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Landing Page Basics
A landing page is not a start page or a doorway page. Huh? Knowing
the difference can save you a lot of grieve. With that being said,
definitions are in order before learning how to construct a landing page.
Landing Page, Start Page, Doorway
Page Defined
Landing Page - A landing page
as a page that appears when an online customer clicks on an online ad or a search-engine result link.
The page is suppose to display content that is an extension of the ad the
person clicked on.
Start Page - A start page is a page with a lot of links about a specific topic. Sometimes they also include pictures and content with the links.
But start pages can also have paid links on the page. This (the paid links)
can be a red flag for Google. If the webmaster hasn't followed the Google rules about paid links than
they (Google) will assume the webmaster is buying and selling links for the purpose of search engine manipulation. If Google finds that to be the case,
the site may be penalized or the pages will no longer be seen in the Google index.
Doorway Page - Doorway pages are pages that are optimized for a few keywords that is visible only to the
spiders, with the sole purpose of leading you to a different central page.
This is how a doorway page works. An individual clicks on a link, lands on the doorway page, and then they are immediately redirected to a different website. As you can see by the description,
doorway are considered spam and a bad SEO practice. In addition, these pages offer little or no content. This, in Google's eyes, is "black hat" tactics to SEO.
This too, is another area in which Google closing the door
on. Now
that we have the definitions, and a little clearer idea of what a
landing page is and is not- we can now discover the uses of a
landing page.
Uses of A Landing Page
The basic purpose of a landing page in online marketing is to motivate, to inform, to persuade and to sell the product or service to the visitor that landed on your well-designed page. That sounds,
well, pretty straight forward.
To begin constructing your landing page, you need to consider page structure, your words, and your keywords in the total mix. If you do it right you will get sales, or convince someone to fill out a form or survey, etc. I’m sure you get my meaning.
Different Types of Landing Pages
1) A landing page that informs - this is a page that will give individuals
valuable information. This type of landing page is usually used by
such businesses as public service companies.
2) A landing page that request some time of transaction- The transaction can be:
1) filling out a form (Insurance companies vying for customers through quotes on their products) or;
2) buying a product or service.
Structure of a Landing Page
When a visitor clicks on your landing page, he/she should see the following structure.
Headline
The headline should do three important things:
· Grabs the attention of the visitor
· States the purpose of the page
· Compliments and coincide with your banner or ad
You have only one moment to grab the attention of the visitor, thus, the heading should entice the reader to continue on to the next paragraph or subheading. So choose your words, font style (Arial, Verdana are good choices), font size to your advantage.
And remember, if the headline does not compliment or coincide with your banner or ad, they, your target market, are gone.
Body Structure
The body should consist of the following:
1) Paragraphs -- Paragraphs should be short with white space. Why? Most people will hit a site, but not read it word for word. Then what do they do? They scan the page. Which brings me to the next important part of a land page—sentences.
2) Sentences – First, sentences should be short, snappy, too the point, and without twenty dollar words. You have to assume scanners are in a hurry; they want the information as fast as you can give it to them without putting them to sleep, and without having to pull out a dictionary. Second, the first sentence of every paragraph should contain the summary of the paragraph. “A Call To Action” (Buy Now! Try Now!) should appear throughout the body of your copy, as well as, at the top and bottom of your page.
3) Bold subheadings – Bold subheadings should identify the topic of the paragraph or paragraphs that rest under the subheading. This will allow the skimmer to read or skip the paragraph – in search of the information they are most interested in.
4) Bulleted Information – Bulleted information is a lifesaver. Bullets help to condense copy into short, thorough, easy to read, sentences without being boring. Utilize them.
According to Eyetrack III Research
a smaller typeface encourages more focused reading, while larger type encourages scanning. With that little tidbit of information, you may want to experiment with font size in the body of your copy.
As you can see from the structure of the body, we are looking for a
tightly-written page with well-defined bold subheadings and bulleted information – to ease the scanner/reader through the copy without having him/her click
away from boredom.
Things To Consider
1. Place the most important information above the fold.
2. Avoid distracting material in the sidebars. If the information in the sidebars distracts the visitor – focus is lost and that could mean a lost sale.
3. Add pictures or a form if relevant, but be careful about size.
4. Put your “Call To Action” above the fold, at the end, and balanced throughout the length of your text.
Keywords and SEO
Once the content is completed, then you should make sure that you optimize your landing page for the search engines. Images should have an alt tag description. Try to describe your images with specific descriptions.
Example: If you have a picture of a Schnauzer, put ‘alt=Schnauzer’, not ‘alt=”dog”
Go for the specific description not the generic. Why?
If you were looking for a Schnauzer, would you look for dog or
Schnauzer. In most cases, I would bet on the
Schnauzer, or maybe even Schauzer+dog.
Note: Your landing page content must be keyword rich, but not keyword stuffed.
Keyword rich, as you
know, is the means by which the search engines and your targeted traffic
can find you.
Keyword stuffing means-that targeted traffic and the search engines will find you, and then, the search engines will penalize you or take your
page from the index. This translates very simply: No index=no traffic, means no business.
PPC Ads
If you are writing your landing page for a Google Ad (PPC advertising), again, make sure that your landing page is relevant to your keywords and to the text of your ads. There are two reasons to heed this advice:
1) Your traffic will click away and go elsewhere to find the information they are seeking; 2) Google will penalize you.
Testing
Your Landing Page or Pages
Sometimes, in the testing phase people may develop several landing pages
for the same product, only varying their copy slightly. If you do this, it would be wise to index only the general landing page and have your robots meta tag include a “NOFOLLOW”
so it won’t be indexed – this will prevent the search engines from
penalizing you with a duplicate copy penalty on your site.
Though testing both landing pages can give you more accurate stats,
you can also test one landing page at a time. Testing each landing
page separately for a week. Though this may not give you the most
accurate results, it can help you an idea of how your targeted market
is thinking or not thinking-whatever the case may be.
Google Adwords Algorithm for Landing Pages
Google now assigns quality scores to landing pages to determine the positioning, pricing, and other factors.
When this Google algorithm change first hit the Internet, it hit some
established websites hard - decrease in income for some, closing of
door for others.
Thus, if you do not want to be penalized with higher bid prices for your keywords, or a shift in page positioning of your ad, you should keep the following information in the back of your mind when developing a landing page.
1) Relevant content
2) Links to page that provide relevant and accurate information related to ad
3) Your landing page should have at least 500 words (which isn’t much).
4) Remove all Adsense ads on your landing page.
5) Your content should be original (if you have a catalog page, have descriptive content with
an anchor to differentiate it from links that Google may
consider spam.)
If you heed the above advice when developing a landing page, you may be nicely rewarded with a high page quality
score along with some other benefits:
1) keyword minimum will decrease
2) Improve position on the content network
3) improved opportunities to get your ads on targeted sites.
Visitor Interaction
You want your visitor to
have a positive experience on your site. If they have a positive
experience, you may get a return visit and maybe another sell in the
future. With that being said, it is advised not to enlist these nasty
annoyances. 1. Do not alter browsers behavior or settings, such
as eliminating the back button functionality. I've had to close my
Internet connection in some cases to get rid of this nuance.
2. Do not automatically install software to visitors site without
first telling the visitor or without allowing for the easy
removal of the software.
3. Don't send them to a landing page that requires them to register.
More times than not, you have lost your visitor. I've encountered
this type of landing page several times. I have to say, I did said a few choice words
under my breathe, before clicking away. Why? I was looking for
information, not wanting to register.
To conclude, landing pages can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Design it correctly, follow the rules, and it will be your successful friend for life.
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