Author: Patrick Hare

In most cases, getting people to visit your website takes time and money. Unless you have a popular site with built-in traffic, you are probably counting on offline advertising, pay-per-click, search engine optimization to bring people to your online business presence.

If people are coming to your website and leaving without buying anything, you definitely want to "optimize" the page for conversion, which is somewhat different than "search engine optimization," which makes your site popular with search engine robots. Landing page optimization is the process of improving any page that gets direct traffic from search engines, banner ads, marketing initiatives (including TV and Radio), or email.

Here is a list of the most common landing page optimization factors that improve your conversion rate:

1.Trust Indicators.

The most common indicators are similar to the Hackersafe Logo, which shows that the site is safe, and the Verisign Logo which tells the user that your transactions are secure. If you're part of the BBB online program, then using their seal is highly recommended on the landing page. Note that a modern looking site with a clean user experience is a very big trust indicator in itself, so if your website has grainy images, stark shopping cart pages, and an antiquated look, it will lose conversions.

2.Credit Card Logos & PayPal

People want to see the cards that you accept and the PayPal logo (assuming you take PayPal.) Even though credit card acceptance is assumed by most people, they aren't always sure you'll take their card, especially if it is a Discover or Diner's Club card. Better yet, if you do take card types that are less common than Visa and MasterCard, these users have more of an incentive to use you in the future.

3.Accreditations

Similar to trust indicators, accreditations give third-party evidence that you are a reliable source. If you're a private school, there are private school associations that have accreditations. If you’re a university, you can reference the state or federal agency that accredits your school, library, laboratory, or instruction program.

4.Calls to action

You can never be too obvious when you tell people what you want them to do. If you want them to fill out a form, put it in the middle of the page. If you want them to call, say "call now" in the brightest colors on the page. Many sites have multiple elements competing for attention, but the call to action should be the biggest draw.

5.Phone number

If you take phone calls, you should make the phone number visible on every page of your website, and especially the landing pages. Sometimes the biggest key to online success involves adding a phone number, which can create more leads than a form or shopping cart.

6.Message Matching

If you're running an online ad for "zebra shirts" then the landing page should have the same term prominently placed in the text above the fold, or a picture of a zebra shirt should be present right away. Site users should not have to look very hard to find the product that they are already looking for. No matter what the offer, product, or point of view, customers will stick with you if you can keep the promise you made in your ad text.

The optimization of landing pages is a continuous process which is well worth the effort. If your site is profitable, you can improve your margins by making the shopping process easier. If your site is getting traffic that doesn't convert, you will want to test out different landing page configurations before giving up. If you are running different ads for the same product, you can test out messages, colors, image placement, and many other factors in order to see which approach makes the most money.

Finally, a landing page should convey the same amount of trust as your homepage, if not more. Most savvy marketers will land paid traffic on a specific landing page with messaging designed to match the offer or product in the ad. This page has to create instant confidence in the mind of the user, so many of the same things you would put on your homepage are applicable to a landing page as well.

Similarly, the rest of the shopping process should continue the trust theme, right up through the order confirmation. By having confident customers who believe in your website, your conversion rate can beat that of your competitors, which allows you to expand your online business while improving profitability.

About the Author:
Patrick Hare has been managing online and offline marketing projects since 1999. From 2005 to present, he has been with Scottsdale Arizona's Web.com Search Agency (formerly Submitawebsite). Patrick provides Search Engine Optimization and Marketing advice to in-house customers and Web.com Jacksonville's web design group. "