So let’s take a look at how to design a landing page that will drain your pay-per-click budget as fast as it sends visitors away from your site. Hopefully, by knowing what not to do you’ll be in a better position to make a better first impression.

Here are a few pointers on how to design a really ineffective landing page:

• Make sure your central message, or call-to-action, cannot be quickly discerned.  Avoid using your keyword in your message. And avoid text formatting that would otherwise draw your visitor’s eyes to your message.  Your call-to-action should blend in seamlessly with the rest of your content so as to not command the user’s attention.   Do not include multiple calls-to-action near the top, middle and bottom of the page to account for different screen sizes/resolutions.

• Your landing page should not meet the expectation created by your pay-per-click ad.  Make sure the overall tone and character of the landing page isn’t consistent with your ad.  Get their hopes up by making a bold promise and then under-deliver by offering something that is far less impressive or even somewhat misleading.

• Do not make it easy for your user to scan the layout of your landing page.  Do not group information together in easy-to-read ‘chunks’.  Instead, lump all information together with little-to-no white space in between.  If they’re up to a challenge, they’ve found the right landing page as this will test their patience and commitment to remaining on your site. Avoid the use of bullet points and concise, descriptive phrases.  Avoid the use of testimonials.

• Make it hard to navigate to any other page within your website.  Avoid the use of descriptive links that might capture their interest and keep them on your site.

• Avoid the use of illustrative images that might keep their interest and reinforce the meaning of your message.  Or, alternatively, load the landing page with so many images that it takes more than 5 seconds to load.

• Force your visitors to enter information into a form before they perceive any real value in what you’re offering.  Or, take it to the next level by making your visitors enter an email address and other information before they are allowed to enter your site. This should be part of your overall strategy to design your landing page to meet your needs rather than the needs of your visitor.

• Your landing page message should do little to instill a sense of trust in your organization.  Avoid looking at things from your visitor’s perspective and just assume that there are no concerns in need of addressing. Focus on how great your company is rather than how you intent to meet your visitor’s needs.

• Never test variations of your landing page.

There you have it, some helpful advice on how to design a poorly performing landing page.  Use them wisely.

What are double ‘Opt-In’ lists?
When someone visits a web page and provides an email address to be used for future email marketing, such as special offers, newsletters and so forth, this is known as an ‘opt-in’ email request. Individuals such as this receive a follow-up email requiring them to confirm that they are the person whose email address was submitted in the original request. This is known as a ‘double opt-in’ or ‘confirmed opt-in’ request. This double-opt-in aspect ensures list integrity by protecting against typos that may have occurred in the sign-up process. It also serves as a filter to any malicious sign-ups that may have resulted from automated registration scripts.

How effective are double opt-in email campaigns?
Hard, unbiased data on the response rates to double-opt-in email marketing campaigns is hard to come by. Claims range from .2% (1 out of 500) to as high as 12%. One thing’s for sure: someone who has taken the time to confirm that he or she really intended to sign up for an email list is far more likely to pay attention to emails from that source. Once you have someone’s attention, the onus is on you to close the sale. How well written is your ad? Does it have a good, compelling headline? Is the offer attractive? These considerations extend beyond opt-in email marketing and into the larger world of marketing in general.

When attempting any email marketing campaign be sure to do your research and ask questions. When dealing with a list provider, make a point of asking whether the list is double opt-in (or confirmed). Do the math; make sure the numbers are realistic and don’t preclude the possibility of making a profit. Opt-in email marketing can be effective when everything’s done right. Anything less will only lead to disappointment.

It all starts with usability.
For an email newsletter to be effective it must first be engaging. The reader must be able to quickly scan the contents for topics of interest. Information should be presented in easy-to-skim ‘chunks’ with headlines that are both descriptive and succinct. Create an expectation with your headline and deliver on that expectation in your content. The layout of the newsletter should contain sufficient ‘white space’ between the different news items so as to not overwhelm your reader with too much informational density. It should be easy to tell at a glance what is worth reading and what is not. The use of all-uppercase formatting should be avoided. An Austin State (Texas) University study showed that the use of all caps may affect a reader’s willingness to open the email.

Make it easy to unsubscribe.
Realize that some subscribers will inevitably decide they no longer wish to receive your email newsletters. If there is not an immediate and obvious way to unsubscribe, many users will simply flag the email as spam, thereby increasing the likelihood of you getting blacklisted by your ISP. It’s better to lose a subscriber than to lose an entire subscriber base by losing the privilege of  being able to deliver your email newsletters.

If you’ve succeeded in creating a well designed, scannable layout, then there’s only one thing left to do: provide useful and interesting content. This is where it can get tricky as not everyone is a born writer. Remember, there are plenty of publishers offering the exact same information. What sets them apart is their ability to offer an insightful perspective, a way of looking at things that might otherwise be overlooked. Pre-digest the tedious or complicated information and offer a Cliff’s Notes version. You want to make your reader think, but not too hard. Don’t be afraid to let a little of your personality shine through in what you’re writing–people relate to other people more than they relate to abstract concepts.

In closing, giving your reader a sense for who you are and what you believe makes you more tangible, more than just an impersonal voice on the other end of an internet connection. And be sincere. Write in a manner that reflects your actual style of communication. It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

Some prerequisites for a successful Viral Marketing campaign:
• The promotional device must be useful or exceptional in some way. People want to help others
by sharing useful things like free software and ebooks. They like to share funny things.
• There must be a visible brand associated with the viral marketing device–increasing brand
awareness is the whole point.
• It must target a certain demographic–e.g., men between the ages of 18 and 45, college
students, senior citizens, etc. Or, it must target a certain sub-group within the larger population,
such as auto enthusiasts, wine lovers, etc.
• There must be a good likelihood of the viral marketing promotion being passed from one
person to the next.

Other considerations:
It’s been long said that word-of-mouth advertising is the best form of advertising because it’s free. This is still true in many ways. However, more and more people are choosing email as their primary means of sharing content, the importance of which may not warrant a phone call. Moreover, many if not most viral marketing devices exist in electronic form, thereby necessitating the use of email in order to share them. But if the most defining aspect of word-of-mouth advertising lies in its voluntary nature, in the spirit of sharing something of exceptional value or utility, then electronic viral marketing is very much an extension of, if not an improvement on, this very process.

When planning a viral marketing campaign, try to put yourself in the mindset of an unsolicited consumer. What would motivate you to share any particular thing with someone else? Is your viral marketing device something that’s truly funny, interesting or useful? Or are you just deluding yourself? Trying to be as skeptical and detached as possible, while at the same time retaining your creativity and enthusiasm. After all, that’s why your in this game to begin with!