Hi everybody I have created my first two Landing Pages. I am a professional photographer and I have just launched a site for selling photography prints about Venice online. The landing pages will receive visitors from an Adwords campaign, each LP has its own ad. Being my first Lps ever, I'd really like to receive critics, comments and, hopefully, advices about them under every aspect. So if you're curious to see a rookie's landing page, have a look at my creations and don't forget to post your opinions here! http://www.imaginevenice.com/Photography/Photographs-of-Gondolas/14338224_Qwp97/ http://www.imaginevenice.com/Photography/St-Mark-Square-Prints/14338518_UE5Vg/ Thanks to whom will contribute Fabio
Hello Fabio, Please pay very careful attention if you want to succeed. Here is what I believe you have to take into consideration: 1.Your Site's Design First and foremost, you are dealing with art. Your website design looks too cheap to command any sort of respect for your art. You can buy a great template for less that $25 so there is nothing stopping you from getting a better website. 2. Your customers mind You have to know how customers think. This is not my area of expertise, but I believe that when people buy photographs they like to look at a variety before choosing the one they want. For this reason you are better off starting a long term relationship that will build you up a fan base. Trying to sell right away is not very likely to work 3.Your headlines are weak Again, ask yourself why people would want to buy your photographs. A picture with a story has more value than just a beautiful looking image. If the gondolas were taken for a girl, dying in a hospital, because they remind her of love, the photo immediately has more value. 4. You sales copy... doesn't exist Your headline's do not engage anybody. Everyone says "elegance, touch of art". People are immune to it. You are selling a visual product, and words will only make a difference if they are supported by powerful design and pictures. If your headline doesn't pull in... no-one will read your sales copy! 5. Are you just another struggling photographer? At this point that's the message sent by your landing pages. I don't much about your particular market but chances are building up your image will work better for the long run. I have experience in show-business, I think this is very similar. I have been as honest as I could, I hope you find this helpful.
A lot of good points raised above. If I could add a few points for a good squeeze page. - Simplify your message it get lost in all the text - Too much text - Stronger Headlines eye catching make the user want to read the page. - Simplify your bullet points too much text I lost attention to easy and couldnt find the buy message - Call to Action make it more obvious, again it gets lost on the page. - Nice header graphic that ouzes quality, your a photographer and need a photo that reflects this. Take these points on board as constructive criticism and best of luck to you
Hi Ianthekisser I find it very helpful, so helpful that I'd like if you could go more in deep about some points. Please keep in mind that in making my Landing pages I tried to accomplish the common advices you can find in most of "how to" resources about LPs on the web. The pages might look cheap (I don't have problems in admitting this) perhaps my intention was exactly not to intimidate visitors by approaching them with a layout too "artsy" that could make them feeling uncomfortable and presenting myself as presumptuous. Also, I use a template (which I can further improve or change) provided by my hosting service that includes a full cart integrated with order fulfilment (not easy to realize with $25 template) This might be true (from my point of view too), execpt that contradicts one of the rules about making LPs I've always heard as among the most important: do not make multiple offers in Landing Pages, they distract visitors attention and prevent them from "taking action". Or not? I don't understand this, maybe my fault Again, this might be true; only, since it's a bit subjective, can you make an example of what you consider an "engaging headline" about photos? Photos can hardly represent a "benefit" for a buyer (unless they are an investment about a famous author but that's not my case), they rather have "features", and it's a bit more subtle to determine what can be perceived as ordinary and what is considered valuable.
Hi suzyjews Thanks for your advices; I'd like some explanations You mean shorter text? As for ianthekisser, can you make an example? "Stronger" may have different meanings, you mean more aggressive or what else? Can you explain better? I have 2 clean-cut "Purchase" bottons in my landing Pages, is it about them, or is it about the selling message in general? I must thank you a lot for your advices, but on the other hand I have to admit I am a bit confused. You both seem to suggest me to emphasize a more artistic and sophisticated layout in my landing pages, but at the same time you are telling me to be "stronger" in my commercial mindset toward visitors. The two things seem difficult to put together, or am I picking the wrong message from you? If I should have followed my instinct (and my liking), I would have created an extremely "minimal style" landing page, with little text (just enough to give basic informations about the whole thing) and a lot more focus about the image. I don't know if this could be more effective, maybe I should test different things and see what works better. Selling a photo is kind of tricky. An image doesn't have measurable "benefits", at least in the way we intend benefits of ordinary items on sale: it doesn't make you healthier, nor wealthier. It can provides you an aesthetic or intellectual satisfaction, but these are quite difficult "assets" to promote.
Fabio, I understand your confusion. Let's simplify this. Nobody is saying you should have a more complex design. Yes, you should keep it simple, but simple doesn't mean cheap. Then, people want to see variety but of course , it may not work on a PPC landing page. So what do you do? You create a mailing list! Your headline must engage your visitor and get them more interested. What "having a story" means is that if you take anything that has an interesting background to it, you will get people more inclined to buy of find out more. For example: if I give you a pen and tell you that it was owned by a famous writer, I can sell it to your for $1000 even if you could get a brand new pen for $0.50. Do you understand that? There is a more fundamental problem: You do not know your customers. You are going to struggle if you don't find the right market for your photographs. It seems like you have a product and you want to promote it without checking first whether there are people out who really want it. Of course, as you said yourself test different options. What purpose do your photographs serve? Are people paying for downloads,prints what? Would you buy those photographs? Why would you buy them? As an exercise, buy a photograph online and see what it's like from the customer's point of view.
Can you clarify this to me? How should I create a mailing list starting from a landing page that is meant for selling? Yes I understand, but you are still making a generic, although interesting consideration; what do you consider an "engaging" headline in a case like this? Or, why do you reckon my headlines are not engaging? Without a bit more detail I don't know where to make changes.
I would recommend you the following: 1 - Use short video - because video converting better than text. you can simply shot yourself for 1 min video presenting your offer. 2 - Add clear call to action 3 - Create urgency Here you can find some more good tips to create effective landing page
Fabio you are sating the page is meant to be selling... If in your industry people are not very likely to buy the first time they see your product then you have to create a list so that you can can market to them later. The honest truth is that what you need goes beyond this forum. You need to completely revise your business model, and more importantly, do proper research into selling photographs online.