The end goal in website marketing is to turn visitors in to a sale. A landing page is a leading generating tool designed to grab the attention of visitors and help them convert in to a lead.
Although often confused, landing pages are not the same as your homepage. Landing pages serve to gather information about your visitor – their email address and other contact information to help turn them in to a lead. Often times, visitors get to a landing page by way of paid advertising. So, how can you design a successful landing page to help visitors on their buying journey? By following a few simple tips you can learn to make your landing pages and marketing efforts as successful as possible.
The Header
The most important thing about a landing page is the header. The header needs to match what was promised in your ad, or most visitors will leave the page immediately. If the header doesn’t meet your visitors’ expectations, the rest of your landing page won’t even matter.
The text of the header should match the corresponding ad as well as your brand image. A good rule of thumb is to keep navigation to the rest of your website off of your landing page, since the purpose of a landing page is conversion, not just leaving that page right away.
Along with the header matching your brand image, your logo should always be strategically placed on all your landing pages. Your logo doesn’t have to be the focal point of the page, but you should choose a place for it and keep it in that place on all of your landing pages for consistency.
The Content
The copy on the rest of your landing page should be simple to read. People come to your landing page for a reason and you should be clearly stating and highlighting the value of what you are offering them and how it addresses their needs or problems.
Using headlines or bulleted lists is a good rule of thumb and you should always edit your copy to remove any unnecessary information. Your landing page content doesn’t have to be all copy – use an image or a short video in the body of your landing page along with clear copy to improve conversion rates.
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Lead Generation
After you have the copy in place, the next thing to consider is your conversion item. Most landing pages feature either a form or a call to action item. If you are using a form, make sure to only ask for the information you really need. Asking for excess information can annoy visitors and discourage them from filling the form out at all. A form is a good choice for a landing page is you are offering visitors something in exchange for their information, such as a free e-book or newsletter sign up.
If you would prefer to use a call to action button on your landing page, you should make it obvious to your visitors by using contrasting colors that will stick out and always put it near the top of the page, so visitors don’t have to scroll down the page to find it. Another way to make your call to action items stand out is by using directional cues, like arrows pointing to them. Some examples of call to action items to use on a landing page could be “Try it Free” or “Buy Now.”
No matter which conversion item you choose to use, you should always also include your phone number or an email address to contact you on all your landing pages. This will show visitors that they can connect with you on a more personal level.
Earn Their Trust
The last thing to add to your landing page is something that will earn your visitors’ trust. You could include reviews, testimonials or awards you have earned so people who are unfamiliar with your product will gain enough trust to give you their information and/or buy your product. Social media is another great way to gain your visitors’ trust. Using tweets or Facebook comments from current customers can make a big impact.
It’s important to make sure that your landing page – along with your other website pages – is mobile friendly. Most of the traffic on landing pages comes from either Pay Per Click campaigns or email and with the growth in mobile devices – it’s likely visitors will be on your landing page while using a mobile device.
Testing, Testing 1…2…3…
Once you have created your perfect landing page, you need to test its effectiveness. There are a few main things to look at when measuring the success of landing pages: bounce rate, unique visitors, conversion rate, time on page and lead generation effectiveness.
Now that you know what you need for successful landing pages, it’s time to take a look at your existing pages and see if there are improvements that can be made. Need a little more input? Contact us today.
