What is a 1 page website, also called a landing page?

What is a 1 page website, also called a landing page. The goal of a landing page is to get your prospect to respond to a product or service offer in your marketing campaign. This would include registering for an event, completing an information request form, downloading an eBook, etc.

Here are five key elements you should have in place when you are creating a landing page for your marketing campaign:

1. Keep Design and Copy Consistent
2. Create a clear call to action
3. Capture Prospect’s Information
4. Stick to one offer
5. Keep links and navigation to a minimum

Below is a great article by Jeanne Jennings of The ClickZ Network

Great e-mail marketing doesn’t involve e-mail alone. Usually, it also encompasses the Web pages people land on when they click through from the message to follow the call to action. You can get a great open rate and a very impressive CTR - Click Through Rate (click here for definition), but if the landing page doesn’t carry the reader through to the goal, it’s pointless.

Here are some tips for creating more effective landing pages.

Don’t Just Send Them to Your Home Page

Yes, this is what’s easiest to do. But in most instances, it’s not best. Especially when the product or service you’re promoting in the e-mail doesn’t appear on the home page (I’ve seen it done). Don’t make people search for what you’ve told them is there. Take them straight to it.

Don’t Be Redundant

We’ve all seen landing pages that tell you exactly what the e-mail told you — no more, no less. Why land readers there and make them click through to the next step? Send them to the next step directly from the e-mail.

Match Your Landing Page to Your Call to Action

A good e-mail engages readers by telling them about something, then setting an expectation for what they’ll find when they click through. If you’re promoting a new product with a link to “learn more,” readers expect to land on a page with more information. If it’s “order now,” they expect to land on a page to begin the order process. If it’s “read the full article,” they expect to land on a page with the full article. Be sure you deliver on the call -to -action’s promise.

Another note on calls to action: It’s fine to include multiple calls to action in an e-mail. With clients I often place “learn more” right next to “order now” to see if we provide readers with enough information in the message to go directly to the order form. Just be sure all calls to action lead down a path to the end goal. There’s no need to send readers to an “About Us” page if there’s no direct link there they can order from.

Use a Look and Feel That’s Consistent With the E-Mail

Test this to see if it lifts response; sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. But consistency rarely depresses response and it creates a seamless experience, so I strongly recommend it. Something as simple as having the same image on the landing page and in the e-mail quickly lets readers know they’re in the right place. Repeating the benefit-oriented headline is another way to do this. You want the e-mail to flow naturally to the landing page, so there’s no disconnect for the reader.

Define a Clear Path

I like to think of the e-mail message as a starting point. Each landing page toward the end goal is a stepping stone. You need enough pages to make your case, but not so many that readers abandon the path before they reach the end. The more streamlined you can make it, the better. But be sure you have a route in mind. If you aren’t clear on what readers should do, how can they be?

Minimize Distractions

Once you’ve set your path, don’t distract visitors with other things. Question why every piece of information is on each page, and remove information that doesn’t help readers reach the end goal. This is especially true of links that take readers to third-party Web sites, but it’s also true of links to other pages within your own site.

Use Daughter Windows for Ancillary Information

Sometimes you need to include ancillary information to make a case. If so, have it open in another window, especially if it takes readers to a third-party site or off the path to the end goal. This way they’ll get the information without losing their way.

It’s easy to read these tips and agree; it’s much harder to implement them. But it’s worth the effort. Practicing a little tough love with your landing pages is a quick way to increase the effectiveness of your e-mail marketing. with the e-mail, you should continually test and work toward lifts in response. Give it a try!

SEO Tip sent to YHS newsletter subscribers

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your current website marketing plan.

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Step 5 for improving your site’s search engine ranking

The 5th step for improving your site’s search engine ranking is the actual content on the pages of your site.

Make sure the content of your site is sprinkled with the words and phrases you want people to use to find you. Simply mix in relevant words and phrases so that the overall readability of the page is preserved while maintaining a consistent theme and message. Avoid stuffing your pages with keywords just for the sake of having them there.

Let’s take the two following paragraphs as examples

Nightingale Nursing Home provides a link between you, your home and your independence. It is our desire to exceed your expectations by assisting, educating and providing the means necessary to enable you to stay in a familiar environment. Our professional caring staff will aid you in regaining and maintaining your independence.

… this could be changed to …

Nightingale Nursing Home is a home health care agency that links you, your home, and your independence. It is our desire to exceed your home nursing care expectations by assisting, educating and providing the means necessary to enable you to stay in a familiar environment. Our professional and caring healthcare staff will aid you in regaining and maintaining your independence.

Notice the addition of “home health care agency”, “home nursing”, and “healthcare.” The meaning of the paragraph is preserved without excessively using any one key phrase.

Now Let’s Review All 5 Steps:

• First, examine the words in the title bar on each page of your website. Are they useful and relevant?
• Second, examine the Meta Tags on each web page. Are you using them? What do they contain?
• Third, look at the image ALT tags on your website. Are they sitting blank and unused?
• Fourth, look at the contents of your Heading tags on your site. Good use of the words or not?
• Finally, look at the actual content on the pages of your site. Are you using words that people search for and using words that qualify your visitor as someone who is ready to buy your product or service?

