The goal of search engine marketing (SEM) is to turn a web visitor into a customer — and this happens faster when you’re using a conversion-driven landing page.

A landing page is what a visitor sees after clicking on some type of web advertising or promotion (e.g. pay-per-click ad, banner ad, etc.)

Landing page example:

Here’s what every online affiliate marketer should know about online lead generation:

How to Develop Conversion-Driven Landing Pages

Getting traffic to your site might be easy for you, but trying to get them to do something can be very difficult.

And that’s why a conversion-driven landing page can help you move that visitor into a customer.

Before developing your landing page (or making it more conversion-driven), it’s important to ask:

What do you want your visitors to do?
When someone comes to your website, what’s your main goal for them?

• Buy a product
• Enter their email address
• Provide their home address
• Fill out a form
• Click a button
• Get a visitor to tell a friend
• Give you feedback
• Email you a comment

After you’ve determined your goal, it’s important to find out what the average conversion rate is for your particular industry. This can help you gauge whether PPC campaigns or other advertising will be worth your time and money. It can also provide a benchmark for the type of conversion-rates you should try to beat right from the start.

What’s an average conversion rate for your industry?
It’s difficult to get accurate data about conversion rates for every industry because all data is self-reported. And self-reported numbers may be inflated and/or not entirely accurate due to the way data is sometimes mixed (e.g. paid search, email blasts, natural search).

However, 2007 data revealed from MarketingSherpa.com shows that average conversion rates on landing pages are at 3.84%. Conversion-rates bumped up to about 5% for pay-per-click campaigns, and almost 3% for email blasts to house lists (business to consumer). Contact MarketingSherpa.com to gather more data for more information.

Fireclick Index revealed in their report that most sites in all verticals are averaging about 2.3% conversion-rates.

As you can see, you’re target on any new landing page should try to get above 2.5% at the minimum. If you’re not getting that, you need to consider changing your landing page.

Before we get into the details about landing page design, let’s think about your website’s visitors.

Who is your web audience?
Forget about your creative messaging, your brand, and what you think looks compelling to you – and instead think about your audience.

• Why did they visit your site?
• What do they want to know?
• How much time are they willing to spend on your site?
• How will they know your website is trustworthy?
• Why should they stay?

Take the time to research your web audience (which might be different than what you think). Some companies think their web audience is the same as their local store audience – and that’s a grave mistake.

You need to know who you’re selling to if you want to make a strong impact on your conversion rate. So make sure and do the research.

Test Everything
Don’t get caught-up in debates with your colleagues about what you think will work. Test everything and let your audience decide. You’ll find out rather quickly how your landing page is converting.

This doesn’t mean you should blindly create a landing page. You should always apply best practices and use some of the techniques your competition is using. And use multivariate testing to refine your landing pages on a regular basis.

How to Write Conversion-Driven Headlines

Most visitors don’t read all the text on your landing page – and a big portion won’t even scroll below the fold.

So that’s why it’s extremely important to grab their attention with a benefit-filled headline – that convinces them to keep on reading.

A recent eye-tracking study of how web users look at landing pages show that eyes focus primarily on the central image (hero shot) and headline:

If you don’t capture their attention with an attractive headline, you might as well say goodbye.

Here are some tips to make your headline attractive and interesting:

Give a huge benefit (and be specific)
Emphasize the benefit of whatever you’re trying to sell. Be specific, and make it believable. If you focus on how your visitor will benefit, you’ve won half the battle.

Make it believable.
Don’t exaggerate the benefits so that it seems unbelievable. You need to show specific proof on why you’re headline is true.

Be specific.
General headlines trying to appeal to a mass audience will always have lower conversions than a specific headline that targets a particular group. So focus on selling what your visitor is looking for.

Clever headlines usually don’t work.
Just because you thought of a clever headline doesn’t mean you should use it. Say exactly what you mean. After all, you don’t have much time to get your message out there.

Don’t get caught up in tweaking every word.
You’ll have more impact in changing the concept (or what you’re trying to say) in a headline than tweaking a few words.

Make it easy to read.
Your headline should look like a headline. Make sure it stands out so your message is clear and easy on the eyes – no matter what browser and monitor they use.

How to Choose Images (Hero Shots)

You should constantly test different types of images for your landing page (as well as size and placement).

Here are potential images to test:

• image of the product
• image of the product being used by a real person
• image of the successful outcome
• image of happy customer holding the product

Add captions under important images.
People will look at the headline, image, and captions under the photos. Make sure to sell benefits in each one.

Real people outperform stock photos every single time.
Use real people whenever possible. It adds much more authenticity than a commercialized sock photo.

Test eyeball-grabbing call-outs, starbursts, and other graphics
Test attention-getting images like starburst and other call-outs to draw attention to certain text on your landing page:

Attention-grabbing images are great, but only if they help to communicate your sales message (which they rarely do).

Add security icons if you have a form.
Add security icons on any forms you want visitors to complete. This will make them feel more secure about giving out their personal information on the web.

Hero shot should be left of text.
Studies recently carried out in eye tracking indicate that a visitors eye is usually first drawn to images on the page. If the product promo image is on the right hand side, it requires more effort for the visitor to move their eyes back to the left, where your marketing copy will be.

Focus on one hero shot for your landing page.
The more images on your landing page – the more distraction your visitor may have. Test whether one, two, three, or more images are needed. But always start with just one since multiple hero images tend to reduce conversion results.

eBooks should have dimension
If you’re selling an eBook, add some dimension to the image so that you can actually feel like you’re buying something.

As always, graphics should apply directly to the key benefits of products. And every element on the page has to work in concert toward the same goal.