I got a pretty unusual spam comment on this blog the other day, and it got me to thinking about call to actions on landing pages.

Spammers haven’t been known for their brilliant call to actions, and this one is no exception. Visit my blog, and if you report this as spam, you will die. Yeah, I will jump right on that, and visit your link right away. Not, and delete.

Two Seconds, Too Two Many Messages

A spam comment maybe gets your attention for about two seconds. You have to at least look at it, and verify it’s spam. With that limited amount of time you better stick to just one message. In this case though, the spammer completely blew it by giving mixed messages. They ask you to visit their site, a good start, but instead of giving you a reason why they give an idle threat. Two completely different messages, and in this case the second message almost tells you not to do the first message. Don’t let this happen on your landing pages!

Landing Pages

To me, this spam was a reminder to review my landing pages. Just like a comment found in your junk email or blog you have just a few seconds to get that visitor to not bounce away.

• Give visitors the action right away
• Stick to one message or one action for the visitor
• Remove the unnecessary options
• Remember that it’s a landing page

The last item I listed there, “Remember that it’s a landing page” is a key item. For those of us that do not like to spam, we often find ourselves cautiously building sites and pages in a way that it can not be perceived as spammy at all. When making a landing page to sell a product or get some sort of user action though, we need to remember that this particular page is not like the rest of our site. It may need to look a little spammy, it may be a little repetitive, and it should come across as convincing.

When users visit these pages they may not know that they are called landing pages, but they should know or at least recognize that it is an action page. Don’t be afraid to turn up the volume a little. They expect clear call to actions, and they should not be offended by the content you are offering, assuming they are at least a little bit qualified. This is the page you have been trying to get visitors to, it’s time to speak up, and close the deal.

How aggressive should you be when making a landing page. Well, let’s just say we should leave the death threats tactics for the real spammers.

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