Landing pages are an essential component of any online marketing campaign. They are designed to convert visitors into customers and are an essential part of any highly-effective marketing funnel.
After creating brand awareness through social media and directing visitors to your website through ads, you will need to have an optimised and highly converting landing page in order to convert these visitors into paying customers. After all, this is how your company makes its revenue.
In this article, we will discuss the 6 best practices for creating effective landing pages that will help you achieve your marketing goals. From the importance of high-quality visuals to a few tips to increase the credibility of your brand, after reading this article, you will have a good base to create a high-conversion landing page for your brand.
1. Keep the Design Simple and Clean
The first and most important aspect of a great landing page is its design. Not only is it one of the first things you will need to plan, but it is the first thing your visitors will notice.
The design should be simple, clean, and visually appealing to visitors. As you might have heard before, “less is more”. If you are designing a page and wondering if you should add another font or accent colour, the answer is probably no. Avoid cluttering the page with too much text, and try to be as direct as possible. The page should have more images/graphics than text. Lastly, ensure the page’s layout is easy to navigate by using H2 titles and distinct sections.
2. Ensure Clarity of Purpose
The purpose of the landing page should be clear from the start. What are you selling? Why are you selling it? Be as concise as possible. Visitors should be able to identify the page’s purpose within a few seconds. Ensure that the page’s headline, subheading, and call-to-action (CTA) are prominently displayed and communicate the value proposition effectively. Ideally, you should state the common pain points of your target customer at the top of the page so that visitors can relate to the content and are drawn to reading more. Subsequently, you should offer a solution: your service/product. Explain the value of what you are selling, and explain why it is better than your competitors. Be persuasive, but never pushy. Don’t scare them away.
3. Optimise the Page for Search Engines
Assuming you are looking to create your first landing page or update an old one, you have probably been looking online for something like “web development London” or “how to make a landing page”, and this might be the way you have found this article in the first place! That is due to search engine optimisation (SEO).
Although most marketing strategies use social media and Google ads to direct customers to a landing page, optimising the page is another great way to ensure lots of people find your products. Search engine optimisation (SEO) includes using relevant keywords in the page’s meta tags, title, and content. Also, ensure that the page’s load time is fast and the website is mobile-friendly. In order to create more authority for your website and push it to the top of search results, you should also implement a link-building strategy.
4. Use Eye-Catching Visuals
Continuing from the previous point, visuals are vital to ensure clarity of purpose. Although more challenging when trying to sell a service, if you are selling a product, you should display it on the page. Visuals such as images, videos, and infographics can help to enhance the landing page’s message and make it more engaging for visitors. In order to make the website – and company – more credible, you will need to use high-quality assets such as graphics, photos and videos. There are plenty of resources online where you can find high-quality royalty-free assets, but always make sure they are pertinent to your services.
5. Create a Sense of Urgency
Creating a sense of urgency can help to motivate visitors to take action. If a visitor comes to your landing page, not sure if he should buy this product or another and sees you have a limited-time offer, he will be more inclined to buy your product. Maybe your discounted price is lower than your competitor’s, or maybe the discount simply makes it a no-brainer. Time-sensitive wording will ensure that a higher number of visitors will convert into customers.
The best place to use time-sensitive phrases like “buy it now” or “limited-time offer” is in the CTAs. These will create a sense of urgency in the page visitors and translate into a higher number of sales. Ensure that the sense of urgency is genuine and not misleading. As we said previously, you are trying to instil trust in your potential customers, so never lie to them.
6. Test and Refine
Finally, it’s important to test and refine the landing page continuously. The job of a marketer is never done. There is always going to be a better way to optimise the page, a better design or even a new Google update that will allow better page optimisation. A/B testing can help to identify which elements of the page are performing well and which need improvement. By using analytics tools, you will be able to track user behaviour and conversion rates and make adjustments accordingly. Although it is hard work, continuous adjustments will ensure your page is as good as it can be and ultimately help with your sales.
In summary, creating effective landing pages is not a one-time thing. Each landing page requires careful attention to design and clarity of purpose to instil trust in the customer through high-quality visuals and well-crafted persuasive – yet never pushy – sentences. Search engine optimisation will be your best friend to create a flow of visitors through search results which will ultimately result in increased sales. By following this list of the six top tips to create better landing pages, you will be able to create landing pages that engage visitors and drive conversions.