Could you imagine going into the supermarket and leaving without buying anything? How many people do that today on your website – assuming they can find you? Maybe you think that having a website that encourages people to buy from you costs a fortune and that making it easy to find is only for the big guys!

Think again! This article demonstrates how easy it is, with the correct approach, to have your website attracting lots of people who want to buy from you – and they will. If you have the time, what you will learn here you can do your self – if not, we offer phenomenally low priced, but highly effective workshops to get your website noticed and bring in the cash for you.

Once I was browsing the Internet looking for a laptop shade. It is a special widget to enable you to actually see your laptop screen when you are using it outside in the sunny weather – yeh, I know rare enough in Ireland ! But, being a non-native English speaker, I did not know the exact name for it at that moment and I was trying various keyword combinations, such as laptop screen protector, laptop foil, prevent sun shine laptop, use laptop outside etc. And I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Anyway, there are just few companies that sell this “device” and fortunately, I found one of them after typing in “laptop screen outside” desperately. Browsing the pictures of funny black gadgets stuck to the screen, I already saw myself sunbathing at the beach during my most busy working hours.

But I didn't buy immediately. For some reason, even though they had what I was looking for they did not create a compelling reason for me to buy now. Thus I sneakily picked the keyword “laptop shade” they used on their website and continued my search in order to find something that may or may not be better.

I did not end up buying from them, though they had half of it right – I found them. But the website itself was boring; it talked about them and did not create in me the warm feeling that I wanted their product.

Can you honestly say that your website creates an irresistible urge for people to buy?

Why More Visitors Will Buy from You

So who exactly are you trying to sell to? Who is looking for your equivalent of a laptop shade? A young, fashionable “lady” eager to look well at every moment (well, I'm not, but…), or “Mr. Sayso”, a builder who does give a hoot about what it looks like, he just needs to be able to use the flipping thing outside without it giving up on him when a dollop of cement hits it!

In fact, they might be both really interested, but to address their individual concerns and desires adequately, pick just one of them and try to attract THEIR senses and create an emotional momentum that will appeal specifically to THEM.

So close your eyes now and think. Who is looking for your products? What kind of person is most likely to buy one of your products or really want to contact you for more information? Who will buy even more than one? After all, who is prepared to pay their money for your products, because they can instantly see the value and emotional attractiveness that your offering gives them?

Having done this exercise, there is time to think of the content of your website. It is recommended to pick just one page that will be dedicated to one particular group of people looking for one particular product. As this will be the page where your potential customers will “land” from their Internet search, we call it a Landing Page.

All your pay per click campaigns, whether you use Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft's AdCenter or whatever else, all these ads promoting your particular product to a particular audience should point at your landing page developed exclusively for this product and this audience.

To achieve high conversion rates, which means that a high percentage of your visitors will finally buy something; each single word should mirror THEIR perceptions, THEIR opinions and, most importantly, it should refer to THEIR wants.

So what is the process to develop a landing page that will boost your revenues?

7 Steps to Ensure Your Landing Page converts visitors to cash

1. Define the purpose of your landing page

The first step when creating your landing page should be setting a goal you want to achieve. What is it that you want your visitors to do? Are they going to buy from you or get information that will help them buy from you at a latter stage?

Nothing else matters!

2. Create an irresistible desire for your product

To succeed, always list the specific benefits that the person who is about to own your product can immediately derive from buying now.

Why say something like “Book your SEO and PPC workshop now” when you could say “By filling out this form, you will have made the first step to a low cost but highly effective way to help your customers can find you on the web and buy more products than you have ever sold before”.

3. Include a Call-to-Action

Once you have decided what you want your visitors to do and after revealing all the benefits they can obtain, it is crucial that you tell them what to do next. It must be crystal clear what they need to do in order to buy the product.

4. Keep it simple, stupid

To keep your visitors focused on the steps you want them to take, keep all possible distractions away. That means, your landing page should not be stuffed with links that will direct them away from the page.

5. Generate trust

Although many of us probably do not pay particular attention to Contact Details and Privacy Policy when browsing the Internet, these are vital parts looked for especially during the purchasing process in order to make sure that you are a serious company. Apart from that, Testimonials could add trustworthiness to your landing page, too, as they are kind of confirmation and referral from the REAL people.

6. Make your ordering process clear and secure

In general, over 60 percent of online shoppers abort the ordering process. It's a pity that after gaining their attention, interest, desire and even after beginning of the purchase you may lose them due to a complicated, unclear or unsafe ordering process.

7. Optimise your title, meta tags, headings and links

You should always use the same keywords which also appear in the copy of your page, title tag, meta description etc. Any keyword phrases which are used in your meta tags only, will not have enough prominence to help your listings for that phrase.

What Should an Effective Landing Page Look Like?

To give you a better idea on the issue, we have created a sample landing page for our 3R Success! Newsletter. Its purpose is to make people sign up for the monthly newsletter with sales, marketing and leadership articles.

You can view the sample effective landing page here.

Moreover, if you are interested in the issue, you can download a free Boost Your Website Traffic eBook after subscribing to the 3R Success! Newsletter.

This article was written by Simona Rusnakova and Peter Lawless from 3R Sales and Marketing - www.3r.ie. For previous articles like this, visit 3R's Articles. Alternatively, subscribe to Success our free monthly Information Bulletin with sales and marketing articles.

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