Landing page is a very important part of website marketing. A bad landing page can result in no or few sales, whereas a good and a tested landing page can dramatically improve the conversion rate of a site.

However if you are just starting and have little experience in designing landing pages for lead generation, it might be a good idea to research this topic before telling your designers to design your landing page.

You will get thousands of tips to design landing pages however there are some basic methods that have been tested time and again and have proved to be working. The following pointers can be a starting point for designing your landing page.

Read and try, they should work:

1. The “Call to Action” should be as near and clear on the page as possible.

For example. If the “Call to Action” is a form that needs to be filled by the visitor then let the landing page have the form itself. There is NO need for an extra “Click Here” button for the visitor to reach the call to action page. Some may be too lazy to click. How many times we have seen that the page has a button “Click Here To Apply Now” which takes the visitor to the form after clicking. By creating a middle page you are only increasing the distance between the visitor and the Call to Action. Taking visitors directly to call to action page almost always improves conversion.

2. If possible keep the call to action portion in the above-the-fold of the page. Above-the-fold portion of the page is the top visible portion of the page in a computer screen.

3. REMOVE the unnecessary navigations from call to action page. If you can’t remove, then shift them to the bottom of the page. The idea is the visitor does not see any other link to click on top and while filling the form. Some may just click while half way filling the form and go away never to come back and fill the form.

4. White background with Black text works best.

5. Sense of urgency works well too. For example you can create a time-ticker. If you buy before Midnight (date) then you get a 10% discount. Please make sure that this actually works else there may be credibility issues with your site. This can be done easily done through JavaScript using cookies.

6. REMOVE fields that are not required. For example many websites keep this field: Alternate Email, Alternate Phone etc. When you don’t need it why keep it? It will make the form look shorter and more people may end up filling the order form.

7. Let the form be as small as possible and in ONLY ONE PAGE. Half way while filling the form if there is “Click here to continue” – many will just not click and leave the form unfilled.

Please understand that these are only some basic tips to keep in mind while designing a landing page. While these have worked for many webmasters there in no guarantee that it will work on your site too. Therefore it is very important to test what is working and what is not and keep a record of that.

It is also important that you gather enough data before concluding any result – this is known as statistically significant result. One way to get a statistically significant result is to make sure every page has had at least 100 call-to-action completed.

Thus if version A required 1000 visitors for completing 100 call-to-actions and version B required 1200 for completing 100 call-to-actions, it means version A is better than version B.

Fortunately Google Website Optimizer will help you to test your landing pages. Its easy and free. Why don’t you start today?

Note: This article in not dealing with technical details to improve conversion rates. This post just deals with the conventional tips to improve conversion rates. Please read the article on improving conversion rates if you want more modern ideas of improving your websites’ conversion rate.

Why do you have a website? If it’s not just a religious website or a general interest blog, it is imperative that you would want your blog or website to achieve something. The general idea is not just to reach out to the world at large by winning the war for eyeballs, but also to create sales and bring about an increase in revenue through the website. There are many sites where people just want to be seen and heard and to register in the general consciousness of the public at large. The owners of these sites are quite happy with enhancing the website and doing keyword research as well as search engine optimization in order to increase web traffic, which is the ‘raison d’être’ or reason for existence of these sites. A lot of people get an adrenaline rush just by knowing that they registered 10,000 hits in that week, no matter if all that the visitors did was to browse the site for a few moments and then moved on. For example, there are many celebrities who write blogs that serve no purpose but merely act as a medium of expression and a way to reach out to their millions of fans spread across the world.

However, when it comes to sales online or e-sales, what matters is not just the eyeballs but also the sales that accrue from the site. The number of sales that occur from every 100 visits to the site would compute the sales conversion rate. For instance, if 100 people visit the site and only 10 people make purchases from the site, the conversion rate would be 10%. There are many online retailers like Amazon and others which have a totally online or e-commerce model of sales.

There are also a number of travel sites that do their business nowadays solely through an online model. It is these companies that are extremely interested in the conversion rates. If these companies spend a lot of money and have huge investments in the online advertising world in their endeavor to reach to their global audience, it is because these companies are expecting a return on their investment (ROI) in the form of high conversion rates. You may have a great and slick website with all the bells and whistles but if your online visitors do not buy as a result of the online ‘hit’, it is of no consequence and a real waste.

