When searchers click on a results page link, what they experience where they land ultimately determines whether they convert.

Irrelevant information or directions scare off visitors from taking the preferred action: filling out a form, providing personal details or – most importantly – opting to buy.

So how do you ensure that your landing page converts the maximum number of visitors? Let’s start by understanding how search engines evaluate relevancy.

A multi-level approach

The relevancy of a landing page is rated in relation to the search query, based on a Quality Score that affects your ad position and price.

The goal is to refine and improve the effectiveness of your landing pages so that they positively affect your Quality Score. Here’s how our strategy works.

Customization. We customize your landing page in a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign to monitor the effectiveness of paid ads and to supply copy, images or other content targeted to the ad. By adding certain parameters to the link, we can evaluate how well your ad performs, based on click-through and conversion rates.

Micro-sites. We may recommend building a “micro-site” to present a customized message. These messages often have a limited lifespan – based on an event, for example – but they provide superior accuracy and increased relevancy for customers.

We work together with our clients to develop the appropriate micro-site, message and overall strategy for the site’s use and activity.

Software. There are many software programs available that help perform and automate landing page optimization. Everything from eye tracking to A/B and multivariate testing are used by software companies when approaching landing page optimization. At Point It, we have experience with many of them, and we can recommend right tools for your landing page optimization strategy, based on your budget and the scale of your project.

We’ll collaborate with your web team on how to best optimize your landing pages, or we can handle implementing execute the changes with our people. The choice is yours.

For more than five years, Point It has driven success for wide variety of clients across e-commerce, retail web sites, digital agencies, B2B software providers and B2C service providers.

Top 10 steps to landing page optimization

1. Determine strategy. If it’s a newsletter, the conversion is entering an email address. If it’s event registration, it’s filling out a form.

2. Research your buyers. Profile your ideal visitor. Don’t rely on generic demographic descriptions. Visitors expect a targeted message. Tailor pages accordingly.

3. Eliminate ‘interest killers.’ Strip away unneeded elements. Customers on your landing page were already screened by your ad. They expect a specific message.

4. Ensure continuity. Clue visitors they’ve arrived at the right place by using your ad heading on the landing page.

5. No navigation options. Remove the nav bar unless it’s essential. You want visitors converting, not clicking elsewhere.

6. Keep key content ‘above the fold.’ Place content needed for visitors to decide whether to continue on a single screen. If they have to scroll, the only thing they’ll click is the back button.

7. Multiple conversion paths. Put conversion exits above the fold and at every scroll-and-a-half of screen space. The easier to convert, the greater the conversions.

8. Lead eye to target. Use type and color to lead visitors to the conversion link. Keep key information close to the center of the screen.

9. Optimize your forms. Allow users to tab around fields and auto-populate fields. Request only essentials: email address for a newsletter, Zip Code for state, county or city.

10. Test frequently. After designing your landing page, test it with a user group to determine whether the parameters listed above have properly addressed.

To learn more about how we can help you optimize your landing pages, contact us today.