Jon Samsel

So you need to create, design or develop a landing page that converts  visits into sales–where do you begin?

First, let’s define what a landing page is. Typically, a landing page is a web page that supports an online marketing campaign and is designed to capture leads or convert visitors into sales. Often, landing pages are separate and distinct from a main website, have unique website addresses, and allow for end-to-end campaign tracking (via unique phone numbers and/or source code tracking appended to the URL).

Typical landing page elements are:

1. Header masthead (logo, tagline, phone number)
2. Hero shot (a graphic representation of the benefit of the product or service you are selling)
3. Headline text and supporting text
4. An offer (50% off your first order, free shipping)
5. A time ticker (limited time offer with an expiration date) to create a sense of urgency
6. Calls to action (call now with a phone number, fill out this form with a form on the page, engage in live chat with a link to start a chat session)
7. Direct response elements (red arrow that directs the eye to a specific action, yellow highlighter effect that draws the eye to an offer of benefit, big bold 1-800 number, etc)
8. Customer testimonials or product reviews (to build trust and re-enforce visitor’s purchase decision)
9. Trust marks such as BBB, McAfee or VeriSign
10. Product or service comparisons

Studying your competitor’s landing pages may seem like a logical place to start, but keep in mind that other companies may have created their landing pages with entirely different goals in mind. This may not be a simple apples to apples comparison, as your goals may be different than those of competing firms. It can’t hurt to know what your competitors are doing, just don’t copy them.

Additionally, competitive landing pages you identify may not be performing very well. The visit-to-lead ratios, for example, on company Y’s landing page may be 2%, far below your target goal of 7%, so copying what others are doing in not always the smartest move.

When you are ready to start a new landing page design and development process, I recommend you start by identifying of few important elements having to do with your goals and objectives.

10 step landing page development process:

1. Identify the baseline visit-to-lead ratio you are trying to beat (ie: 3%)
2. Spell out the desired mix of lead transaction type you want (ie: 70% phone, 30% form)
3. Name the optimal product mix (ie: 50% premium brand dogfood, 30% animal toys, 20% grooming products)
4. Recognize your desired customer mix (ie: 90% repeat/existing customers, 10% once-and-gone customers)
5. List the source of the traffic to your landing page (ie: paid search, banner ads, etc)
6. Identify the time of year this landing page will be used (to gauge whether or not this could/should impact the design)
7. Name your color choices such as background, accent, fonts, images, etc (evaluate brand must-have colors vs. those colors that we know stimulate user response online and consider new combinations)
8. Form placement: Place the entire form on the page vs. a multi-part form vs. a form that is one click away (any combination of which can radically impact results)
9. Smart forms & on-site help: Certain form elements, for example, are known to impact conversions
10. Think of additional ancillary elements you may need, such as live chat, audio, flash animation, video, calculators, click to call, collapsible design elements using AJAX or the like–which are all elements that can impact landing page performance

Once each of these steps is performed, design several new landing pages, varying the tone, style and layout. Then test your new pages. Only testing with a live audience will reveal the winning landing page design. Online visitors are a funny breed. Often, the ‘best’ design perform poorly and ‘ugly’ designs yield great results. From a brand perspective, try to find a landing page that you are proud to display to the world, yet one that fulfills your sales goals.

I encourage you to consider a wildcard design now and again that breaks all the rules. This is one way to radically out-perform, or lose to your control landing page. But breakthrough landing page designs often come about by trying something different. Good luck and happy testing!

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing someone I have known for over 15 years– author and marketer, Joyce Schwarz. She shared some insights into the making of her latest book, The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Life.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for a book about vision boards?