I hope this information is helpful.

Thank you and I wish you much success!

Africa Riviera

YourHostSolutions.com

Step 4 for improving your site’s search engine ranking

The 4th step for improving your web site’s ranking in search engines is to examine the contents of your Heading tags on your site.

Specifically, look at the words you have on your site in the H1 (header) tags. H1 tags are given a greater priority of relevance by search engines.

Here’s a sample page heading that is of limited value:
click here to view code.

What is this sentence talking about?

How does it help a search engine find you or your company?

Try this improved version:
Please click here to view the code.

If the default H1 heading tag size is too big and does not fit the scheme of your site layout, redefine the style using CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) or a Font tag.

In our next newsletter tip, we will look at step 5. This step is very critical to gaining higher ranking in search engines. We will examine the content and why this is very important.

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What does Branding has to do with the success of my Company?

Hello,

Thank you for visiting YHS Blog. The other day I was reading information about branding, and while researching online I stumbled upon this branding expert by the name of Robert Frankel.

His video was so compelling that I wanted to share it with you!

It was another confirmation that Branding is a major part of your Company’s Success!

After viewing, please comment. I would like to read about your thoughts on branding.

Step 3 of 5 for improving your web site’s rankings in Search Engines

The 3rd step for improving your web site’s ranking in search engines is to examine, and if necessary, update your ALT tags.

The ALT tags is a parameter on HTML code where an image is inserted into a web site. It helps identify an image, especially if a visitor has their images turned “off”, or if they are visually impaired and using audio software to read a page out loud.

Often , this tag is neglected and left blank.

A better use of the ALT tag is to change it to include relevant key words:

To view the HTML code that should be used for your image ALT tags -
Click here.
The key words only show when you hover your mouse over the image. Remember to view your HTML code for your site, you click on View, then Source if you’re using Internet Explorer as your internet browser.

Next blog post, YHS will inform you about Step 4 of improving your website for search engines. You will learn how to examine the Heading Tags on each web page of your site.

Step 2 of 5 for improving your web site’s rankings in Search Engines

The 2nd step for improving your web site’s ranking in search engines is to examine, and if necessary, update your META tags.

The META tags are “hidden” tags found in the HEAD section of each web page. As this information relates to search engines, we’re interested in two of the tags. Specifically the “description” tag and the “keywords” tag.

You can find them in Internet Explorer by loading your web page and then navigate to the menu bar and then clicking view and clicking source. If you are using another browser, such as Fire Fox click view, then page source.

The tags typically look like the following example: Click here to view.

Why are TITLE and META tags so important?

The TITLE and META tags are important because many search engines use them to display the listing for your site.
For example, click here for the following HTML code found in a site called AtlantaRestaurants.com

The following two META tags can further help your web site in the search engine listings:
Click here to view.

Next blog post, YHS will inform you about Step 3 of improving your website for search engines.
You will learn how to examine the ALT tags on each web page of your site.

Step 1 for improving your website ranking in search engines

Before I explain the 5 steps, please take a moment to imagine the following scenario:

You took the time, effort and expense to build a website. You invested in a domain name, web hosting, and web designer, to build your site. Maybe, you added audio or video to the site to entertain and inform your visitors.

After all of that, there are still a few problems. Very few people are visiting the site. Fewer people are listening to the audio or watching the video. If you’re selling something from your site, sales are in a slump.

When people search for your site or service on Google.com, you’re not even on the first five pages of listings!

Visualize the flood of visitors that would be flowing into your site on a daily basis! Imagine them listening to your audio messages, watching your videos and joining your mailing list!

In this report, YHS will reveal some key strategies you can implement at low cost, to improve your web site and attract that flood of visitors.

Start by Focusing on Words
One of the keys to successfully improving your visibility of your web site is to focus on the words on your site. Specifically, what do you say your site is about, buy way of the following:

…the words you use in the “TITLE” tags of your web pages?
…the words you use in your “META” tags?
…the words in your image “ALT” tags?
…the words you use in the content of your pages themselves?

Here is why I ask these questions:

Search engines perform indexing on words found in certain places of the web pages. People search for certain words or phrases when using search engines. When the words that have been indexed match the words that people are searching for, your site has a better chance of being found.

The First Step is to examine the words in the title bar on each page of your website.

The title bar is the content that is usually in the bar at the very top of your internet browser.

Examples of bad website titles:

Mary Smith’s Web Page
SallyMae.com
Untitled Document
Big Fred’s Stomping Ground
Studio Complex

Examples of better website titles that are more search engine friendly:
Las Vegas Realtor | Las Vegas New Home Sales - Sally Mae, Realtor
Tractor Supply Store, Colorado | Big Fred
Pilates Studio in Cleveland, Ohio - Studio Complex

Notice how the second versions are more descriptive and use words that web searches might actually use to purchase your product or service.

The title of your website goes between the TITLE tags in the HTML code of your web page.

In the next newsletter, I will inform you about Step 2 of improving your website for search engines. You will learn how to examine the META tags on each web page.

Thank you,
Your Host Solutions

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