Do you have all the right online marketing ingredients, including pay-per-click ads and email blasts, but you still aren’t clear where landing pages fit into the mix? Before we discuss the best landing page ingredients, let’s review what a landing page is. Essentially a landing page is used to capture leads from traffic that is sent to the page to perform a transaction of information. It can also sometimes be used as a reference page.

Last week we discussed how landing pages are the online version of direct mail response forms, and how we can apply what we've learned from direct mail theory to our online marketing strategies. This week I'll elaborate more on the relationship in terms of practical application. Let's get right to it!

It's true, online marketing, especially email, is well on its way to overtake direct mail in terms of annual ad spend. While some people may be predicting the end of print media in general, I see online marketing as the evolution of direct mail. But don't fret! There's no reason for marketers to feel like we have to reinvent the wheel. In fact, there's much we can learn from direct mail to help us succeed with our interactive advertising efforts.

You've just launched your landing page which looks great, concisely communicates the benefits of your latest promotion, and has a straightforward call to action. Now, you could simply review the reports to see how many impressions, click-throughs and conversions it generated. Or, perhaps you can take it one step further and create a different landing page to compare the effectiveness of the design, call to action or price points.