A: The Vision Board concept evolved from more than 50,000 hours of personal coaching I’ve done with more than 4000 people. It includes such exercises as creating your “Vision Statement” (chapter 2), Visioning –cross between brainstorming, meditation and improv (chapter 1) and the famous Pre-board experience to find out where you are NOW. Specifically though I was watching Oprah in February, 2007 (just a week after getting out of the hospital for a brief stay for a stress-related illness) and I realized I wanted to change my own life — too much pressure! And to go back to what I really love: speaking and writing. So when I saw the Law of Attraction show on Oprah –just days after watching THE SECRET for the first time I realized how complementary this was to my own system of GRABS (explained later) and my work in guiding people to live extraordinary lives.

Q: Explain to the uninitiated what a vision board is and what it consists of?

A: A vision board is a visual map of your life’s dreams. It is a collage that enables you to use defining images to depict what’s ahead for you. It’s a way of empowering people to make positive choices in their own lives/work/family.

Q: How long does it take to assemble a typical vision board? What are some common creative elements?

A: The common elements include: A) pictures/images, photos  along with B) power words such as FREEDOM, Abundance, Prosperity along with C) positive affirmations D) inspiring quotes and e) Momentos that represent 1) what your grateful for 2) what you release from the past 3) what you intend to receive 4) acknowledging who you are 5) asking for your best possible life (or something better that the universe intends for you and S= sharing — basically the GRABS formula which is a spin-off of the Law of Attraction that has been taught in the past as simply ask/believe/receive and does not focus on the areas I realize are crucial — gratitude, receiving, acknowledgment and inspired action.

Q: Why do you feel so many people feel compelled to create their own vision boards?

A: We live in the time of screenagers– those of us weaned on Sesame Street, raised on MTV and connected to some kind of screen a majority of our day (computer, laptop, TV, or mobile phone). We are leaving behind the left brain generation of analytical, methodical and looking at combining with the right brain options of inquisitive and innovative etc. So that the vision boards provides an option for using both sides of our brain to plan our lives/work/family. No long lists, no extensive time schedules. No spread sheets– but Visuals that are defining images for our path to our future.

Q: Explain how you sold your book concept to Collins Design, a division of Harper Collins Publishing

A: I got the idea for the book when I was just out of the hospital for a brief stay as I mentioned, I sent out two emails to another publisher and got an immediate invite to go visit them. While there being wined and dined — I realized I needed an agent to negotiate this BIG book. I was ‘too involved’. So I asked a pal of mine who is an author who her agent was/is. My previous agent is off on another part of his own life. And she referred me to my agent in NYC. I called her from the hotel I was at after a meeting with the other publisher and I HIRED HER on the spot long distance. She urged me on to prepare a more formal book proposal and several months later it sold to Collins Design which is the prestigious coffee table division of Harper Collins Publishing (the second largest publisher in the world) owned by News Corps.

Q: How did you get Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield involved with your book?

A: I had been following Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield for years. In fact I was one of the first meeting planners nationwide to book Jack to speak on CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL after it was published in 1993 at the FIRST LA COMPUTER/ONLINE Conference. So when it came time to include names for a foreword and afterword they were my first choice. I’m grateful for both of them for lending their names to the book and glad they are both so pleased with how awesome the book is. As you may know the book is now #1 Spiritual best-seller on Amazon.com in its category — only 10 days after publication on 10/28/08.

Q: How did you approach writing this book?

A: Originally I was supposed to have 9 months to write the book from time of the sale of the book in September. But as the world turns, I got my formal contract in December, my first check from the six figure deal in December (they divide it into several parts). And then an editor was not assigned until Feb 15. They massaged the book outline and made some recommendations and I redid that and then we were off to the races. They suddenly decided they wanted it by May –for early fall publication. BUT as it turned out we ended up finishing writing and design in early August and the publisher was thank heavens able to find a USA printer to make the deadline so it is PRINTED IN THE USA something I’m VERY proud of.

And what really makes it different I had more than 75 wisdom leaders contribute quotes and tips on the chapters via podcast or personal interviews. PLUS I also included vision boards, wisdom collages and defining images (all variations on the same theme from more than 100 artists from 38 cities and 9 countries. The challenge was getting that down from more than 600 who submitted artwork and getting the ‘coffeetable’ high resolution quality that Collins Design demanded!

