Introduction

The train is pulling out of the station—will you be on it?

Landing page optimization is no longer a secret. It has rapidly become the most powerful method that smart Internet marketers use to build a lasting competitive advantage.

Well-optimized landing pages can change the economics of your business overnight and turbocharge your online marketing programs.

Don't guess at what your visitors want. Turn your landing page into a dynamic laboratory to find out what they actually respond to.

But you must orient yourself quickly to learn a number of new skills:

• What is the real value of my landing page?

• Can I see the world from my visitor's perspective?

• How do I uncover problems with my website?

• What page elements should I test to get the best results?

• Which tuning method is appropriate for me?

• Can I build the necessary team and action plan for my project?

• How do I avoid the biggest pitfalls when running my test?

  If any of these questions ring true, then you have found the right book.

Who Can Benefit from This Book

If you are looking for an instant fix for your landing page, then put down this book and look around for a "Top 10 ways to increase conversions" entry on someone's blog. You will not find any quick or easy prescriptions here. To truly benefit from this book you will need to commit to understanding all of the important fundamentals of this challenging and rewarding field.

If you are involved in any way with making your company's Internet marketing programs more effective, this book is for you. If you have already gotten your feet wet in landing page optimization, this book will take you to the next level and provide you with a solid framework for repeatable future success.

This book will benefit people in the following roles:

• Web Designer

• Media Buyer

• Copywriter

• Webmaster

• User Experience Engineer

• Affiliate Manager

• Web Analytics Manager

• Product Manager

• Advertising Manager

• Marketing Manager

• Director of Online Marketing

• Media Director

• V.P. of Online Marketing

• CMO

What's Inside

Landing page optimization does not fit neatly into any box on an organizational chart. It requires a truly diverse set of knowledge and perspectives in order to be effective. Among other topics, you need to be familiar with Web design, human psychology, copywriting, statistics, usability, team building, and the scientific method.

This book is a guide to this strange and wondrous land. My colleagues at Site-Tuners.com and I have spent a lot of time exploring up ahead and we've come back with a comprehensive map. Like many pioneers, we have suffered setbacks and endured many painful lessons along the way. My sincere hope is that this book can shorten your own learning curve and help you become a more effective landing page tuner.

Here's what you will find inside.

Part I: Background

• Chapter 1: "Setting the Stage"

  Helps you understand how landing page optimization fits into the larger picture of online marketing.

• Chapter 2: "Understanding Your Landing Pages"

  Helps you understand the different types of landing pages, key target audience segments, conversion actions, and how to calculate their economic value.

• Chapter 3: "Understanding Your Audience"

  Helps you understand your Internet visitors more fully through both objective measures and psychological styles. Introduces a comprehensive framework for meeting the needs of your visitors.

• Chapter 4: "Understanding the Decision Process"

  Takes you through the four steps of the online decision-making process with extensive examples drawn from a variety of websites.

Part II: What and How to Tune

• Chapter 5: "Why Your Site Is Not Perfect"

  Presents methods for uncovering landing page issues. Introduces the fundamentals of Web usability.

• Chapter 6: "Selecting Elements to Tune"

  Presents a comprehensive framework for evaluating and selecting the best page elements to tune.

• Chapter 7: "The Math of Tuning"

  Introduces the math behind landing page testing, and addresses important questions related to proper test design.

• Chapter 8: "Tuning Methods"

  Provides a framework for describing tests and their setup. Surveys all important tuning methods along with their strengths and weaknesses.

Part III: Getting It Done

• Chapter 9: "Assembling the Team and Getting Buy-in"

  Reviews all important stakeholder roles and company politics common to landing page testing. Suggests several strategies for getting started and discusses the decision to use in-house staff or outsource.

• Chapter 10: "Developing Your Action Plan"

  Lays out a detailed framework for putting your plan into action.

• Chapter 11: "Avoiding the Pitfalls"

  Describes several common pitfalls that can derail your testing program.

• Appendix A: "A Closer Look at the Google Website Optimizer"

  Provides background, a hands-on walkthrough, and an analysis of this important landing page testing platform.

• Glossary

  A comprehensive glossary covering all important landing page optimization terms.

This Book's Companion Website

This book covers a lot of material, but it cannot be the last word on landing page optimization. The Internet is always changing and evolving. The companion site for this book can be found at http://LandingPageOptimizationBook.com.

On it you will find additional resources, guides, and links to help you get the most out of your landing page testing and tuning.