10 Landing Page Strategies That Work
Ten specific, tested tactics for landing pages built in 2000, from dial-up load times to single-purpose page design.
Most landing page advice in 2000 was theory borrowed from print advertising. These ten come from what was working for businesses sending paid banner traffic, search directory listings and email campaigns to their own pages.
1. Build a separate page for every campaign
Sending banner or portal traffic to your homepage wastes the specificity of the ad that got the click. A visitor who clicked a banner about a discount should land on a page about that discount, not a general homepage they have to search for it on.
2. Design for a 28.8k or 56k modem
Most home users are still on dial-up. A page loaded with large images or a Flash intro can take thirty seconds or more to appear, and by then most visitors are gone. Keep image file sizes small, use HTML tables sparingly and put your core message in text that renders instantly.
3. Put the offer above the fold
At the common 800x600 resolution, “above the fold” is a real constraint, not a suggestion. State what the visitor gets and what they need to do before they have to scroll.
4. Match the headline to the ad
If your banner said “Free Shipping This Week,” the landing page headline should say the same thing in the same words. Any mismatch makes a visitor wonder if they clicked the wrong link, and that hesitation costs conversions.
5. Cut the form down to what you need
Every additional field on an order or signup form is a place someone quits. If you don’t need a middle name, a fax number or a second address line to complete the transaction, leave it off.
6. Test in both major browsers before launch
Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer still render pages differently enough that a form or layout can break in one and work fine in the other. Check both before you spend a dollar driving traffic to the page.
7. Give the page one job
A page trying to sell a product, collect an email address and promote a second offer usually does all three poorly. Decide the single action you want and remove or downplay everything that competes with it.
8. Use real testimonials, not vague claims
E-commerce is still new enough that many visitors are wary of buying from a site they’ve never heard of. A specific quote from a named, real customer does more to build trust than generic statements about quality or service.
9. Make the next step obvious
Whether it’s “Add to Cart,” “Get the Free Guide” or “Request a Quote,” the button should say exactly what happens next, be visually distinct from the rest of the page and appear without the visitor needing to scroll to find it.
10. Track where the traffic came from
Tag your campaign links with distinct query string parameters so your server logs or analytics package can tell you which banner, directory listing or email drove each visitor. Without that, you’re guessing which campaigns are worth repeating and which aren’t.
None of these are exotic. They come out of the basic constraint every landing page in 2000 has to work around: slow connections, small screens and visitors who arrived from something specific and expect the page to honor that.
More from Marketing Analytics, or see everything published in 2000.
