Are you making it
easy for your Web
visitors to buy? A
landing page can help
guide them towards a
purchase.
If you're like most
companies, you focus on
driving traffic to your
Web site via
advertising. If too few
visitors buy something
once they're there, you
blame your marketing
program. You may say the
media costs were too
high or the clicks were
junk traffic. True, some
marketing campaigns will
perform better than
others. But in many
cases, you can improve
your visitor-to-buyer
conversion rate just by
modifying your Web site,
not your marketing.
In his e-book,
How to Develop a
Landing Page That Closes
the Sale, Dr.
Ralph F. Wilson urges
business owners to
evaluate their landing
pages, also known as
entry pages. The landing
page is the page
shoppers see once they
click an online ad, a
search engine listing or
a banner ad, for
example. The goal of a
landing page is to
persuade visitors to
complete a transaction.
Is your home page a
landing page? You
shouldn't consider it
one. Your ad entices
people to click for more
information, while your
landing page closes the
sale. It shouldn't
invite people to surf
your Web site. It's a
stand-alone page that
hides your main Web site
navigation. It offers
few or no options other
than taking the intended
action. And the copy
should expand upon the
message revealed in the
advertisement visitors
clicked on. Keep in mind
that different ads
require different
landing pages; each
landing page should be
customized for a
particular audience.
There's more than
explanatory copy at work
on entry pages.
According to Wilson, an
effective landing page
uses the psychological
factors of enhancing
desire, creating a
rationale, making the
offer compelling, and
building trust to sell a
product or service.
"Never underestimate
the power of emotional
selling," says Wilson.
"A no-nonsense
description of an offer
may work for nationally
branded companies. Most
companies don't have
that luxury. Today's
shoppers are pressed for
time and money. Address
their emotional needs,
and your sales will at
least double."
To write copy that
appeals to your
potential customers on
an emotional level,
pretend to interview
them. Start with the
following questions:
What problems are you
dealing with now? How do
you want these resolved,
and what are your
concerns? What would
make you buy this
solution today? Strip
out the industry jargon
from your reply for
simple, results-oriented
copy. This is the making
of a good entry page.
What makes a good
landing page better?
Unfortunately, there is
no magic formula. But
it's an easy question to
answer: Test a variety
of pages. You can change
your page design,
reprioritize your
benefits, or use case
studies.
The Web audience is
diverse, and individuals
will respond to
different marketing
messages and
presentation styles.
It's up to you to
discover which landing
pages will get your
visitors to become your
customers.
Speaker and
freelance writer
Catherine Seda owns
an Internet marketing
agency and is author of
Search Engine
Advertising.
2005-12-13 18:22:02
