On Day 2 of Search Engine Strategies San Jose , one of my favorite sessions featured Tim Ash.
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Tim Ash is the President and CEO of SiteTuners.com . He is also the author of Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions . Ash always has great sessions and this was no exception.
In this session, Landing Page Testing and Tuning , Tim Ash discussed the problems with many landing pages. I have included Tim’s list below
7 Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design :
- Unclear Call To Action – Many pages are just confusing. The user is not sure what to do.
- Too Many Choices – Too many choices leads to decision paralysis.
- Asking for Too Much Info – Ask for the minimal and let them move forward.
- Too Much Text – Tim gave CanyonTours.net as an example of way too much info
- Not Keeping Your Promises – Promising one thing in an ad, but sending the user to an unfulfilled promise only creates a frustrated customer.
- Visual Distractions – want to be distracted check out NewYorkBarbells.com
- Lack of Trust – Users like to know they are dealing with a reputable company. Placing trusted partnerships and recognition on a site is imperative. However, the placement of these is also important. For example, smartbargains.com has a list at the bottom of the site that includes BizRate, Verisign, and Better Business Bureau. All great things to have, but unfortunately the user will never see it.
Of course as these examples were mentioned we all laughed, but the truth is we are all sinners. It’s easy to point a finger at the extreme cases, but as we look at our sites we know we do these things too.
In this session, Tim Ash helped us all look into our sinful souls.
Tags: landing pages, san jose, search engine strategies, SEO, SES
August 16th, 2009 at 12:16 am
I missed Tim Ash’s session yet fortunately have heard him share his sage advice before. Your post reminded me that his “Landing Page Optimization” book needs to be forefront in my reading list! (Must turn off computer, open book!)
Thanks, John, for such a great recap! I attended the Marketing Experiments’ course on LPO the day after SES, and this post with Tim’s list is a great reminder for how to stay out of sin!
This is not about finger pointing but about self introspection. Now I have to get to work! Nice job, John!