If you are a budding online marketer, here are some tips to help you boost your conversion rates:

• Reach: It is absolutely essential to increase the reach of your website. You may need to take certain steps like search engine optimization, keyword research and online promotions to take on the world and come on tops in the race and the online war for eyeballs. It is of no use if you have the best product or service to offer online but you do not take the trouble to increase your reach. Conversion rates can only take you so far and no more as there is a limit to the number of persons per hundred who would buy or try out a product or a service. To remain viable and justify your costs, it is imperative that you take the trouble and do adequate research to enhance your online reach and popularity. The Internet is a very egalitarian and a merit based medium where you cannot muscle your way or pay your way through at all. It is only merit that counts and the sooner you realize it, the better it is for you. Without this, you will be lost – just like a drop in the ocean.
  

  Try all of these – SEO, PPC and social networking. See where your returns are the most. Concentrate in that area more.

• Simplicity: Simplicity and ease of use of the site is of great importance. Remember – a complex and difficult to browse website will put off many online users and potential customers. If they cannot figure out the website, how will they ever have the confidence to buy from you? So, make your site simple and easy to use.

  For example some of the simplest websites are doing great business online. One of the best examples is Google itself. If you try to sell a lot of things to the same customer, you will sell nothing. So follow the KISS principle – Keep it Short and Simple.

• Presentation: Presentation matters a lot in the online medium. The way you put out materials as well as make it appear to the customer will make a huge impact on your sales online. You cannot be sloppy and present half-baked information – leaving gaps in your online communication strategy and style, and yet expect a lot of sales conversions. This is just not the way how it works. Be simple, lucid as well as persuasive in your communication to achieve the best sales conversion results.

  Please read my post on the importance of website design to know more about this subject.

• Browser: Do remember that there are quite a few web browsers in addition to the Internet Explorer. So, if your website is geared only to cater to IE, you will loose out on the users preferring other web browsers like Netscape Browser, Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Opera etc. Make sure that your website is optimized for all these different web browsers so that it can effectively reach out to the millions of customers around the globe leading to great sales and sales conversion rates.

  Once the design of the website is complete check its outlay in all of the browsers written above.

• Time management: In this day and age, people do not have the time or the patience for those who do not value their time. Be sure to present your offerings in a precise manner that’s easy to understand in order to close sales effectively and in the shortest possible time. This is effective use of your as well as the customer’s time. This is possible if you put out all the information clearly and help the customer make a decision quickly and easily.

  In other words let the call to action page be very easily reachable on the website or if you are doing PPC, let your landing page itself be the call to action page.

• Integrity and transparency: When you are selling online, your reputation is at stake as people depend on you and would spend money on your products or services. Any slip-up in terms of less than transparent and ‘above the board’ conduct and dealings would mar not only conversion rates but also your reputation and chances of growing your business. So, never cut corners or adopt shortcuts when it comes to honesty and integrity.

  For example, if you are offering a money back guarantee of 7 days, then if a customer asks for a refund within 7 days, you should promptly return their money. This will not only enhance the customers confidence in doing business with you, he/she may also spread about your honesty online, and/or offline (word of mouth).

• Unique Selling Proposition: This is what differentiates you from all the others and the “has-beens’. If you want to be a quality online sales entity, you must work very hard to be a cut above the rest and a benchmark in terms of standards and quality. Do remember that the battle is not only about sales conversions but it is about your continued fair name and distinction which is what will keep your business thriving and growing long after all the cheap imitators have shut shop and vanished.

  For that its best to take customers reviews about the product and if possible implement if some of their suggestions in your product / service.

Use these steps as mentioned above to improve your conversion rates.

Recommended Reading:

1. Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions – Its a book written by conversion rate expert Tim Ash. Will teach you step by step what you need to do to your landing pages to get the best conversions possible.

2. Conversion Rate Questions

Those who follow website analytics know how important it is to reduce bounce rate.

What is a bounce rate?

Bounce rate is the percentage of single page visits. If a visitor arrives at any page of a site and exits (either closes the browser or visits another website) without visiting any other page of the same site it’s a bounce.

For example if 65 out of a total of 200 visitors, visit only a single page of a site, the site has a bounce rate of 32.5%.

65/200 = 0.325
0.325 * 100 = 32.5%

Why reducing bounce rate is important?

It is important because:

1. The visitors will stay longer in the site, and (therefore)
2. Conversion rates will improve.

How to reduce bounce rate?

Frankly there is no hard and fast rule to reduce bounce rate. If there was, all websites would have implemented it. However, there are certain steps that can be tested to see if bounce rate reduces.

I will discuss some of them, and some you may have to find out yourself.

It is important that you know the pages that have a very high bounce rate. If you don’t know how to get it, ask your webmaster or login in your analytics account and look at the bounce rate section and arrange the pages in decreasing order of bounce rate.

If you use Google Analytics here is how to get it:

Go to Content -> Top Content. Now click on bounce rate. You should see the pages with high bounce rate on top.

