The only people who REALLY know about conversion rates* are our clients and they may or may not be talking, or telling the truth. Anyone else who talks about conversion rates are selling something to serve their own self interests, and cannot be trusted. (*=I define conversion rates as getting money from someone for something, nothing else really matters.)

The No More Landing Pages blog was started by ion interactive. ion's past and present clients have included Citrix, Siemens, Elite Island Resorts, Samsung, and Yahoo. ion deals with conversion rates everyday. And as far as tried and true selling techniques, I was referring to basic sales techniques. You can read this blog entry for more information regarding that: http://blog.ioninteractive.com/archi... Just because the big players use one size fits all landing pages (I can't recall any off the top of my head, but I guess they might use single landing pages that include copy, links, and a form), doesn't mean it's the best way to generate sales or leads.

Megan, are you telling us that the folks at nomorelandingpages.com are mind readers? That they know what conversion rates really are? That they know what tried and true selling techniques are, when no one else really does? That they know what user needs are when users do not know what they need? BTW, how would you explain the landing pages of Yahoo, AOL, and MSN (for starters)? Why would these major players keep doing something that supposedly does not work?

Hi Olivia, The main idea behind the No More Landing Pages campaign is that single, one size fits all landing pages are ineffective. The NMLP blog (http://www.nomorelandingpages.com) was started to initiate discussion among online marketers about all the potential for increased conversions that lives beyond single landing pages. And as you saw, we kicked off our campaign with a protest at ad:tech San Francisco. =) Landing pages have numerous disadvantages. They are usually too much too soon for users, not tailored to users' needs, and tend to be chock full of content, copy, and links. As an alternative to landing pages, we suggest creating campaigns that are landing experiences instead. Conversion rates for landing experiences, or conversion paths, are generally 2-10x higher than they are for landing pages. Conversion paths segment users by giving them simple choices to make based on their needs and qualifications. The following pages that users land on give them more tailored and user-specific pitch. It's important to make sure the experience is simple, streamlined, and flows with ease. Conversion paths work because they utilize basic, tried and true selling techniques. They find out users needs, give them tailored and relevant pitch, and slowly earn trust -- instead of trying to pitch, lure, and sell all on the same (and sometimes irrelevant) page. Thanks for the comments about NMLP. I'm adding adholes.com to my list of sites to frequent!

I haven't quite figured that out! If done correctly, landing pages increase relevance and provide consumers with a sense of security (rather than driving to a 'catch all' type of page). I'm pretty sure, though, that most people don't do it correctly which is why this product has been developed. I've personally seen some HORRIFIC landing pages that did little more but aggrivate me from some major advertisers. The idea of no more landing pages to sell a product that will help you to produce "content relevant pages" within your site does little if you don't capture their interest immediately from the click.

It's like using cows to sell chicken sandwiches. Oh wait, that really happened.

So, what's so wrong about having a landing page?

It means someone is trying to sell a product. The website nomorelandingpages.com offers an "ease of exectution" product. But, they exeucted a mock protest to generate publicity - and apparently it's working since I posted it here. :>

But, what does it all mean?