Hundred Dollar SEO

Bob Massa wrote an entertaining and incisive response to checklists about choosing an SEO. It inspired me to look into what other people are saying about landing pages. E-consultancy and Digital Web Magazine do an adequate job of starting the discussion.

Digital Web asks some good questions like:

• Is the whole page focused?
• Does the message match the advertisement?
• Have you reduced all distractions?
• Is critical information above the fold?

E-consultancy offers advice like:

A direct approach
Bullet points work well online, to help communicate the benefits of a product or service. Keep in mind that people skim read on the web. Use bold text to reinforce key messages.
A clear call-to-action
That potentially means a big Buy Now button, above the fold…

These are good points once you have a page in place, advice for testing improvements. Future Now calls out the limitations of improvement tests.

Testing can help you optimize what is (i.e., taking action on existing analytics data). But how do you take into account what could be (i.e., planning for success in advance)? How do you decide what to test (where do you get your true customer insights)? You’re testing vanilla and chocolate, and you see chocolate performs better. Now you can test pricing, different cones, extra toppings, and other variables that can increase conversion incrementally (i.e., measuring local maximums). But what if a lot of people just want strawberry?

Let me offer some advice for when you don’t already have a page or when you need to test a “new flavor”

1. Decide who you are engaging (e.g. someone who is new to your product)
2. Figure out where in the buying cycle you want to approach them
   • Search
   • Evaluation
   • Decision
   • Purchase
3. Decide what you are engaging them to do

It is important to realize that there is not one sure answer to your landing page needs. Each combination of goals affects your course of action. If you design a landing test that combines a stream of traffic with a page that is not designed to meet your traffics needs you will find lackluster results. Consider whether you are in a situation that needs testing of elements or a situation that needs testing of entirely new landing pages.

Tags:   Analytics · conversion · Design · landing pages · SEONo Comments

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