If these pages are getting few pageviews don’t bother. You should be concerned with the pages that are getting good pageviews but having high bounce rates.

Scroll the list, get to the bottom and choose a few pages that are getting good pageviews and low bounce rate.

Now, compare the two section of pages i.e… pages with high bounce rates vs. pages with low bounce rates.

Do you notice anything? Can you find anything that’s not matching to the overall standard of your site? What do you think is good in low bounce rate pages and what do you think is annoying in high bounce rate pages?

Here are a few pointers:

1. Compare the overall feel of both the pages. Do you notice any difference? If yes this could be the reason that is driving visitors away.

2. Look at the navigational structure. Is there some difference in these two sections?

3. Compare the copy. Is the copy boring? Is it too big or is it too small?

4. Have a look at the headline. Are you missing something? Is it compelling? If not you may need to re-write your headline. It may be that people are reading your headline and calling it off.

5. Show the high bounce pages to your friends/colleagues. Ask them what they find annoying. Listen to them carefully. Better still write down what they say. If you think there is something common most of them are saying – implement it and see if there is a change in bounce rate.

NOTE: In fact point 5 can be done for the whole site. You may be surprised with the comments of your friends.

Basic idea is try to implement all those factors that are there in low bounce rate pages in the high bounce rate pages.

Hope you will find some help in lowering your bounce rate. If you feel I have left something please leave a comment.

Recommended Reading:
 
1. How To Decrease Bounce Rate And Increase Time On Site - Vedio
2. How to Improve Bounce Rates to Get More Action

Headline is the most important part of a landing page of a website. Headlines can have a dramatic effect on sales. So its important to test the headline to the know the best headline for the page. But its hard to test a headline, because most do not know what to test.

In this article I will discuss what type of headlines and sub-headline should you write and test in order to optimize the landing page.

The job of a headline:

Typically headline is the first line that is read by the visitor. If a headline is appealing, the reader is tempted to read further. Else they look elsewhere. So the job of the headline is to bring the reader to read the first paragraph of the page. That’s it. You may think it’s a small job, but actually it’s a very BIG job.

Headlines can be written in two formats. One that asks a question, and second that states or tell something.

Example:

Headline 1. Do You Want to Learn SEO in 24 Hours?

Headline 2. Learn SEO in 24 Hours Flat

As you can see both the headlines convey the same thing except that the first asks a question and the second states a fact.

Now how do you know which one will perform better? Not until you test.

Most of my clients have experienced that the headline that asks a question (Headline 1 types) usually perform better. However this does not mean it can be true in all cases.

Another thing I have experienced is there are certain words that perform well in headlines. Words like Get, Learn, Free, Now, Today, How, Do you, Have You, etc. perform well. When writing headlines you should try to include these words and test.

Sub Headlines:

A sub-headline can also have a dramatic effect on how your headline performs. Actually a sub-headline can add value to the headline.

Lets take an example:

Headline: Do You Want to Learn Website Marketing in 24 Days?
Sub-headline: In just 24 days you will be an Expert in SEO, PPC, Portal advertising and much much more…

… Don’t you think the visitor will read this first paragraph?

Here the headline asks the visitor if they would like to learn web marketing in 24 days. The sub-headline then informs what exactly they get to learn.

The headline by itself may not have generated any interest in the mind of visitor, but after reading the subhead they might be more interested in knowing the offer as it describes what exactly they will learn.

Remember to write headlines that have these elements: Clarity, Relevance, Logic and Credibility.

Clarity:

How clear (in meaning) the headline is. Whatever is the headline, if it can’t convey a clear meaning it won’t be able to perform.

Relevance:

The headline has to be relevant to the Ad that resulted the visitor landing on the page. For example if the Ad said that they will get a free offer, the headline must mention this free offer. If the free offer is not mentioned the visitor will not take the pain to search the copy for the free offer.

Logic:

Any business has to make a logic sense. You cannot say something that the reader finds hard to believe. For example:

Learn SEO in 30 minutes

This headline doesn’t make sense as we all know it’s very hard to learn SEO in half an hour.
 
Credibility:

Credibility is an added advantage. For example if the headline (or subhead) can tell the visitor that the product or service is offered from a very experienced person/company the visitor may believe in the offer.

However for start up business this may be a difficult thing to attain. In this case you may change the headline after sometime in business.

Remember combination of a great headline, subhead and copy can boost your conversion rates. So when you test, try testing all these three very important elements of the landing page.

I hope you found this post helpful. It will be great if you share your experiences with testing headlines. Also I will be glad if you tell what you would like to read on this blog.

Please do leave a comment!

Related topics:

1. Landing Page Optimization Tips
2. Tips for a Good Landing Page Design
3. Improving Conversion Rate of a Website