'Net Features : landing page

3 Ways to Kick-Start Conversions

Administrator — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:15:00 GMT

:: By Amie Marse, Content Equals Money ::

Conversions are one of the top priorities of companies engaging in online business. Without a strong rate of conversions, companies are simply sinking money into a profitless division. With the right strategy, however, a company’s online presence can trigger substantial growth.

Mobile optimization is the key to getting conversions in 2013. Everywhere you look, someone is checking their smartphone for recommendations about which product to buy or which restaurant to try. Developing a strategy that targets mobile consumers allows your company to draw in a whole new demographic. Mobile-first businesses generally place an emphasis on acquiring new customers, a focus that many mainstream organizations lack, according to David Needle.

If you are unsure of how to improve your online marketing tactics, try integrating at least one of the following three strategies. In 2013, optimizing your mobile landing pages, updating your email marketing, and mastering the balance between short- and long-form content are three of the surest ways to gain conversions.

Creating an Optimized Landing Page

A landing page is the online form of a first impression. Your landing page needs to give viewers an immediate idea of what to expect from your products or services. Furthermore, an optimized landing page will engage consumers in a way that encourages conversions. Without careful optimization, your landing page may drive consumers away, especially in regard to mobile.

The top priority of a landing page optimized for mobile is accessibility. Every aspect of the landing page must be easily navigable by fingers on a touch screen, or the visitor will quickly return to the search engine to choose a different result. Avoid the use of elements that include flash or plug-ins, since they slow down mobile users.

Mastering the art of engaging headlines is a persuasive way to interest consumers and bring in conversions. Strong, informative headlines decrease the need for wordy descriptions underneath, which is beneficial for the necessity of speed. Mobile users want to visit pages that load immediately and present brief, to-the-point information.

In order to increase conversions, more and more businesses are utilizing variable sites that can rearrange themselves to target the viewer’s needs. Based on the visitor’s search criteria, your optimized landing page should present relevant information that makes it easy for the consumer to convert.

Innovative Email Marketing

Although many marketers seems to believe that email marketing has run its course and lost its relevance in the age of mobile, there is a strong contingency of experts that still encourage the use of email marketing. In fact, email marketing can be improved for mobile by incorporating many of the same strategies that apply to landing pages.

Mobile users usually check their email even more frequently than those using a computer, so be sure to send out emails that are optimized for mobile views. Like mobile landing pages, email marketing should be simple, accessible, and relevant. Remove graphics and images so that the text is prominent. Pare the content down to the most important information and include formatting techniques like bullet points and bolding to make your message easy to scan.

When developing the content for your email marketing, drop the sales pitch. We’ve all seen an endless stream of sales pitch emails piled into our inboxes. If consumers feel like you have nothing to offer besides a sales pitch, they will take their business to a more engaged company. Instead of a sales pitch, use your email to offer valuable content that sparks interest and encourages interaction. One way to optimize your content is to make use of targeted marketing.

In order to turn your emails into conversions, don’t forget to include plenty of clear links. Once you have claimed the reader’s attention, show them a way to respond through visiting your website or social media profile. Since you are avoiding an obvious sales pitch in your email, you have to find a creative way to build conversions. Giving the reader incentive to follow a link is the most dependable way to get him or her to a page that will present a sales pitch.

The Strengths of Short- and Long-Form Content

The most obvious reason for the popularity of short-form content is the growth of Twitter. As modern individuals try to condense every thought into 140 characters, long-form content has declined. Even blog posts have generally become shorter and more succinct to accommodate the desire for quick sources of information.

Long-form content hasn’t become irrelevant, however. Experts like Ev Williams are predicting a return to long-form content as we react to the overdose of short-form content. Long-form content provides a space for more meaningful and insightful commentary that develops and share ideas in a way that can’t be achieved in short-form content.

So how should your company use short- and long-form content to get conversions in 2013? The most effective strategy is to use both forms to complement each other. Use short-form content to create initial contact with consumers, whether through tweets, blogs, or Facebook posts. Once that contact is established, present long-form content that deepens the connection between your company and the consumer by instigating conversation that will generate conversions. A combination of short- and long-form content strategies will produce a more comprehensive marketing campaign that permeates your customers’ online lives.

About the Author

Amie Marse, is the founder and managing partner of Content Equals Money, a content writing service for agencies and Web-based clients.

Top PPC Landing Pages by Industry

Michael Garrity — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:00:00 GMT

When you’re paying good money for clicks from a search engine to drive traffic to your site, it only makes sense that you would want the landing page that users arrive at to be engaging and informative, right?

What seems obvious to some of us may go unnoticed by others. The importance of first impressions on converting visitors has been talked about at length, but it’s one of those old adages that is seriously important. That is, if you want your PPC campaign to be worth anything.

That’s why WM has studied a variety of broad industries (food, travel, apparel, entertainment and services) to look at common best practices that various websites employ to engage and, hopefully, convert visitors.

