A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend the Digital World Expo at the Palms in Las Vegas. I had no idea what to expect when my boss decided to ship my business colleague Melanie and I off to the conference. I want to be candid because after all, that is what I’m loved (and hated) for as an Internet marketing coach. I wasn’t that impressed by the event. It was a bit disorganized and much, much smaller than I expected. I guess the word WORLD in the conference name really stood out to me. But after realizing it seemed like only 100 attendees were present, I got slapped in the face. The conference has the potential to be an amazing resource/learning experience for attendees, but I believe a coming of age is needed. Just like a 16 year old girl, the conference needs to define itself. Does it want to be for advanced tech/marketing professionals looking to further their already developed skill set? OR, does it want to be for small business owners looking to learn the basics of the digital world. Once this is addressed, I think the conference will be in great shape. Good luck!
Now that I’ve cleared out the background a bit, I want to highlight one of the sessions I sat in on. The presenter was Tim Ash of Site Tuners, and his presentation discussed 7 deadly sins of landing pages. This session was by far the most informational, best delivered/presented, and most worthwhile. Not to say the knowledge was lightning striking metal for me, but it did outline some points I never took the time to define. So allow me to discuss landing page optimization and 7 mistakes that will directly affect your conversions.
image courtesy of tutsplus
(Please reference this image when reading the landing page optimization flaws)
1. Unclear call-to-action
For those of you that don’t know what a call-to-action is, go away. Only kidding 🙂 A call-to-action is just a call out that tells your potential customer what it is you want them to do. It could be anything from a “free trial”, “call today”, “sign up”, etc. On the above example, take a second to guess what you believe this company is asking from you. If you guessed, to “See Plans and Pricing”, then you are correct. If you didn’t that is because this company has a visually unclear call-to-action. Sure the message is there, but the green on green isn’t the best visual indicator that your eyes should go to that location for the call-to-action. Using complimentary colors that have a higher contrast will draw more attention.
2. Too many choices
Your landing page needs to contain only one main call-to-action that will grab the attention of your potential customer. In the above example, do you see any other calls-to-action aside from “See Plans and Pricing”? I see two. The call-to-action discussed previously, but also the orange “replay” button. A better option might be to change the color of this option so more attention would be directed to “See Plans and Pricing”. You want only predominately one call-to-action for ultimate optimization.
3. Asking for too much information
This landing page optimization tip is very straight forward. The less information you ask for, the more people will provide that information. For example, if you require people to add their name, email, phone, shoe size, eye color, hometown, dogs name, food preferences….(get it?) you will ultimately generate less leads. The example above doesn’t pertain to this point because the call-to-action “See Plans and Pricing” is directing you to another page where you are asked for the information. But you get the gist.
4. Too much text
You know when you meet someone and they just suck at formulating sentences, ideas, and getting to the point? Well that used to be me and no one likes that. Not your friends. And definitely not your potential customers. So when you are delivering your message that supports your call-to-action, do so efficiently. Using the least amount of words to pack the most meaning is best. In the above example they used 26 words. That’s it. More text doesn’t mean that you will be luring more customers to convert.
5. Not keeping your promises
Recently, I had my heart shattered by a foreign girl. Real talk. Well not really, but she didn’t keep her promises and it left me feeling pissed, betrayed, and curious as to why. This same feeling will be experienced by your customers if you don’t keep your promises. If you guarantee delivery in 5 days, do it. If you say you won’t use the information you gather for any other purpose then what they signed up for, then do it (this one is HUGE). Promises are huge and will not be forgotten by your customers or the referrals they won’t be giving you.
6. Visual distractions
Just picture it, you are excited about an advertisement you see and land on a page. Then all of the sudden, a bunch of cheetahs go running across your screen being chased by ostridges. Or is it vice verse? Well it doesn’t matter. The point is that you would be very distracted if this was happening. Most likely, nothing would get your attention except those damn animals. So keep your landing page free of distractions. All attention should be directed on the call-to-action, enticing content, and aesthetics, not on obnoxious visual effects
7. Lack of trust
This one is common sense, but often overlooked. Think about it. If you are in need of an iPhone (I wouldn’t recommend it) and will buy it at that second. Would you buy it from someone you trust like a best friend or a random street person in Tijuana? Obviously your friend because you trust that person. The same is said of landing pages. People will buy or provide information to websites and companies they trust. Your landing page is this portal. Show your validity with logos of past clients, testimonials, etc. In the above example, you see logos and reviews by big name companies like Business Week, PC World, and PC Magazine. This is great! So boast away!
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