[Interview and Article by Kevin Newcomb, Editor, Internet Marketing Institute]

Many companies spend tens of thousands of dollars to acquire customers, but ignore what happens next. Paying attention to your landing pages — whether it’s for pay-per-click (PPC) ads, email campaigns, or banner ads — is one of the most-neglected online marketing tactics. But creating custom landing pages, then testing and optimizing them, holds a lot of potential for increasing conversions, and therefore revenue.

“People don’t fundamentally believe that conversion optimization will work. If they did, they’d jump all over it,” said Lance Loveday, CEO of Closed Loop Marketing and co-author of Web Design for ROI. “The truth is, it can have a game-changing impact on revenue and profitability.”

Most marketers have heard the buzz around landing page optimization (LPO), a part of the larger discipline of conversion optimization. Many marketers have also heard hyped-up claims of two- or three-fold jumps in conversions, and are not convinced that small changes can have a big impact on their conversion rates.

While those kinds of returns are possible, in extreme circumstances, such drastic increases are not necessary to make conversion optimization worthwhile, Loveday said.

[... Read the complete interview on PPCSummit.com > ]

On the web, errors are seemingly inevitable, and there are plenty of best practices for minimizing their negative effects. But what if we treated errors as an opportunity? What if we deliberately designed our customers’ error experience—not just for basic usability and clarity, but with conversion in mind?

In this article I’ll take a look at the concept of error experience design, why it’s important from a business perspective, and a few ways to turn an error into a conversion opportunity.

Why focus on errors?

I have to admit that part of my motivation here is purely selfish, as usual. I, personally, want a better, more enjoyable web experience. And errors, as the myriad stinging gnats of the web environment, should be made better so I can be happier. Simple as that.

I’m tired of seeing ugly, unfriendly errors like this one: …

[CONTINUE READING the complete article on Search Engine Land, HERE > ]

We all want to find a change that will turn a lackluster landing page into a monster. Will it require a bigger button? Or perhaps a different image?

Find out how to pick the right tests to improve your landing pages from an expert with years of experience. See why the most obvious test is not always the best to try.

“People are looking for easy answers, and the answers, unfortunately, are not easy,” says Lance Loveday, CEO, Closed Loop Marketing.

Loveday’s team has utilized a data-driven approach to landing page tests for as long as modern A/B testing software has been available. Below, we outline the steps he suggests for planning tests that can improve a page’s performance.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE on MarketingSherpa.com >

[Excerpt from the podcast notes:]
As the VP User Experience and Creative Director at Closed Loop Marketing, Sandra Niehaus is a passionate advocate for usability and design and she brings it all together to create, test and measure conversion-focused experiences for a long list of interesting companies. Sandra is also the co-author of Web Design for ROI with Lance Loveday, and you all know he’s a cool conversion dude as well.

I think you’ll find Sandra as fascinating as I did. She just knows how to create effective experiences. Listen in as she shares her thoughts on how to sell conversion optimization, why you need to know the numbers and what makes for a successful test.

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You’ll find the full recorded podcast here:  Conversations on Conversion podcast with Sandra Niehaus >