- The A-Z Guide to Landing Pages from ion interactive is a helpful glossary-like guide covering the key principles of landing pages

- Search Engine Watch put together seven tips for designing an effective landing page in 7 Tips for Landing Page Greatness, the final tip pointing out the key to ongoing improvement is establishing a culture of testing and tweaking

- 10 Form Optimization Tips For Landing Pages from Search Engine Land covers some tried and true form optimization tips that can be used effectively to improve overall form conversions on websites

- Unbounce collected some landing page examples with reasons why they rock as well as suggested improvements in 5 Rockstar Landing Pages that Deserve a High-Five (or do they?)

- To help reenergize your landing page testing and optimization, ion interactive’s 55 Cool New Ways to Use Landing Pages has something for every level of landing page managers from beginner to expert

That rounds it up for this week’s edition and I’ll leave you with a quick reminder to request one free conversion idea for your website as well as to signup for our blog updates and conversion tips newsletter. If you have any tips, suggestions, or resources you’d like to share please leave us a comment below and please feel free to suggest topics that you would like to see covered in future Conversionator posts.

Donna Roberts has been in the Marketing and Research fields for over 20 years working with a wide array of industries and contributes The Conversionator weekly roundup post to the Diamond Website Conversion blog

Sorry, but the real world doesn’t work that way.

In the real world of online browsing, visitors won’t read, scroll, wait, or think. They want the information to appear immediately in a format they can scan, assimilating all the vital information in mere seconds.

Here’s some basic ideas for designing a landing page.

Start with the Goal 

A landing page should have a goal.  What exactly do you want the visitor to do when they arrive on the page?  The goal will determine the focus of the page, what the copy will say and the images you will use.

Landing pages need to be simple.  Multiple goals tend to confuse visitors – start by having a single goal for the page.

Make It Easy

As a basic rule of thumb, don’t ask your viewers to think when they reach the landing page.

• Make it clear immediately what the visitor can expect to do/buy/or get from your company.
• Images should be directly related to the copy.
• Headlines and sub-headlines should direct the visitors focus to your copy and then to your call to action.
• Your copy needs to focus on the benefits and how they relate to the features of your product or service – visitors want to know what’s in it for them.
• Your call to action needs to reiterate what the visitor will get if they convert.

Maintain a Scent Trail

A scent trail provides a logical connection from the ad that originally solicited the click all the way through to the final conversion. It keeps the reader oriented, assures him that he’s in the right spot, and holds his interest based on whatever it was that first caught his attention.

For instance, if your PPC ad advertises a 20% storewide sale, your landing page headline should reiterate that offer.

The best landing page designs will also incorporate the same or similar graphics as those used in your marketing email or advertisement to maintain a strong scent.

Don’t Follow a Formula

Formulas rarely produce top quality results. Successful landing pages rely on a continual program of testing to ensure that your design is performing at its best. As internet users and their expectations change, your landing page design will need to change as well to maintain high conversion rates.

Continually test headlines, images and call to action text and buttons to stay in tune with your visitors.

Professional Looking Design

Design plays an important role in guiding visitors towards conversion. Spacing, positioning and size of graphics and text, layout of your form, and the size, shape and color of your call to action need to work together to guide the visitor towards conversion.

It’s not only about guiding visitors towards conversion, a professional looking landing page gives the visitor confidence and trust  in your company, products and services.

Continually Test 

A landing page needs to evolve.  It needs to be continually tuned-up to achieve maximum performance.

Use your customers to help you determine the most effective headlines, copy, images and calls to action with an ongoing testing program.  When you originally design a landing page your really only guessing about what will appeal to your customers. Testing lets your customers tell you what actually works for them.

Additional Resources:

Nine Easy Landing Page Optimization Ideas

Boost PPC Conversion with Relevant Landing Pages

Optimize your Landing Pages

You may have done a stellar job identifying your target market, but can you say you really know them? Or do you just treat them all as “average” consumers? Let’s take a look at the four personality types, as described by Bryan Eisenberg in his book Always Be Testing,  that emerge from shopper behavior in order to understand your target market better.

Spontaneous

This person likes to buy quickly and impulsively. She wants to get in and get out, but you might turn her head with the right item suggestions. The primary question she wants you to answer is “Why should I buy?” Address her needs in a prominent place by showing how your product will benefit her, how quickly you can get the item to her door, how she can save money on the item, and what kind of service she can expect.

Relational

The relational shopper wants to get to know you before he trusts you with his business.     He wants to see reviews from other shoppers, hear testimonials, see trust indicators, and read privacy statements. He might also want to know more about the values of your company, study your community involvement, and interact with you on Facebook.

