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@neilpatel collects some of the most interesting eye-tracking images available and provides seven insights that can help you design your pages and choose images. We have done our own eye-tracking study of business video and you can get the full report now. The report offers similar conclusions for the use of video in a landing page. It includes over 30 minutes of embedded video that you can watch yourself.

Neil's conclusions include:Be careful you you use [images of] peopleThat people love media (especially on search results pages)That men and women look at images differentlyThat simple images can be more effectiveThe power of the left side of the pageThe power of facesThat people love hand-written notes (my favorite)Enjoy the images he provides.

The author of this article lists 12 interesting insights taken from eye-tracking studies. He can't resist qualifying some of the ones he may disagree with. While every audience is different, these tips are excellent places to start on almost any page.

This article on ebooks comes at an important time at Conversion Sciences as we put the final touches on a unique ebook of our own (preorder Business Video Through the Eyes of Your Prospects).

Content is the way you charge and release the power stored in your marketing batteries (customer lists, email lists, social media networks).

And don't forget that ebooks now outsell print books.

Get an Eye-Tracking study of your site cheap.

If you didn't know, Google has redesigned their search results pages recently. The change is primarily to the portion of the page that contains "sponsored content", or ads.

The eye-tracking images provided by the folks at EyeQuant are telling.

The pages now drive more attention to the ads, taking attention away from the free results. Ironically, it also makes the ads more evident, with a bright icon beside each.

EyeQuant calls this "a Subtle Work of Genius". What do you think?

Simulates eye tracking for any page image uploaded. Free for lite version.

We've been studying business video in the lab using eye-tracking equipment. Cisco offers some very helpful tips on how to choose the right video for your business. 
You can request to be notified when our ground-breaking study is complete. 

It is astounding that these rotating hero shots are so common on e-commerce sites. We have seen in the lab that they are a sure way to reduce site engagement and crater conversion rates. Don't believe it? Tim Ash would know and lists the reasons in this eye-opening article. Please read it.

There is more on hero sliders in my most recent Search Engine Land column.

The question to ask on a landing page is, "Will WOW increase my conversions?" Some of these "WOW" features have proven to reduce conversion rates.  Rotating banners of any sort attract the eye away, and can pull readers out of the "meat" of the page where they are more likely to convert. Accordian menus and tabbed content may prevent scanners from quickly consuming the page. It's a bit of a Catch 22: they may not have the patience to click on each item until they've scanned the content... which is hidden. Social widgets can deliver social proof and increase conversion rates. However, social media chicklets that let the visitor go off to Facebook or Twitter work against the purpose of a landing page: to keep visitors on the page until they make a decision. Why send traffic that you've paid for off to Mark Zuckerberg? Lightbox popovers are universally derided if you ask people. However, they almost always increase conversion rates. 

Every audience is different, so test these WOW features with your own crowd.

We tracked the eyes of 22 people as they watched three kinds of video: Talking head video, webinar-style slide video and hand-drawn whiteboard-style video.

What we found out was that a human face is magnetic. Even when props were added, the viewers' gazes returned quickly to the face.

This article on how onscreen talent can hurt your product demo videos echoes our findings.

Yes, humans love human faces. We gaze at them and examine them. Unfortunately, this is a problem when we want someone to look at something else.

The Penn and Teller magic video in this article is worth the trip.

 @sitetuners offers a great way to look at conversions and landing pages through the eyes of cating. Don't propose on the first date. Suit Up! Show that you're the perfect match. Go for the second date. Read on to find out what this all means to your website.

@unbounce - Writing headlines and subject lines and tweets all have something in common: You have a limited number of characters to get a prospect's attention in a very noisy environment.

Steve Young gives us some tested subject lines to consider in our campaigns.

Have some fun with your subject lines and don't take yourself too seriously!

Google+ is affecting search rankings for authors on the web, so we need to make sure we're playing the game. This article from @AjKohn of tells us how to establish ourselves as the masters of our content in the eyes of Google using the "rel" attribute in our links.

Slideshare is great for delivering pithy advice that slowly coalesces into understanding. That's why I love slide decks like this one.

You may not be able to implement these tips tomorrow, but you will begin to think about at online marketing differently.

And that can make all the difference.

Take a look at content marketing through the eyes of several experts, including me.

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.

 @peeplaja has just saved you a whole lot of time. He's done the research and found the studies that you can use to refute the often poor advice your designers are giving your Web team.

Spend some time with this post and the links he references if you want to consistently create effective, high-converting websites.

If conversion is important, think twice before letting your designer drop stock photos of pretty people onto your site.