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I'll say it again: If your SEM company isn't INSISTING on helping you with landing pages; if they are satisfied to pick any page on your site as a destination for your expensive PPC marketing; then you are being taken to the cleaners.

Most of what you need to know is right here in this article. Contact me if you still have questions. 

 @ReelSEO Having just completed my first two videos for my up-coming book, I was grateful to have these nine reminders of what makes video convert.

It's about time I started investing in video. The research and case studies I've read show that video is a powerhouse conversion tool, in almost all industries, B2B and B2C. Video isn't to boost your ego (although I like putting a little of myself in the footage). It has a job to do. These nine will help you get results.

What makes people trust your Website more? As you know building trust with your visitors is critical to maximizing conversion. Here is some research that helps us to understand what makes visitors trust our site. Here are some highlights. 1:43-People trust more attractive websites. 2:21-Attractive websites are those that follow conventions. 3:05-Biggest source of frustration? Ability to find relevant information. 3:31-Website owners must increase the relevance of their information. 5:00-The best way to retain customers is to provide relevant information. Relevancy is dropping across the Internet. 6:10-How an Internet store is different from a physical store. 8:02-People who are on Facebook are more likely to recommend companies that they see on Facebook. 9:30-Satisfaction is what it is all about, affecting conversion and referral behavior. 10:00-Clam chowder

 @unbounce

I hesitated to share this article with you because the landing pages here are so very different. I take a more conservative approach to landing pages.

However, Oli Gardner does a great job of pointing out what works and doesn't work for these pages, so it is a great learning opportunity.

 @KISSmetrics - Google Analytics has become a very important tool in helping us diagnose your site and increase conversions. I'm spending much more of my time showing businesses how to setup Google Analytics to give them amazing insights into their visitors. This list is pretty intense, but if you're getting up the learning curve on GA, it can't be beat.

Testing is a competitive advantage, much like the innovations of Paul Brown. Whoever does it first get's first mover advantage.

"I may have an answer to your questions."

Doesn't this sound hopeful? And you do. Whatever industry you are in, it is fundamentally your duty to understand your market's problems and to figure out how to solve them. The philosophy of content marketing is that teaching prospects about their problems is as important as teaching them about your solutions.

So, if you have some helpful knowledge that helps prospects solve problems, how are you letting them know that you're there for them?

Here are twelve ways to call attention to what you offer. Then you can let the content speak volumes for your solutions.

Does your company have a Markishing department yet? That's a Marketing/Publishing department, and if you don't you better start working on it.

This infograph from Eloqua illustrates the power of content at various stages of the purchasing cycle. You don't have to be an enterprise to be using this kind of markishing approach to marketing. Learn about content development and cascades in my up-coming book.

@SeeWhy provided one of the most mind-changing ideas to come out of last week's Conversion Conference in New York:

Shopping Cart Abandonment Isn't Necessarily Bad

Some shoppers must abandon once or twice before they can buy.

But when it's time to close the deal, you don't want your shopping cart to choke. This infographic is a fantastic summary of the best practices to keep someone in the buying process, and getting them back if they need to abandon. 

A simple video that talks about story and how effective it is in communicating by Jennifer Aaker @aaker.

 @ashocka18 has written an article for designers working on landing pages. In the process Heidi has linked to some very helpful posts.

I was struck by the way she laid out the article, perfect for those of us who scan. Your landing pages should be designed to help scanners find the salient points of your copy... like where the link to my post is.

I especially love the banner images for each topic. Very fun. Boring Call to Action Button Lame Logos Inconsistency Too many fonts Random colors Spacing fails Cheesy stock photos (I call this "Business Porn") Overuse of photoshop effects Icons from everywhere Readability issues Navigation Check it out.

A blog is critical for SEO. It can also be a great lead generator and email list builder.

The Conversion Scientist™ is crucial to our marketing efforts.

Rich Page has a great list of do's and don'ts here with examples. You should take a look. Annoying Ads Unclear value proposition Articles with no call to action Not mobile optimized Short articles, no sub-headlines Cluttered sidebar columns No social proof Bland articles Poor incentive to subscribe No exit-intent popups Start Here page

Just because you have the data that proves you are "right" about something, don't expect anyone to believe you.

It's not about the data, it's about how you present the data.

Since Conversion Optimization is ONLY about generating data to guide decisions, I love to explore the various ways of presenting it.

Here is some awesome eye candy from some amazing sites.

One of the advantages of optimizing for conversion is that Google can't take away your revenue arbitrarily.

Normally, we are thinking of SEO when we say this. Panda, Penguin and now Pidgeon are algorithm changes that may have hurt your business.

Now, it appears that Google is messing with paid traffic as well.

Mike Roberts of SpyFu.com has the analysis of an upcoming elimination of "Exact and Phrase Match keyword targeting" by Google.dealing with a 10% loss of revenue is not what I need now or ever. Optimize for conversion, and Google will not be able to reach into your pockets.

You may believe us, but does your boss?

As you know we believe that dedicated landing pages are one of the most powerful ways to increase revenue and leads online. It would be best to have a special landing page for each offer you make in an ad, email or on your site.

But who has time to build all of those pages??

If you knew that more landing pages meant more money, you might be able to get your boss to give you more resources.

This post from Hubspot may have the data you need.

We just can't get enough info on landing pages. We love them.

This article helps you design landing pages for three kinds of visitors: Cold visitors (no they don't live up north) Warm visitors (not necessarily friendly) Hot visitors (don't necessarily got it goin' on) How do you address these different visitors? Read on.

Most interesting part of this article, is the way that people make up stories about why they do what they do. This is why self-reported data is always we use it for qualitative research, that is but never to find answers to questions. Humans are very good at making up stories about why they do, and these stories are usually lies.

"Overall, a lenient return policy did indeed correlate with more returns. But, crucially, it was even more strongly correlated with an increase in purchases. In other words, retailers are generally getting a clear sales benefit from giving customers the assurance of a return."

We believe that mobile traffic is every bit as important as desktop traffic. Many businesses walk away from their mobile traffic because it doesn't convert well. This is a mistake.

Two points found in this article drive the point home:
App and Mobile Functionality (sucks)Mobile Represents a Different Type of userSpend some time on your mobile site. Don't just create a responsive version of your desktop website.

The last one on the list can really make a big difference.

7. Conduct user research or share findings with developers

It isn't hard to get user input thanks to inexpensive and easy-to-use services like UsabilityHub.com and Verifyapp.com.

Learn more about how and when to use tools like this in our free Everyday Behavioral Science training.