A landing page is, literally, where your online visitors "land." It is your web page that is displayed when a visitor clicks an online advertisement, or a link from search engine results pages. This may or may not be your home page, but it definitely needs to be a page that is designed to convert quality leads into customers.

Visitors to your landing page will stay there only a few seconds before they decide if they have come to the right place. Your landing page can either grab their attention in those precious few seconds or it can make them click away from it. How can you make these visitors stay on to become potential customers?

Your landing page must be optimized to quickly provide visitors with essential information about the products and services you are offering; and what they need to do to get hold of them. Make it easy and clear exactly what they need to do next to make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, download your whitepaper, or whatever your conversion goal is.

Always be asking yourself - How can I improve my landing pages for greater conversion?

- Use strong, engaging headlines. Ideally you want a few attention-grabbing lines that highlight benefits. How are you different from your competition? Good visual design supports the content. However, too many images can distract your visitor. We've been doing this for quite awhile and we still find it a challenge to attain the perfect balance.

People should be able to scan the page quickly, so use bullet points, simple sentences and crisp content. Reinforce the call to action. No two visitors read a web page in the identical manner. To make sure your call to action is not missed, reinforce it more than once on the page and always make it clearly visible.

- Focus on a primary keyword. Define your product or service for each keyword and drive everything on the page to it. This means having many landing pages - possibly one per each of your top keywords.

- Try to keep your designs simple. Simpler pages always work better for lead generation. If you find that some elements like navigation bars, visual clutter, and links to other sections may turn a visitor away, simply get rid of it. If it doesn't aid the visitor in their decision making process, it's expendable.

- Keep your form simple. Get only as much information as you need immediately; you can always collect more during your lead nurturing process. Also, keep in mind not all computers and mobile devices run the latest fancy graphics or video apps. We've worked with several customers who invested a lot into building their websites with all the bells and whistles. What they weren't told was that many devices will be unable to view their site properly or it would load too slow, driving them away. Do you want your lasting "brand image" to be a dialog box that says, "You can't view this site because..."?

Your landing page does not always have to be a final destination for a visitor. Use your discretion and decide whether or not your landing page can encourage further engagement with the same target audience. Without distracting from your specific conversion goal for that page, provide one or two teasers or links in the corner that allow them to explore more of your products or services. It pays to think beyond the short-term objectives of a landing page and to develop relationships for the long-term.

A "thank you" page is a must after you convert a lead. Other than being courteous, it's also a great opportunity to develop the relationship by making another offer, promoting your blog, asking for feedback, and getting a great testimonial.

You may be wasting valuable dollars by sending clicks to your home page! While a great looking website can grab the attention of your visitors, a strong landing page will keep them involved and get them to buy your products/services.

The landing page is the most important persuasion point for the user. Create targeted, product or service focused landing pages that simplify customer activity and improve conversions. The more compelling and clear your offer is, the more qualified your prospects will be. As a result, you will drive better conversion and garner greater return on investment.

Jacob Myong is a WSI Internet Consultant with The Coeur d'Alene Press. He has worked in digital media for over 15 years. Email Jacob@cdapress.com or call 208-416-5173. www.cdainternetmarketing.com