Conversion / Testing

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Review: Landing Page Optimization

Landing Page Optimization:
The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
by Tim Ash
Sybex/Wiley, 2008
Trade paperback, 360 pages
ISBN 0470174625

Landing pages at their best are complex, finely-tuned sales tools for Internet marketing. Because they are complex, it is difficult to wrap your head around all the aspects of a landing page. Landing page optimization professional Tim Ash does us all a service in making things clearer through this exceptional book.

He begins by defining landing pages and their uses. Then he considers ways to analyze the audience that will be viewing the landing page. He goes beyond the normal explantions by covering aspects of analytics, traffic sources, behavioral styles (such as Myers-Briggs), personas, roles, and tasks that will influence the buying process. Yes, it's complex, but that's what the sales process requires.

Next, he examines elements of the decision process and explains ways to uncover problems with a landing page. He turns to tuning a site by means of testing various elements. Chapters explore the math that underlies statistical significance and multivariate testing, with an appendix exploring Google Website Optimizer.

Finally Ash explains how a larger company can assemble a team and then develop an action plan that results in successful landing page optimization.

This is a comprehensive book with some technical aspects, but can be of help to both general marketers as well as the webmaster and analytics types who set up the tests and work towards incremental improvement. Highly recommended.

At this writing the book was available through Amazon for US $19.79, Canada CDN$22.67, UK £12.99, Germany €19,45, France €20,39, and Japan ¥2,967.