Group items tagged

 @peeplaja "People have an infinite attention span if you are entertaining them."

I get a lot of questions about sales letter styled landing pages. Do they work? Do I need to write that much?

My stock answer is that they do work, but that your copywriter needs to know what they are doing. These kind of landing pages typically work with visitors that already know and follow your business.

Peep says it best: "Buyers are readers." There is more wisdom in this entertaining post.

When calculating your conversion rate, the bottom half of the fraction is visits. The lower this number is, the high your conversion rate. That's right. You can increase your conversion rate by lowering your traffic. Likewise, you can destroy your conversion rate by driving lots of unqualified traffic to your site. AdWords and SEM are designed to get only qualified traffic to your site, traffic that is likely to increase your conversion rate.

So, I'm pleased that my column on the Backward Landing Page was included in this roundup of AdWords and SEM guides. After all, the top half of your conversion rate fraction is the number of conversions. Landing pages have everything to do with that.

There are a number of best practices when it comes to creating forms on your landing pages.

Fewer fields increases conversion rate. Avoid conversion killering fields like address unless you absolutely need them. Add qualifying questions only to increase the quality of leads. "Submit" is not a proper call to action. No best practice is best for everyone, though. This infograph does a great job of putting some numbers behind the development of the right form for your landing page.

Good case study on landing page development.

Tim Ash's excellent presentation on mistakes made on landing pages. Great examples throughout

If you're not familiar with the proper use of Landing Pages, let me guide you. This is part of a great series on copywriting for the Web. 

Local search landing pages (ie. Contact page)

Conversion math is sometimes hard to understand. How can really small increases in website conversion rates LOWER the cost of all f my marketing? Well, that is a discussion for another time. Now you don't have to think so hard about it.

Google has laid it out very clearly: If your landing pages are good, they will send you more traffic for less money. You don't have to be a math genius to figure out the importance of conversion optimization anymore.

Wordpress themes often work against the Conversion Scientist. Too often they don't offer important templates, such as landing pages that work without navigation and sidebars, landing pages that incorporate video and more. I have built pages with both Thesis and Genesis, and currently Thesis is my preference. However, Genesis plus Premise is also working for me.

Landing pages are your friend, and here are seven tools that will make your pages very friendly to your bottom line. OMI is also teasing my new Conversion Crash Course. Check it out.

I'm pleased to be in such amazing company at the Landing Page Success Summit

Not particularly in depth, but it covers the basic concerns.

Forms are a key component of Landing Pages (in addition to Offer, Image, Trust and Proof). When a visitor considers completing a form — for lead gen, to subscribe or to purchase — it is the moment of truth.

So, it is sad that so many forms work to chase these ready customers and prospects away.

This article will give you some things to consider as you guide development of your website forms in these areas: Right time of informing about problems/success Right place for validation messages Right color Clear language

"Minimalism is well suited to landing pages and portfolio sites like in example below, which have fairly simple goals, relatively low amounts of content."

We talk a lot about the power of landing pages in online marketing: pages designed especially for different visitors. I am always surprised that this concept isn't immediately embraced by all. Seth Godin puts the issue in a clear light with simplicity. 

 @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.

 @thisissethsblog Trust is one of the key ingredients in the Chemistry of a Landing Page. Seth Godin underlines the reason in his short, pithy way.

If you don't have their trust, why would they believe any of the other elements on the page?

Your copy?

Your claims?

Read the most important question on Seth's blog.  

1. Scent 2. Transparency 3. Specificity 4. Proof 5. Readability

Landing Page Optimization and analytics

Great case study on using Facebook to test ads and landing pages.