Many businesses are harnessing the power of advertising platforms like Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing to drive targeted visitors to their website. Unfortunately, many often forget that this is only the first step in generating new sales.

Getting targeted traffic is one thing, but businesses need to rely on their landing page to convert visitors to sales. A landing page is the page visitors reach after clicking on your advertisement, and is one of the most crucial factors in your overall advertising success.

In general, a landing page should be highly targeted towards the advertisement generating the click-through, and provide a clear action for the visitor to complete. This action may be completing an enquiry form, submitting a quote or finding out more information.

As many businesses don’t know where to start, I’ve put together a simple 7 point checklist to ensure your landing pages are up to scratch.

1. First impressions last
   Visitors who click through from your advertisement want to be reassured they’ve landed on the right page. Closely matching the headline and copy from your ad text is a great way to do this.

2. Provide a clear call to action
   Use buttons or text and tell your visitor what they need to do. Draw attention to the action you want them to complete.
3. Put your most critical landing page elements above the fold
   Research shows that over half of your visitors will not even scroll “below the fold”. Get straight into your main message and keep calls to action in the upper half of the page.
4. Use Whitespace
   Use whitespace to break up long paragraphs and make the page visually appealing. Dense copy is likely to be ignored.
5. Write in the second person – You and Your
   Users are interested in how your product/services benefit them. Make this message clear by using “You” and “Your” in the copy.
6. Watch Your Load Time
   Users are going to wait more than 8 seconds or so for your page to load, so don’t clutter the page with non-essential graphics. Keep it simple and optimize images to have the smallest file sizes.
7. Look Trustworthy
   Include things like awards, certifications, testimonials and privacy policies to convince customers they can trust you.

While this list doesn’t include every way to optimize your landing pages, it’s a good foundation to get on the right track. Try implementing my suggestions and post a comment with your results!

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