So basically I used social networking and what’s called crowdsourcing–Flickr, facebook and at the end Twitter.com and, my own blog www.visionboard.info and even MEETUP.com where I organized a f2f group that met at Jerry’s Deli in Marina Del Rey to get input from real people from all backgrounds and lifestyles.

Q: Where did you write the majority of this book?

A: Well, I’m very grateful I have a lovely office in my condo–it looks out at the Marina with all the yachts in Marina Del Rey– it is gorgeous! I can send a pix if you want. My agent gave me lots of great input. I had several pals who read chapters and gave great input.

Q: How did you stay focused/motivated?

A: Well, I tried to find inspiration instead of motivation. Inspiration comes from the inside and is part of the visioning process. I did a group visioning to jumpstart the writing process - described in chapter 1 and that was invaluable. I read more than 50 inspirational books including current bestsellers. I blogged, which helped clarify my own vision. And I trudged up the mountain kick step, kick step — which is how a mountain climber does it. Making sure my footing was secure before taking the next step forward.

Q: Did you ever find yourself facing writer’s block – and if so, how did you overcome it?

A: One of the great things about my own GRABS formula is when the writing stopped or was paused for any reason ie requests for edits that I did not agree with, deadlines that were moved up by the publisher despite previous agreements and my own personal challenges (illness in the family, suicide attempt by an extended family member, cancer diagnosis for a daughter of my personal assistant) I turned to being grateful. And I don’t really get blocked, I might get mad or frustrated but then I turn to being grateful and get OPM — other people’s minds involved like the MEETUP group — that evolved from a long week of frustration when I thought the publisher was just NOT getting how much the economy was changing and that we needed to look at multiple income streams not just full time jobs for chapter 7…and the Meetup group with real people (15 showed up that Sunday night) gave me power to move forward with what I believed was authentic and literally made the block ahead dissolve!

Q: What role did you play in gather various media, such as sample vision boards, for the making of this book?

A: I did hire an artist so that we could create vision boards for those people who were not a) satisfied with their current vision boards and b) show some sample boards ie: birthday, graduation, next20 years and Annie Kaycora did a beautiful job of working with me to create templates to inspire people to create their own boards. We also worked with several of the VIP’s and celebrities to create their new boards to meet the deadline we were on.

Q: Do you personally believe in vision boards? How many different boards have you created for yourself? How do you know they help people fulfill their personal aspirations?

A: I do believe. I also believe in the concept of visioning your life/work/family/relationships so that you’re coming from the inside out/versus the outside in as visualization is. I believe that each of us knows our true direction for our lives we just have to tap into it and grab destiny by the hand and lead it forward with our own visions!

How do I know? Take a look at the more than 75 case histories in the book for families, relationships, prosperity, health, fitness etc– they’ll convince you — I don’t have to say anything else!

Q: I heard that gymnast, Nastia Liukin, recently attributed her gold medal success at the recent Olympic Games, in part, to a vision board she created for herself – can you comment on this?

A: RIGHT isn’t that fun? In fact The Chicago Tribune actually said that Nastia was inspired by seeing Joyce Schwarz on the Oprah Show — with her book THE VISION BOARD: The secret to an extraordinary life — can you believe it. Alas I have not been on OPRAH yet, the writer of that article must have found my book online and thought that was what Nastia was thinking about. But in turn his article inspired a full column on my book and me as the author on FOXBUSINESS NEWS.

In my book I have stories of Jim Carrey and his ‘defining image’, and Aras Baskaskas, $1 million winner of SURVIVOR EXILE ISLAND and NBC’s DEAL OR NO DEAL briefcase model #16 who use visioning and vision boards to reach their own success. PLUS MANY MORE as I say 75 wisdom leaders, VIP’s and corporate leaders and entrepreneurs including mommy bloggers and homeschooling parents who tell why the vision boards work for them!

