Feb 7, 2011

Four Tips for a Successful Landing Page

[caption id="attachment_393" align="alignright" width="284" caption="Landing page"]

[/caption] When you dive into the world of online advertising, you’ll find that creating an effective landing page that customers will be directed to will be critical to your conversion rate. The job of the landing page is to give customers all the information they will need to take action, such as purchasing products or entering their information into forms. Here are four tips to follow when designing your landing page. 1. Everything needs to match. When creating your landing page, keep in mind the visual elements of the ad that the user clicked on to get to your landing page. Make sure your landing page matches the ad the user just saw. If you have an image that has blues and whites with a picture of dollar signs, then the same elements should be present in your landing page. 2. Focus on your message. Stay focused on the intent of the landing page. If you are trying to sell an electric screwdriver, then your landing page should focus only on that screwdriver. If you promote a product on the landing page that is different from the product in the ad that links to it, you may confuse the potential customer and lose the sale. Don’t forget that the potential customer came to your site for the product you were promoting on the ad. Discuss only that product on your landing page. 3. Keep important elements above the fold. Keep the essential elements that a user needs to make a purchase decision above the virtual fold of your landing page—that’s what a viewer immediately sees when he lands on your page. If the user has to scroll to convert or look for information that is vital to the decision-making process, there is a strong likelihood that the user will exit your site without converting. See what your user sees by entering your web address at browsersize.googlelabs.com. 4. Test, test, and test again. Once you have finished designing and coding your landing page, make sure you take the extra step of testing everything in a usable environment. Make a checklist of all the important elements, and check them off when they pass with flying colors. Some questions you should ask include: • Does the landing page match the creatives? • Is your message focused? • Are the vital elements above the fold? • How long does the page take to load? • Are all links working properly?