Improve Your Conversion Rates

9 Tips to Help Optimize Your Landing Pages

For obvious reasons we tend to focus a lot on keywords and ad copy. They’re vital to getting search users to click on your ads. But once they have clicked, then what? Hopefully, they’re A) in a buyin’ mood and B) they’ve actually come to the right place.

You can help promote both of these results by optimizing your landing pages. Here are nine tips to help get your leads to stick around and buy from you:

1. Connect the search experience to the landing page experience.
Wherever possible, use the same language on your landing pages as you do in your ads. It’s a real disconnect when you click on an ad that reads, “Online Conversion Rate Counter” only to land on a page selling a “Conversion Calculating Service.”

2. Integrate your landing page into your site.
Some advertisers make the mistake of building stand-alone landing pages for certain keywords that are more-or-less “divorced” from the rest of their sites. This can make your business seem sketchy to potential customers, who you want to be able to trust you with their credit card info. A consistent experience across all of your pages and product offerings can help create a more convincing experience. (More on this below.)

3. Gain their trust.
Use trusted, third-party security providers and make sure their badges and icons are clearly visible.

4. Offer tips and suggestions.
How can potential customers best use the product? If you’re selling steaks, offer a steak au poivre recipe. There’s a potential for up- and cross-sell here, as well. Perhaps monsieur would enjoy a nice bottle of cabernet sauvignon with his tender, juicy filet mignon, oui? Just don’t go crazy with it, mon ami. (See 5 and 6, below.)

5. Stay on target.
If your ad specifies John Deere tractors, make sure all of your tractors for sale on that page are John Deere tractors. In other words, if I had been looking for Caterpillar bulldozers I’d have clicked on an ad for them instead.

6. Cut the clutter.
Your landing page should not be too generic and cluttered. This ties in with the tip above. If your ad is for discount wholesale 7Up, don’t clutter the page up with other un-colas. This helps keep the lead focused.

7. Ban the bling.
Your landing page should be cleanly and attractively designed, but avoid distractions like music or other audio, animations and revolving logos. These can distract prospective customers from their purpose, which is to buy the product or service that they need, hopefully from you. Again, keep ‘em focused on the task.

8. Give them something to do.
A little interactivity can help keep people engaged. For some products, especially big-ticket items, things like video testimonials and 360-degree tours may be good sales aids. Just let customers decide whether or not they want to view them by giving them control. And remember Tip 7: Keep the bling to a minimum.

9. Write right.
Language counts. Think of your landing page as a salesperson in a showroom. What would a salesperson say to a prospect to help “get to yes?” Here are a few classic pointers:

Make sure that your headers and subheads are clear and direct.
Deliver your value proposition right away.
Offer a persuasive message near the call-to-action—You know: “Don’t be left out of this amazing offer,” etc.
Be nice with your call-to-action copy—”Submit” and “Buy Now” can sound like orders and put some people off. “Try it Now” sounds nicer.

For more tips on landing page optimization, visit this page in our Help Center.

—Michael Mattis, Conversion Tipster

Posted by Administrator

[ Categories: How To's ]
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51 Comments Add your own

1. Gids | July 27th, 2007 at 3:05 am

Great advice - thank you. I’m now going to forward it to all my clients, maybe they’ll listen to you!
2. Richard Burckhardt | July 27th, 2007 at 8:50 am

I especially appreciate #7 & #8. Some folks think a great landing page means a video and loud rock music. Maybe kids would like that, but I would click away immediately. Now I can point to your post as evidence that it’s not just me!
3. BrandBrains » links&hellip | July 28th, 2007 at 5:18 pm

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4. Landing Pages&hellip | July 29th, 2007 at 2:44 am

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5. Jez Wilson | July 30th, 2007 at 8:11 am

9/ “Try it Now” sounds nicer.

But could lead to confusion by a purchaser, “try it” and you mean “buy now”. Would this not promote returns? I feel you have to be direct at this point and tell the visitor what to do next, surely you have by this point capitviated them with the previous 8 points and now you want them to Buy Now or Add to Cart Now and convert them to a customer.

Just a thought.
6. Administrator | July 30th, 2007 at 10:09 am

Good point, Jez.