Contact Information
Joyce Schwarz
14004 Palawan Way, Penthouse 6
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292,
310-822-3119 (office phone)
310-822-6139 (24/7 fax)
www.joycecom.com

Everything starts with an idea. Think about it. Paintings, cars, songs, airplane designs, companies, buildings—and even books.

Developing an idea is where work and time come into the picture. When you go with an idea, it may carry you to unknown areas, to the heights of satisfaction or to the depths of depression when you get bogged down with it.

In the superb novel, The Fountainhead, by Ann Rand, architect Howard Roark states that “the creative artist has a unique right to the original ideas he produces and develops. Others cannot make use of this creative work without agreement and compensation. What is reflected in The Fountainhead is the truth that “everything is built upon something else in creation.” Play with a single basic idea and what happens? More ideas present themselves to you.

The act of creating means to shift qualities or elements from one thing to another. Hollywood has been doing this for decades, lifting (some say stealing) a key element from an old classic film and building a new film from or around it.

The creative process takes varying amounts of time, depending upon the desired result. A book obviously takes much longer to create than an article, short story, or song. There are exceptions to this when you consider prolific authors like Barbara Cartland, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury. They could turn out a new book in a week and often did so.

Creative ideas may evolve into creative problems, real puzzlers for their originators. They then require much more thought and effort to work your way through the sticky areas. Thomas Edison spent ten, twenty years, and longer on some of his creative inventions.

As writers, marketers and artists, it’s imperative that we use our creativity to link unrelated concepts in a way that allows for bold new solutions to spring up. One way to start is to look at the same thing as everyone else and then think of something different.

EXERCISE #1

Imagine that you’re a contractor for a major builder. You’ve been hired to convert a dilapidated warehouse into office space. However, there is one problem. The previous owner of the building left behind 5 million unused cotton balls.

Your assignment is to think of creative things to do with the cotton balls before the new office space is completed. List a few ideas.

EXERCISE #2

Suppose for a moment that you are a development executive at an interactive media publisher. One day, the head honcho ushers you into her office and proclaims that the company is dramatically shifting its development strategy. Due to a cash crunch, the firm will now develop innovative games based solely on properties in the public domain.

Your responsibility is to come up with some test concepts for a new title based on the nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill. Harking back to your childhood, you recount the story: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Jot down a few variations of the story.

EXERCISE #3

You’re a marketing assistant for a large manufacturer. You have been assigned a project that may help land you a promotion if completed to your employer’s satisfaction. Your mission is to come up with a list of unique names for the following new consumer products in development:

• A hair brush that doubles as a portable telephone
• Auto body paint that changes color every few days
• An inflatable bicycle helmet

As you focus your creative energies on the various tasks outlined above, you may find one or more of the challenges difficult to complete. Don’t give up!

Remember to use your knowledge and experience to help stimulate extraordinary ideas. Use your wackiest thoughts and your strangest solutions to help break down the mental barriers that stand in your way. Go on. Have some fun.

So how did you do with the cotton balls in Exercise #1? What creative solutions did you come up with?

Here a few examples I thought of:

• Stuff the cotton balls into the walls of the building (in place of standard insulation)
• Dip the cotton balls in caramel and market them as exotic confections
• Sell the cotton balls to an aspirin manufacturer (and pocket the cash!)
• Make fashion accessories out of them

The cotton ball exercise demonstrates on interesting point. When cotton balls are taken out of their usual context, many more uses for the items become possible. I’m not predicting that carmel-covered cotton balls will become a candy craze anytime soon. However, when we place cotton balls in the food category, our minds can suddenly find all sorts of exotic new uses for cotton. Cotton candy anyone?

How did you do with the Jack and Jill exercise? As a development executive placed in an extraordinary situation, you have been pushed off your routine path and forced to “think of something different.” When approaching the story of Jack and Jill, one might first pose a series of questions to help formulate a new approach to a familiar set of circumstances.

Questions such as:

• What caused Jack to fall down?
• Why was Jack wearing a crown?
• What caused Jill to come tumbling after?

