The term ‘landing page’ is a common phrase among online marketing gurus, but what does it mean and how does one create an effective landing page?

What is a Landing Page?
Basically, a landing page is a specialized marketing page aimed at directing a user to perform a certain task. These pages are typically highly focused on a particular product or service. The overall goal of a landing page is to entice users to perform a specific task that will inevitably lead to an online sale.

Creating an Effective Landing Page
When creating an effective landing page it’s important to consider the following items:

• What are you offering?
• Who do you wish to appeal to?
• Why would your potential customers be interested in your offer?
• How do your potential customers get started?

The goal of a landing page is to convert potential patrons into customers quickly. Your landing page is simply a summary of all the pages associated with the product or service that you’re offering. The page should be clear and concise, but also highly informative in nature.

Call to Actions
The most important element of a landing page is the call the action. A call to action basically informs the potential customer what they need to do in order to acquire your particular product or request your specific service. Typically your call to action will feature such phrases as “buy instantly,” or “subscribe now.” Your call to action may take the form of a button or simply a link to your purchase page.

Your call to action should also be placed in a highly visible location, and should stick out from everything else on the page. It’s a good idea to feature your call to action at the top of the page, because this will accommodate your impulsive customers who are already knowledgeable of your product or service. However, there should be calls to action located through-out your landing page, because different customers have various tipping/purchasing points.

General Guidelines

Wording
Your landing page should be anything, but a tedious reading. Convey your pertinent information with short and concise sentences. It’s also a good idea to organize your information into small chunks that are easy to comprehend and read. Many people are turned off by large intimidating blocks of text. Another great way to convey your information is to incorporate a bulleted list. Bulleted list inform your potential customers quickly and efficiently.

Length
The length of your landing page will vary from offer to offer, but it’s generally a good idea to keep your page length relatively short in order to reduce vertical scrolling. It’s also highly recommended to feature the most important information above the fold of your landing page. The term above the fold in the realm of web design refers to the visible space on a webpage that does not require the user to scroll vertically. However, vertical scrolling is determined by many uncontrollable variables such as monitor size and resolution.

Imagery
Research indicates that visitor’s eyes are usually drawn towards images before anything else. If you are going to incorporate images into your landing page, make sure that they don’t detract from the landing pages purpose. Never include unnecessary images within your landing page. Remember, that you should attempt to keep your landing page as clear and concise as possible.

How Much Revenue Did Your Web Site Generate Last Year?
Learn how to make your company web site a profit center instead of a cost center! Generating search engine traffic is a critically important factor in online success- but it’s not the whole ball game. Mark Lassoff, of Austin based NLI Media Group covers:

Fox 7 News Austin was nice enough to do a story on the NLI Media Challenge this morning.

Please view the story and encourage your friends to enter!

A common misconception is that considerable website traffic equates to online sales, but this is simply not true. Generating substantial traffic is a great start, but in order to be successful you must have an adequate conversion rate. A conversion rate is basically the percentage of site traffic that develops into an online sale of a service or product. Typically, the higher your conversion rate, the less traffic that will be required to meet your sales goals. Below are some helpful tips for improving your websites conversion rate.

Effective Calls to Action
Where you place your calls to action is very important. A call to action may be anything from a “buy now� button to an “instant quote� button. Basically, a call to action is the main purpose of your website. You want to direct your users to where you want them to go, and not simply let them wander around your site aimlessly. Typically, you want your call to action to be the first thing your prospective customers see.

A Well Organized Site Structure
Always insure that your website is well organized. Your site should be easy and intuitive to navigate. Also, your pertinent information should be prioritized and organized in an efficient logical manner. Your typical internet user has very little patience for an overly complicated or confusing website layout. Accommodate your inpatient visitors by making your website as clear and concise as possible.

Discover your USP
What is your websites unique selling proposition (USP)? Your unique selling proposition is what differentiates you from your competition. The internet is a very saturated market place, and competition is fierce. Your website needs to clearly state why your company is the best choice for your customer.