I think, especially with big-ticket items, you want to reassure people that if they are not satisfied with a purchase they can return it.

Just my two cents.

Cheers,

-M2
7. David Lieberman | August 4th, 2007 at 1:51 pm

In general, great advice — thanks! #2 is especially helpful to my needs, as I offer several lines of business. As for #7, since I’m presenting an ocean front resort, the video (and sound coming soon — seagulls and soothing waves) are key to selling the (restful, on the ocean) experience — our most important consumer goal… I think it’s a clear case where a picture (or sound) is worth a thousand words… do you disagree?
8. Administrator | August 7th, 2007 at 10:18 am

Nope. Can’t disagree with that. Just make sure you pair your video up with appropriate, targeted copy so that your page can be more easily read by crawlers and the like!

–M2
9. The Dog Clothing Company | August 9th, 2007 at 10:47 am

Thanks a lot for these great tips!
10. Jez Wilson | August 13th, 2007 at 1:53 am

I think, especially with big-ticket items, you want to reassure people that if they are not satisfied with a purchase they can return it.

For sure, here (UK) consumers are protected and a good proportion know thay can return goods for any reason, even if the colour is wrong. In the States I would have on the Site 30 day no quibble garuntee return (or similar). Sometimes it is good to shout about your returns policy and make the terms easily viewable (clickable). But you can over do it and make your goods look cheap and smack of desperation. Fine line between infomation and overload.

Cheers

Jez
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12. jalse | August 18th, 2007 at 7:39 am

i really shock when i saw my traffic came from http://findology.com/ then conversion rate drop to zero and it costs me ~$100 per day for not thing

as i know from year ago, traffic from http://findology.com/ were very very closed to PTR, fraud traffic, 1 of their traffic source is payse.com/payse.net ect
13. Anime Girl | October 11th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

Wow! This is great advice and help. I will definately put this to use. Thanks!
14. Don | October 11th, 2007 at 1:46 pm

Will these tips work on Google? That’s where most of my traffic comes from.
15. Macius | October 11th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

This is good advice, but clearly for noobs.
Now anyone can sell stuff on the Interweb.
16. Malik | October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

Hey, thanks for great tips!

“Try it now” I won’t try. This has nothing in common with, “Buy”. Let’s not mislead them to just try it and then drag them to the billing info page.

The rest all makes sense. Thanks again!
17. Nancy | October 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm

great tips for my business website - - thanks!
18. Paul | October 11th, 2007 at 2:16 pm

YSM is great for impressions… ugh, not too good at conversions ever since losing the MSN syndicate and the recent Panama update is not too cool… sorry. Maybe its time you take some of your ad clients advice and fix it all!
19. Brandon Raynor | October 11th, 2007 at 3:15 pm

Great Advice
Thanks a lot
20. Massage Courses London | October 11th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

Excellent ideas Thanks
21. Alex Rambaud | October 11th, 2007 at 3:48 pm

Call-to-Action features are key to help your potential customers to take action. What is important is to make it easy for them to take action so they can easily remember about your business, recommend it to a friend or colleague and of course contact the business.
You should have a look at integrating an AgendiZeMe button ($49 a year)!
22. CK Eagle | October 11th, 2007 at 3:59 pm

Good advice. I’m just getting ready to redo my ad and my landing page so I’ll keep this in mind. I just have free internet marketing info so don’t have anything to sell on this one site. However, I do have another site where I am selling a success blueprint manual and I do use PayPal’s “Buy” button there although I offer a full yr money back guarantee. I agree with the previous comments about “try now” sounds more like a trial before they buy.

