Every website has a landing page but not all websites have a great, high-converting landing page.
There isn’t a strict guide to follow but there are certain techniques you can use to make yours better.
Here are a few tips for a perfectly optimized landing page.
Prerequisites
Before you do even think about the content or design, you must know the goal of the landing page. These will be present throughout your entire page and play a key role in developing your overall marketing plan.
Are you looking for customers to book an appointment? Do they need to call you for a quote? Are you growing your email list?
From here, you must be able to tell visitors why they should pick you above everyone else. With a seemingly endless supply of competition, you need a unique selling point.
Finally comes keyword research. You need to think about how people can find you online so you can solve their problems.
Once you have got these 3 three prerequisites in place, you can then start thinking about building a high-converting landing page.
Awesome Headlines
Headlines are the cornerstone of every landing page. They are what convinces visitors to stick around and learn more about your brand.
The headline should grab the visitor’s attention, be short and to the point and tell the visitor about your product or service.
However, if what you are offering cannot be condensed into a short summary, consider adding a subheadline to support the main headlines and present the product or service in a little more detail.
Another tactic is to promote your goal in the headline. This works well if you offer a range of products or services.
While each can have an individual landing page, using a goal can spark interest in your company and brand as a whole.
Strong Call To Actions
The aim of a call to action (CTA) is to tell your visitors what you want them to do, such as ‘Buy Now’, ‘Sign Up’ or ‘Contact Us’.
They should be simple and easy to understand. Optimized landing pages should not have a bunch of different call to actions. Otherwise, how would they know what to do next?
The best landing pages have a single call to action.
For pages that have content below the fold, it’s likely that you will be needing more than a single call to action. When this is the case, ensure that the call to action points the visitor in the same direction as the others.
It must also be easy to distinguish on the page itself. Centralize it and ensure it stands out against the background or nearby text.
Use Images
Imagery engages with an audience far quicker than a block of text. They should be large and relevant to your product or service.
For businesses that are selling physical products, it is vital that your landing page includes at least one image of that product.
On the other hand, businesses that sell software should use screenshots of your product to show off its functionality.
For businesses that are selling a service, the image must grab the attention of the visitor and, again, be relevant.
But, regardless if you are selling a product or service, all images must be high-quality and brand-focused. Landing pages are not the place for experimenting with stock imagery or above-par editing.
First impressions are so important. If a visitor lands on your page and sees a poor image, this perception will reflect on the brand and product as a whole and they will promptly exit your page.
If you are finding it difficult to get a high-quality image for your landing page, you can buy them from sites like Getty Images and Shutterstock.
Social Proof
Research from Hubspot shows that 90% of people will buy based on recommendations from their friends, while 70% of people believe customer opinions more than adverts.
The takeaway?
Use testimonials and reviews on your landing page. Display those that are relevant to your product or service.
They should be specific about what you brought to the table and what separates you from the rest.
Contact Information
One of the best ways to make customers know you are the real deal is simply having your contact information present on the landing page.
This is because it shows that there is someone behind the page that can help them if needed, building a bridge of trust between you and the visitor.
This can be in the basic form of an email address, phone number or a business mailing address.
You may wish to consider using something more modern like live chat functionality. This enables you to communicate with a visitor in real-time.
You could also use a contact form to make it easy for visitors to fill in their information and get in touch with you about any questions or concerns they may have about your offerings.
It’s up to you which route you take but it’s essential for the customer experience that you have a way for visitors to contact you.
Testing
Once the landing page has been set up, don’t be fooled by thinking the job is complete.
Far from it.
You need to be using analytics tools to analyze customer behavior and make improvements. This is all part of data-driven marketing which, according to ComboApp, maximizes success and transforms the way business is conducted online.
The benefits?
This B2B marketing guide from digital Authority Partners suggests that this can lead to 36% higher customer retention rates and 38% higher sales win rates.
Conduct A/B testing to refine the landing page. Consider different wording on call to actions or changing the color scheme.
This will ensure you get the best results from your online traffic.
Conclusion
Your landing page brings everything together. It’s where visitors first get to know about your brand and decide if they are going to buy from you.
Use these tips to create a perfectly optimized landing page and grow your bottom line. Not sure where to start? CoolThingsChicago Magazine has a great list of companies that can help you out with your marketing efforts.