I think you remember the last article I published on my blog about the good landing pages. This new list of best practices will be helpful if you are writing for the web. Be it websites, landing pages or html newsletters.

1. Construct paragraphs with two or three sentences. Make the first sentence interesting.
2. Use simple sentence structures.
3. Use bullet points and ordered lists.
4. Try to limit your list items to 7.
5. Write only one idea per paragraph.
6. Start with the conclusion, and then elaborate the point. Essays will not work.
7. Use active voice in the communication.
8. DO NOT write for the search engine robots. Write for the normal users.
9. Try not to use self referential phrases like “Click Here”, “Follow this link”, “this website” etc. Rather, use the hyperlinks effectively.
10. Avoid overuse of all caps and text decoration
11. Alert users when linking away from the current page
12. A few links to pages with supporting content will be good. This can establish the credibility
13. Try not to overuse “clever” or “cute” headlines. Headlines should be the summary of the page content. Unlike print, the web headlines may appear without the content, like search engine results.
14. Try to give 2-3 word description for all the images used.
15. Content should always have the most updated information.
16. Content should be free from typographical and grammatical errors.
17. Try to take advantage of the semantic web.  Try to provide good tags for the content you write.

I think I have covered almost all the points. Correct me if I am wrong!

Landing page is the most important componenet of any interactive advertising campaign you run. If advertising is all about spreading the word, landing page is about converting those people who are interested in your message. So ignoring your landing page means loosing those customers, which no business can afford to happen.

So,what all things you need to take care when you design your landing page? Here are some points I dare to put together when somebody asked me to. And if you read through, you will realize that most of it is just commonsense. But hey, commonsense is something not so common these days.

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