Methodical

Methodical shoppers want to know all the details. They generally spend a lot of time comparison shopping, checking out product specs, and reading detailed descriptions. Because they are more willing to dig into the nitty gritty, you can generally address their needs further down the page than you can the needs of the spontaneous or relational shopper.

Competitive

Competitive shoppers want to know why you are better than another company offering the same thing. They’ll want to see your credentials, hear how you can make their lives better, understand what you offer that the next store doesn’t, and learn how you can help them achieve their personal or business goals. These shoppers are all about the advantages you can give them over others in the business and why your company is the best one to shop with.

As you get to know your target market, you should work to develop personas around each of these four shopping personalities.

Your persona profiles should include needs and wants of each type, questions they might want to see answered, shopping habits, and searching habits.

This information can then be used to increase website conversions as you build your content around meeting the needs of your customers.

Additional Resources:

Are you reaching your target market?

Have you identified your target market?

Do you know who your customers are?

 This week’s edition includes a number of useful tips covering brand management and protection, website tune-ups, increasing blog traffic, brand building for those just getting started in social media, and optimizing your content to really speak to your audience:

- If you’re looking for ways to keep your brand secure, Branding Personality’s 10 Cool Ways to Protect Your Brand Name Online shares 10 tips to help manage and protect your brand

- When is the last time you took a good look at your own website? Seven Ways to Whip Your Website into Shape from Entrepreneur is a seven-step program for taking a serious look at your website and giving your site a tune-up

- SEOmoz’s 21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic  is an updated collection of suggestions for increasing blog traffic which should provide at least a few useful tips to start implementing for any blogger

- Fast Company’s 10 Brand-Building Steps For Beginners is a helpful guide to those finally deciding to get started with social media and using it to build a brand for themselves or their business

- A one-size-fits-all message does not usually fit all. You Talkin’ to Me?: 4 Ways to Connect With Your Audience from Brooks Bell outlines 4 basic steps to optimized content that will help you connect with your readers

That will cover it for this week’s edition and I’ll leave you with a quick reminder to request one free conversion idea for your website as well as to signup for our blog updates and conversion tips newsletter. If you have any tips, suggestions, or resources you’d like to share please leave us a comment below and please feel free to suggest topics that you would like to see covered in future Conversionator posts.

Donna Roberts has been in the Marketing and Research fields for over 20 years working with a wide array of industries and contributes The Conversionator weekly roundup post to the Diamond Website Conversion blog

It’s the reason that you have to sell prospects when they’re “hot;” Any delay can be costly.

For reasons that will become clear in a moment, please check out this video:

This is the trailer for the newly-released book You’re Not So Smart (which, for the record, I haven’t read yet).

I don’t think this book is aiming at business education or conversion training, but I have to ask the question: What are the implications of procrastination/present bias for your online business?

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below, but first, I’ll share some of my own observations.

1) If you’ve ever worked in sales “in the real world,” you know that when people tell you “I’ll think about it,” or “I’ll be back later,” you can pretty much consider that sale lost. The present them may be hot about what you’re offering, but if they don’t buy now, the future them will probably not be as excited. If they think about it at all after leaving.

2) Always include a clear call to action. The copy on your site should be building a crescendo of desire for your product. Give your visitors a specific target to channel that desire towards and invite them to act now to satisfy that desire.

3) The best time to ask for an upsell, cross-sell or add-on is immediately after a purchase has been made, when the customer is feeling good about you and your product/service. Make the offer before their future self directs their attention to other things.

3) The purpose of your marketing materials or sales pitches is to create this mindset in your prospects. Set up the emotional and logical reasons for them to buy now. Make sure you make it as easy as possible to buy now.

4) Follow up is very important. In the case that a prospect doesn’t buy, reaching out to them again to follow up can rekindle the spark. Recreate the motivation that makes them want to take you up on your offer this time.

Always try to capture contact information from your visitors to open the window for future contact. Give them something valuable in exchange for their permission to stay in touch.

Keep in mind that the longer you take to follow up, the “cooler” the prospect gets. Any desire they had to purchase from you decreases over time, and it doesn’t take long for the cooling process to start.

5) This is precisely why it’s important to generate a genuine sense of urgency when selling. If they don’t make the decision now, it’s much harder to close the deal at a later point.

Having said all that, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that pull marketing is more effective than push marketing. It can be tempting to push visitors into making a purchase, but applying too much pressure rarely produces the result you’re looking for.

Focus on making your offer so compelling, your terms so attractive, your credibility so solid that saying “no” is harder than saying “yes.”

Donnie Bryant is a direct response copywriter living near Chicago, IL, USA. He specializes in increasing conversion, sales and profits for businesses and entrepreneurs by injecting true persuasive salesmanship into their marketing messages. Visit his website at http://donnie-bryant.com