Comments on: Consumers Taking 180% as Long to Convert

By: This Week In SEO - 7/13/07 - TheVanBlog

This Week In SEO - 7/13/07 - TheVanBlog — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:13:49 +0000

[...] Consumers Taking 180% as Long to Convert [...]

By: Jordan McCollum

Jordan McCollum — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 23:12:07 +0000

Sometimes I pay no attention to what I’ve written. Thank you, SEOcommon, for making me read what I wrote better & adding some context. I read “About Us” and my brain automatically thought “Top Navigation–About us link.” Clearly, that’s not what a blurb is.

Makes much more sense now.

By: seocommon

seocommon — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:35:38 +0000

“# Add “About Us” blurbs to every conceivable entry point”
vs
“Eliminate all the [...] navigational links.”

So who’s right? Both, I’d guess.

Many landing pages have an ‘about the author’ (or doctor, etc, depending on what they’re selling) box describing the seller’s experience and qualifications, sometimes as a mock introduction. But NOT a link to a separate ‘about us’ page that would send users away.

I read it as “do let the visitor know why they should buy from you, don’t send them somewhere else to find out, even if it’s on the same site.”

By: Steven Bradley

Steven Bradley — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:18:45 +0000

Funny Rand. I almost want to dare you to set that up.

Some of this really revolves around what is or isn’t a landing page. Technically it’s true the entry point for your site could be any page, but does that really make them all landing pages.

I think Roberta is right that a landing page comes after a very specific introduction to a potential sales experience. Even though some might enter your site at any point they won’t be entering the site in the same mindset.

By: randfish

randfish — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:44:20 +0000

We’ll just have to build in a cloaked interstitial page that asks visitors whether they know and like SEOmoz before we take them to the landing page – if they answer yes, we’ll just show them a different version

By: Roberta Rosenberg

Roberta Rosenberg — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:43:26 +0000

Hi Jordan, I think we’re looking at 2 different processes. From an e-commerce perspective, there’s nothing that I would quibble with Marketing Sherpa. I can see many of the points at play with my own shopping site.

However, the landing page isn’t a mirror-image of the shopping cart experience. Folks who come in from a PPC ad or sales-centric email aren’t necessarily looking to go shopping. They’re responding to a very specific introduction to a potential sales experience.

So, as Brian says, it’s not a question of who’s right. It’s a question of what works best (always testing, of course) within the specific marketing/sales environment.

Thanks much for the shout-out :=)

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:14:52 +0000

You bring up an excellent point Jordan. This alone is why I’m such a proponent of blogging and relationship selling–it’s so much easier to convert someone who knows, trusts and likes you.

Unfortunately, Roberta had to take the task that Rand handed her, which was up the conversion rate of the Premium page directly from cold traffic. Rand has been doing fantastic leveraging his existing relationships with SEOmoz readers and converting those into paid memberships. If Roberta’s tips do up his conversion of cold traffic by only 1%, the Mozzers will be doing the happy dance.

A good landing page will convert better than a bad one. Whether or not an entirely different approach converts better than the good landing page is a different question. So, I think the answer to your question of “who’s right” is either “everyone” or “it depends.”