It’s the New Year; full of new budgets, new campaigns, and ultimately, new landing pages. Below are three rules you can apply to your landing pages to achieve success and higher ROI for the coming year.

Rule #1: Be Short, Sweet, and to the Point

When it comes to landing pages, content is king – it’s the best way for you to convey your message. However, most people get so caught up in explaining their brand that they end up with landing pages that are cluttered with too many ideas. This can create mixed messaging and confuse consumers.

Start with your content – then work on cutting it down by a third. Next, adjust and reduce content further. Users want to read short and concise messaging. It is critical to remember that you have less then five seconds to hook the user, so make sure to use bullet points for concise and highlighted key points.

Rule #2: Make Friends with Images

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, you have to make sure your images are conveying the right words to your audience and effectively relaying your message. When you have the right image working with great copy, your landing page acts as a  “show and tell” for your brand, in turn increasing page engagement and conversions.

Rule #3: Perform a Quality Test

Once your page is close to completion, run it through a quick quality test to ensure you are putting your best foot forward.

Answer the following questions:

1. Does the landing page define a problem to be solved?

2. Does the landing page provide reasons to believe that this product, service, or system is a solution for the problem?

3. Does the landing page clearly tell the user what their next steps are?

4. Does the landing page share the same message with the marketing campaigns?

If you answered “yes” to all four of these questions, you are ready to launch your landing page.