This study addresses the design of static output feedback (SOF) controller for continuous time linear systems. New sufficient conditions are derived for designing SOF controllers. The development involves suitable decomposition of Lyapunov matrices and deriving linear matrix inequality (LMI) criterion that ensures performance. LMI criteria for pole placement in the LMI region are also derived. The proposed criteria can be used for restricted SOF controller design effectively. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed results.