Landing Page Best Practices: How to fix 5 common mistakes

To maximize the impact of your landing page, it’s important to spot mistakes before they make a negative impression on your visitor. Just one issue could confuse or completely turn off a prospective lead.

As a marketer who lives and breathes landing page optimization, when I see a company that doesn’t follow landing page best practices, I have to wonder about that business’ conversion rates. I know I’m usually clicking away from that site, how many others are too?

To remedy this and help you build better pages, here’s a list of the top 5 landing page mistakes and how you can fix them.

Top 5 Landing Page Mistakes & Fixes:

 1) Distractions – Readers can get sidetracked away from your goal if there is too much happening or ignore it completely if it resembles every other page on your website. When trying to convert your visitor into a qualified lead, using the same old design you use for other pages only invites users to get lost.

Fix: To make things simple, cut down on the distractions – remove the usual sidebar, navigation and anything that takes your reader’s attention away from doing what you want them to do.

2) Sub-par headlines – With only a few seconds to draw someone to your landing page, your headline better be top-notch.

Fix: Just like your blog posts, press releases and email subject lines, if your headline doesn’t spark your visitors’ attention, you’ve already lost them

3) Missing the point – Remember that the reader is visiting your landing page for a reason: they have a need and you (may) have a solution. If your landing page can’t effectively help readers bridge that gap, then they will find another landing page that does.

Fix: Keep it simple and get to the point quickly or visitors will leave your page without converting.

4) Too many choices – Simply put, too many choices can hurt your conversion rates. 

Fix: Don’t confuse or drive away prospects with an overload of choices. Give one action option that will appeal to your most qualified leads.

5) Not testing – This is one I see many marketers miss, time and time again. Not one particular headline, design element or word is right for everyone.

Fix: For better conversion rates, implement A/B or multivariate testing to find out what landing page combinations convert more visitors into leads.

Remember, your landing page needs to convert. If it has any of these mistakes, you need to fix them – now. Follow landing page best practices and be ready to see an increase in your conversion rates.

Ready to put these landing page best practices to work? Learn how our LiveBall platform can elevate your landing page optimization efforts.

Conversion Rate Optimization for ALL!

This is a guest post written by Kate Morris. Kate Morris is an SEO Consultant with Distilled Consulting. A regular speaker at PubCon and Affiliate Summit, she shows her passion when speaking of the balance between SEO, PPC, and all other parts of search marketing. She blogs regularly at SEOmoz.com and Search Engine Journal.

I’m here today to announce that every page, no matter it’s status in navigation or if it has a prime spot as a campaign landing page, deserves the attention of a conversion rate optimizer. Yes, I said it. Every page. I’m calling for no more discrimination based on class or status. The day has come and 2011 is the year that all pages focus on CONVERSIONS!

Step 1: Every Page is a Landing Page

There are no more classes of pages, it is time to teach your staff and customers that all pages are created equal. They all have a right to earn conversions and pull their own weight for the benefit of the entire site. Paid search landing pages, affiliate pages, and even marketing landing pages (highest class, we know) are now on the same level with the formerly considered lowly pages of the About Us page and News, plus many more forgotten pages.

Step 2: A Chance to Prove their Worth

Give all pages a call to action. Think about what your visitors might want and need when and if they land on that page from a search engine, and then give them a way to do that. All pages, like all forms of marketing, deserve their chance to show how they can help the bottom line.

Case and point: RateGenius Auto Loan Refinancing

They saw their conversions from their second tier GAP product page, which previously did not have a conversion point, quadruple in one month (yeah one to four, but still!!!). They are pioneers in this movement, and that secondary product page is now getting more love and attention than ever.

Step Three: Leave No Conversion Untracked

Most importantly track what these pages and new conversion points are doing so that credit is given where it is due. Think about the old saying “if a tree falls in the forest, and no one hears it, did it still fall?” If these pages are given calls to action but no way to track the action how are they ever going to earn their spurs. Track all actions, everything you see as a “win” in connecting with the end user.

