Researching landing page keywords and on-page SEO for a LevelTen project this week led to one conclusion: Whether its religion, economics, or web development, conversion is always the key.

Growing up in the web world, I viewed my op-tins as a trade of information, good for both sides. Yeah sure, websites wanted to accumulate email addresses and send me mail, but it was worthwhile to exchange that information for their content.

When I went to look at why my particular conversion is so important, I was glad to find Mequoda Daily had written a free white paper entitled “Rapid Conversion Landing Page (RCLP) Optimization Guidelines.” Almost free at least, because learning about conversion will cost you the first step of conversion: an email address.

According to Mequoda, an RCLP is designed to entice visitors to sign up by offering them a free, valuable product in return for their email address. Websites make these offers with hope of creating a community of email subscribers who share the same interests.

This is done with varying levels of effectiveness. For example:

• Ticketmaster gets annual business from me by sending monthly DFW concert and event calendars. I live in DFW, want to experience things, and they have the tickets, so it’s a nice fit.
• Conversely, I am still receiving emails from the Kansas City Royals, three years after buying tickets online for a random game because I happened to be bored in KC. Now I am not complaining about them sending, opting out would be much more effective than complaining on a blog. I am simply pointing to the fact that I am an “unengaged” member of their community.

There are countless, and I do mean countless numbers of sites that offer tips for this conversion quandary. Some say that having the most focused network is key, while others point assert that the audience doesn’t matter as much as SEO and keyword choice.

Both make their points, and so my point is this: Regardless of the method that is “most effective”, landing page SEO, keywords, and RCLP’s aren’t part of conversion, they ARE conversion. And now I see why my conversion is so important to the businesses that target me.

So if you consider your business a valid online player, and yet have refused to attack this issue, I am inclined to remain dubious about your sincerity. Here are some solid online tools to begin your research, led by LevelTen’s own Scribe SEO module for Drupal:

• LevelTen’s Scribe SEO Module and Content Analysis Suite
• Search Engine Land
• SEO Moz
• Mandarich Complete Internet Solutions
• SEO Book
• PPC Hero

• Photo Credit