Online marketing may be extremely beneficial for your business and typically has a much greater return on investment than in comparison to traditional marketing avenues. However, your online marketing efforts must be conducted in an appropriate manner in order to be beneficial. Here are a few of the most common online marketing mistakes to watch out for and avoid.

1. Unsolicited Emails: Never send out spam emails. Sending out unsolicited emails may get your domain name or IP flagged as a source of spam. If you’re flagged as a source of spam, you may not be able to send legitimate emails, and your dreams of email marketing will go down the drain.
2. Extensive Load Times: Most people have very little patience when browsing the internet. Avoid slow page loading times by limiting the size and number of images on your website. Also, flash videos are notorious for causing slow load times, but these videos may be incorporated in moderation.
3. Poor Page Copy: Avoid simply stating the facts about your company on your website. Your potential patrons and customers are interested in what you can do for them and not the biographical data on your company.
4. Flash Based Websites: Although, atheistically appealing and often quite engaging, websites created entirely in flash are not visible to search engines. Basically, a flash based website is the equivalent of an interactive video broadcasted on the web and cannot be scanned by today’s popular search engines.
5. Failure to Measure Success: Unlike many traditional marketing avenues, online marketing allows you to measure your success. Various website tools allow you to track who visits your website, what it is that they are looking at, and how long they are viewing specific pages. This type of analytical data allows you to custom tailor your online marketing for maximum return on investment.
6. Dependency on Pay-Per Click Advertising: A common mistake for many companies on the web is to invest solely in pay-per click keyword advertising. Typically, a first page organic Google result is just as powerful as a costly pay per click keyword advertisement. Also, many people prefer the organic search results, because they have a certain implied credibility.
7. Single Marketing Vehicle: Never keep all your eggs in one basket. For example, if your site traffic is based solely off organic Google search results and there is a change in Google’s search engine algorithms, your specific keyword rankings may drop significantly and your online business will most likely suffer greatly. It’s important to incorporate a variety of marketing vehicles such as opt-in emails, pay-per click advertisements, organic keyword results, banner ads, and etc.
8. Focusing Exclusively on Site Traffic: Website traffic is not the only factor that dictates the success of an ecommerce business. All the traffic in the world won’t benefit your business, if you have an extremely poor conversion rate. A conversion rate is simply the amount of website traffic that converts to online sales. For example, if your site receives 200 visits a day and your conversion rate is about 5 percent, you would have generated roughly 10 sales. With a higher conversion rate, the amount of traffic required to reach your goals will be greatly reduced.

Many businesses are under continuous pressure to find new and innovative ways to market their products or services. Online marketing allows for cheap, easy, and unobtrusive communication between potential patrons and your business. Online marketing may include, but is not limited to websites, email blasts, banner ads, opt-in emails, podcasting, and blogging.

Reduced Marketing Expense
In most cases, online marketing is substantially less expensive than its traditional offline counterpart. Due to the relatively low cost of online marketing, your return on investment is typically much greater than with traditional marketing channels.

Amplified Exposure
In comparison to most traditional marketing avenues, online marketing reaches a much wider audience and is accessible from practically every country around the globe. Your marketing efforts will also work 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year. Remember, the World Wide Web has no hours of business and will never be closed for holidays.

Improved Convenience
Online marketing allows you to engage your customers in their own environment. People tend to be less apprehensive and more apt to purchase a particular product or service in their own setting. An online presence also allows your customers or potential patrons to read about your company and/or products at their leisure and convenience.

Increased Flexibility
Online marketing allows you the ability to modify or change your product listings, service descriptions, and marketing copy instantly without the costs typically associated with reprinting or redeploying traditional marketing materials.

Better Customer Knowledge
Websites allow you the potential to learn a great deal about your customers and their purchasing habits. Website traffic tools may provide information concerning a customer’s geographical location, time spent shopping, and what it is that they are viewing. This data will better help you custom tailor your advertisements and improve your overall marketing strategy.