Step Four: There is No “War” with SEO

The entire site has seen the search engine optimization specialist, every page large and small that is publicly available. They might have missed the landing pages before, but are revisiting any of those that might benefit the site in the search engine indices. We all know that not all campaign pages need to be optimized or included in the engines, but all pages should have a once over from the conversion optimizer.

This ladies and gentlemen, pages great and small, is a day that will live in infamy (ok, maybe that is a stretch). The day that we make it known that all pages deserve attention from a conversion standpoint. The day that CRO and SEO are on the same page and the same level. No longer will we put one before the other.

As webmasters and marketers, we stand up today and put an end to discrimination. Pages and optimizers unite!

5 Ideas for boosting your landing page conversion rates

As you start digging into your holiday campaigns, and begin thinking deeper about your plans for 2011, I’d like to offer these ideas for boosting your landing page conversion rates. 

1. Differentiate - It’s so easy to fall into the pattern of following patterns; this is especially true in the world of landing pages. It’s easy to always use the same formula: headline, subhead, image, form, blah blah boring.
   
   In a post on landing page differentiation earlier this week Anna said, “I get what drives these similarities - if the format works, why break it?” but she also asks, “Isn’t it our responsibility as marketers to push outside the boundaries to find something that both works and helps us stand apart from the competitive fray?” And the answer is, of course, yes.
   
   In a competitive world where everyone is starting to look the same:
   
   
   Do you dare to be different? 
   
   
   In this case it lead to a HUGE lift in conversions. 


2. Mirror your target - Help your landing page visitors quickly picture themselves as a customer. Swap out images, videos, headlines and copy as needed based on what you know about your audience. Maybe your male audience should see this:
   
   
   While your female visitors see the above image with the female model. A strong visual cue that says “Look! You’re just what we’re looking for” can quickly win you the conversion. 


3. Be credible - Your landing pages should convey a strong sense of trust. If you’re a big brand, you’ll likely be able to achieve this easily through brand recognition, but if you’re smaller you have to win the trust. Two of the most effective ways to do this are through: expert recommendations and independent recognition through peers (testimonials, reviews, rewards). We also recommend using client or customer logos and media mentions to build trust and credibility. 


4. Have velocity - Test many landing pages, and often. In the least you should have one landing page dedicated to each ad campaign you’re running, but having many very specific landing pages can help increase your conversion rates. 
   
   For instance, when we started working with Overland Storage that had less than five landing pages and also less than a 1% conversion rate. After they started creating thousands of campaign specific landing pages their conversion rate increased to 8% (double the industry average!). And they’re not the only ones, when we started working with Bronto Software their conversion rate was 2% and they also had less than 5 landing pages. They now have thousands and are converting at 18%.
   
   You may be thinking that you don’t have the resources to work on that many pages, but it probably isn’t true. If you’re working with landing page templates and landing page software, you can do it. Read their case study here, and an interview with their director of lead generation here.


5.  Experiment - This one goes along with differentiate. Don’t be afraid to create outside-the-box landing pages. Test what you know works against what you’re not sure of. Try using tabs, try multi-step pages, swap out an image for a video, try anything that can get you a conversion lift. 
   
   One really important thing that is easy to forget in the world of landing page testing is that your pages should be disposable. Testing a page means going through lots of trial and error, being able to make fast edits/tweaks, and getting new, optimized pages out as fast as possible. 
   
   You may be afraid to experiment because your current process requires weeks or months to create and launch one new landing page. And if that’s the case, I don’t blame you. However, landing page software can help you create high-quality experiences in minutes, hours or days (depending on whether you’re just making small changes or creating entirely new landing pages). 

Your conversion optimization environment should be highly dynamic because it’s in a constant cycle of evolution. Don’t be afraid to differentiate yourself and experiment with new ideas because new and different doesn’t mean scary or bad. It means moving one step closer to the next big thing that will skyrocket your current conversion rates.

Report by the Chief Marketing Officer Council says we should be thinking measurement, engagement, and conversion!

The latest report put out by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council confirms what we’ve all been saying for a while now: 2010 is the year of landing page and conversion rate optimization!

Ok, well it isn’t exactly stated so bluntly (in my dreams, right?), but it certainly alludes to it.

