Landing page optimization is one of THE single most important factors in having a success business online.
It’s the front door to your business in many cases, and if people are turned off – you lose them forever. So let’s start this one off by explaining what a landing page is.
What Is A Landing Page?
For typical online marketers, a landing page is the page where you’re selling a free report… free video… etc. etc. But to many other marketers who aren’t in the “online marketing” crowd, a landing page is simply any page where people “land” on – which has some type of call to action.
That CTA could be anything from downloading a free white paper, to clicking a certain button, to requesting a free consultation.
It doesn’t really matter WHAT you’re selling or giving away… the techniques in this post will help you get the most out of your landing page optimization efforts 
Why Most People Do Landing Page Optimization Wrong
Most people honestly suck at landing page optimization.
Why?
Because they’re obsessed with testing the SMALL things. They test things like button color, size or shape BEFORE testing the headline… or the offer… or the design of the page.
They test the background color BEFORE something like the lead… or the theme… or the price of the product.
They test things like the width of the page, or the size of the font BEFORE testing something like having video vs. not having video… or the sales-funnel path… or the checkout page.
Catch my drift?
One of the biggest mistakes I see people making with landing page optimization is that instead of starting from the top and going down (top meaning the things most likely to give big increases)… they start from the bottom-up.
So What SHOULD You Be Testing When You Do Landing Page Optimization?
Here are the top 10 things I would suggest testing. Granted, this will be different for each product, market and offer being made… but it’s a general guideline
- Theme of the overall page
- Headline (including the pre and subhead)
- Lead (AKA – the “introduction”)
- Video vs. not video
- The offer (price, guarantee, shipping policy, bonuses, etc. etc.)
- Checkout page (if possible – this can be a bit tricky in some cases)
- Sales-funnel path
- Lead source
- Personalization
- Segmenting the landing page based on traffic source
Yes, I know it’s more work…
Yes, I know it’s a pain in the ass to setup (sometimes)…
Yes, I know you might have to “think” a little…
But I promise you – if you test JUST these 10 things… I’d bet dollars to donuts you can double your conversions by the time you’re done (minimum). Unless you’re some kind of psychic genius and can read the minds of your prospects and know EXACTLY what they want to hear, with EXACTLY what offer they want and EXACTLY what format and flow to put it in… you’re nowhere near what your conversion rate COULD be
In fact – I’d go so far as to say that having a landing page optimization “culture” in your company is a necessity… not an option.
Test these out and let me know how it goes…. and if you have any interesting results you’d like to share – please share them in the comments below!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Jeremy,
I was wondering if you could expand on #1, “Theme of the overall page”. What do you mean by that? Is it the emotional appeal you are going for with the headline, sub-headlines, body copy, etc? Thanks.
Billy,
Basically it’s the overall “hook” of your website, service, etc. For example one them can be your guarantee. Another theme could be relating your product to something topical (for example I recently wrote a tax promo talking about Mitt Romney’s low taxes even though he has a high income). Or it could be an “Us vs. Them” argument.
Basically it’s the one main argument your entire page or website is based on. In your case, it would be your unique selling proposition (e.g. why your homebrewing course is better than magazines, figuring it out yourself, etc.)
Hope that makes sense!
That makes perfect sense Jeremy, thanks.