LANDING PAGES: 8 CRUCIAL PIECES TO MAKE THEM CONVERT
How well are your landing pages getting the results you’re looking for? Never underestimate the power of a well-designed landing page. Readers take seconds to decide if they think your website will be useful for them.
If your page isn’t properly designed, you will be losing the ability to keep your readers’ attention long enough to convert them. To design a great landing page, there are several crucial aspects you must keep in mind.
1. WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
Before you write a single word of content, you need to know exactly who you are trying to target. What type of customer is it that comes to your landing page? Exactly how is your service benefiting them? Customers aren’t going to give you sales or their personal information without a good reason. You have to know your audience and write directly to them in order to get them to commit and achieve a conversion.
If you are trying to attract customers from particular geographical areas, you need local landing pages to attract those readers. Local landing pages provide an excellent opportunity to set yourself apart from other sites in the same field that do not operate locally. You will have much less competition with a locally aimed page, and a local page allows you to establish more trust with local consumers (who appreciate the convenience and psychological security of working with a local business).
2. WHAT PROBLEM ARE YOU HELPING YOUR PATRONS SOLVE?
There is nothing more important than providing potential customers a solution to their dilemmas. Figure out what this problem or need is and how your landing page solves it. Be sure, when you are creating a landing page, that you empathize with the needs of your clients. Understanding the emotions of your readers will help you connect with them and make it more likely that they will convert.
3. CHOOSE HEADLINES AND SUBHEADINGS THAT WILL PIQUE THE INTEREST OF YOUR READERS.
The headline of your page is the last place you want to be vague or generic. Your headline should grab the reader’s attention and make them want to read more. To do that, put yourself in their shoes. If you were looking for your type of product or service, what headline would catch your eye amongst all the competing information? Your goal is to be both interesting and relevant. The subheading underneath should support and enhance the headline. It can be used to clarify a more alluring, but slightly less direct, headline. Here is a great example fromBenchmark.
4. AVOID EXCESSIVE HYPERBOLE.
Be sure that you aren’t overusing hyperbole (a.k.a don’t over exaggerate). You should never take a targeted business and turn the headline into a statement about how awesome it is that could be applied to any other business. It is highly unlikely that your product or service is the answer to every problem the visitor has EVER had; avoid going to extremes as customers will be turned off by a site that is obviously overselling or that could possibly be a scam. Instead, be specific about what makes your particular business unique. Explain the specifics of what your product or service provides that makes it the customers’ best option to solve their particular problem.
5. KEEP THE CRITICAL INFORMATION ABOVE THE PAGE FOLD.
The vast majority of website browsers will not scroll down on a page unless they are already intrigued by the content. Make sure that the most relevant highlights of your product or service are displayed within the first page length of the site. Providing a lot of important information about a detailed product is fine, but you must make sure the most important details are available without scrolling. This includes your call to action that encourages the reader to call, download, submit, etc.
6. BUILD TRUST WITH EASILY ACCESSIBLE CONTACT INFORMATION.
Along with other important content, an easy method of contact should be easily visible to the reader to add a sense of trust. A customer wants to know there is a real address, phone number or email for your business, and you must make it easily visible for them. Instead, ensure all of these important elements are easily seen within the first page length like Square.
7. MAKE YOUR CALL TO ACTION STAND OUT.
Your call to action should be obvious. Do not simply link a text phrase such as “click here now”. Whether you are trying to get a client to buy a product, call for more information, or simply send you their contact information, you want your readers to be encouraged to follow through. This means making the form visually attractive as well as easy to find and navigate. WebDAM provides a great example of a call to action to download their guide while also collecting important customer information.
8. DON’T LET YOUR GRAPHICS AND FORMAT SINK YOUR SITE.
Make sure you are using high quality pictures and other graphic elements. No one trusts a website that looks like someone used Paint to edit some bad stock graphics. The site for CRRW Flags is an example of the type of graphics you want to avoid. Keep your format simple but attractive. If you are creating a local landing page, consider adding photos of local landmarks that will be instantly familiar to your local customers. You can consider using graphics that rotate through various upper page designs if your site needs more than one headline to fully express itself, like those at Rdio.
Make sure to add style elements that keep the formatting interesting and easy to follow. You don’t want a messy, old fashioned looking page like this. Do not use huge blocks of text that most readers won’t want to wade through. If you want to include a FAQ page, customer reviews, BBB certification and other partner graphics, you must be sure that they don’t look like they clutter your page.
Keep your landing pages clean, concise, and straight to the point. Keep your target persona in mind and know when it’s time to freshen your design.
HOW ARE YOUR LANDING PAGES CONVERTING? WANT SOME FEEDBACK ON YOUR LAYOUT/DESIGN/WORDING?
Send us the link.
[contact-form-7 id=”872″ title=”Landing Page Design Feedback”]
We’ll send you some ideas on what you can do to improve!