You're getting ready to start an ad campaign and you want to make sure your landing page or website is optimized for conversions. You'd hate to spend a bunch of money on traffic only to have it not convert into leads or sales for your business.

This may seem like a complicated endeavour but it's dead simple with these 7 simple rules:

1) Make your sales pitch easy to read

We've known for quite sometime what makes text readable; single column, sharp contract, good spacing, in other words, you want clean, easy to read text that doesn't distract the reader. You want them completely entranced by the words.

2) Stop making it difficult to read

So we know what makes text easy to read, so stop making it difficult to read by breaking up your website into multiple columns and bouncing the text elements around from one side of the page to the other.

Stop using the shitty templates that only serve to highlight a graphic designers design prowess and not convert website visitors into customers.

3) Be more specific

There's nothing worse than being vague with your offer. You want to try and please as many people as possible afterall, you don't want to miss any opportunities for a sale. You can't afford to! Well, by doing so you're shooting yourself in the foot. Marketing is all about turning people off as it is turning people on. You can't turn one segment of the population on without turning others off.

4) Write as if you're speaking to one person

Writing as if you're speaking to multiple people is a bad way to motivate the reader. They should feel as if you are speaking directly to them, not as if they are just one of many.

5) Meeting the reader where they are; it's about them, not your product

You need to quickly prove to the reader that you understand their painful situation, this is why it's best to lead with their pain point or problem. They don't care about your product yet until they know without a shadow of a doubt that you understand their painful problem.

6) Social proof/testimonials

Social proof can turn a cruddy sales pitch into one that converts, that's how powerful it is. The more testimonials the better, I love how Basecamp would just dump all of their testimonials on one page to overwhelm the prospect.

7) Clear 'call to action' through out the page

Your website should lead the visitor down a single path of action, with clear calls to action so there is absolutely no confusion as to what the next step is. A lot of websites will botch this by having multiple, different calls to actions. Overdoing the top navigation links can cause distraction as well. If you need top navigation links then they should be kept to a minimum. Consider adding the navigation links in the footer too.

That's It!

If you're checking all of these boxes and your landing page or website has a fast load time then you're most likely presenting the best possible landing page for your offer.

If it's still not converting then it's not a problem with your landing page design moreso than it being a problem with the offer and pitch. Something about your offer isn't resonating with your target audience. New landing page design won't improve that unfortunately and how to create an offer your audience wants is outside the scope of this article.