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If you've been studying online marketing for awhile you're familiar with the term 'AIDA' since it's the standard formula for creating a sales or signup page.

But just in case you're not here's what it stands for:

1. Grab the reader's - Attention - .

2. Get the reader's - Interest - .

3. Create a - Desire - for your product or service.

4. Call for - Action. (Tell your reader what to do.)

So you write a catchy headline and try to use 1 or more of the latest 'buzz' words.

Then you write something you hope will get the reader's interest and describe the 'benefits' of your offer.

And of course you've put a signup form or a payment link on your site.

But ...

Nothing's happening. No sales - No signups.

Well the first thing you have to check is to make sure you've got some traffic to your site.

Ok, you've got some decent traffic so what's the problem?

There are lots of possibilities and I am going to list 4 of the biggies.

1. Your page loads so slow people don't stick around to read it.

True, a lot of people have fast connections but they've also gotten used to fast loading web pages so your landing page needs to come up quickly. Because my homepage takes too long to load, I've created several fast loading pages to promote my site and newsletter and you should consider doing the same.

If you don't want to create smaller landing pages you can also divide your page into sections by using tables. Have the top portion of your page in 1 table so it will come up quickly and give the reader something to read while the rest of your page loads.

2. Your site is hard to read.

When you're picking the colors and fonts for your site make sure you pick ones that are 'easy on the eyes' and show up well on the monitor.

You should also write short paragraphs with empty space between them.

And one of most effective things you can do is create bullet or numbered lists. Be sure to put some space between the bullet items and if the list is really long you should alternate either the color or bold style of the list items. (Changing fonts or font size is not recommended.)

3. Your page requires special software to be seen or heard.

Now maybe you've got all the extra downloadable software to make all your banners, ad boxes, audio and video work but a lot of people don't. In fact, I'm one of them.

Almost every day I come across sites that tell me I need to download something to see or hear a page properly. While I know how to download these things, a lot of people don't.

So if you've got something on your page that requires special software make sure the software is easily attainable, free and most visitors already have it.

Don't rely on the part of your page that requires extra software to do most of your selling because a lot of visitors will never see or hear it.

4. Your page is full of extra clutter.

In your attempt to build a list you've created a signup form. Then you wanted to add content so you did. Next you need to sell something so you've put up a few ads. You need traffic so you've added several banner exchange banners to your page. And lastly, you've added a popup.

With all these things going for you, your visitors will surely find something to click on. Right?

Wrong. You've given them too many things to click on. Now when they see your sight it looks like a flashing sign that says "I'm new at this and trying anything that will get your attention."

Remember the other marketing acronym - KISS. Keep It Simple,Smarty!)

Ok, I changed the last word but you get the point.

Don't clutter your page with so many things your visitor is overwhelmed with choices. Focus on 1 thing.

Sure, your homepage may be a content page with a signup form and some ads. But what's it's focus?

If it's the content then that's what fills most of the page and the other things are smaller and unobtrusive.

If it's primarily a signup page then the content is promoting your mailings and the signup box is bigger and included in or at the end of the content. Any ads on the page are smaller and unobtrusive.

Now I don't use banner exchanges but know the banners have to be shown for you to get credit. Rather than have several on you home page, use 1 at the bottom and maybe 1 at the top of your main page. To get exposure for your other banner exchange programs, try splitting your main page or creating some other page that most visitors will visit and then you can place 1 or 2 more on that page as well. (You could create a text link that promotes free traffic and points to your page full of banner exchange banners along with some words saying that by joining these programs they can get more traffic for their site.)

There are other things that can cause your response rate to be less than acceptable so you should be testing different headlines, wording, formatting, etc. while you're making sure you're not committing 1 of the above biggies.

Creating a page that performs well doesn't mean you have to use a lot of images, make it unique with unusual fonts and colors, use all the latest technical gadgets or promote everything you've joined.

If your landing pages are simple; fast loading, easy to read, readable by everyone and focused on 1 thing, you're on the right path to getting a good response rate.

To Your Success,

Susan