Group items tagged

Four questions that you should be asking visitors to your site.

Great outline of the role design plays in conversion.

This is just one example of how copy on techniical topics can be made fun, interesting and easy to read. Split-testing is an important tool, but notice how Danny presents the topic and keeps you reading. This is how your site should work.

by @dragals We should set our sites on the long-term benefits of conversion science as marketers or business owners. This inevitably means a change in culture. Dave offers some good tips for planting the seeds of a testing culture.

Friction is something I haven't written about much. Friction is anything that keeps a visitor from scanning and understanding your page. From a conversion standpoint, it is anything that makes it unclear what a visitor should do. This article really is enlightening about four  Originally from Austin McCraw of MarketingExperiments

The "sales letter" is a style that is used in particular situations to convert. You may never need one. However, the four P's of copy are a golden nugget in this article. They should guide your copy in any landing page situation, sales video, etc. They are: PromisePictureProofPush

Wonder what your conversion rate should be? @PhillyMktgLabs takes a stab at some categories. NOTE: These conversion rates are unacceptible!

 @KISSMetrics Viral content is generally a hit-or-miss proposition for most businesses. It's hard to tell which will catch the interest of the public or go main-stream. One strategy is to prepare ALL of your content to go viral, so that when you launch the right topic at the right time (e.g. get lucky), your content will have wings.

This infograph from KISSMetrics hits the key things you should consider if you want content that is viral-worthy.

We are honored to be on the list of Ecommerce Platform's top 100 Business Blogs. There are some amazing blogs on this list. You should check them out and add them to your Flipboard.

I love the way The Conversion Scientist looks on Flipboard.

If you love the science of persuasion like we do, you should definitely be following my friend Roger Dooley's blog.

Here's a great example of how he uses research to deliver actionable advice to marketers and business owners like us.

Why does Airbnb test? What are their challenges?

This article does a great job of explaining the thinking behind testing at Airbnb. Homeaway and other competitors better be doing this kind of work, too.

For those of you who are testing, this article gives a great overview why you should test longer before calling a winner.

 @marcommadness We've built a very successful and growing business on a foundation of content. Our prospects pull up on road paved by content.

So, I was glad to see this well-written Relevance article that mentioned our content creation service.

These five tips are not typical, and are truly the reasons we have succeeded. Automate Content Development Be authentic and vulnerable Writers should learn to code (huge advantage). Long form content.

This post has a wealth of examples for optimizing your site. Scroll through to learn much, including an example from our .

Have you taken the free short course we offer there? You should.

 @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

 @bennyblum We don't champion conversion for the fun of it, although it is fun. We do it because it makes us money on the bottom line and gives us leverage when finding more traffic.

Marketing Land's Benny Blum lays out the things you should do to find this leverage for your online advertising, SEO and PPC. Determine: What's a visit worth? Design for Conversion Get Your Message Right Establish an Organic Strategy

I've always argued that wireframes should come later in the web design process after copy and persuasive elements have been established.

Zakary Kinnaird argues there may be no good time for wireframes.

I can't test wireframes, esp. if they contain Lorem Ipsum copy. So wireframes lock in design elements before we even know what visitors prefer. Good comments as well.

Even experienced research groups like Nielsen Norman can get testing wrong by adding too many variables. The author argues that too many variables changed in these tests

And he's right.

This is a great roundup of the biases and psychological effects that drive humans to act. Every marketer should be comfortable with these concepts.

Why do business owners rely on the "expertise" of designers when designers repeatedly fail to improve websites? Because the errors in the system get lost in the blame game. This is the gift of complexity. "People who are bred, selected, and compensated to find complicated solutions do not have an incentive to implement simplified ones." Let data provide some simplicity.