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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.

 @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.

This is a great overview of Landing Page best practices complete with examples. You'll find a lot in common with our Chemstry of the Landing Page presentation. Headlines and Ad Copy Clear and Concise Headlines Impeccable Grammar Trust indicators Call to Action Buttons Lose the Links Visuals (images) Above the Fold Always be testing

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.

Landing pages are a key strategy for monetizing your investment in pay-per-click ads. Here's some evidence of the importance of having landing pages with text that Google can read.

While our landing pages are for humans, we must remember that Googlebot is a visitor as well.

Bryan Eisenberg is a great teacher and is one of the fathers of conversion science. In this post, he asks his audience to make recommendations on pricing tables, those pages that ostensibly help us to choose the right product for us.

Here are my suggestions.

The main purpose of a page like this is "Help me choose." Choice, as it turns out, is a conversion killer, so these pages can be very helpful. This page needs to tell me which is "The best value." A badge would be helpful, probably on the most expensive item.

The little "signal bars" are unique and may be helpful, but don't really tell me at a glance what I want to know.

The copy is unhelpful. Instead of "Essential productivity..." how about "Great system for a tight budget." Instead of "Yield better results..." how about "Good value ready for your network." Instead of "2nd Generation Processor..." how about "This system has the power to do heavy number crunching, video editing and graphics."

There are too many prices here -- four to be exact. I say, pick two: Savings and total price. Crossing out "Starting price" is a proven way to communicate value.

Finally, put the coupon code near the "Customize & Buy" buttons to give those transactional shoppers an extra push.

What do you find frustrating about this page?

 @b2bmarketing via @huffpostbiz John Fox gets landing pages and is bringing the tale of this important online strategy to the masses who read the Huffington Post. Much of the article was based on an interview with yours truly.

There are two defining characteristics of a landing page: It must keep the promise made by the link or ad that brings people to the page It is single-mindedly focused on getting them to take an action that will help them or the business Fox goes on the talk about trust, proof and images as keys to effective landing pages. He also talks about eliminating distractions and avenues for abandonment.

Thanks for a great article, John.

While Kickstarter isn't a typical landing page, this Kickstarter project does a great job of using video in a persuasive way, and including a call to action tied into the page.

If you're using video on your landing pages, you should point to or reference the form on the page in the video.

Juxtaposition, or "where" something is placed on a Web page has lots to do with "what" you say on that page. I find that I can only develop copy and headings so far before I have to see how they will interact on the page. I have to do a mockup. Well, there is another place that our titles and copy show up, and it is a very competitive context: Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). So, I was glad to find this handy little tool that let me see what my title, description and URL look like on a Google SERP. Now if only @SEOmofo could add the the page preview feature as well for a complete picture

The folks at ConversionVoodoo give us two simple questions we should ask before creating a landing page. The "elephant in the room" here is that one landing page probably isn't going to work, as different people respond to different ads, and thus need a different landing page. What you know about them will make all the difference in your conversion rates.

 @TheGrok  says "Test your product headline to be benefit oriented as opposed to just product name." I hadn't considered that. Good lists always tell you something you hadn't thought of and Bryan has such a list for Online Stores and Publication sites who feature their offerings on Product Pages. Product pages are the money pages on your site, and are one of the first places to look for optimization opportunities.

 @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.

We often talk about the power of the thank-you page. Once someone has purchased from you or signed up with you, a psychological effect called "Likeing" takes hold. The person likes you more for no other reason than that they chose you.

So, you must be good.

We recommend that you ask for social shares on the thank you page, ask them to upsell on the thank you page, and sign up for email on the thank you page.

Here is another great thing to ask for: Feedback.

This is a short little ditty from @ioninteractive that makes an important point about Landing Pages that is very easy to forget. Landing pages have a single-minded purpose or they are something else.

@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 greatest threat to the accuracy of your analytics data is inconsistent implementation. Too often, Javascript "Tags" are left off of some pages, put on some pages twice or simply implemented wrong. And, as your site changes, more inconsistencies are created.

This affects more than just analytics tools. Advertising networks, ratings and review systems, user feedback systems and more rely on properly implemented javascript tags.

The promise of "Tag Managers" is that you can put one set of code on all of your pages, and then control, monitor and edit the javascript for all of these tags in one place, using rules to determine which tags get placed on which pages. It's another way for marketing to monitor the implementation of online systems without being beholden to IT.

Yay!

So, how are the biggest ecommerce companies using Tag Managers? Here's your answer.

The keys to good landing pages is helping the visitor to decide what to do and what is important. Color and shape are two ways to announce visually what matters. I love this selection of tools (though I hate MS Paint). Even a marketer that is mocking up pages can use these tools to emphasize what is important for a designer. New tools for the conversion lab.

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. 

 @unbounce Landing pages really are simple. This "recipe" covers all of the bases for a sweet treat (for you and your visitors).

 @PeepLaja I love the unconventional, and Peep Laja of ConversionXL has assembled a great list of creative landing pages and strategies.

If this doesn't get you excited about your next landing page, I don't know what will.