For most of us who use the Internet consistently, we want things to be simple. We don’t want to have to go through a half-dozen maneuvers to get to the page where we can actually see how much a certain product costs. Sometimes there are far too many “teasers,” those words and phrases that enable you to keep turning “pages.”

In my research, I have discovered that the following list best illustrates what criteria one should follow when setting up her/his Landing Page, that page your reader first lands on that will either make them more (or less) interested in whatever it is you are attempting to sell or share with them.

1. Make it simple. Don’t fill up every inch of the screen with bold text. Text, by itself, is boring. Illustrate the page with graphics, be it clip art, photographs, paintings, or whatever you can insert that will make the page more compelling.

2. State the purpose of the page. If you want people to click to another location for additional information, tell them so, clearly. Don’t make them wade through so much “stuff” that they get bored and move on to another site.

3. Make your Landing Page “sticky.” Whether you are offering books, artwork, candy, poetry, or tumbleweeds, you need to let your viewer know right away that this is the best site for their interests. Whether that is through a “lowest price” or “information not available elsewhere” banner, do whatever you can to make them stay (stick) on your site.

4. View other Landing Pages. This item is true for just about any pursuit. If your interest is in left-handed baseball pitchers, give it a Google and let your fingers do the research. The more sites you visit, the better your chances of finding a few sites from which you can borrow ideas.

5. Make it convincing. Your Landing Page has to convince the reader to stay, whether it asks she/he to fill out a form, access information, or buy something, you need to convince them to stay as soon as possible.

More times than I care to remember, I have received emails pleading with me to “click here” to go to another site for additional information. Once I get there, I am faced with the option of scrolling down through way too many lines of convoluted text, to only find (once I get to the bottom) that I have to “click here” again to find out how much this is all going to cost me.

I’m at the point now that I just go to the end of the “scrolling,” and if the product has lost its luster, away I go. the only way I will continue is if the product is tremendously compelling. But that doesn’t happen very often.