Review: Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions
by Karon Thackston © 2005
http://www.marketingwords.com/landingpage.html
If you've been online for any length of time at all, I'm sure you know of Marketing Sherpa. This trusted and dependable source for online marketing information has put out some of the most widely known and highly praised books and reports available today. Some of their repeated best sellers include, "Email Marketing Metrics Guide" and "How To Get Your Permission Emails Past Filters." Marketing Sherpa consistently provides the tools that powerhouse companies use to supercharge conversions and profits repeatedly.
Well, they've done it again!
The newest release (already improving conversions by an average of 40% all over the 'Net) is called "Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions -- Data & Design Guidelines" and does it ever deliver. (Find it here: http://www.marketingwords.com/landingpage.html.)
After extensive research and testing with some major corporations as the guinea pigs (try Old Navy, NASA and the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau on for size!), Marketing Sherpa is now able to offer specific, conclusive information; suggestions and recommendations on how to improve your landing page conversions (for online and offline offers) by an average of 40%. Here's what they say about that shocking promise:
"If you follow the Handbook's data and design guidelines, we estimate your landing page conversions may rise by 40%.
Where did that 40% number come from? Well, Marketing Sherpa has researched more than 500 case studies on Internet marketing, most of which included landing pages. We noticed across all studies that marketers who followed landing page best practices tended to get at least 40% higher conversions than average."
What do you get when you order this ebook?
** 59 samples from real-life campaigns
(use as templates for your own)
** 13 heatmaps: how actual visitors "see" landing pages
** 190 pages, including 16 tables & charts
** A 100% satisfaction guaranteed
Did I buy it? Yes. Have I actually read it? Yes. Did I find elements that could be improved on my own pages and those of my clients? You bet! I just finished making changes to one of my sites and I'll tell you the results in just a moment.
As with any Marketing Sherpa product, if you're not completely satisfied, you'll get an immediate refund of your purchase price.
Take your pick of a PDF (downloads instantly) or a printed copy (ships in 24 hours). Both include exclusive access to an online Creative Samples Library so you can view all samples in their full, colorful glory.
WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW VS. WHAT IS FACT
It's really surprising what we assume when we create landing pages (or any type of advertising). We think we know what the site visitor is looking at (and for), when, in fact, we don't.
Most often, our information is just out-of-date. Case in point: I've known for years that people
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look at people. It's a natural reaction for human eyes to float to the section of a Web page, landing page, ad (or whatever) that has a picture. However, what I didn't realize is that - on a landing page - having a picture of a person can be a dangerously distracting element. Times change and so does the behavior of buyers so we have to stay up-to-date.
The eye-maps included in this ebook also were very interesting to me. You can actually see what the site visitor looked at first and longest to know where to place the different elements of your page. Just very, very cool in my opinion!
If you're a:
** Website designer
** Copywriter
** Graphic designer
** Marketing professional
** PPC search engine marketer
** or anyone who wants to improve conversions up to 40%
you need to buy this book today.
I promised you I'd share the results of the improvements and testing I've done to my Copywriting Course site (see http://www.copywritingcourse.com) using Marketing Sherpa's newest report "Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions -- Data & Design Guidelines" so here it is.
I made another round of layout and design changes to the site about a week ago. Once again, I saw an immediate improvement. I had data from sales that were made using the original site design/copy and compared those to sales made after the first round of changes. Then I began tracking sales and traffic patterns after the second and third rounds of change. (If I'd made all the changes at once, I would not have been able to tell what worked and what didn't.)
Marketing Sherpa's headline for this new ebook promises a 40% increase in conversions when using their methods. Let's just see how they stacked up. At last check, using the same amount of traffic for each test, the results did not show a 40% increase. However, it did show a 37% increase in conversions! Not too shabby. I was impressed.
It's important to note that this was after three rounds of changes. I didn't get a 37% increase immediately. But that's something the ebook tells you… you'll have to test and track. The companies with the biggest returns are the ones who continually test.
I'll continue tweaking and testing so I can get even better results in the future, but my position on this report hasn't changed. “Landing Page Handbook: How to Raise Conversions -- Data & Design Guidelines" has extremely valuable information anyone who designs or writes landing pages would benefit from. I strongly encourage you to get yours today at http://www.marketingwords.com/landingpage.html.
About the Author
Karon Thackston specializes in writing copy that ranks high with the search engines and converts visitors to buyers. Let Karon teach you to write better copy at http://www.copywritingcourse.com. Be sure to check out her latest e-report “How To Increase Keyword Saturation (Without Destroying the Flow of Your Copy)” at http://www.copywritingcourse.com/keyword.
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