Landing pages: long or short

Both work great according to my experience but shorter landing pages are getting more appreciated lately.

To the point at the top + longer explanation for those who need to read a novel before they decide.

I would say a short one,
When i see a long landing page ill usally just skimm the page and then leave, when i see a short strait to point landing page will I read it all and the chance that I buy is much higher.

It sometimes depends on the product and how much explanation is required.

Test both and see which works better

i would go for the short one at least if i am getting to a long landing page i don't read trough mostly click away

there's only one answer: test everything

There are ALOT of "it depends" out there.

By all means, test everything you can.

Even still, your post made me think of THIS:
How we made $1 million for SEOmoz

Read their #1 point....

Generally, I'd say LONG is the way to go....they make a very compelling case for it, and many many companies have realized huge increased earnings/sales from it...

When I go to a landing page as a customer, I prefer to see a shorter page. Since you sent me there to take action (like to opt in to your list) why make me waste time reading a novel? I could get bored and leave, or finish reading and forget that I should be opting in. Putting as little resistance between the prospect and the desired action is the key in my opinion.

To me, the choice between a short or long landing page depends on the visitor. Because I'm a slow reader, I hate long sales pages and prefer the short ones that have bullets and get to the point. My wife is a fast reader and can process information rather quickly. That probably doesn't help.

I think long ones work better! I had and having success with them!

If you're selling a product on the page, build a long landing page with fancy graphics and a video.

If you're trying to build a list, keep it short and simple. A video placed next to an opt-in box works wonders.

It also never hurts to experiment with the two and find out what works best for you.

There is a ton of monumentally bad advice in this thread.

The REAL answer is it doesn't matter how long the copy is.

The ONLY thing that matters is HOW INTERESTING the copy
is to a member of your carefully analyzed and selected TARGET
MARKET.

Everyone telling you they wouldn't read a long sales page is
full of crap. If it is a subject that interests them and the writer
understands his market and is capable of producing compelling
copy...

...they will read all day long.

A short simple landing page is better than a long one, as long as it has the relevant information to grab the readers attention.

I have many landing pages, but none of them is a sales page.

You've confused "landing pages" with "sales pages" here, I think?

A landing page can be a sales page, a squeeze page, an information page, an article, just your site's home page ... it can be any page you like: it's just the page on which the traffic "lands" when it clicks your link.

Personally I hate getting hit with a video when I click onto a sales page, but I know they convert so that's probably just me!

OK here is my thoughts for what it's worth. I absolutely hate long landing pages. Most people don't have time for them. However, I would say to split text with google analytics. that way you know for sure.

Every page should have an objective. A landing page is often used as a pre-sell page for either an affiliate product or for your own offer.

If the goal of a landing page is to get the visitor in the buying frame of mind the page needs to be long enough to accomplish this. That could take as few words as 200 or as many as 1200 or more.

Generally speaking it usually works like this: The tougher the sale, the longer the page. If a product or service is new or expensive your landing page will probably be longer because it takes more words to justify a price or explain a new product. This goes for landing pages as well as sales pages.

It's a mistake to set out to make any page long or short just for the sake of having it long or short. It's also a mistake to create a page based on length because you happen to like long or short pages. A page should be as long as it needs to be to accomplish its goal.

I tend to leave a site if the landing page is too long, however, some people like it.

it depends! you need to test it on everything, for me short landing page works better for services

It really depends on how you place the content and the number of opportunities for the consumer to click away. You should also take into consideration the product and what needs to be accomplished by the consumer. Good luck!

For me, I prefer short, sweet, to the point landing pages.

As was mentioned before, I think you might be confusing sales pages (a page selling a product) and squeeze pages (a page that is used for list-building by giving something away).

As Alexa Smith said, a landing page can have any one of a number of meanings. However, when someone says landing page I automatically think squeeze page.

When it comes to how long the copy (text on the sales/squeeze page) should be, as I said I prefer short and to the point. If I am a customer and I come to your website, I'm looking for a solution to my problem. I want you to convince me you have the answer----FAST! Or I'll go somewhere else. As entertaining as your story may be, it really doesn't tell me much about your product.

That is just my opinion. I might be WAY off! I understand that a long page (if read) will get somebody really excited about buying the product. But if the person says very openly "Here's my product, here's what it does, here's how it could help you, here's how much it is" in a short page, I am far more impressed.

Again I may be way off.

Good luck my friend,
James

My best converting landing pages are long but also include an optin form above the fold..

Cheers,

~Gary

The internet has established itself as a dominant marketing and business medium where businesses can profit tremendously through online sales. The key to successful online sales is the marketing copy that convinces a visitor to transform into a paying customer.

Although the final purchase is made at a “checkout” page, most of the “selling” is conducted at the page where visitors first land, also known as the landing page. A landing page is typically reached from a search engine result, a Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisement or a link from another website.

Actually some times it's depend upon services and about that pages. You need to fix it up! as per your pages. My suggestion shorten and having point to point.

By landing page do you mean like a squeeze page? If this is for a opt in - it does not need to be long. Unless you are talking about those sales letters ...

If you are selling some sort of a concept and need a lot of convincing then you would need a long landing page. If you are selling well outlined products or services, keep it short. Simple.

Either way make sure all the important info is above the fold!