We talk a lot about landing pages these days, but what exactly are they? Broadly, a landing page is any page that visitors can get to or “land” on. When we refer to landing pages in a marketing context, we’re usually talking about standalone pages that are separate from your main website. We use landing pages to further one, specific goal – usually conversion, or getting visitors to take a particular action on the page.
Whether you’re already using landing pages or not, taking a good look at how you can optimize pages for conversion is definitely a worthwhile investment. TiemsWebWorld, a company that makes custom whiteboards, committed to improving their landing pages and saw conversion rates rise from 2% to 27%. That’s huge for their business.
Convinced? Great! Let’s dive into the ins and outs of creating awesome landing pages that convert like crazy:
How TimesWebWorld Increased Conversions More Than 1,200%
Let’s get back to TimesWebWorld and the results they achieved from optimizing their landing page. Before their 1,250% increase, their “landing page” was really just a standard web page. It wasn’t designed with one particular objective in mind (it gave visitors five different options for where to go from there), and that was clear from the results it produced.
Do one thing really well. When visitors land on your page, they should have only one option for where to go next. Landing pages are all about lead generation – gaining email subscribers, trading email addresses for an eBook, etc. Design your entire landing page to drive visitors into taking this action.
They want visitors’ emails – a large, prominent CTA and brief info form help further this goal.
Use visual elements to create a path for the eye. Once you have one objective in mind, every element on the page should lead users to your call-to-action (CTA). That includes visual elements like color, structure, and whitespace. You want visitors’ eyes to follow a path throughout the page that ultimately leads them to your CTA.
chemistry-landing-page-visual-elements
Our eyes naturally follow the woman’s… straight to the CTA form.
Be reasonable in your ask. Many people make the mistake of trying to collect more information than visitors are willing to give. Most people won’t give out ten different pieces of information just to download your eBook, and you don’t really need them to. Ultimately, if you can get their name and email address, that’s a successful landing page.
Don’t make it about you. Your landing page should focus on the value customers will get from downloading your eBook, subscribing to your newsletter, etc. Pages that focus too much on your company or product itself will have a much harder time communicating value. They won’t successfully convert many leads.
Ultimately, these four simple concepts led to the tremendous increase that TimesWebWorld saw in conversion rate.
Here’s the page after it was optimized.
Anatomy of a Great Landing Page
What to Include (And What to Leave Out)
Now that we have some overarching principles to guide us, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What elements should your landing page include? Generally, you want to include these six key things:
A headline and sub-headlines
A quick description of what you’re offering
One or more images or videos
Testimonials, customer logos, or security badges
A brief information form
CTA button
Those are all pretty straightforward, but is there anything you should definitely leave out when designing a landing page?
It’s usually best to drop the navigation links you’d typically have on your main site. This helps keep visitors focused on the one action you want them to take.
Other things to exclude from your landing page include unnecessary text, extra CTAs, and anything that doesn’t promote the primary goal.
Remember to keep it simple and focus on doing one thing and doing it well.
Best Practices
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Creating a landing page from scratch can seem a little overwhelming, but there are plenty of common themes that can guide you along the way. Here are the key best practices that will lead to the most effective landing page:
If visitors clicked on an ad to get to your landing page, make sure your primary headline matches the ad copy that led users there.
Your CTA should be large, contrasting, and compelling. Place it above the fold so visitors don’t have to go searching for it.
If you use images of people or symbols like lines and arrows, make sure they direct viewers’ eyes to your CTA.
Focus on one primary goal – everything on the page should be aligned with this concept.
Be as concise as possible while getting your message across – omit anything unnecessary including images, text, color, etc.
Infuse the page with your customers’ voices – use real testimonials to foster authenticity.
Simplify and break up your copy with bullet points and headlines.
Include a phone number to increase trust and add a personal touch.
A/B te
st different versions to see how small changes can affect conversions and click-through rate (CTR).