The NLI Media Challenge is your opportunity to turn your entrepreneurial dream in to reality. Check out our entry page and submit your business idea for a chance to win $20,000 in professional marketing services.

Most consumers don’t pay much attention to branding. They just simply adhere to the brand names that have become synonymous with their day to day lives, and thus many people greatly underestimate the power associated with an influential brand name. Have you ever purchased a product over another one of equal value, purely because it was from a more reputable company? If you’re purchasing habits are like mine, then the answer is yes.

What’s in a name?
Developing a unique and catchy brand name involves more than just merely picking a name out of a hat. A powerful brand name will evoke a positive set of emotions, and should inspire confidence in your particular product or service.

It’s also important to keep your brand name simple, because potential customers may have trouble remembering an overly complicated brand name. You also want your brand name to be unique. A distinctive brand name is what separates you from your competition. If your brand name is too similar to one of your competitors, people may confuse the two, leading to a decrease in sales/revenue.

Brand Exposure
Always communicate your brand identity to your target audience. Everything you say and do, from the way you answer the phone, to the way you format your emails should reflect your branding image. Utilize your color scheme and logo on all printed materials from letterheads to invoices. Your website should also reflect your companies branding image. It’s always important to constantly look for new ways to incorporate your company’s logo and color scheme. The more your potential customers are bombarded with your companies branding the more apt they are to continue their patronage.

Developing Brand Loyalty
Brand loyalty is an important aspect of any companies marketing efforts. Typically, your potential customers will have a choice of products or services within your industry segment, and a successful company will entice customers to re-buy a particular product or reuse a specific service.

Many companies develop brand loyalty by offering incentives such as coupons and frequent customers discounts. Also, another common technique utilized by many online companies is to gather information concerning their customers purchasing habits, to better tailor advertisements and future promotional endeavors.

Mark Lassoff and the NLI Media Group were featured in the national online publication, Web Video Universe. Web Video Universe is part of Internet.com, the leading online publication on internet development and marketing.

Usability plays a very important role on the web. A website with poor usability will more often than not encounter a high bounce rate. A bounce rate is a common term for the amount of people who reach a site, but leave shortly after their arrival. A high bounce rate is just one of the many problems associated with poor usability. Remember that a website doesn’t include an instruction manual, thus the user interface must be intuitive and highly usable in order to be successful.

What is Usability?
There are various definitions for usability from a plethora of experts, but most definitions generally state that a usable website will feature the following characteristics:

• Efficient and effective operation
• Quick and easy to learn
• Free of errors
• Memorable Interface

Benefits of a Highly Usable Website
There are numerous benefits of a highly usable website for both the prospective patron (user) and you as the website provider. With an increase in usability, users will achieve their goals more quickly and efficiently, which improves the likelihood of them utilizing your service or product. A highly usable website will also develop user confidence in a particular product, website, and/or company.

The most obvious benefit for the user is simply an overall increase in satisfaction. With an increase in user satisfaction, patrons will become more brand loyal and possibly recommend your website to their friends and colleagues. There are also advantages for the website operator/provider when it comes to increased usability. A highly usable site will reduce that amount of technical support needed, because of an overall reduction in user errors.

Common Usability Issues: What to Improve On
There are several places were users typically encounter usability issues on the web. Some key areas to look out for in regards to usability issues are page headings, primary navigation, and page structure.

Page Headings
All pages on your website should include a brief yet descriptive heading. Adequate page headings orientate users and inform them on what they can expect to find on each page.

Primary Navigation
Proper implementation of a primary navigation scheme is also important, because this is the principal means of navigation for your users. A poorly designed or over complicated navigation scheme may deter even the most savvy computer users.

Page Structure
Effective page structure may be one of the most important elements of usability in regards to web design. Remember, it’s important to avoid cluttered or disorderly page content. Your content should always be presented in a clear, concise, and hierarchical manner. It’s also of the upmost importance to maintain proper page consistency through-out the entire website.