A landing page is the page you direct your website visitors to from an advertisement or other marketing effort. Most often your main landing page is your homepage. This article features some principles you'll need to follow to get the highest conversion rate out of your landing pages.
Define your conversion
The first thing you'll need to do is determine what you consider a conversion. For some pages a conversion will be to turn a website visitor into a lead and for others it will be to turn leads into customers.
Define a call to action
For every page you build you need to determine what specific action you want your site visitors to take when visiting the page.
To increase conversion rates you have to prevent yourself from giving your customers a lot of options and get them focused on taking one particular action. Y0u need to tell them what to do next. I call this the "call to action" of a page.
Your call to action should be the most obvious thing on your page. Be careful to display your call to action in a place on the page that will appear in most screen resolutions. It's not uncommon for someone to put a call to action too far down on a page, requiring the site visitor to scroll. Often times those visitors never see the call to action and don't take the next step.
Be sure your page loads fast
You can have the greatest product in the world but if nobody ever sees it your sees you offer - you've got nothing. That's why it's extremely important to make sure your web pages load fast. Studies show users will wait no more than 7 seconds for your page to load. You can ensure your pages are loading quickly by reducing the number of images and the size of images on your web page. Use text instead of images wherever possible. Avoid adding javascript, flash, and other types of files that may slow the loading of your page
Make it clear what your website is all about
Your site visitors are in a hurry and there are thousands of other websites competing for their attention. So when people come to your website they need to now they're at the right place - and they need to know now. The best way to communicate they're in the right place is to display a headline across the top of the page in large text. This is similar to what newspapers have know for over 100 years. So if your website is all about selling blue widgets your title should say something like "Buy Blue Widgets Here."
Be sure your pages are compatible with the most popular web browsers
When building web pages you should test the appearance in the most popular web browsers. Chances are your page will look slightly different in each one. Don't worry - your pages don't need to look completely identical in each browser. They just need to display the critical information in a way that's easy to read. For example_ you'll want to make sure the call to action is viewable in the most common browsers. (At the time of this writing Internet Explorer 8 is the most common browser, followed by Explorer 7, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.
Make links look like links and buttons look like buttons
Don't try to get super creative and re-invent the wheel when it comes to navigation. Make your links look like links and your buttons look like buttons. For example_ your buttons should have some depth to them and should be in traditional button shapes like rectangle or rounded rectangle. Your links should either have a hover effect so when the mouse is moved over them they change color and style or they should be standard blue with an underline. (Just like the links you find in Google search results.)
When it comes to buttons and links you should also remove the guess work by labeling the button or link with text telling the user exactly what's going to happen when it's clicked. For example_ if the button is going to make them continue it should be labeled "Click here to continue".
Put some recognizable logos on your page
Web visitors may only give your page a quick glance. If they seem a familiar logo they're going to be more likely to stay on the page and take the time to read through it. So if you've been working with a big name in your industry and they allow you to display their logo, by all means do so. It will add to your credibility with your site visitors.
Fill your site with testimonials and endorsements
If your website has won awards or if you have testimonials from happy customers be sure to prominently display these some place on your website. Anything to stand out and communicate a sense of legitimacy will be help increase your conversions. Just remember, people aren't stupid - be authentic.
Make your site easy to read
Don't try and get cute with fonts and colors. Plain black text on a white background is the easiest to read. You'll also want to make sure your fonts are at least 10pt. Anything smaller is too hard to read. Where possible make your fonts 14pt or more, especially to convey your main points. If you think black text on a white background is just too boring you can try dark gray on white or another sharp contrast combination. Keep in mind your site visitors may not have the best eye sight.
Dumb it down
I can never emphasize it enough - Your site visitors are in a hurry. Try to avoid requiring them to think. This means you should be using words an elementary school student can read. Try to use images in a way that will convey your message but without increasing your page size and slowing down the time it takes to load your pages. Use bullet points to describe features and benefits but never more than 4 without creating a break. Use plenty of white space. Especially around your call to action.
By following these steps you're sure to increase your conversion rates with your website. Don't forget you can build a free website at WebStarts.com