The document provides best practices for optimizing landing pages to improve conversion rates. It recommends using relevant and scan-able copy catered to the target audience's needs, engaging the reader immediately within 8 seconds with a clear call-to-action, and testing the landing page to ensure it guides visitors effectively through the customer journey.

1. Landing Page: Best Practices<br />In order to draw more sales leads and boost landing page conversion rates, you need to persuade users to act immediately. To ensure solid sales leads, organizations must use a combination of scan-able and relevant copy - which caters exclusively to your target demographics purchasing needs. Make sure your content is relevant to your target audience and engages the reader. The landing page is critical in determining whether the consumer is a “convert wanna-be” or a “research seeker.”<br />Research-seekers look for “reviews’” “information” and “news.” They may respond best to soft offers to receive more content, such as a PDF download or a printed brochure.<br />Convert wanna-be consumers may respond best to promotional offers, limited time incentives and detailed information about the specific product they are searching for.<br />Identify what your customers really want<br />Identify what your business goals are and then your potential customers needs - combine them and comprise an effective strategy that persuades users to act. The landing page must reflect their unsaid questions and convey the value of doing business with you. Therefore this page must immediately appear to solve their problem or they’ll hit ‘back’ on their browser.<br />You've Got 8 Seconds<br />Searchers need to be given very few choices in terms of direction, and must be taken somewhere that is correlated to their search terms and where they stand in the purchase cycle. Studies show that you have 8 seconds to grab the searchers attention, and once you get their attention, they must have a clear path to follow. The landing pages that are developed need to be tested/tuned to ensure that keywords, messaging and landing pages are performing up to the searchers expectations. Because opinions are formed incredibly fast. If the landing page can't quickly (and visually) establish its worth, users will move on. <br />Best Practices<br />Creating a successful landing page begins by deciding which page you'll use as the landing page for a specific campaign. You may very well have an existing web page that you can use (one that's more specific than your homepage), but if you don't, consider publishing a new landing page. If that's the case, keep in mind these best practices:<br />Create compelling headline copy and include an appropriate and impactful image with the offer for visual appeal.<br />How do you ensure a user will stay long enough to read the copy you've worked so hard to mold and craft? Structure page titles, header tags, or called out content (think bulleted lists) to include key search words and phrases. Create an immediate connection between what they're looking for and what you're offering.<br />Including keywords upfront makes a page easier for users to scan and find the information they need. Scan-ability is key, because people don't like to read long paragraphs online. Limit paragraphs to a few short sentences, break up copy with lists and sub-headers, and opt for the visual explanation over the textual one (remembering, of course, to use an alt tag for such images. <br />Keep your copy short and to the point<br />Remember to construct your content with the most important information first in the \"
inverted pyramid\"
style of news article writing. Put an emphasis on user benefit, and put it up front. Construct copy on your landing page that is scan-able featuring keywords that jump out and identify best with your business product or services.<br />Length and shape of text also send a visual cue to the reader. Headers should be succinct, usually under 55 characters. Sentences are best kept to around 10 words. Paragraphs that take up about four lines are ideal. <br />Call-to-Action<br />The initial CTA should live right after the summary of the offer details and needs to fall above the fold. The CTA copy must be direct and obvious and pack a punch that inspires action. Be careful not to drive your sale to soon—let the CTA match the subscriber’s place in the decision-making process.<br />Keep your navigation options to a minimum<br />Reduce or eliminate navigation to keep visitors focused on the goal and reduce distraction.<br />Embed your registration form to the landing page<br />Minimize data collection as much as possible to decrease abandonment. When it comes to submitting information, demand as little as possible. Your conversion rate could double by simply reducing the amount of content you request. Make it simple. Integrate a custom application that allows users to easily identify what potential customers want to know more about. Whenever asking for personal information, include privacy and security statements to help establish trust. <br />Test & Tweak<br />The only way to be sure of what works for your audience and your market is to conduct tests such as usability studies, A/B testing or multivariate testing. Having the right web analytics tool is vital to this. <br />As a minimum, you should readily be able to view data on bounce rates (the proportion of visitors who leave the page without visiting more pages) and conversion rates (the proportion of visitors who complete the intended outcome) for different referral sources (e.g. paid vs. natural search vs. online ads). Ideally, it should also enable you to complete A/B testing where different visitors are served different pages so differences in bounce and conversion rates can be assessed.<br />Testing can also include:<br />Click density, which indicates where people click within the page<br />Scrolling analysis, which tells you how far down the page users are scrolling to read content<br />Form friction analysis, which highlights where people are abandoning forms<br />The best way to succeed online is to build with your audience in mind. Lead generation online is essentially about devising an online experience that incorporates your business brand with the customer demands.<br />Lead generation is a conversation of value. Users expect to gain something of worth in exchange for their information.<br />