a search result? Make sure the message the user gets when they land on your page is congruent with the reason they came.
3. Focus: focus on one objective for each landing page.
4. Layout: use a vertical flow through the center of the page to pull the eye to the objective. Do not distract with multiple columns, other un-related information or links, etc. If you have left or right columns, they should be used to have supportive information to drive to the objective (like testimonials).
5. Supportive Elements: use visual elements to draw attention to the call to action: size, motion, color and shape. Eliminate any other elements that might distract from the main objective.
6. Links: avoid off-page links. Use passive pop-ups if you need to display more information.
7. The Hook: use an effective "hook" to keep the user on your site. For example, product or money-back guarantees, free or discounted shipping, special offers, free trials, etc.
8. Credibility: use third-party credibility indicators, like testimonials, ratings, reviews, site security (SSL Ceritificates, Verisign, etc.).
9. Readability: don't overwhelm with too much information. Strategically placed bold, colored, italicized or enlarged fonts can break up the information. Use bullets, headers and white space to let the copy "breathe".
10. Test: test background colors, button styles and link styles. MarketingExperiments.com testing shows that white backgrounds work best. Traditional blue, underlined style works best for links.
11. Reduce Friction: only require the least amount of information possible. Make it fast and easy to sign up and buy.
12. Test Price: pricing too high or too low can make your other optimizations lose effectiveness. How do you compare to competitors? Can you add more value to the offer? What would your prospect pay for an alternative solution?
I have three examples of sites that display these key points that might help you to see what it can look like to pull all the elements together. See if you can find what I have described above in them:
www.catchhimandkeephim.com - both a landing page and a home page, in this case
http://www.
http://www.
Here's what to do next:
1. Review the examples above to get some ideas, then take a look at your own website to see if you might be able to find ways to make it more effective.
2. Visit my website and download a PDF, "Landing Page Optimization: 20 Keys to Success" from a recent webinar I led.
3. If you get stuck or aren't clear, send me an email and I'll review your site with a 15-minute consultation to help you with ideas.
Here's to landing with both feet,
Chelsea
(The Tech Diva)
http;//www.techdivamedia.com
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