landing pages and conversion issues from an SEO perspective

A landing page is not easily defined, and the reasons for having specific landing pages is not well explained within the SEO (search Engine Optimisation) Industry. 

There are many different aspects to look at when one is dealing with landing pages and conversion issues and the first one is an understanding of your target audience and their behavior patterns.  Then there is also the issue that all web site and blog owners need to keep in mind at all times, which is that we as publishers and authors have no control what so ever over what words, phrases, sentences or hash tags an end user will type into the search box when looking for online information to satisfy his / her information requirements.

It is thus of extreme importance that authors, publishers and site owners take the time to do their research properly and ensure that all the different aspects of preparing your online content are well documented and properly debated at marketing meetings discussing your online content, with a focus on  how you are going to entice your intended target market audience to use specific key words, phrases and hash tags within their efforts to locate your online content when using a search engine of any nature, be it an internal search engine within the walled garden of your own site / blog or online resource or a public search engine like GOOGLE or BING.

So what is a landing page, and why does it need special treatment within the social media?

A landing page is best described as one of the preferred entry points to your online content, so as to facilitate meaningful information flow patterns for your intended target audience.  Each subsection of your web site or blog should have a specified and documented landing page so that your #OPSEO (Off Page Search Engine Optimisation) team, or all those persons who are working on your Off Page Search Engine Optimisation efforts can do their work in a balanced and informed manner..  The documentation for your specified landing pages should be very informative and contain the following information as a bare minimum.  The more information that your Off page Search Engine Optimisation Team (OPSEO) have at their disposal,  the easier it will be for them to optimise their individual efforts to enhance the many different #SEOVI (Search Engine Optimisation Value Indicators) associated with their  individual efforts in all areas where they may have an influence, especially within the context of their semantic footprint and related trust factor areas.

• The purpose of this specific page, along with why it should be considered as a preferred entry point to your online content. 
• the aims and objectives of this specific page within the context of your site and the information flow patterns that you wish to influence from this specific page
• the target market research associated with this page and the rest of the the pages that are below this page, or directly associated with this page,   in the navigation structure of your blog or web site.
• the key word and related copy writing brief and instructions for this page
• The #IPSEO (In Page Search Engine Optimisation) notes and specifications along with the brief to the IPSEO  (In Page Search Engine Optimisation) team
• any special IPSEO tactics and associated notes so that these may be further exploited where ever possible. here we are talking of things like but not limited to
• author issues connected to REL  = AUTHOR
• publisher issues connected to REL = PUBLISHER
• schema mark up
• java scripts and other special coding
• back ground audio
• social media sharing tactics and commenting structures
• special membership rights or privileges when logged in 
• which area of the conversion process this page will be influencing, and related marketing notes for this portion of the conversion funnel or sales process, focusing on the CTA's (Call To Action) that need to be performed by the information consumer (your intended target audience)

Where an end user,  or information consumer (read your intended target market)  will end up within your pages upon using a search engine depends largely on which of your pages are well optimised in terms of your SEO efforts, and what words, terminology or phrases  were used in the search query.  It thus follows that you as a site owner or publisher need to do some work outside of your online content and within other media, such as on the radio or in the printed media domain through news paper or magazine adverts, to influence your intended target market audience  to use specific words, phrases or #hashtags when looking for your online content

Different areas of your conversion funnel  or sales process will thus need to use different key words, topics and associated terminology to attract the attention of specific groups within your full target market spectrum. Getting the wrong target market group to any specific landing page will lead to a very low conversion rate, and may even lead to a poor bounce rate as these viewers or information consumers may have already completed this step in your conversion process and so return to the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) very quickly.  This has many very serious implications and can cause your entire site some considerable harm, as BOUNCE RATE is a very powerful SEOVI (Search Engine Optimisation Value Indicator) where a good bounce rate causes your content to raise within the SERP's and a poor BOUNCE RATE causes your page to drop out of the SERP's if not attended to.  If this specific page was well optimised and gets an awful lot of attention from information consumers, where a large percentage return to the SERP (Search Engine Results page) without clicking on a CTA (Call To Acton) this impacts on your SITE WIDE TRUST FACTORS in a very negative manner and CAN CAUSE YOUR WHOLE SITE  some considerable harm

Besides poor SEO related issues,  there are a host of other things that impact on BOUNCE RATE and they all need to be addressed,  the lay out of the page in question along with the images and in page text need to be addressed keeping the intended target market audience, and the purpose of the page in mind at all times.  Your keyword and selected topic of discussion within the page,  play a very critical role in your conversion process, so this needs to be clearly understood, with a focus on why these specific topics and related keywords were selected for this page, and what their significance within the conversion process plays in this set of criteria,  being used within the in page make up selection process and procedures, as defined in your blog / website purpose, aims and objectives.

The purpose, aim and objectives of each landing page needs to be very well defined in the documentation of your online marketing campaign,  so that others who work on either the IPSEO (In Page Search Engine Optimisation) or your OPSEO (Off page Search Engine Optimisation) can use this information in a meaningful manner that expands the SEOVI (Search Engine Optimisation Value Indicators) connected to each individuals efforts.  These individual SEOVI can be very significant and have large impacts on the publisher and author related trust factors that come along for the ride.

Landing pages play a very significant role in the psychological approach to enticing your intended  target audience to complete any CTA (Call To Action) within all other  pages, and a landing page thus  needs special attention in this area, as a landing page is intended to be a high  traffic volume page, and an introduction to all future pages that your  target audience will experience.  First impressions are very significant, and can make or break a web site, bog or other online resource in terms of viewer experiences.  It is thus also important that you do not get the wrong pre-qualified target market audience in terms of your conversion funnel to visit primary landing pages for any specific set of pages that define a specific area within your conversion funnel.

How you pre-qualify your intended target audience to be the primary target market  for any specific landing  page needs plenty of thought, and lots of co-operation from all persons working on both your IPSEO and OPSEO. The process of pre-qualifying any subsection of your intended target market audience needs to be well documented, and shared with the relevant people, as this will be used to define the topics and related key words used within the IPSEO process of that specific page.  The IPSEO process MUST be well documented and easily accessible to the OPSEO )Off Page Search engine Optimization) team, as they will need this information when writing related social media posts, press releases, radio marketing, and  print media marketing along with  related work  to ensure that the correct terminology and desired SEMANTIC FOOTPRINT is generated  for the page in question, as well as the associated digital entities that will be supporting the page in question in terms of SEOVI (Search Engine Optimisation Value Indicators)

Conversion rates and associated bounce rate issues need lots of thought and clear understanding of the target market audience and their related online behavior patterns.  These re very complicated issues, and the actual work connected to the SEO and related SEOVI of landing pages needs to be well documented and discussed extensively during marketing meetings discussing your intended target market audience and how you intend to generate conversations, and keep them focused on your intended purpose aims and objectives as defined in the marketing brief, through ongoing conversations in many different areas.

It thus follows that the C-suit team (Chief something Officers) need to have a clear understanding of the purpose, aims and objectives for having an online presence in the first place, and how this is used to ensure better long term customer relationships and higher sales volumes. Once the c-suit team are on board, then things will become an awful lot easier in terms of managing
your SEO from a #FUFISM based perspective.