3 Reasons Why Landing Pages Fail

Landing Pages are one of the most important part of a PPC (pay-per-click) campaign.  It would be the first page a visitor sees on a website after clicking an ad.  However they are too often put together with little thought.  Landing pages which only contain sales pitches or are filled with ads will more often than not have a low quality score given to them by the search engines.  One of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make is delivering traffic to a poorly designed landing page.  Here are the three main reasons why landing pages fail.

No Call To Action:
The number one reason why a landing page fails is because there is no clear action for the visitor to take.  The layout and text of a landing page should determine what the visitor will do next.  Your visitor needs to be guided as to what to do next.  Think of a landing page as an online salesperson that guides and informs the visitor of the options available.  Many times the visitor must be told what to do.  Provide specific instructions – “click here,” or “order now.”

The Content Is Not Relevant:
Looking at content from the perspective of the search engines, if a visitor is taken to a page that is not relevant to the ad they clicked on it is less likely that they will click on ads in the future.  In order for the search engines to make money it is very important that their users find relevant content. The marketer is therefore given a low quality score by the search engines which in turn escalates the marketers costs.  Don’t mislead the visitor.  Give them what they want.

The content should answer the questions the visitor wants answered.  The very best strategy for building your internet business is to provide relevant content.  Converting visitors to buyers requires good content.  By optimizing the content one can reap big rewards.  Remember relevant content is king.

No Pre-sell:
Many marketers are confused with the intent of a landing page.  They try selling their product or service from the very beginning.  However a landing page’s job is not to sell but to pre-sell.  Your web visitor will be turned off by this tactic.  They come looking for information.  Give it to them.  Then explain to them how your product or service will benefit them.

Encourage the visitor to get more information through free offers that will be sent to them to the email address they provide.  Upon providing an email address they should be taken to a page that congratulates them for requesting the information and a “Thank You” page. In this way you are leading the visitor through a series of small steps that will eventually take them to the sale.

A great number of internet marketers experience troublesome times when it comes to landing pages.  There are many e-books available that can help in understanding web traffic and how to increase conversion rates for the landing page.  But if you have been struggling in creating landing pages, then I encourage you to take a look at LPGen.  Jonathon Van Clute developed LpGen and its new version LPGen2, which comes out on February 22nd. 2010, to help marketers resolve these problems. Read my LPGen2 Review where I take a look at how LPGen2 creates relevant content and how it can benefit your paid search marketing efforts.

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