First of all, he points out that visual clutter is a problem. Flash and animations draw people’s attention but not to the point of conversion. Ash calls the graphic designers behind these creations “frustrated art school drop-outs.” Animations also present a problem since they often take a long time to load.

Another “deadly sin” that marketers make is giving their visitors too many choices. When there are links to a business’s partners, affiliates, and more, it does nothing but confuse the visitor. Instead of overwhelming people with these choices, Ash suggests putting just 2-4 options on a landing page.

Thirdly, one size doesn’t fit all with landing pages. Unfortunately, some businesses market through different channels but send all the traffic to the same landing page. This methodology doesn’t work because people are coming from different traffic sources and need landing pages that match their original intent or keywords.

“The best practice is really to have as many landing pages as you need with specific themes or background thought processes that the visitor might have,” Ash said.

A fourth “deadly sin” is when marketers put too much text on the landing page. In this age of technology, people have an even smaller attention span than they had before. For this reason, marketers need to keep it short, simple, and to the point. If they do need to add more information, they should put it in other links.

The last problem that Ash discusses is the sin of asking for too much information. As he explains, marketers often get greedy and try to get names, email addresses, and more for future use. However, he believes that marketers should only ask for the information that is necessary to complete the current transaction. According to him, users are more likely to spread word-of-mouth and influence by their own free will. He also said that if they are pleased with what they received, the chances are greater for them to visit again and even possibly give more information willingly.

For more on landing pages and how they can lead to conversions, check out Tim Ash’s Conversion Conference.

What if everything on the landing page appears to working properly, but it is still not bringing conversions? How do you know what’s broken? SiteTuners developed a tool called Attention Wizard to help users answer that very question.

The tool uses artificial intelligence algorithms to replicate visual human behavior. It then reveals a heatmap over the landing page to show the areas that visitors are drawn to.

Attention Wizard is currently free in private beta. Users can register to test the tool here.

1.    Apply best practices to it
2.    Ask your audience

One of the biggest problems Tim sees when analyzing landing pages is a problem with clutter. The business needs to have a clear call to action. Allow the customer to focus on their current transaction and don’t confuse them with too many options. Consider basic usability tips when applying your best practices.

Businesses have to keep up with the current trends and know what their audience wants. It is vitally important to get involved and communicate with the audience. If you give your audience what they want, you will have better results, which translates into more revenue.

On the topic of tools, Tim gives 2 recommendations. The first is Google Website Optimizer. This is a free tool that Google offers which allows users to conduct both A/B split testing and multivariate testing. Tim says it is a very powerful tool that is effective for both beginners and advanced users.

The second tool that Tim recommends is OnDialog. Tim prefaced this solution in an interview with us at PubCon South. OnDialog provides landing page creation software that puts the marketer in control. Tim’s company, SiteTuners has partnered with OnDialog and incorporated its tuning engine technology into their software. The tool allows more tests in parallel and bases data on actual results.

In the above video, Tim indicated that an official announcement regarding OnDialog may take place at SES, so be sure to stay tuned to WPN for an update.

Getting traffic to your site is obviously important, but even more important is the task of getting visitors to take action. At SES Chicago, Tim recommended that sites have a simple layout containing a header on the top of the page and a left-handed navigation. The header should be in dark colors or in bold print.

The number of navigation categories should be between 6 and 9 plus sub-navigation categories per page. Make sure that each interior page has a “Home” button as part of the navigation. The visitor should never feel lost on the site.

Clutter is the biggest problem a landing page can have. The call (or calls) to action should be simple and include little choices. There should be only 1 call to action per page. Tim says buttons should only be used for actions and links should only lead to information. Although it may look good, Flash animations and JavaScript result in visual distraction.

While the above pointers are a good general set of rules to follow, Tim suggests always testing the content on your site to see what the visitors prefer. Testing leads to overall efficiency and ultimately generates more revenue. For more information on landing pages, check out Tim Ash’s best-selling book available on Amazon.