Why Landing Pages Fail - Top 5 Pitfalls

Is bidding on keywords really worth the investment if your landing page isn't laid out well?

If you're using paid search you quickly see how increasingly expensive it is to arrest someone's attention online. In this medium, you are no longer competing just against your peers in bidding on keywords. You're also having to compete for attention against organic search results, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Trying to cut through that noise costs more and more money. (Which is still the #1 reason for having great content on your website).

Web usability research shows that you have a few seconds to make an impact and if that page the visitor lands on is confusing or it looks hard, they're gone.

Here's five simple tips to make sure your landing page is delivering results.

1. Use great images to direct attention. The image below is from an eye tracking study and shows how much time users spend on the picture versus the copy. Isn't it fascinating to see the lack of engagement with that logo at the bottom?

Here's the remarkable part, look what happens when the use the baby's gaze to direct attention on the second landing page design.

Amazing isn't it?  Simply by directing the baby's gaze onto the text column, the user's focus automatically shifts to a higher engagement with the copy and even the brand logo at the bottom right. 

Takeaway: Check out a site like iStockphoto for affordable stock photography that still looks great.

2. Don't Ask for a DNA Sample
This is the easiest landing page error to correct. Do you really need all that demographic info right now? An email and a name field will do wonders for people to opt-in. We recently did a project with the Webby Awards and all the opt-in form asked for was an email address. Subscriptions have picked up substantially as a result.

Here's an example of a landing page that's probably seeing a very high bounce rate due to the amount of info it asks a user to input.

Takeaway: Have two form fields for a visitor to fill out.

1. Name (first and last can be on the same line)
2. Email Address (bonus: use a form validator to make sure the email gets entered correctly)
3. A nice big call to action button (Go! or 'Submit and get your download link')

3. Make a Compelling Offer
A great white paper with relevant content for its industry or maybe a free set of icons will pull traffic from Twitter, Facebook, or email. The juicier the offer, the more hoops you might be able to ask a user to jump thru. We'd recommend erring on the side of less is more though.

Takeaway: Don't be afraid to quantify your offer as a dollar amount - if people feel like they're getting something for free that would cost otherwise, they're more likely to engage.

4. Limit Text and Make It Juicy
Jakob Nielsen's research clearly shows that the amount a person will read (or not read) is based on the amount of words on a web page.  The more words the less likely a person is to read all of them.  Why read when you can watch a 6th grader eat it off a bike ramp on YouTube?

Takeaway: The above research shows that between 1-100 word counts per page online stands a decent chance of getting read (or at least scanned).

5. Show Your Trustworthy
Your visitor might not be quite ready to hand over their contact information just from hitting a landing page. To make them feel safe be sure to include a very strong blurb around your privacy policy and adhere to it.

For example: "We hate spam too. We will not rent, sell, or pass along your email address. Ever."

Also, If you have developed a strong persona, you'll know what the visitor's pain points are and you can engage them with the next steps. What's a Persona? Learn how to create a persona?"

Takeaway: Offer one link to take the landing page visitor to a safe spot on your site if they don't want to opt-in right there. 

Conclusion
Landing pages are where smart web design and truly rewarding your visitor's attention pays off. Hope this let's you make the most out of your search budget and convert site visitors to fans.