Or perhaps alternative situations such as:

• What if Jack and Joe went up the hill?
• What if the hill was a pyramid instead of a hill?

By posing a few simple analytical questions and altering at least one key element familiar to our story, whole new creative ideas suddenly become possible. For example:

Jack and Jill climbed up a pyramid to fetch a golden amulet. Jill tripped Jack and he fell down. Jill snatched his crown, scooped up the amulet and was never seen in the city again.

With a little more tinkering, the concept could be expanded into a full-blown adventure game concept–– a Jack and Jill meets Torin’s Passage:

On a day that starts like any other, young Jack learns that the world he knows is about to change forever. A mysterious warlock, known only as Jillian, puts his parents under an evil spell and snatches his father’s magic crown, then vanishes into the vast labyrinth of the black pyramid. Knowing only the sound of the Jillian’s voice, Jack vows to find her, force her to relinquish his father’s crown, and release his parents from bondage. Thus begins an exciting adventure that will take Jack to the five inner worlds of the black pyramid––a world filled with danger and fantasy. Use your wits to help Jack solve many challenging riddles, as he discovers more about himself than he could ever have imagined.

How did you make out with exercise #3? Given the task of having to create unique names for new products in development, how did you fare? Write down your ideas next to the brilliant ideas I came up with:

A hair brush that doubles as portable telephone:

• Telebrush Magic
• Hairphone
• Your idea?

Auto body paint that changes color every few days:

• Mood Paint
• Liquid Skin
• Your idea?

An inflatable bicycle helmet:

• Airhead
• BrainSafe
• Your idea?

An NDA is an agreement between two parties to protect the privacy of their ideas when disclosing those ideas to each other, or to signatory third parties.

Here is what a sample Non-Disclosure Agreement looks like:

In connection with your review of certain confidential information created by UltraHip Publishers of America (”UltraHip”), we ask that you read and accept the following conditions on UltraHip’s disclosure of such information:

“Proprietary Information” shall mean all information obtained by you from or disclosed to you by UltraHip which:

(i) relates to UltraHip’s past, present or future research, development or business activities or the results from such activities or ;

(ii) which UltraHip has received from others and which UltraHip is obligated to treat as confidential or proprietary. Proprietary information shall not include information previously known to you or publicly disclosed without breach of an obligation of confidentiality, either prior or subsequent to your receipt of such information. You agree that you shall hold all proprietary information in confidence and shall not use any proprietary information except as may be authorized by UltraHip in writing. You shall not disclose by publication or otherwise to any person any such Proprietary Information. You further agree that at any time upon request of UltraHip you shall return to UltraHip any and all written or descriptive matter including, but not limited to, financial information, descriptions or other papers or documents which contain any such proprietary information, together with all copies thereof.

If the foregoing reflects your understanding, please sign this agreement in the space provided below.

AGREED TO AND ACCEPTED BY:
____________________    ________
(Your name & company)     (Date)

____________________    ________
(UltraHip representative)     (Date)

Whether or not you are aware of it, our world is structured into a series of shapes and patterns and sounds that trigger pleasure in us. This systematic organization is part of our intuitive nature—it allows us to structure sensory information into consciousness, thought, and language. It’s the way we humans are designed.

In the interactive world, design structure is more than just notes scribbled on a napkin or a complex flowchart depicting sequential scenes of an application in rich detail. Interactive design structure fulfills two important duties: it defines the navigational boundaries of the user experience and it is the framework that holds all the creative elements of an interactive work together.

You are now ready to make some pretty important decisions that will have a serious impact on the ability of the user to navigate your interactive application. As an interactive writer, it is your job to identify the user’s perceived range of action—keeping in mind that “what the user can do” directly corresponds with the “rules and pathways you create.”

