With landing pages becoming more popular with internet marketers due to a landing page’s ability to effectively convert browsers to buyers, it’s only natural for businesses to compare their results with others. So what is the industry average conversion rate for a landing page?

That’s the question I got recently from a client. The answer is that you’re not likely to find an answer, and here’s why — the term “landing page” has different definitions to different marketers.

Here are some of the different ways a marketer describes a landing page:

• A page a user gets to when clicking on my search engine advertisement
• A page a user gets when clicking on my ad banner
• A page a user gets when they click on a link in my email marketing campaign
• A page a user gets when they click an ad on my homepage
• A hidden page that people get when they click a specific link on my site.
• A hidden page that people get when they click on my link from a web directory or other web site

These are just a few definitions. Additionally, because there is no standard format for a landing page, landing pages can look significantly different. Compound that with the fact that a landing page might be doing something as complex as selling a $3,000 television or as simple as collecting an email address.

If you’re trying to improve your landing page conversion rate, make sure you test different versions of the page so see which has the highest conversion rate. Here are some more landing page conversion tips:

• Keep the page simple and uncluttered.
• Write compelling copy.
• Use color to highlight the most important area (the desired action).
• For lead generation, make the form as short as possible and make it the focal point.
• If selling a product, include a large product photo and clearly state the offer.
• Assign tracking codes to each individual version and track sales/leads from each.
• Make sure the landing page has only one subject/focus/product.
• Consider not including your site navigation on the landing page and reduce the number of links off of the page.

Count yet another large corporation among the blogging ranks. Dell launched its business blog in early July, and it’s an interesting case study in how businesses should/should not blog.

Thumbs up to the Dell design team for the blog. It is well-structured and has some features that readers will frequently use on the blog sidebar. Readers can see most viewed posts, posts with the most comments and a suggestion box feature. It also includes blog staples like categories, an archive and a blogroll.

The most impressive feature is the suggestion box. Clicking this link reveals a link that allows you, the reader, to suggest a topic. Many business bloggers suffer from writer’s block, and what’s a better way to get ideas for content than to ask your reader?

On the flip side, the contributors to the blog don’t do the best job of relating to the customer. Read the Dell and The Better Business Bureau post from the VP of Corporate Communications, and you’ll read just that — corporate communications.

Dell really opens itself up to criticism when its Director of Global eCommerce blogs about the new homepage. You’re certainly going to get negative feedback when you ask the blogosphere open-ended questions like “So, tell me, what you think of the home page of Dell.com?” If the Director would have instead posted to the blog that he was looking for some Dell customers to answer some basic questions about the new homepage design and allowed them to contact him, he would have gotten better results. He could then have posted the outcome of that exercise in a more brand-friendly way.

An early post to the blog entitled “Real People are Here and We’re Listening” directly reacts to what other bloggers had said about the Dell blog. As a customer, this probably isn’t helpful to you or something you want to read. As a reader, you expect real people to be listening, so Dell doesn’t need to come out and tell you that. Instead, Dell would have been better-served to read other bloggers’ reactions and make improvements. As the content improves, readers will know you are listening.

Dell has also done some video blogging as evidenced by the Dell Store Opens its Doors in Dallas post, which features a Sales Director at Dell talking about a new mall store in Dallas. While I applaud Dell for video blogging and testing that technology, the content of this video was only mildly interesting to those in the Dallas area. Viewers had to endure the dialog about how the store is “an extension of the direct model” and other jargon-filled conversation. A tour of the store would have been nice, but without the sales pitches and business jargon.

My advice to Dell? Use the blog as a channel for feedback — but not the only source of feedback. Be very careful of your tone and the content of the blog in general. Customers don’t want to hear business jargon like the first three paragraphs of the “Dell and The Better Business Bureau” post — they want to hear how to use Dell products to enhance their computing experiences. Offer the customers ways to use their Dell products in ways they hadn’t thought of and include some how-to advice.