Four Tips for Improving Landing Page Conversions

by Guest Blogger on March 1, 2012

Over the years, we’ve written a lot about landing pages, conversions and calls to action. It’s not enough to get traffic – although traffic is, of course, important. You also have to be able to answer the question, “What happens after they get to my site?” Then, once you have that answer, you have to learn what to do with it.

The Perfect Landing Page (Rebekah May)

Today’s guest post, by Moosa Hemani, offers up four great tips and examples to do just that. Welcome, Moosa!

Have you ever wondered why your website has a low conversion rate? You’re ranking well for your search terms in search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, so what gives? Many businesses face this challenge, and it’s often because of your landing pages. Often, several factors affect your landing page conversion rates. Here are four tips to optimize some of those factors, and have a stronger, conversion-ready landing page.

Google Optimizer

Google offers a free tool you can utilize to test variations of your landing pages, and it is not as intimidating as many think. The simplest test is a single variation test. This would be as easy as changing the color of the call to action. Even the smallest of change can result in a significant return.

Google provides all the tips, videos and tutorials for you to be able to create a basic-to-advanced test. Once you know what is working and what is not, you can start planning an effective landing page design.

Clear Calls to Action:

A clear call to action directs the potential customer to the information they what to see. Even if you’re ranking well for your search terms, it will not matter if the customer cannot find what he is looking for within the first three seconds.

So ask yourself, what is the call to action on my site? This will help you tune your eyes: to see how your customer is navigating your site. Remember, if you are already ranking well for your targeted search terms and traffic is reaching you, then customers are already looking at your products or services. Direct them to the right information.

Example of a clear, straightforward, call to action:

Quick Contact / Login form:

Another factor that is important in terms of conversion is to have an easy, clear and short contact form. If the customer is willing to fill out the form, you want to keep it simple. Nowadays, customers are cautious about the information they are willing to provide. The latest trend among companies is to offer a free trial without having to require the credit card information, which typically lengthens the process. This encourages, and reduces the risk, for the customer to sign up.

Remember, the digital market is full of choices. If there is an easier alternative, you might lose that customer. Here is an example that combines a clear call to action with a simple sign up form.

Interacting with the product:

Generally, high-resolution images are a must for every website, but especially for e-commerce websites. This is because you are dealing with a digital product, which eliminates the customers’ potential ability to physically interact with the product.

If you use high-resolution images, you will at least provide the potential customer the ability to view the product from multiple angles. However, if you take it one-step further with video, games or interactive images, you allow the customer to engage the product (versus just looking at it).

Here is an example of a company that uses multiple methods to engage their customers:

I’ve covered just a few of the common approaches to improve your landing page. It is always best to collect the data before you start making changes, this way you can actually track the improvements as you make them. Ultimately, you want to think like your customer.

We’d love to hear your experience with calls to action and landing page optimization, or sites you’ve come across that show a converting page. Feel free to share in the comments below!

Guest post by Moosa Hemani

Moosa Hemani is an SEO Analyst for Superb Internet, the fastest growing web hosting company offer services like Dedicated Servers, VPS and more. Follow @superbinternet and @mmhemani in Twitter.

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Tagged as: conversions, Landing pages

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Rebecca March 8, 2012 at 3:17 pm

Wow, I didn’t know about Google Optimizer – they seem to do everything these days! I’ll have to get into that action asap.

In terms on landing pages and conversion, I’ve found that, as you say, a clear and concise call to action (with either: a clear phone number; a big fat yummy button or a short and sweet sign up/contact form) seem to work wonders. No need to re-invent the wheel!

Reply

Level343 March 8, 2012 at 6:31 pm: Hey Rebecca :) I like your “a big fat yummy button” I may have to borrow that one day. At level 343 would love to throw in some great unknown fact about conversions. But it’s common sense. Unless you show and tell people what you want them to do, they won’t do it. Of course trust has to be established as well as their need has to be addressed. All of these things take insight of course. But once you have an understanding about your readers, make sure you guide them and make things as easy as possible. Thanks for joining the conversation.

Reply

David Christian-Woodruff March 5, 2012 at 3:16 am

There’s nothing more frustrating than landing on a site then realising that you have to click on another link to get to the main site, especially if that first page offers nothing in terms of product promotion, information or ability to contact the company directly, calls to action if you will. As such, this article is a great information tool for those wanting to really focus their ideas on how to create a landing page.
Don’t be afraid to promote your services or even link to various parts of your business either. Social media could be included on there and various other beneficial side elements could be added as a means to attract the attention of your viewer. Let’s not forget, people make up their mind about a site within the first few seconds of having viewed the page.

Reply

Narendran N March 3, 2012 at 7:18 am

Nice post! Thx I ll try out what you said :)
Narendran N recently posted.. Anonymous: War on Religion! – Takes On The Church! 3 Church Websites Down Among Others!

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