Let’s dig into the report… 

Almost half (46%) of all 600 senior marketers polled in the survey said this year their marketing departments will be undergoing a digital marketing makeover.  Additionally, 32% said they will be paying more attention to customer data integration and analytics, while 31% will be paying more attention to marketing performance measurement.

Data. Analytics. Measurement. I like what I’m hearing! 

Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council says these numbers are “being driven by the need to engage at the individual level, create more content relevance, and leverage … Internet communities, omnipresent connectivity, and pervasive mobile device ownership.”

Individual level. Engage. Relevance.  It just keeps getting better!

Of the respondents polled, 44% report they are growing their capabilities, or struggling to quantify the value of online marketing spend, while 15% say their ability to convert site visitors to customer leads is deficient. 

The report goes on to say that 18% of marketing executives expect to review web design and development resources because they feel their online marketing performance can be improved.

Struggling to quantify. Need to convert. Looking at web pages.  Is anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?

LANDING PAGES! 

If we’re going to dive into data, engage at the individual level with relevant information, and do it all online - then landing pages are the obvious go-to resource. And if we’re going to have landing pages, we better optimize them so we can quantify the value of marketing spend, and if we optimize our landing pages, we’re going to subsequently increase our conversion rate!

Ta da! This is the year of landing page and conversion rate optimization!

I love it.

What are you planning to do this year to refresh your marketing strategy?

Evaluating Your Post-Click Marketing: Part One

Let’s say you’re a good post-click marketer and you’re using multipage conversion paths. Now what? How do you know how well they’re working? How do you know where and how to iterate?

Sure you look at your conversion rate. But if that’s not all it can be, how can you tell what the problem is? The path’s page-by-page performance can tell you everything you need to know.

1: Engagement

The first metric you need to look at is initial engagement. In conversion paths we typically measure initial engagement by looking at the percentage of respondents who segment on the first page of the path. This key percentage tells us how matched the first impression of our conversion path is to its click source. You should be seeing segmentation percentages of 40-80%. If you can get it above 60%, you’re doing well.

• If your initial engagement is low, then your first impression doesn’t match with respondent expectations.
• If your initial engagement is high, then your first impression matches well and you’re on the right path.

2: Time Spent

In many conversion paths the next step after the initial segmentation is an offer page. These pages usually speak very specifically to the segmented respondent and have the potential to retain a significant percentage of the people who come into them. If this page also features a form for conversion, then it also has many potential ways that it can alienate the respondent. We have to be careful not to jump to conclusions when evaluating the performance of a multifaceted page.

Your assessment of this page should start with an objective look at its performance. If you segmented 60% of your respondents and got them to engage in your path, then you know that you’re speaking to the right people about something that interests them. So your offer page has a huge opportunity. But if it’s only converting at 2%, then something’s very wrong with the page. But what?

Your first clue as to where your offer page is going wrong could be time-spent. If respondents are spending just a few seconds on the page you can look for these obvious problems:

• Content disconnect—doesn’t match previous page or promise
• Overwhelming—too much text or content
• Distractions (non-conversion links, navigation, off-task video, etc.)
• Offensive form (too long, poorly designed, etc.)

The problems above are easier to spot if you can divorce yourself of your internal view of the page to ‘see it like a respondent does’. Landing and bailing (quickly) means you alienated them (quickly). Take a subjective, impartial look at your page through the lens of your respondent and you’ll likely see the problem.

But what if time-spent is longer, say 30+ seconds? That’s good in that you have them more deeply engaged, but it’s bad in that you have them interested, but then blow it. If you’re seeing deep engagement in time invested by respondents, you need to look more closely at your page:

• Is there something technically standing in the way of conversion?
• Is there one question on the form that’s difficult or uncomfortable for people to answer?
• Are you adequately addressing privacy concerns with a clear, simple statement?

I’ll get into evaluating your ‘trust moments’ tomorrow. Suffice to say that you have to look long and hard at certain make-or-break moments in your landing experiences.

Stop in and see ion interactive’s ‘Now what?’ booth at SES New York (#1016). Scott, Anna, Jeff, Megan, Susan and Richard are all there for you.