6 Simple Tactics To Drastically Improve Landing Page Conversions

Posted: July 17th, 2009 | Filed under: Design Comment

Whether you are just trying to sell a product or build an email list, the layout of your landing page will drastically alter your overall conversation rate. In this article, we will look at a couple easy, but impact-ful steps that will bump of the number of people that convert.

First off, lets clarify what a landing page is. Some people call it a sales letter, sales page, or squeeze page, but they are pretty much all the same and the goal is to get the visitor to perform an action.

You can always just download our 8 free optimized landing pages, but if you want to venture out on your own, then make sure to use these tactics to create an effective landing page…

1. Effective use of white-space

Because we are trying to funnel the user to complete one action, we need to maintain their attention on the task at hand. Although it is easier said than done, make sure you landing page is concise and to the point. Don’t boggle it down with excess images and fluff text.

2. Create a store window display

How many times have you been walking around the mall and you or one of your friends suddenly see something on a store window (be it a sign or display) that makes you want to go inside?

Well this is exactly what you need at the top of your landing page. Something attractive that catches the visitors attention and makes them want to learn a little bit more about what you want to offer. This can be an image, sign, or anything else that gets your message across.

3. Use of video

It wasn’t too long ago that the long drawn out sales page was the norm. While some people are still making effective use of this, the truth of the matter is that keeping the attention of a visitor for so long nowadays is much hard than before. With access to video production and sharing becoming so much easier, now it is almost a must to embed a video within your landing page.

This video can really be about anything related to your landing pages. There have been some effective ones where they just talk about new marketing trick they learned, and then at the end they say if you like these like this then opt-in. On the other hand, your video can be an introduction to the site, what it is about, and what they should do.

4. Add “legal” pages

Whether you are running some sort of pay per click (PPC) campaign or aiming for some great organic search traffic, your landing page must almost always be “Google compliant”. When Google determines the quality and relevance of your site, they don’t just look to see if your content matches the topic, but also if it looks like you are running a legit site here.

That being said, Google likes sites with these 3 pages. Thanks to great business minds, there are many free generators that will create these pages for you in a matter of seconds: privacy policy, terms of service, and site-map.

5. No External Links

Remember the focus of a landing page is to get your visitor to perform a certain action, so we need to make the page as simple as possible and with limited distractions. Unless you are linking to another offer or something else that benefits yourself, then DO NOT ADD ANY EXTERNAL LINKS to your landing page. What good is the page if they leave before doing anything?

6. Make sure there is a CLEAR call to action

Just because you got somebody to visit the landing page does not mean they will actually do something. Most of the time you need to remind them or at least try to enforce what the visitor needs to do. If you are using tactic 3, then get an image of an arrow and point it to the button or email form.

Surround the goal by a box or various images. Just find some way to make sure final action stands out.

I have also created a screencast video of some examples of highly converting landing pages. Are there any other tactics that have worked in boosting your landing page conversion rate?

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