Proper landing page optimization is the ‘Holy Grail’ of any effective Internet Marketing campaign. The purpose of landing page optimization is to create an environment that generates a sequence of events that ultimately results in visitor conversion. Search engine marketing is steadily evolving into a consumer driven platform…a platform that recognizes the targeted nature of the visitor, precisely identifies their needs, and presents an ‘actionable’ response and corresponding solution to satisfy that need.
The single most important principle of effective landing page optimization for any Internet Marketing effort is to precisely identify and satisfy the needs of the website visitor. When focused and relevant landing page methodology is initiated the Internet Marketing objective is achieved and the need of the website visitor is satisfied. Unfortunately, in the current on line marketing environment, where everybody and his brother has access to web publishing software, most designers and authors either avoid landing page optimization or seriously lack the intellectual capacity to fully understand how crucial a role this process truly is to the development and implementation of Internet Marketing strategies.
The idea of mass producing and mass publishing various web projects under different domains to produce a small conversion rate on each website is an excellent example of this concept. I like to refer to this as Walmart website publishing. Where volume means more than relevant content and the more customers you get to spend a dollar will eventually make a lot of dollars. The idea of building more web sites and adding to the almost endless source of poorly written content on the www demonstrates an obvious lack of understanding of simple landing page optimization techniques. If you posses the necessary technical understanding and creative skills to launch a thousand websites representing the same product under different domains you are certainly capable of implementing proper landing page optimization techniques.
Landing page optimization should always be inherently responsive and proactive in its design. A fluid Internet Marketing environment requires its architects to be agile, creative, and well focused on a common goal.
The ability of the visitor to immediately adjust to the landing page environment is crucial to the conversion process. When visitors are ‘hyperlinked’ or transported from various Internet Marketing mediums, how quickly they adjust to their new environment and their initial first impressions are critical. They must be able to recognize within the first few seconds not only where they are but how to effectively interact with page content. The quicker a visitor is capable of negotiating the parameters of their new virtual environment the more likely they are to respond in a positive manner to ‘actionable’ response.
One very crucial consideration when practicing efficient Internet Marketing and proper landing page optimization is to fully evaluate varying levels of browsing habits for visitors. A page that adheres to proper landing page optimization principles becomes a valuable resource to the website visitor. By clearly directing the visitor to relevant and helpful information and links that satisfy visitor needs, a website gains credibility, merit, and a corresponding level of value for page content.
Landing page optimization is also an effective tool in analyzing which content links are most valuable to the user. By tagging each available link and tracking the link usage valuable data can be obtained regarding traffic patterns and how relevant the content was to the visitor. The Internet Marketing campaign can then be refined based on traffic patterns and link usage to develop more efficient methods to convert visitors and ‘funnel’ traffic to the desired ‘actionable’ response.
A key principle when formulating landing page optimization strategy is never to take web traffic for granted. A visitor allows a small window of opportunity to seize their attention. The average visit to a web page can be very short in duration….in fact, most visits last about ten seconds. An effective landing page must provide immediate and clear content to the reader and literally grab their attention within a three to five second window. To accomplish this seemingly monumental task, never assume that ‘simple’ is interpreted the same among all people. What may be simple and easy to understand content to one visitor may be painstakingly difficult to understand by another.
This point should be thoroughly explored when developing landing page optimization strategy for Internet Marketing on an international level. By its very nature, Internet Marketing operates in a global environment and within the context of an international economy. As a result, landing page optimization techniques must be both sensible and based on intelligent design to achieve maximum return on investment. In order for business and e-commerce platforms to survive in this competitive environment, utilization of effective landing page optimization techniques have become even more essential and demanding. Gone are the days when a flashing banner ad prompted a landslide of web traffic.
One very easy way to evaluate your landing page optimization technique is to conduct a simple market survey. In order to conduct this test you must first find the least computer literate person that you know. For the purpose of this illustration, its my ‘Uncle Leon’. I would have selected my mother but she writes code for highly sophisticated and specialized business applications. Anyway, back to the test and ‘Uncle Leon’. To conduct this test simply open the web page in your browser, sit Uncle Leon down in front of the screen, and say nothing. If Uncle Leon fully understands the message, is able to successfully negotiate the page, fully understands the content, and responds to an ‘actionable’ request, you have successfully developed an optimized landing page. By way of contrast, if Uncle Leon decides this exercise is a bit too difficult for him to manage, its time to return to the design table for another creative session. Remember, 75% of all website traffic is ‘Uncle Leon’.
The sole purpose of all website traffic is to get the most people from every background to take advantage of a website offering. Creative web design doesn’t need to take a backseat in the landing page optimization process. In fact, the creative element becomes even more focused on a properly optimized landing page. Creative ways to organize and present site’s offerings in a simple and aesthetically pleasing manner can be the ultimate in creative expression. Loud high-tech approaches to landing page optimization may work in certain forms of direct marketing in specific market segments, but the rule of simplicity in landing page optimization is the reigning King.
Keep in mind the objective to effective landing page optimization is to satisfy the needs of the viewer. In fulfilling the intrinsic needs of web visitors, make sure that you format your ‘call to action’ in such a way that the ‘action’ actually fulfills a need, as opposed to providing another choice. Landing page optimization techniques should maximize conversion rates with the least cost per lead. Your landing page optimization efforts should compliment each of your Internet Marketing efforts as well as acting as an informational tool to gather detailed data for future landing page designs.
When developing effective landing page optimization strategy, bear in mind that your audience is becoming increasingly more sophisticated and the environment is becoming more fluid by its own design.