@CrazyEgg If you asked 14 conversion experts what they consider important for increasing the performance of a website, you would learn a great deal in a short time. This article delivers, with some very smart people (including me) weighing... for you.

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

 @GaelBreton Advanced Segments are very helpful. I recently created a video showing you one way to define them in a way that even managers will get.

For those that want to drill down on Advanced Segments in Google Analytics, here is a survey of several segments you may find interesting.

A new tool for our online conversion lab! Facebook is apparently going to give us more insight into the behavior of individuals on our Facebook pages. The more we know about the success of these pages, the better decisions we can make about spending our marketing time and dollars on social media.

Despite all the hype, social networks are not a panacea for businesses, and many are putting too many resources into them without knowing the payoff.

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.

Ready to take conversion seriously? Finally? If you want a great place to start, here are fifty bit-sized posts to get you started up the learning curve. I even got a mention. There are lots of ways to increase the performance of your website, and this list is organized into very helpful categories. Spend some time here.

Ready to take conversion seriously? Finally? If you want a great place to start, here are fifty bit-sized posts to get you started up the learning curve. I even got a mention. There are lots of ways to increase the performance of your website, and this list is organized into very helpful categories. Spend some time here.

 @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.

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. 

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.

It is always tough to market to a specific target. Here Fiber One is clearly targeting boomers, and a particular brand of boomer. No doubt this will hurt their sales to conservative families. There will be some backlash. But, we all must be creating content for more and more specific markets, and walking away from the others if we're going to grow our businesses. Hat tip to Fiber One: may your bravery be rewarded with sales and market share.

"The Internet isn't passive. When you search online, you plan to do something:  buy, learn, play, find.  As soon as you go to Google, Yahoo or Bing, you're on the hunt."

There are those among us who have a true command of words and their use. I marvel at them. It is a power that is critical to persuasion, conversion and selling. Gabriella Sannino clearly sees it as a power to help people solve their problems. What better brand experience can you deliver than to help someone find answers to their questions?

There is more and more a tension between IT and Marketing. New tools put IT prowess in marketers' hands. The quotes from the CIO-CMO Forum show us an emerging strength in marketing. But IT is our friend in the process. They just need to realize that they can materially impact revenue in the enterprise. Marketing is a way IT can assert itself as a profit center, not just a utility. Great quotes.

 @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.

 @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 This is a great tutorial for how you can keep your emails from getting tagged as SPAM. As a side bonus, these techniques will also help get more of your emails read by your prospects.

I especially like "Sending emails onec every two or three months can be more detrimental than sending multiple emails dialy. Why? Your customers may forget all about you."

The lesson of this landing page case study is "Less is more to a point." This supports the lessons of my Backward Landing Pages post and column.

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

How patient are you when surfing the Web? According to recent studies, you're not as patient as you might think. Slow loading pages will impact your conversion rates, and probably affect the ranking of your pages on the major search engines as well.

Shopping Cart abandonment is one of the first places we look when helping e-commerce sites increase their conversion rates. Why spend time and money optimizing a site if the buyers can't get through a shopping cart? Pricing and shipping offers are two issues we have to address at a strategic level. Here is a very informative article from @SeeWhyInc. I particularly like their cart value vs. abaondment rate graphs. Check them out.