For businesses that want to improve the effectiveness of their website, generate more leads, and increase their revenue, creating and leveraging an effective landing page is crucial.
How is a Landing Page Different Than Other Webpages?
A landing page is a standalone page that is used for the purposes of digital marketing.
More specifically, it is where your visitor will land after they click on a specific link such as through email, an ad from Google, or a social media page.
When done effectively, it will provide an engaging call-to-action that helps move potential customers along the sales funnel.
It Differs From Your Homepage
A landing page differs from a homepage in that it has a singular focus.
A homepage will typically have various links and potential distractions that can move your potential customer away from what you want them to do.
This is why dedicated landing pages are important.
While your homepage certainly adds to your brand and allows visitors to explore products and services, a landing page gives visitors direction.
Essentially, businesses that incorporate dedicated landing pages on their site have a better chance of getting visitors to perform a specific action.
If that’s not enough, companies see an average of 2.35% conversion rate with the top 25% converting at 5.31% or higher.
A landing page is a great way to generate more traffic to your website, improve your SEO, and increase brand awareness. Along with this, businesses can increase their chance of converting their leads and building their customer base.
7 Ways to Create an Effective Landing Page
So how can businesses create an effective landing page that converts?
For best results, businesses need to create a dedicated page that is effective, authoritative, and engaging.
Read on to learn 7 landing page best practices for your website.
1. Keep Your Navigation Simple
It’s easy to want to put as much as possible on your landing page.
However, keeping your navigation simple is the best option.
A simple layout means that your visitors can focus on the most important information and not get overwhelmed by too much content.
Put Critical Information Above The Fold
For best results, businesses should put the most important content “above the fold”.
Above the fold is simply the first visible part of the website when the user loads the page. Information that is placed above the fold gets the most attention from users, which is why it’s most effective for vital information.
It is critically important to have the focus of your landing page be the very thing searchers were looking for in the first place. Whatever search term or keyword phrase they used to click on your page in their search had better be the focus of this page.
Keep your navigation simple by omitting any information, images, or links that are not relevant to the purpose of the landing page – this includes headers and footers.
Remember, you want visitors to convert. The last thing you want is to give them another option.
Keep it simple and hyper-focused.
2. Consider Typography
Choosing your typography carefully is another way to improve the effectiveness of your landing page.
Many businesses would be surprised at how much influence their typography has, but it matters a great deal when it comes to readability.
Typography includes things like font type and size, white space, and spacing. With that said, it’s important for businesses to spend time choosing typography that can help deliver their message.
You only have about 7 seconds to capture your visitors’ attention. So, if they have to spend those seconds trying to follow the contents of your page, you will easily lose their attention.
Essentially, you want the content on your landing page to be well-formatted so that visitors won’t have a hard time trying to read it and can focus on the information provided.
3. Write Engaging Copy
A huge part of a successful landing page is creating compelling copy that can actually capture your reader’s attention.
Once again, you only have a small window of opportunity to engage readers. This means that your copy needs to add value quickly through clear and easy-to-read language.
For instance, if you want a visitor to sign up for your newsletter, you need to express the specific benefits that will motivate them to sign up.
Ultimately, potential customers want to know what you can do for them. This means that businesses need to know their desires and talk in their language to make them engaged in the copy.
4. Optimize Your Landing Page for SEO
There’s nothing worse than creating the perfect web page, then realizing that it’s not gaining any traction. For this reason, it’s important that you optimize your page for SEO.
An optimized landing page will not only increase your page quality rating but also help the search engine understand your content better.
This improves your rank in the search engine, making it easier for people to find your website. As a result, businesses can expect to see an increase in their conversions as they can reach a wider audience.
You can optimize landing pages for SEO by using the right keywords, properly formatting & simplifying your page, and optimizing for mobile viewing.
5. Add Images
Adding images to your landing page is an excellent way to make your page more visually appealing.
Even more, it’s a great way to enhance the overall experience, keep your visitors’ attention, and decrease your bounce rate – which translates into better SEO results.
Therefore, when adding images, it’s imperative to optimize them properly.
In addition to this, images are a great way to evoke emotion. This makes it easier for visitors to build an emotional connection to your company and can encourage them to perform a particular action.
6. Make Your Landing Page Mobile-Friendly
Optimizing your page for mobile is essential.
Unfortunately, many businesses forget this step in the process and easily decrease their conversion potential. 230 million Americans own a smartphone and over 79% of customers purchase via mobile.
With that said, businesses that take the time to optimize their landing pages for mobile users are already improving their chances of increasing their conversion rate.
The last thing you want to do is lose out on potential customers because the mobile experience isn’t up to par. Whether someone is viewing your landing page on pc or mobile, the goal is to increase their engagement by providing the same quality experience.
It’s a good idea to double-check the quality of your page through a mobile device. Be sure to pay attention to the ease of navigation, how fast the landing page loads, and whether everything is easily clickable.
7. Include Social Proof
The objective of a dedicated landing page is to achieve conversions.
Those conversions can be anything from getting your visitors to make a purchase, make a phone call, fill out a form, or schedule a meeting.
Having social proof on these pages can be a powerful signal that increases the likelihood of a conversion.
Examples of effective social proof include:
– Past customer testimonials
– Trust badges
– Impressive, relevant statistics
– Expert opinions
– ‘Wisdom of the crowd’
– Celebrity endorsements
Key Takeaways
Landing pages are one of the most essential components of a website.
It directly supports business goals and is a great way to move visitors along the sales funnel.
Not only that, but effective landing pages improve brand awareness, increase conversions, and generate more revenue for businesses.
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can create the perfect landing page or need help improving your digital marketing efforts, contact us today.
