Landing pages need to reflect the ad you used to attract the visitor in the first place. They need to be unambiguous, avoid any confusion, and move the visitor on to the next stage of their journey. If that’s your selling process then make sure the required call to action leaps out of the page at them.

If that seems like obvious advice, it may surprise you to learn that a staggering amount of Ads still just redirect visitors to a web sites home page. This approach effectively asks the visitor to search again from there and as a result doesn’t do a great deal for conversion.

So, if you’ve taken the trouble to write some great ad copy for that gorgeous new “Blue Widget” you’re selling, you’re going to need equally great copy on your landing page. When they arrive your call to action needs to leap out of the page, whether that’s to buy one, get more information or join the “Blue Widget” Fan Club!

If you’re going to have other choices on the landing page, like information about your Yellow Widgets, your other products or your latest press release, they need to be very low key. Don’t forget we’re here to sell Blue Widgets, which should be our driving motivation. Yellow Widgets can get their own landing pages later.

If your ad stated any claim about the Blue Widgets then the landing page should carry identical information. How often have you seen ads claiming that one shop or another has stock of that hard to find product, only to find they haven’t when you click through. Not only has the shop wasted your time and annoyed you, it cost them money to do it!

Another very important attribute of the landing page is that it should look trustworthy. Landing pages can present a designer with a certain amount of freedom that’s all too easy to abuse. Don’t try and dazzle, that’s what the ad was there for. The landing page is where we start to build trust with the visitor. It should look professional, be in keeping with the rest of your site, and deliver what was promised in the ad, that’s it.

Don’t waffle. Don’t lose sight of the fact that we’re taking the customer on a journey by providing tons of information all on one page. If anything a text heavy landing page will put off a potential customer so brevity is the key.

Finally, and I know I’ve already mentioned it once, keep your call to action clear. If you want people to add that Blue Widget to their shopping basket, then it needs to be right there, up front and bold. Make it clear, keep it simple, and watch your conversion numbers go through the roof!