1. Split (A/B) Test: Find out what works and try to discern why by doing split testing.
2. Keep your form short, simple and above the fold: Most landing pages are designed to gather information, or get people to buy quickly make sure they know where to put in their information, or how to buy right away. Don’t smash them over the head with an overcomplicated list of 20 fields to fill out and make the process simple and easy. There’s no need to have a 5 page checkout process so try to keep your checkout to a maximum of 2 pages.
3. Follow the yellow brick road: Make sure you use buttons and arrows to lead to the final destination. If you want them to fill out the form but they’ve scrolled to the button of the page, provide an link that sends them back up to the form with a big shiny arrow and a big shiny button pointing them in the right direction.
4. Testimonials: If you’re selling a product or service, people love to see what others have said about it. Link to your best testimonials which are a proven testament to the awesomeness of your product.
5. A picture is worth 1,000 words: Seriously. If you’re selling something, show a picture of it. If your product is unattractive, redesign your packaging. Packaging sells! If you’re selling something you can see “in action working” then show us a video of it actually working. Make sure your product design is modern and up to date. No one wants to buy something that looks like it was designed in 1999.
6. Use a video to increase engagement: Don’t auto play it, but keep it above the fold so people can watch it if they choose. If you’re going to embed a video, Youtube and Vimeo are the best way to do so. Things like Flash and Silverlight won’t work in mobile devices so people browsing on their iPad’s won’t even see them.
7. Give a little bit of background on who is behind the product: Nothing is shadier then “Random pill A!” with no mention of who created it or why. Give a little background story on the product, who created it, and what problem they were solving. There’s a man (or a woman) behind everything and people can relate to that!
8. Competitive research: What the heck are your competitors doing? Are you noticing a pattern in their designs or layouts? Try to mimic it but do it one step better.
9. Take advantage of the social networking community: Make it easy to share with easy to see Twitter and Facebook icons. Offer your viewers 10% off or $5 off if they’ll tweet or facebook about your landing page. They’ll spread the word and you’ll get more traffic. PJX Peer is a great way to take advantage of this.
10. Make sure your advertisements and your landing pages have matching language and branding: This way people aren’t concerned they’ve landed in the wrong place when you switch it up on them. Keep it consistent.
Author: Leslie Stewart
Courtesy of www.verticalleap.co.uk