We used a unique query for each category and selected what we thought was the best PPC landing page that our search returned. While there was a lot of localization and personalization that affected the results and PPC ads that we saw, we're confident that all of these landing pages present great design examples in their particular industry.

The results are below:

“Order Chinese Food” (Food)
The website for Hong Kong Express offers an eye-catching design that immediately signals to visitors to “Order Online,” clearly highlighting just how and where to do that. The landing page also lays out other crucial information, such as restaurant hours, phone number and address.

“Bed and Breakfast Wisconsin” (Travel)
This landing page entices visitors with stunning images. However, it doesn't sacrifice information for aesthetics, as specific paths are available for users without being overwhelming. The page also features clear contact information and a call-to-action for users looking to book their stays right now

“Orange Shoes” (Apparel)
If you’re as big fan of tacky footwear as I am, this landing page for Zappos is for you. While relevant product matches clearly take up the center of the page, Zappos also offers visitors the option to narrow down their searches through a variety of categories and specifications to help find the perfect pair of shoes. It also features navigation options at the top of the page that lets users alter the way in which results are organized.

“Buy Theater Tickets” (Entertainment)
Anyone who wants to see a good show should look no further than Broadway.com, which displays some of New York City’s hottest performances in the middle of the page, with clear call-to-action buttons encouraging them to buy tickets. Additionally, visitors are able to toggle between different types of shows or search to find the one most interesting to them.

“Mechanic Chicago” (Services)
This sleek landing page is one of the best, with engaging visuals, a clear call-to-action button that stands out from the rest of the page and important information laid out in unobtrusive but easy-to-find locations.

Best of 2011 - Ecommerce Landing Pages

Allison Howen — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT

You only get one first impression, and a landing page is the first impression of every successful website. Therefore, it is imperative to create a good one.

Successful ecommerce landing pages include aspects such as bold titles, eye-grabbing call-to-action buttons, easy navigational links and prominently featured promotions.

As the end of 2011 draws near, let’s view some of the best examples of ecommerce landing pages from the past 12 months:

Old Navy

The best part of this landing page is the brightly and prominently displayed prices, which are perfect for consumers shopping for a good deal (who isn’t?). Additionally, the gift guide and “Holi-deals” are highlighted in red for easy visibility. And conveniently, consumers have the option to visit sister stores by clicking on tabs at the top of the landing page.

The North Face

No matter who or what a consumer is shopping for (men, women, kids, equipment or holiday gifts), this landing page features multiple eye-catching links on which to click. Not only does the main photo at the top of the page include links for different departments, but the departments are also featured directly underneath the image in a row of individual smaller photos. The landing page is direct, simple and sleek for easy end-user navigation.

Urban Decay

This landing page includes many best practices, such as the large title of the brand and inclusion of the brand’s slogan. Other best practices include a large call-to-action button that says “Buy It Now,” as well as the word “FREE” in the upper right-hand corner and bottom left-hand corner – which, without a doubt, grabs the attention of consumers. Furthermore, the featured picture box changes about every 10 seconds, and the second featured box features a call-to-action button that enables consumers to view videos from the brand.

Lush

Although a bit busier than the previous examples, one of the best aspects of this page is the gift-finder, which is featured with bright colors on the left-hand side of the page. Not only does it allow consumers to choose who the gift is for, but it also allows them to choose a price range. Other best practices of this landing page include the golden ticket promotion that is featured next to the company’s name, as well as the “New” and “Christmas” tabs at the top of the page, which are highlighted in Green and Yellow.

Ugg

This landing page notably features the Ugg’s Gift Boutique, which is an effective tactic during the holidays. Furthermore, on the right-hand side of the page, boots for both men and women are featured with call-to-action buttons. Lastly, the upper right corner prominently features the company’s shipping and return policy (free), which is an important factor for consumers.

Relevantor Terminates One-size-fits-all Landing Pages

Allison Howen — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Tired of one-size-fits-all landing pages? So are we. But now there is a way to regulate the way content is presented to your site visitors.

E-marketing service Relevantor is launching its Web service at ad:tech NY this week, and by integrating it onto their sites Web marketers can ensure that relevant content will be the first thing that consumers see upon arrival. The remote platform uses a relevant-content algorithm that takes visitor information such as location, previous visits, organic search terms and time of day into consideration in order to optimize a site’s existing content.

For example, if a Hawaiian consumer visits a travel site, he or she may not want to be directed to a landing page for a Jamaican vacation (there are enough palm trees to look at in Hawaii already). But a travel site that uses Relevantor would already know that the consumer lives in a tropical location and would direct the consumer to a landing page for a vacation that he or she may like better, such as a Colorado ski trip.

This targeted Web marketing program acts like a gatekeeper and determines the most relevant content to be displayed for each visitor – which can reduce site abandonment and increase conversions. Those who visit Relevantor's ad:tech booth (#1744) this week will receive a 90-day free trial of the service. However, the general public can also sign up for a free 30-day trial – otherwise the service starts at $49 a month for the basic package and rises in price to $999 a month for the elite package.