5 Critical Mistakes in Landing Page Design
Posted on | December 29, 2009 | 13 Comments
Don't Be This Kid
Going into 2010 many businesses are looking at how they can improve their online marketing and many are considering Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising as one option. PPC is attractive because it offers the opportunity for immediate traffic (at a price) and the Return on Investment on a PPC Campaign is much easier to calculate than other online marketing methods.
Most businesses find that using an online marketing firm to manage PPC campaigns is a wise investment, however many come to this realization only after trying it for themselves. Therefore, I’d like to offer these suggestions to avoid PPC pitfalls that many encounter:
Irrelevance – The ad should direct the user to a relevant, appropriate page. For example, an advertisement for a sale on a Panasonic Model TC L37 S1 flat screen television should direct the user to a page that is focused on that product. Therefore, the advertisement should not send the user to a home page, or even a category page that discusses television sets in general. Overall, a landing page should be designed to be highly relevant to the searchers stated intent not only to overcome the quality hurdle imposed by the search engines, but also to convert visitors that do arrive on the page.
No Clear Call To Action – Many businesses become overly enamored with the design, advertising copy, snappy graphics and forget to clearly ask the user to take the desired action. Think big, red “Buy Now” button in the upper right-hand corner
Too Much Information – Advertisers often include extraneous information that confuses the user; this can include advertising copy, graphics, video and more. The Landing Page should focus only on getting the user to take the desired action. This can include making a purchase, signing up for an email list or requesting more information.
Complexity – Use the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) method when designing Landing Pages. Start with a template that is consistent with the website’s existing look and feel. If possible, remove the unnecessary navigation to avoid distraction. Write copy that is highly targeted and keyword-rich focused on a single topic. Finally, create a clear call to action. If several people shown the page for 3 seconds can answer the questions: What is this page about? and What is the next step? Then it should be ready to use.
Failure to Test – Many new PPC advertisers become engrossed in the design of their Landing pages and fail to test their new creation. Let’s be clear: we’re not talking about advanced A/B or Multivariate testing, we’re talking about simple functionality and appearance. Before committing hundreds or thousands of dollars in a PPC campaign, test the Landing Page to ensure that it works and appears as intended. You can save the advanced stuff for later.
PPC advertising can be a very effective method for driving targeted traffic to a website, however many new advertisers get burned by making some pretty simple mistakes. Hopefully, by avoiding these pitfalls, they can climb the learning curve quickly enough to avoid some expensive mistakes.
Do you have some Landing Page design horror stories? If so, please share them in the comments and tell us what you learned from them.
Bill Rowland
Tags: landing page > landing page design > pay per click advertising > ppc advertising
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13 Responses to “5 Critical Mistakes in Landing Page Design”
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January 3rd, 2010 @ 12:30 am
One of the problems I found when dealing with landing pages is that companies often want their first page to only hold a image or some kind of a pattern. I supposed it looks more like a design but makes my life a living hell.
January 7th, 2010 @ 6:20 am
The landing page should not be overly crowded and ads should be well placed i think ezinearticles is one such example where ads are well matched
January 7th, 2010 @ 10:10 pm
Nanu, the point of a landing page is to focus on the goal of the page, such as filling out a form, subscribing to an email list, etc… Ads should not be present on a landing page, since they would only distract the user – Just my opinion.
January 13th, 2010 @ 11:32 am
This issue is a complex one, especially when having to take on board the input of non-web savvy colleagues.
A landing page is the second step in a chain of events directed towards a specific goal. If the goal can be achieved on that landing page then you should try to accomplish this and in doing so reduce the total number of steps to get the desired result.
Having the huge buy now button is a perfect example of this, if someone has entered into the chain of events (see last paragraph) and your entrance to the chain is correctly and clearly set up then you can be sure that this chain of events is something they would like to complete so make any clicks/actions they need to take to do this obvious/simple and clear, at this stage a large proportion of people will just want to click through the process as quickly as possible. Supply a little additional information in an non-intrusive way for people who are seeking this.
January 13th, 2010 @ 6:32 pm
Jimmy,
I think that you’re right on. Many want to throw in their two cents which can lead to a great deal of “noise.” Your reference to a “chain of events” is sound; this is a multi-step process so making each step simple and clear is critical.
January 18th, 2010 @ 2:58 am
Thank! Great advice. IMHO, it is definitely important to maintain the focus on a single offer or product for the Landing page and I agree wholeheartedly about the Call-To-Action. Too often a Landing Page seems to direct to the general website, and therefore loses the focus and momentum for which it was created.
February 2nd, 2010 @ 11:07 am
I love that you dedicate the last section to hammer home that you must test! Have you by chance uploaded any of your A/B Tests to the site http://www.abtests.com/ ? Or have you had a second to check out the new site that simplifies all this testing – http://www.performable.com/ – Performable?
We’d love to hear feedback on both sites!
February 2nd, 2010 @ 12:21 pm
Rex, Thanks for the links. I look forward to checking out what you have for us.
February 11th, 2010 @ 1:31 pm
Bill,
Hopefully you liked what you saw there. Be sure to follow both @Performable and @abtests on twitter! Thank you!
Rex
February 12th, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
Great post! While I think advanced testing methods such as A/B and multivariate are important, you are so right that we have to test design and functionality as well. ion’s executive vice president, Anna Talerico, did a webinar yesterday with Tim Ash, founder of SiteTuners.com, where Tim listed his favorite tools for this type of testing. You might be interested in a blog post we wrote listing his favorite tools: http://www.ioninteractive.com/post-click-marketing-blog/2010/2/11/ninja-tools-for-conversion-rate-optimization-via-tim-ash.htm
-Kristina, @ion_interactive
February 13th, 2010 @ 5:33 pm
Rex, Thanks. I’m on it.
February 13th, 2010 @ 5:35 pm
Kristina,
Cheers! I’m looking forward to checking it out.
June 1st, 2010 @ 1:49 pm
As concerned about the complexity i have a story about landing page. I was taking care of rest of all the techniques mentioned here but was not so concious about the complexity. My landing page was too complex. Although i read about complexity and never took care of it and just assume in my mind that it has nothing to do with my conversion. One day while reading a post i just modified the page with non serious mood and and CONVERSION RATE IMPROVED TO 10%, So i advise all those who read post to STRICTLY follow all the tip mentioned here and you would be surprised yourself when you see the results. Happy ppc bidding