By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2010-10-14 12:49:29 | Word Count: 664
Any page on your website that is found through the search engines, the social media or any other referring website or directory can qualify as a landing page. Being found is a victory online because it means you did what’s necessary to make the page visible. The process of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the continual process of making all pages visible for relevant keywords and phrases entered on Google, Twitter, Bing and all other internet sources of content. However being found is only half the battle. You make no money just by being found. Your website has a job; a purpose. There is always an action that you wish to have taken by the visitor. These actions are conversions and your landing pages is the focus of all landing page design and Conversion Optimization.
At its root, a landing page is the page where your visitors first ‘land’ after finding you organically (SEO) or through a paid search (PPC). The most effective landing pages are highly relevant to the search term or phrase. This is the most fundamental and first step in producing converting landing pages. If the user is looking for “iPod Accessories”, your landing page should contain a large header that reads “iPod Accessories” and list iPod Accessories for Sale. Poorly designed landing pages are the leading cause of lost conversions. Research shows that once a visitor reaches your landing page, if they cannot determine what to do next or where to go within a matter of seconds, they will X out of it.
[ advertisement ]
While there is plenty of information out there that emphasizes strong calls-to-action, certain color schemes, fonts and sizes, how can you really know what will work? Everyone’s business or situation is different, even for products that are identical. So how do you know what will actually work for you?
The answer is simple … you don’t know and no one else knows either.
Testing and monitoring is critical towards increasing conversions. A split test is one of the most efficient testing methods. This test is a simple way to measure the effectiveness of different variables within your landing pages. For example, create two separate landing pages, direct 1/2 of your visitors to landing page “A”, 1/2 to landing page B . Then you monitor the actual performance stats i.e. the human interaction with each landing page. By monitoring the stats over a specific period of time, you can determine which version of the landing page works best. Then you can begin split-testing for another element … and so on. The Website Optimizer by Google does a great job at this and it’s also free to setup and use.
Because even minute changes can make a big difference to conversions and sales, landing page testing is critical. However, as you may imagine it is time consuming and requires constant attention.
Optimum7 specializes in conversion optimization along with all of its associated processes. Contact us today to see how our landing page optimization methods, complete with testing, can help you increase your conversion rate.
