If you’re in the internet content business, you probably still think of your web site as a magazine, with your home page serving as the glossy, attention-getting cover. I hate to break it to you, but it’s likely that less than half of your users will lay eyes on your home page.

In fact, one of the most common mistakes made by media sites is spending too much time on their home page and not enough focus on engaging those users who enter on a content page.

As a product manager at a media web site myself, I always wrote off landing pages as a phenomenon for e-commerce sites. Boy, was I wrong. I now realize that landing pages are just as important for media sites - perhaps even more so.

It's best to think of your content pages as the de facto homepage for most users. After all, that's where most of them start their experience on your web site. So when you have an incredible scoop that you’re promoting on your site’s homepage, consider this: how are your landing page users getting exposed to it?

Here's another question: how are you promoting the value proposition of your site to your landing page users? You've worked hard to create branding and messaging for your site. Is all of that great messaging apparent on your typical content page? Check it out for yourself. You’ll probably be shocked at how little of your site's messaging actually surfaces.

But don’t get discouraged. You don’t need to redesign your landing pages from scratch to make big improvements. Here are three simple things you can do immediately to make every landing page on your site speak for your site’s strengths.

Target new users to educate them about your site
Carve out some real estate near the top of the landing page and "mbox it." That is, create a content slot that allows you to change content easily depending on user-type. Then, target users depending on whether they have visited before. To new users, serve content that lets them know what is special about your site: Can users comment on stories? Does your site have an active community? Don’t let new users leave without telling them what makes you unique.

Recommend next steps
Offermatica offers automated content suggestions (ACS), which can recommend additional content (stories, videos, or whatever!) that will engage your users. Displaying these content suggestions as a next step is one key way to hook a new reader to spend a few more minutes of his or her busy day with you.

Use keyword reinforcement
Repeat the Google keyword the user searched on to get to your site; place it near the top of the landing page. This can be a simple message, like “You searched for ‘automated content suggestions’ on Google.” This lets the user know that you understand what he or she is looking for. Make that keyword clickable to generate an internal search, so the user can see the content your site has to offer on the subject.

It’s hard to accept that so many of our readers don’t enter our sites the way we imagine. As publishers, our hope is to give them the experience of reading our site “cover to cover”. Ironically, the best way to get more users to do just that is to make the landing page the best start page it can be. You have your 2.3 seconds of time with your new users. Make it count.

Posted by John Broady