As I've discussed before, landing pages are critical to getting the most from your pay-per-click campaigns. Our customers at Marketo have found that targeted landing pages can improve their conversion rates by 200% or more.

So how do you create better lead generation landing pages? I recently contributed a guest post to Lee Odden's wildly popular Online Marketing Blog in which I shared ten tested and proven tips you can use to improve and optimize your landing pages.

Read the entire article: Ten Tips for Lead Generation Landing Pages.

Here's a short summary:

1. First Impressions Matter. Make sure your landing pages are instantly relevant to the search term.
2. Have an Offer. Your landing page only needs to convince the visitor to sign up for a free offer; it doesn't need to sell your company.
3. Remove The Site Navigation. Simpler pages usually work better for lead generation.
4. Use Graphics Wisely. Graphics are main thing that draws the eye — the right one can work wonders, the wrong one can distract from your conversion.
5. Make Your Content Scan-able. People don't read landing pages, they scan them.
6. Only Ask What You Really Need. Simple forms convert better, and you can always collect more during your lead nurturing process.
7. Capture Implicit Information. Use hidden fields and click paths to capture additional information about your leads.
8. Have Reasons to Give Valid Info. Don’t just give the offer to the prospect, email it to them — this ensures you get a valid email address.
9. Say Thank You. The confirmation page is a great opportunity to deepen the relationship by making another offer or asking more information.
10. Test… But Don't Over Test. Testing is a great way to optimize your pages, but don't over-test — A-B testing works great and most B2B companies don't have the volumes to support more sophisticated techniques like multivariate testing.

Landing Pages Don't Need To Be Hard

Unfortunately, three out of four B2B companies still send clicks to their home page. The biggest reason for not using more landing pages is a lack of resources, and time from web developers is the most difficult resource to get. That's why Marketo Landing Pages allows you to create landing pages with no IT, using an easy-to-use PowerPoint-like interface. Check out www.marketo.com/demo to learn more.

Read the entire article: Ten Tips for Lead Generation Landing Pages.