Smart marketers are concerned about more than just increasing page views and clicks. While these metrics are certainly important, you have to ask yourself how they play into your larger marketing plan that includes closed sales, lead conversions, and ROI.

For you to maximize all these metrics you have to start by dealing with conversions. You’ve probably already read much about having effective call to actions buttons. Effective CTA buttons are an important part of any landing page, but if the page is unable to convert all those who take an interest in the website into leads, then all your efforts will come to naught.

You can use landing pages to:

• Sell products
• Promote a downloadable report or e-book
• Encourage site visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter
• Sign a petition

There are many factors that may contribute to readers leaving your landing page without converting into a lead. Some of the reasons are well known and some are easier to correct than others. Perhaps without even knowing it, you may be making some mistakes that could be killing your landing page conversions. I have outlined the three most common ones which, when avoided will help you create a high converting landing page.

1. The Headline does not stand Out

The headline is the first thing your visitors see. It is you first and in many cases, only chance to communicate what the page is about, generate curiosity, explain your intention(s) and lure them into the page. If you do not craft headlines that meet your visitor’s expectations and does absolutely nothing to entice them, then low conversion rates should not come as a surprise.

One of the biggest problems is having unclear or missing value proposition.

When pondering your headline, check if your answer to these two questions is yes.

• Imagine that your entire website consisted of the headline and your call to action. Would any visitor take action after reading the headline?
• When having a conversation with a friend or trying to explain your products/services, will you use the exact wording as used in your headline.

Yes, there would always be exceptions, but this is a good guideline to get you on the right path.

2. The “Nuke” Button

In the animated film “Monsters vs. Aliens,” the president has two huge buttons, both RED. One of them makes a latte when pressed while the other one launches every nuclear weapon in the country. Throughout the film, he keeps almost pressing the wrong button, with everyone screaming hysterically whenever it appears that he is about to make this fatal mistake.

Some elements on your website can effectively be compared to “nuke” buttons. In other words, traps that can reduce your chances of conversion.

–  Types of “nuke” buttons

This may sound obvious, but it is a very common trap that even the most experienced marketers and webmasters fall into. A link shouldn’t be placed on a page unless you want your visitors to click on it; to your benefit. There are many landing pages filled with links and buttons that redirect visitors to obscure parts of your website or even other websites, never to return.

An obvious example are the irrelevant links found on website that have banner ads on their shopping cart pages. If a customer is about to order your product or service, do you really want to have a large banner such as this distracting them?

One other button you should avoid placing on your landing page is the “empty cart” button. Some websites place this button right next to the “Place order” button. One small mistake by the visitor and the order gets “nuked”. Avoid placing this button on your landing page altogether. An empty cart feature will never exist in retail stores offline, so why should you insist on placing it on your site?

There are many other nuke buttons that may destroy your chances of converting leads. Try identifying them on your site and remove them immediately before that destroy more conversions.

3. Inconsistent Call to Action

The main objective of having a landing page is to convince your viewers to act. It would most likely be the first time they are visiting your site, so you have to make it clear as possible for them to follow up, and give them a good reason to browse through other pages of your website.

I would highly recommend that when including buttons, stick to only using one on the page. But if you have to use multiple links then avoid using interchanging format styles. Keep them looking the same (whether you are using buttons or anchor text).

Many landing pages have multiple call to action links and buttons of varying formats. At this point, the page loses focus and confuses the viewer, thereby adversely influencing their decision to perform the desired action.

Author Bio:

Derek Fraser is an online manager for Surgimedics – Smoke Evacuators. He likes blogging about online strategies that are related to SEO, Content, PPC & Lead generation.