For example, an interactive environment such as Myst [the groundbreaking first-person point of view adventure game created by Robyn and Rand Miller], which has a wide range and depth of choice, may be perceived as more interactive than a conditional branching system with limited choices. This is true, in part, because of the navigation methodology built into the system—a methodology that emphasizes the program’s “critical objective” over a “critical path” mentality. A critical objective is a centralized aim, goal, or action whereby the end user’s overall path of discovery stresses a “means to an end,” rather than fulfilling an immediate task. Key elements within such an application are revealed over time as the user navigates through the application. A critical path is a single correct path a user must follow to successfully complete an application. This is a procedural approach to completing a task.

The distinction between a critical objective and a critical path is significant. Many players confess that what they like best about playing Myst is “exploring the environment.” Finishing the game is much less important.

In her essay “The Garden of Merging Paths,” Rebecca Solnit writes, “Much recent attention to interactive media proposes that it makes the passive viewer become actively engaged. What is interesting about these products is that they map out a number of choices, but the choices are all pre-selected…that is, the user cannot do anything or go anywhere that the creator has not planned; as usual with computer programs, one must stay on the path and off the grass (by which analogy hackers do get off the path, a subversive success that keeps them in the park). We could chart the game as a series of forks in the road, in which each choice sets up another array of choices, but the sum total of choices has already been made. Thus the audience becomes the user, a figure who resembles a rat in a conceptual version of a laboratory maze. The audience-user is not literally passive; he is engaged in making choices, but the choices do not necessarily represent freedom, nor does his activity represent thinking.”

Douglas Gayeton, who has worked on high-profile projects such as Plug In (AOL), Waking Hours (Boxtop/IXL), Johnny Mnemonic (Sony ImageSoft), and Vanishing Point (MSN/Sunshine Digital), claims, “The geography of an interactive space is an illusion…it’s a directed experience. You only need to art direct (or write) what the viewer will see. If a location is too richly composed and features too many objects, the viewer will expect to be able to interact with everything. When she finds that she can’t, she will realize she’s hit a ‘wall’ in the interactive world.”

In his book The Complete Wargames Handbook, author James F. Dunnigan cautions, “Keep in mind that a computer does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. Unlike people (some people, anyway), you can’t just tell a computer what you want done and expect your request to be carried out. Computers require explicit instructions. These are called computer programs, or computer software. The terms ‘program’ and ‘software’ are often used interchangeably.”

To show proof of concept, many writer/designers painstakingly produce working prototypes or demos of their ideas. Sometimes this is done to secure financing. Other times it’s to demonstrate a concept. Demos or prototypes can also help you land a new job.

Whether a published blog or a fully-functional interactive game, a demo or prototype can serve as an ideal calling card to exhibit the quality of your work. And in business, companies tend to want to work with writers and designers who understand their industry and needs. Demos can sort out the wanna-be’s from the true contenders.

What is a prototype?

A prototype is an application made up of several key elements loosely thrown together to demonstrate a basic sense of what the project is and how it works. A prototype can be as simple as a sketch-up of several screen shots, sample music, and some narration. Or a prototype can be deeply interactive, including elaborate graphic designs, maps, and concepts ‘borrowed’ from other projects for illustrative purposes.

What is a demo?

A working demo looks and feels much like the final product. A website demo might include a home page, several interior screens, active hypertext links, interactive tools, along with several design variations to consider. A game demo might include an interface that illustrates the basic navigation, interactive methodology, game play, music score, sound effects, sample puzzles and other obstacles.

Beside the obvious benefits (landing a job), prototypes and demos can also serve a myriad of functions:

• Road test new ideas before your final product is put together
• A crash course in production (nothing like building something on your own to really learn)
• Marketing deliverable (use a sample game to serve as link bait on your website, or as CD leave behind on your next job interview)
• Shareware (as in game demos, you introduce a few levels of functionality in the hopes that some players will ‘try before they buy’ and purchase an upgrade to your full application)
• Key ingredient in your new business plan (to demonstrate proof of concept)

If you are looking to boost your website traffic, boost your organic search engine results and/or increase your overall site conversions (aka drive more sales), the following tips may help improve your success metrics.