I was wondering what others out there do when a landing page isn't pulling as great as a prior month?

Last month, mine was going gangbusters - converting at 6% for some keywords. This month it's down to 2% for those same keywords. The emotional side of me is concerned while the rational side says "it will go back up."

So I was wondering what you normally do when this occurs?
Do you test?
Do you go see a movie to get your mind off it?
Something else?

Brad:

The main thing is not to panic and over-react. It's not unusual for sales letters or landing pages conversion ratios to fluctuate.

Just keep a close eye on it. Your conversion ratio could very well go back up next month.

If it doesn't, starting with the headline, tweak one item at a time and carefully gauge the results.

Dale King

Here's what I do with clients:

• If you have the software, introduce a split test that will divide traffic between two pages, the second being your original copy tweaked as Dale recommends;
• Find ways to reduce the cost of traffic you drive to the page, but do what ever you can to increase the quality;
• Add an off-line campaign (try postcards first) to drive traffic to the landing page, use it to explore targeted lists;
• Above the fold, if you're not doing this already or the landing page isn't lead generation, add a capture element offering a free report;
• Use tools to boost organic traffic, write some lead articles, cross promote on house lists, or add something to the back-end;
• With PPC, alternate dropping the daily budget by 1/2 each week, cut out under performing keywords, and look at economics;

Let me explain the last tip. Sudden changes with your PPC daily budget would cause my ads to boost in ranking and have a reduction in cost per lead. I don't know if the search engines just wanted to maximize earnings, but play with your pricing parameters to get the best cost per lead.

Most of these tips are saying "don't worry about conversion, look at cost per lead and quality" because what you are experiencing may be just temporary. The key is to hedge your bets with multiple sources of traffic. The balance will provide stable income, leads, or inquiries; remember channels can dry up without notice.

Of course, this list is just a sample of what I do or would recommend clients do to keep landing pages strong. It's up to you to decide which will work for you, or try all of them. Does anyone else have ideas they use to refresh conversion on a slowing landing page?

Sincerely,

Justin