ClickBrain

MarketingProfs put together an excellent list of the “5 best and worst things about landing pages”. In fact, this seems to be more of a dos and don’ts list but overall it is well done. Below are a few of my favorite excerpts.

Landing Pages Can Be Matched With Advertisements essentially means in my mind must be matched with advertisements. If you are building a landing page and it is not tied to a specific ad, then it is likely a waste of time or at the least will not produce the results you want. The fact is that for every ad you run and every search term, your landing page must match that if you want it to convert to what you need it to convert.

1. Landing pages are quick and cheap. <snip> But “cheap” should be measured by CPA (cost per acquisition), not absolute dollars. If you spend twice as much time on a three-page landing path, but it generates a 5-times factor in your conversion rate on the same ad dollars, that’s a good investment.
2. Landing pages can be “matched” with advertisements.

And those are the good things!

The top 5 worst things about landing pages (and tips for how to fix them):

1. Sagging Page Syndrome (SPS), also known as “the kitchen sink.”
   Trying to cram as much as possible onto one page puts the burden on the respondent to sift through it. Unfortunately, most of the time, they’re just not that into you yet.
   If you’ve got that much to say, and it’s valuable, then break it into digestible chunks across a multi-page path, ideally in a way that lets respondents choose which chunks are most relevant to them.
2. Giving bad brand. Collectively, all of the problems above contribute to making landing pages bad branding experiences. As noted earlier, landing pages are quick and cheap—which is good—but they often look quick and cheap, which is not good. Not good at all. Because it signals quick and cheap for your brand, and unless you’re the Dollar Store, that’s not a good image to put in people’s minds.

There are a lot of good tips in the piece they were just put into a strange package in terms of the 5 worst and best things about landing pages, when in fact it is really 10 tips for optimizing your landing pages and making them more effective and thus increasing the value of your advertising dollars.

MarketingProfs.com – Printer Friendly Version

Brad Adwords, adversiting, landing pages, multivariate testing, split testing

I am logged into one web application all day long no matter what and that is Performancing Metrics. It is the easiest to use and most powerful analytics system for blogging that I have ever used. It is not a full blown analytics system, but it is everything I need for tracking my weblogs traffic. From its live spy feature that tracks users while they are on the site to detail IP data about users and an interface that accommodates multiple weblogs, it is well worth what I pay for a subscription. The beautiful thing about it though is that they have a free version so you can give it a run first without paying a dime. Go try it. You will be very glad you did.

Update: One really cool feature is the ability to assign a name or any moniker to an IP address. Certain companies visit my FaxChronicle.com website that are in that industry and I like to know how often they do. Again, this is a great product. I cannot recommend it enough. Try it out now.

Link to User home | Performancing Metrics

Technorati tags: tracking, analytics, sem, performancing, google, spy, visitor tracking, IP logging, log tracking, behavioral tracking

Brad CPC, SEM, SEO, bill clinton, split testing

My friend Sumantra Roy wrote a great piece published over at Web Marketing Today on the 10 most important factors to test on your landing pages. This is an excellent overview of the critical issues all advertisers must consider on Adwords or anywhere else on the web. It’s all about the landing pages and testing. If you really want to test properly, then you should check out Sumantra’s company Conversion Multiplier. Their technology is fantastic and their results are amazing. I’ve seen results from his multi-variate testing increasing conversions up to 600%. Call them and tell them Brad Nickel at ClickBrain.com sent you.

…these are all based on actual tests that we conducted for our clients.

1. Long Copy vs. Short Copy. Conventional direct marketing wisdom is that long copy always wins over short copy. Well, not always. Our tests show that while long copy wins over short copy in some cases, short copy performs better than long copy in others. …

2. Credibility Logos. Signing up with organizations like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Hacker Safe and displaying their logos on your site can often significantly increase your conversions. But, don’t assume that this will always be the case …

3. Security Assurance in Order Form or Shopping Cart. Test whether adding a few lines of content somewhat prominently in your order form or shopping cart page assuring visitors about the security of their financial and personal data increases conversions. This often proves to be a very important variable especially if your target audience tends to be somewhat older in age, or somewhat new to purchasing things on the Internet.

Click on over to read the rest of the piece. Source: 10 Factors to Test that Could Increase the Conversion Rate of your Landing Pages

Technorati tags: marketing, testing, multi-variate testing, split testing, copy, writing, landing page, landing pages, advertising, adwords, conversion, conversion multiplier, conversions

Brad Adwords, SEM, adversiting, content, landing pages, multivariate testing, split testing, web marketing