Web Design Tips For Profitable Landing Pages

Your landing page may be the most important part of your online marketing strategy. Crafting a good one requires more careful planning than a typical site or blog. Here are some tips to help you make a great one.

* Plan for the most important elements on the page to be "above the fold." A visitor who lands on the page shouldn't have to scroll before they understand what's being offered and make a buying decision.

* Have an image which represents what you're selling is very important. This is called a "hero shot," and is an important aspect of building your offer.

* Cut out distractions. The point should be to convert sales, not get advertising money from Google AdSense, or get people to read your Twitter feed. Remove links or other page elements that could decrease landing page effectiveness.

* Any images that exist on your landing page must support your sales message. If you can't show why an image should be on your landing page (because it draws attention, for example) then you should remove it.

* The copy on your landing page should be short and sweet, in many cases. Sometimes longer copy may be necessary to explain a complicated product or service. Testing is important.

* Readers' eyes will move down the page in an "F" shape -- for instance, they'll read the headline, the subhead, and then skim down the left side of the page until they see something that attracts their attention. Plan your most important sales messages according to this pattern.

Getting your formula down cold will take some time and experimentation. What works well for one product or market, falls flat for another.

Keep testing what works, and you'll see dramatic improvement in your conversions.