Does your internet business web site landing page have every possible bell and whistle so that it looks like a visual feast for the eyes, so much so that any visitor would be mesmerized by what they see? Are your conversions a lot lower than you’d like, meaning your ROI isn’t looking good compared to the cost that probably went into building your landing page? If this is you, or, rather your internet business, you’re losing money and were probably complicit in your own lack of online success because you went along with your creative design team and sacrificed conversions in favour of the “coolness” factor.

Yes, your baby is beautiful, no doubt, and you’ve probably grown very fond of it, but how did you get to this point? Let’s take a look at the origins of this type of situation and see how it can be avoided.

Your aim, when all said and done, is to acquire and convert visitors through the most efficient landing page or process you can get. The way to get to that is to put all considerations to one side except the interests of your visitors, because they’re what really matters, since, without them, you’d be out of business.

Clarity Is The Key

When a visitor reaches your landing page, its objective should be crystal clear so that your visitor is in no mind as to what their next step should be, which should be the action you want them to take to convert from a visitor to a customer or subscriber. The stillness of your landing page should be patent and the path to conversion simple.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true for many web site landing pages, since they can be a total visual assault on the visitor’s senses. The poor visitor is left trying to sort out which of the incredibly striking elements on the page is the most important for them. This can often lead to frustration and ultimately the visitor clicking on the dreaded close button, probably never to return.

Visual Excesses

When it comes to their design, graphic designers take pride in producing work that’s unconventional and challenging for them. They don’t like to be told what to do or be constricted in any way, preferring to be allowed to give free reign to their artistic tendencies. Which will no doubt make them feel good, but could wreak havoc with your web site landing page.

Here are some of the more common visual excesses committed in the name of art:

  • Wild colours for the background

Many landing pages use dark or dramatic colours as their background, with large sections of the page or whole backgrounds       being black or totally saturated in bright colours. This creates a dark, brooding atmosphere that would probably only appeal to video game junkies.

  • Garish-looking text

Creativity may be the cause of the outlandish-looking text on the page, but the result is nauseating and ultimately annoying, as text and headlines are placed seemingly randomly on the page, font sizes are enormous and the whole mess made even more messy by the use of drop shadows, edging effects, fill patterns, etc.

  • Visual flourishes and embellishments

It seems like everything on the page has some kind of visual embellishment associated with it, even such simple elements as boxes have edges with glow, drop shadows or some other effect, while simple buttons in lists are replaced by icons such as graphical checkmarks. Even seemingly innocuous space to the sides of the page end up filled with images, patterns, etc.

  • Video or animation

All other landing page sins pale in comparison with the excessive use of animation and video. Pages with video and animation may have full-motion videos that play automatically, images and text that pulse and throb and complex animation that flashes before the eyes. This makes for a powerful visual presentation, but basically wastes what few seconds you have to convert your visitor, and usually ends up without the desired conversion result.

Results Not Artistry

While having a visually impressive landing page might feel good and look good on the graphic designer’s resume, the most effective landing pages are simple and direct, making the call-to-action stand out thanks to the visual stillness of the page. Graphic designers should follow minimalist design conventions that focus on conversion rather than window dressing when it comes to landing page design.

“Boring” may not be exactly cool, but it works and makes more money, so that should make it pretty exciting.

If you’re about to embark on your business’s internet journey or are considering changing your current web site, using the services of a professional web development company or consultant will get your project off on the right footing and give you a landing page that will give you what you need, internet business success.

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