There are several things you can do to optimize your landing pages and increase your conversions. Here are a few of them...

Tip #1 - Focus on one audience
To many times websites try to be all things to all people but only end up leaving all of their visitors totally confused and, in turn, the customers end up bouncing to a competitor site instead.
There are only two things that your website needs to address…
1. What’s your message?
2. Who’s your target market?
So refocus 80% of your homepage on a single, primary audience and dedicate the majority of the page to their particular needs.
You can serve your secondary audience by including creating individual landing pages for them.

Tip #2 – Only include relevant elements
Go through your landing page and ask yourself the question, “Is it absolutely necessary that I have this element on my homepage?”
If you want a good example of what elements to include or eliminate on your home page check out the latest top 10 retailers by conversion rate.

Tip #3 – Use 2 columns instead of 3
Studies show 2 column formats convert about 40% better than 3 column formats. The reason behind this is due to eye flow - people are more likely to quickly locate a product if they only have to scan up and down while reviewing a 2 column format rather than having to look left and right (across all three columns) to find the product they are searching for.

Tip #4 – Tell them what they’ll get before they commit
Before your customers fill out a form box, play a video or click on a link they must easily identify the value they are going to receive before they take action.
For example, “Input your email to download our free article on landing page optimization”… is not as strong as “Download 10 LPO Secrets & Increase Your Conversions by 137%+.”

Tip #5 - Rewrite navigation links
What order your navigational links appear in should be done not by guess work but by better understanding what your customers are most interested in. Review your site's search stats (I suggest using Google Analytics). After you find out what your top five searches are, you’re set – layout your navigation buttons according to most popular to least popular.

Tip #6 - Keep your navigation simple
You can use your web analytics tool to divide your traffic into newbies versus repeat visitors. Then review which links your new visitors clicked on the most. If the "About Us," "Products" or "Services" links on your homepage are getting more than 15% of newbie traffic, then your homepage has a copywriting problem – it isn’t clear enough.

Consider deleting excessive text and rewriting your copy so it is more effective. Then, as soon as you have another sample set of newbie visitors, review the analytics again.

You can implement these tips and see great results but if you want to have better results and not gamble with what works and what doesn’t (which can end up costing you A LOT during the process) consider having a professional do the work for you…But the problem most small business owner’s face is they can't afford the large retainer fees that professional LPO specialist charge.

So one thing you may consider doing is letting a professional work for you PURELY on a pay-for-performance basis - that is they won't charge you an upfront fee and they won’t charge if they don’t make a significant difference.

If you’re looking for one of those professionals email me and I'll point you toward them.

Alternatively you can read a lot of articles on marketingsherpa, futurenow and marketingexperiments.

Happy converting,

-Brett