
The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page - jaybol
http://www.formstack.com/the-anatomy-of-a-perfect-landing-page
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ccollins
No, this is the anatomy of a perfect landing page:

    
    
      <% ab_test('determine_the_best_page_with_numbers_to_back_you_up', ['page1', 'page2']) do |action_name| %>
    
            render :action => action_name
    
      <% end %>
    

(<http://www.bingocardcreator.com/abingo>)

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swombat
I don't know why you're being downvoted. This is correct. Landing pages can
and should be a/b-tested to the death. If you're gonna a/b-test anything, it's
gotta be your landing page!

~~~
ccollins
Thanks - maybe downvoted because there is little explanation. So just to
clarify:

Many people have an opinion about the perfect landing page based on some
narrow experience. See <http://www.google.com/search?q=perfect+landing+page>
for examples. Absorbing these guidelines provides a good starting point for
any landing page optimization campaign, but only a _starting point_.

Claiming you have created a "perfect" landing page is simply wrong. There is
_no such thing_ as a perfect landing page. Through rigorous A/B/n &
multivariate testing you can identify pages with better conversion rates and
discard poor performers. It is also important to note that this optimization
is not necessarily transferable to different ad messaging, user segments,
products, or conversion goals.

~~~
jasonlotito
Probably because you missed the point. They aren't saying copy/paste this page
and you've done it. Rather, they are providing a clear set of guidelines
toward reaching your perfect landing page.

#10 on their list, in fact, discuss A/B testing.

However, that advise alone is useless. Testing whether A or B is better is
useless if both A and B don't have a good foundation.

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paraschopra
I had written a post long back: Landing Page Optimization tips: analysis of
50+ sites to find out what increases sales and conversions
[http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-
blog/landing...](http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/landing-
page-optimization-tips-increases-sales-conversions/)

You may find it a nice complement for the infographic

~~~
inovica
I've just had a read of this and its very good. Thanks for writing it.

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merraksh
Is the not-so-impeccable title " _Impecabble_ grammar" there on purpose?

</grammar-nazi>

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ph0rque
They didn't say anything about spelling...

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ams6110
Still qualifies as an example of Bell's Law IYAM

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AndrewWarner
Unbounce.com has templates that look like that. So does WooThemes.com

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qeorge
Have you had good luck with Unbounce?

I love it in theory, but the interface is kind of janky - specifically, I have
lots of trouble with alignment, positioning, and lack of an Undo button.

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ameyamk
[http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-
blog/landing...](http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/landing-
page-optimization-tips-increases-sales-conversions/)

Another great resource to build perfect landing page. Makes great reading to
compare these two resources together

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jsackmann
Does anyone here have first-hand experience testing w/ the VeriSign seal? The
parent link gives an example of a very substantial sales increase thanks to
the seal. For $299/year, though, it's a bit beyond the range of "eh, what the
hell, I'll give it a try."

~~~
bajsejohannes
Personally I become more suspicious when I see these images than when they are
not there. I only associate it with scammers.

But yeah, probably some real world statistics is better.

You _could_ do the test yourself, and see if people are convinced by the image
alone (even though the link only goes to for example the main page of
verisign.com). I'm not sure verisign would be too happy about that, though :)

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chunkbot
My favorite landing page is the one for Buckyballs
(<http://www.getbuckyballs.com/>). Thanks to it, I'm sure they moved a lot of
product on the day Google doodled "buckyball".

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bobf
Aside from the topic of landing pages - BuckyBalls seems like an _extremely_
slimey company. Look up Buckyballs vs. Zen Magnets, or see
<http://boingboing.net/2010/09/24/buckyballs-magnet-ma.html>

~~~
PostOnce
Doesn't seem worse than any other company. I would reserve _extremely slimey_
for companies that fuck their customers over, fucking with your competition is
the name of the game ;) Example: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1834976>

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nico_h
Interesting basis, but ARGH! I hate these fake infographics.

Why not put the picture just at the top and write their 10 points in html ?
They could have linked to their reference in context, the text would be easier
to correct, possibly prettier and definitely more accessible. And I could
adjust it to a decent font size. Aaaaaaaaaaaargh.

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fbnt
While I don't think there isn't a single canonical form for a landing page for
the obvious reasons, I really appreciated the color-mood pairs at the end of
the article.

I'll keep them in mind the next time I'm choosing the colour scheme for a new
site.

Plus, now I can see why Facebook is all blueish.

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kmfrk
I thought this was satire, but they sound sincere.

Get a check list to go through and design it however you (and your users) like
it. If you're patio11, don't add any social media fluff.

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sgallant
I find it strange that formstack.com published this but don't use it on their
own homepage...maybe they followed item #10 and iterated away from it ;)

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Mizza
Does anybody know where I can buy a template that's similar to this? I've
looked on ThemeForest but they all violate some of these rules.

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i386
ThemeForest looks pretty nice. Know of any similar sites?

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swah
More like this: an average link but great discussion! How much can the first
comments determine the quality of the discussion?

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JonathanFields
Solid basic template and core items to focus on. I've also found a lot of
value from the free resources and webinar replays on optimization at
<http://www.marketingexperiments.com/>. Lot's of case-studies and examples
with specific conversion change percentages.

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zachinglis
Apparently Formstack haven't seen this gem entitled "Surprise, surprise!
Having no secure icon on a page increased conversions by 400%"
<http://zachinglis.me/3cpN>

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noibl
Maybe if the security badge hadn't been so gigantic and cartoonish, the
results would have been different. The conclusion that 'every site is unique
and best practices shouldn't be adopted without doing any testing', while
intuitively sensible, seems to be a premature reading of the data.

~~~
aresant
You are spot on.

Check this post out - Trust logos almost always provide a lift when used in
the proper context / placement ->

[http://conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/07/proper-placement-
of...](http://conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/07/proper-placement-of-trust-
logos-can-make-a-huge-difference-in-conversion-rate/)

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rwhitman
I don't think its a 'perfect' landing page, but I think its a good framework
to start with when designing a new product. And something to point to when
working with clients. I'll definitely keep it bookmarked

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ssharp
ASK YC: Are there any recommend sites that provide results of A/B tests and
maybe show some best practices. There are some good fundamentals here but I'd
like to see some concepts backed up by data.

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steveklabnik
<http://www.kalzumeus.com/category/ab-testing/>

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wheaties
What, no brown? Don't tell me users see that as a big pile of stinky...

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pwnguin
I wonder if their content was determined by A/B testing?

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jscore
No, but it's an example of a perfect linkbait.

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phlux
As an aging user, who has been online every single day for the last 15 years,
I disagree.

I think this page is far too cluttered.

I like less and less content on a landing page for anything other than a link
aggregation(LA) site (HN/Reddit/etc)

I am at your place (if not said LA site) for a specific reason; get me to that
reason asap.

More and more, I have less time and less attention..

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jcfrei
A "guideline" to a perfect landing page? That's just wrong. If I could define
a perfect landing page, it would be the one which sticks out the most!
Crafting it after one guideline just ensures that it will look like all the
websites already out there.

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pmichaud
This doesn't make sense. That's a good argument for things that are compared
side by side by TV ads, but landing pages don't have to be unique to be
effective. The "difference" you're talking about won't be noticed by anyone
but other web marketers.

~~~
swombat
Moreover, this is the _anatomy_ of a landing page. The graphic is there for
information, not as a template.

