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Now that you’ve read the benefits to market testing, you’re ready to build your own landing page…but how do you start?

First, keep in mind that landing pages are different than web pages. A landing page is usually created for a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign with the intent to produce conversions. Upon arriving on the page, it’s designed to encourage visitors to perform a desired action. Whether it’s filling out an e-mail form or purchasing a product, a landing page is optimized for that act.

Before constructing a landing page, perform some demographic research on your target group. Find out what your visitor is looking for and what offers would work for them. Build a profile of your ideal visitor and keep it in mind when creating your landing page. If you’re targeting multiple groups, create separate landing pages for each. The more targeted your message is, the higher probability of increasing conversions.

Now that you know some of the basic fundamentals, read on for ten tips to keep in mind when building your landing page:

1. Include an image. An appealing or relevant picture will draw visitors in and help retain them on the site. Images that can help them self-identify work best.

2. Establish trust and credibility. Include a logo (if available) or the name of the product or service. The branding isn’t as important as the content but the visitor needs to feel like the website is legitimate. Convey trust by including your contact information as well as your phone number and e-mail address. For more on this topic, see “Building Trust with your Online Users.”

3. Include a sub-heading or questions that lead into the content. The goal is to include text that helps them understand what they’re about to read. Questions are a good way of engaging your visitor’s attention.

4. Keep the content short and sweet. While it should still convey the message of your product or service, it should be concise and only have enough information to gauge their interest. Also, keep your most important points at the beginning and make sure most of the content is above the fold. Note: People read will read the beginning and the end before they read middle of your text. In addition, keep the tone and language of your readers in mind. If you’re targeting high school students, your content shouldn’t read at a PhD level.

5. Write in 2nd person. Using “you” and “your” will help grab your visitors’ attention.

6. Keep the tone and language of the content in mind. The tone should conform to the visitor’s values. In addition, the language should correlate with the market and with the product or service.

7. “Call to actions” are important. At least one call to action should be present on the page. These are specific actions you ultimately want the visitor to take. Examples include “Sign Up Now” or “Download Now.” For optimal results, make sure to include them above the fold. Capture e-mail addresses if possible. If your call to action includes a whitepaper or article, ask for an e-mail address. Keep these in a database somewhere and use them to send marketing collateral when ready.

8. Motivate visitors to act. People respond to fear, greed, guilt, exclusivity, anger, salvation, or flattery. Use no more than one of these elements to get visitors to make a conversion.

9. White space is a good thing. Try not to stick as many elements on the page as possible. White space makes the web page looks clean and simple. The more clutter there is, the more likely it will drive visitors away.

10. Remember to use good SEO keywords. If you’ve done your market testing properly, then you know which keywords generate the most traffic. Make sure you splice them into the text liberally to help your PPC campaign and your search engine rank.

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