Every internet marketer out there is looking for ways to increase their site's conversion rate. An easy and fast way to do this is to create different landing pages.

A landing page is the first page that visitors see after clicking on your banner ad, PPC ad, or promotional email. It can be a specific page on your website or a separate page created exclusively for search engines. A landing page is designed to direct visitors to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, completing a registration, or subscribing to your mailing list.

Landing pages are perhaps the most important part of your advertising strategy, yet less than 20% of your competitors actually know how to use them well.

An effective landing page is a crucial component to increase your conversion rate and convert browsers into buyers. On average, visitors spend less than 10 seconds looking at a landing page before determining its usefulness and relevance to their needs.

This is very very important - to do this properly, you need to create a different landing page for every important ad group in your Google campaign. Here's an example for MindValleyLabs.com.

Notice how they make the headline and first paragraph of the landing page correspond to the Ad driving traffic to it. Immediately upon doing this they saw a doubling in signup rates across all campaigns.

Here's an example:

For keywords related to WEBSITE CONVERSION

While for keywords related to WEB MARKETING

2. The Focus is on Getting Visitors to take One Specific Action.

The landing page works on the basis of a most wanted response (MWR). It is designed to get the target audience to take ONE specific action, such as making a purchase or subscribing to a newsletter.

Notice that in the example pages above we go directly for a signup rather than trying to make an immediate sale. We identified that people who signup first and then read our lessons (such as this one) are more likely to buy our book. Our lessons generate interest and seal the sale for us.

Unlike the homepage, the purpose of the landing page is not to get the users to browse the site, but to stay on the page and carry out the MWR. Tests have shown that landing pages with too many navigational links consistently under-perform when it comes to conversion rates. Just stick to the basics: a company logo or header for recognition along with a link to the homepage are sufficient. Avoid having any links that distract from carrying out the MWR.

Recently however, Google implemented a new series of guidelines of landing pages. You may get punished if you leave out ALL links. So keep some links in. But do not make them glaringly obvious so that they distract from the Most Wanted Response. A good strategy might be to include the links in the footer rather than the header of the page.

The copy on the landing page is usually shorter and more straightforward than the copy on your homepage.

In the examples above they keep their copy to just a few bullet points. Shorter copy works best for encouraging people to take action on free items - such as signing up for a free newsletter or registering for a free service.

However this rule does not apply if you're trying to sell something on your landing page. For sales above say $19, you need to add long copy. The higher the purchase price - the more you have to lengthen the copy to justify the sale.

The action you want the user to take should be available on the landing page itself; the user should not have to click to another page.

Below is an example of a landing page we use to get visitors who click on our meditation-related ads to sign up for a free online course. Notice the short copy, prominent signup form, and the lack of a confusing navigation menu.

Sample Landing Page

When we they started advertising on Google AdWords they directed traffic from around 2,000 keywords to their site's homepage. Their signup rate remained steady at around 7%.

Later, they decided to segment their PPC advertising into 8 different categories and lead every click to a page with a customized headline. These were not new landing pages - but rather copies of the homepage with one difference: the headline was adjusted to correspond to the ad. For example, clicks from ads related to "meditation" would see a headline containing the word "meditation." Those clicks from ads on "stress control" would see a headline containing the words "stress control" and so on.

With no other changes to their site, simply adjusting the headline to the campaign caused a 50% boost in signups. Their signup rate was now hovering around 11%.

Their next change was to use a proper landing page. They stripped away the navigation menu, beefed up the focus on the signup form, and shortened the copy. The final product is the landing page shown above.

This landing page has since pulled a 22% signup rate, an improvement of 100%, for keywords related to meditation. That's pretty darned significant!

Given these improvements, you'd think that almost everyone who's advertising on Google would have a landing page right?

Wrong. Most advertisers completely ignore the importance of a targeted landing page and instead direct users to their homepage. This is a big no-no.

The chart below shows some common search terms purchased by small online retailers, the corresponding number of Google advertisers bidding on the terms, and the percentage of advertisers that direct their traffic to a landing page that is not the homepage. (Data gathered on December 18, 2005.)

As you can see, for most keyword groups you'll find that less than 20% of your competitors actually use a landing page.

This is their weakness and your potential strength. Visitors who come from ads tend to be highly fickle and they will click off your page if it does not speak to them directly.

We expect that within another 1 - 2 years we'll see the number of PPC advertisers with landing pages mushroom to between 40% and 50%. Currently, however, having a landing page is still a significant advantage.

By boosting the conversion rate of your landing page you get more visitors to take action and you increase the amount of money you make per visitor. This means each visitor is now worth more to you and you can afford to bid more on Google or Overture for this traffic.

This is one of the easiest ways to out do your competition.

So why do many online merchants neglect using a landing page?

The main reason is that landing pages require extra effort to build and they rely upon principles that are often counter-intuitive.

For example, landing pages work better without a navigation menu - yet many merchants insist on using them in hopes that prospective buyers will click around their "about us", "contact us" and "faq" sections and fall in love with their company.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that.

Landing pages will also require you to build additional site templates, develop new headlines and shorten your copy. It may seem hardly worthwhile, but it is.

The improved conversion rates due to the use of landing pages tend to be so high that once you use a landing page you'll rarely go back.

What you just read is a small extract from the "Turning Browsers into Buyers" section of our Ecommerce Course. But there's more to it than just converting signups into sales.

To be successful in ecommerce you need to be proficient at all 8 steps of the process.

1. Creating and Packaging Your Product for Online Sales
2. Creating and Designing a Well-Structured, Easy-to-Update Site
3. Learning How to Use Email Marketing as a Tool to Create Sales
4. Knowing How to Use Pay-Per-Click Advertising
5. Being Able to Use Good Copy and other Known Tactis to Create Desire for Your Offer
6. Overcoming Resistance and Closing the Sale
7. Growing Traffic from Other Channels - Viral, Affiliate, eBay and More
8. Finally, How to Think Like a Million Dollar Business: Growth, Productivity, Mind-Set and More

Don't make the mistake of buying products that offer a "quick fix" such as the traffic-boosting fad of the month. Instead - Take the holistic approach to Online Success.

Vishen M Lakhiani & Mike Reining
Founders, MindValley Labs