Online Traction

I was asked by a client to turn off their ‘Pay-per-click’ campaign in Yahoo today (never generated real business for them) and almost immediately received an email from Yahoo. It was probably coincidental but I was impressed by the email because it discussed a favorite issue of mine: landing page quality and conversions.

The points and explanation by Amy Borowicz are definitely worth reading, amongst which:

. testimonials

. specificity yet simplicity

. call-to-action event - i.e. encourage the visitor to take an action such as request a quote

. highlight the benefits for the prospect

However I would add the following:

. don’t ask for too much information - the web is a low trust zone and people are already hesitant to give away too much info

. graphics that support your writing - most people want to relate and associate; if its corporate use formal symbols and images, if its leisure then depict fun

. fast load time - it matters less and less for most countries but be careful with your flash animations and image sizes; don’t annoy the prospect with a slow loading page

. test, measure, test, measure - in the first instance create a landing page that has distinct areas, then juxtapose the areas, modify the language, make it simpler, make it more informative…you get the idea. Equally important is that you have a reasonable sample of traffic upon which to test your design or content changes; 10 is no use, aim for at least 100 visitors (preferable a lot more) and then test the bounce rate. If the landing page is part of your site then set up your traffic measurement system (e.g. google analytics) so that this page is a ‘goal’ then observe the paths that people take to that page and their relative effectiveness. The objective is to gather information upon which to make design decisions; merely creating a landing page as you see fit is simply not good practice.