Writing Effective Landing Pages: How to Get Your Traffic to Buy

Have you ever taken an airplane trip to a new destination that you have never visited before? How did you feel when your plane touched down and as you were approaching the gate, the pilot spoke into the PA system. "Ladies and gentlemen," he says. "We were scheduled to arrive at Gate 1, but there has been a change. We are now arriving at Gate 137."

You can hear a groan go through the passengers. A different gate! And it's a lot farther away from the baggage claim area. Now you have to walk longer through a maze of concourses to find out how to reach your destination.

Traveling can be frustrating when you land in the wrong place, even if it is not your fault. But one thing is sure. The visitors of your website will feel the same way - disappointed and even annoyed when they don't find what you promised in a pay-per-click ad. Just think, a new person comes to your site, after reading an ad on Google. Your ad may read:

Purple Dress Shoes
Get the latest fashion in
your size. Free shipping.
www.xxxxxxxxx.com

The landing page is the web page on your site seen by the visitor who clicks on this ad. Just like the airport, you are directing your guest to the arrival gate. When your visitors land at your site, will they find what they are looking for quickly and easily?

Here are two of the biggest roadblocks that your website can put in the way of people who are ready to buy.

1. Your visitors run away from your home page.
Let's say that you have written an excellent pay-per-click ad for purple dress shoes that is generating a 15 percent click through rate. That means that 15 of every 100 viewers clicks on your ad to find purple dress shoes. And then, like the pilot on the airplane, you announce a new gate - your web site's home page.

The home page shows purses, dresses, ear rings - anything but purple shoes. Your visitor will look and look. After 20 seconds, 30 if you are lucky, she'll click the BACK button quickly and probably never return.

Solution: Make sure you direct your visitors to a landing page which shows them exactly what they are looking for - where it is easiest to convert them into a sale.

2. Your landing page doesn't turn visitors into customers.
Conversion. Turning a visitor into a customer. That is what your landing page must do. If you don't sell, no one buys.

Let's say that the purple shoes buyers land on one of your web pages and see a picture of purple dress shoes, description of purple dress shoes and the words "PURPLE DRESS SHOES."

"This is just what I want!" Mary Clotheshorse is saying to herself. "Purple dress shoes. I like the color. I like the style. I like the look. How do I buy?"

She looks up and down your page for a "Buy Now" button or "Add to Cart" link. Or maybe she doesn't. About 15-20% of people who visit web pages don't scroll past the first screen. After all of the search, she can't find how to buy the purple dress shoes - so it's back to Google to find another site.

What's going on here? Mary can't find how to buy. The web page has no clear CALL TO ACTION. Let's face it. The website owner is the one to lead the visitor to buy.

Solution: Place a big, clear, easy to recognize BUY NOW button right where Mary can see it. At the top of the landing page and at the bottom of the landing page. Test the text on the button and the color.

Many sites are adopting the orange colored buttons of Amazon.com. That makes sense. After all, Amazon sells billions of dollars of online books and merchandise. Learn from a winner.

Study the websites of successful retailers. Master these two techniques to increase your conversions and you will see you sales increase dramatically. Your visitors will be glad they landed on your site. Now all you have to do is create the landing pages with the right tools to match the keywords and pay-per-click ads that you are using.