Thanks again for the info.
23. Ray | October 11th, 2007 at 4:18 pm

Thanks for all the tips. “try it now” sounds something that I would use in my landing page. I am an affiliate marketer and I use “click here to continue” in my landing page. It just a way of redirecting potential buyer to your affiliate site.
24. Sashito | October 11th, 2007 at 4:32 pm

We offer services and not products. Did not find most of the information above helpful.
Thank you
25. Ruth | October 11th, 2007 at 5:56 pm

While this advice is generally helpful, I think an example page to view would help push the point home.
26. Wendell Outlaw | October 11th, 2007 at 9:30 pm

Thanks for the advice. It’s always good to here from the professionals…
27. Pay Per Click Online Adve&hellip | October 12th, 2007 at 12:03 am

[...] - Make sure that your headers and subheads are clear and direct. - Deliver your value proposition right away. - Offer a persuasive message near the call-to-action—You know: “Don’t be left out of this amazing offer,” etc. - Be nice with your call-to-action copy—”Submit” and “Buy Now” can sound like orders and put some people off. “Try it Now” sounds nicer. ” *Source of information comes from http://www.ysmblog.com/blog/2007/07/25/improve-your-conversion-rates/ [...]
28. frank vitetta | October 12th, 2007 at 1:32 am

I think the right metadata is also important. I had a client recently with more than 300 pages indexed in google but with horrible and
29. Manny | October 12th, 2007 at 4:16 am

Thanks for the wake up call. I know that my landing pages needs some more improvements and your advice will help me take the necessary action sooner than later.
30. George | October 12th, 2007 at 4:20 am

I agree one hundred percent with leaving audio out.
31. Mikhail Tuknov | October 12th, 2007 at 8:27 am

Great Tips!
32. joe | October 12th, 2007 at 9:01 am

thanks for “Buy it”. i really missed tthe boat by not saying that.
33. Paper Planner | October 12th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

This is very helpful. I really like the interactivity suggestion.
34. Greg Seedsman | October 13th, 2007 at 6:05 am

Q. What’s the agreed maximum content length for a multi-offer page?
35. Doug Woodall | October 13th, 2007 at 12:07 pm

Thanks for the mental nudge that I need to get ready for the Holiday traffic.
Take care,
36. Robert Zimnicaru | October 13th, 2007 at 11:48 pm

Good tips! I like the blog too! Keep it up with the good work!

Regards,
Robert Zimnicaru
37. Office Furniture NYC | October 14th, 2007 at 5:23 pm

This is great advice. Thanks.
38. David Rader II | October 18th, 2007 at 11:57 am

I just want to agree with number one. It is discouraging when I click on something that turns out not to be what I thought it was.
39. Sonny | October 19th, 2007 at 9:40 pm

Yeah, but let’s say you’re offering a free consultation. Would it be better for a person click on a PPC ad to land on the page with the contact info form to fill out for the free consultation or to land on the homepage where they can get a chance to trust you, first?
40. Cheap Web Hosting Reviews | October 20th, 2007 at 2:57 am

Another good way to improve conversion rate is adding customer testimonials.
41. Brain Games | October 22nd, 2007 at 12:14 pm

this is a great set of tips. thanks!
42. ppcjohn | November 2nd, 2007 at 7:48 am

This is a good advice and good artical too.
Thanks.
43. Alex | December 3rd, 2007 at 9:03 pm

azNqK1 homevideo. link. can a give I is know the web-site there where ,
44. Pamela | December 7th, 2007 at 12:09 pm

Thanks for a well-written article. I’m putting it on my web site and forwarding to my clients! They don’t believe me when I warn against bling. Maybe you can convince them!
45. William Hill | December 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 pm

Any successful pay per click marketing campaign starts with Research, lots and lots of hands on Research - from keywords and phrases to competitors and alliances always remember good Titles + good Descriptions + good Display URLs + good Landing URLs = good Click-thrus, Positive ROIs, Sales Conversions, and much much more!
46. Nash | April 6th, 2008 at 11:50 am

This article helps me a lot. Thanks!

Cheers,
computer Chair
47. Zach | May 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 pm

great advice we love the blog
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We have recently come across an excellent piece of software that not only allows them to monitor individual user behaviour in real time, but also facilitates direct engagement between visitor and user. This has been increasing conversions by an average of 15% in the websites we have implemented it in.

It seems that the individualised data gives a more enlightening perspective.
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51. Yellow SEO | April 2nd, 2009 at 6:59 am

Optimizing your landing pages to improve conversion rates can be a very powerful and is a must do for any business. In most cases even a slight change in percentage of conversion rate will dramatically change a site performance.