The Anatomy of a Landing Page that Converts (Video)

Video highlights:

• Don’t use PPC advertising to send people to your website homepage
• Always identify your customer persona prior to building your landing page
• Have a specific goal in mind for landing page visitors to complete
• Design an easy-to-use, distraction-free landing page

The definition of a landing page

Any page a visitor “lands” on (regardless if they got there from email marketing, social media marketing or some other way) is a landing page.

Which means every page on your website could be a landing page.

But not every page should be a landing page.

This is especially true when it comes to your homepage and any digital marketing campaigns you’re running.

Why should you use landing pages (and not your homepage) for campaigns?

Targeted and well-designed landing pages can boost conversion rates in ways other pages on your website (specifically, your homepage) can’t.

Pretend you’re a building and landscape supplier running an online advertising campaign about, say, topsoil.

And let’s say you’ve put together a free eBook download about identifying good topsoil from bad.

Your objective is to get people to download your free eBook in exchange for providing you with email & contact information.

So you’ve put together a digital ad which reads:

Need Topsoil in Toronto?
Find out how to spot poor-quality
Topsoil BEFORE you buy it.
Download your FREE guide now

People who click on that ad expect to be taken to a page to learn more about your free eBook with the opportunity to download it.

Taking them to your website homepage won’t work.

Why? Because your homepage is about ALL of the products you offer:

• Topsoil
• Interlock bricks
• Mulch
• Grass seed

It isn’t ONLY about your free download, which is why people clicked on your ad in the first place.

But a dedicated landing page is. It’s about ONE THING and ONE THING ONLY.

In this example here, it’s about the free topsoil eBook you’re offering.

What makes a good landing page?

Landing pages are an extension of your company’s brand.

Anyone who lands on them should be able to tell that it belongs to your retail or contractor business.

However, they have slight differences from other pages on your website.

That’s by design. Because while they both have the same objective (capturing new leads), they get there in different ways:

• Landing pages are short and to the point. There isn’t much research being done by the user. It’s a “yes” or “no” proposition. Chances are they’ll only visit your landing page once.

• Website pages are longer with lots of information. People can spend lots of time on your website page as they research information. They may come back to it again and again.

When we build landing pages for your business at WEB ROI, we’ll always adhere to the following best-practices.

1. Identify your customer persona

In fishing parlance, your online ad needs to “hook them.”

And the landing page needs to “reel them in.”

To that end, it’s important to develop a customer persona prior to building and executing your marketing campaign (landing page included).

For example, let’s say you’re a B2B company specializing in industrial-strength glues.

• You can create a persona to target purchasers responsible for buying adhesive products for manufacturing usage.

• And from there, you can narrow your persona further to speak to purchasers who are having issues with their current adhesive solution.

With a highly targeted persona in place, you can craft an ad tailored just for them. Something like:

Need better adhesive performance?
There are 4 common challenges
for poor manufacturing adhesives.
Get your FREE solutions guide here

It’s much easier to write when you know who you’re writing for.

2. Clarify your target goal

When people hit your landing page, what do you want them to do?

Of course: give you their email and contact information.

Now, what will you give them in exchange?

• A free eBook or guide
• A whitepaper or report document
• A special limited time coupon

A high-performing, high-converting landing page is designed to be an equal give-and-take proposition which shouldn’t take too long to complete.

And that leads us to…

3. Design your landing page

Remember earlier, we said that landing pages sort of look like your main website pages, but with some subtle differences?

Here they are:

• Any unnecessary or distracting content should be removed from your landing page. Navigation items, menus, internal links are all gone. The only thing a visitor should click is a big call-to-action button. Nothing else.

• Make your headline big and bold. Remember, visitors are clicking on an ad to reach your landing page. The headline has to confirm what they clicked on & capture their attention. Keep it short and simple. Now’s not the time to get fancy.

• Use an image (or better yet, a video) on your landing page that makes it incredibly clear what people should do and what they should get. If the desired action people should take isn’t plainly obvious, the landing page is too complicated.

• Write short copy and use bullet lists too. Unlike a web page that has lots of copy and requires a bit of time to read, landing pages are “in-and-out” propositions. Get right to the point and support it with easy-to-read bullets.

4. Make the form incredibly simple to fill out

You’re asking people to give you contact information in exchange for a download guide.

Don’t make them jump through hoops in order to do so.

Really, all you need is their first name, last name and email address.

Don’t bother asking for things like:

• Postal code
• Location
• How they heard about you
• Phone number
• Best time to call you

It’s too distracting. People aren’t willing to share it and it isn’t necessary.

One last thing: Place that easy-to-use form at the top of the landing page. The less scrolling or hunting people have to do, the better.

5. Measure, test, improve and do it again

Landing pages are great for measuring results and coming up with A/B or split tests

Tests don’t have to be complicated either. You can simply change the colour and/or text of your CTA button and test that.

Or you can rewrite your headline and test that.

Or you can add short testimonials and test those.

Because landing pages are short, there aren’t that many variables to test.

Look at the results. Pick something to test (with good reason) and go for it.

If we build it, new leads will come

Landing pages are a great idea for your online advertising campaigns.

They’re easy to implement and track.

Best of all, they just work.

Call 1-877-7WEBROI or contact us to see how well they work (and what they can do for your business).

A solid landing page can help your business grow by as much as 30% in just one year.

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