How many times has this scenario happened to you? You launched a digital ad campaign with a deal that customers couldn’t refuse. Your ads were perfectly optimized and your targeting was on point. The click-through rate was through the roof, and you saw an increase in web traffic to your home page. However, your conversion rate was little to none.
What was missing? The answer is simple:
Landing pages that convert.
Yes – technically, a landing page is any web page that a visitor can ‘land on.’ However, when creating ad campaigns, you want landing pages that promote users to complete a specific action that aligns with your ad’s messaging. In marketing, we call this a call-to-action, or CTA. The success of your landing page, of course, will vary depending on the goal of said landing page.
But in general, a good, persuasive landing page grabs the attention of visitors and compels them to complete an action. This is when context – not content – becomes the king. From this blog, you’ll learn how you can create winning landing pages that convert more website visitors.
All it takes is the following six steps.
1. Determine who will be building your landing pages
In most cases, you will have an outside webmaster who manages your website on a monthly basis to create the landing pages for you. However, if you do not have a webmaster and will be creating this internally, there are plenty of free template-based solutions that integrate nicely into WordPress or act as standalone hosts for a small monthly fee. Creating the right landing page will require the right tool, and there are many builder applications you can use to make that possible.
2. Ensure clean, organized and user-focused design
The primary goal of your landing page should be to make it as easy as possible for a visitor to convert, so it is important that all elements on your page work towards the objective, whether that’s filling out a form, making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, completing an application or downloading an ebook.
An effective landing page design makes smart use of color and eye-catching images. For example, certain button colors such as red or green are said to increase landing page conversions, but ultimately you want to make sure that your button color and your background are very different colors. There are many other attributes you also should consider to ensure a good landing page – color, call-to-action, image sizes, clear description of what the visitor is receiving and overall look and feel.
Not to mention the core web vitals that Google will use to determine your website’s worth beginning May 2021.
3. Learn how to write strong headers and subheaders
This may be a given for most, but you’d be surprised how many landing pages we see that lack in this area. Landing page headers and sub-headers provide a key opportunity to promote the value of your offer. The most effective landing pages confirm the offer with the header and use the sub-heading for further explanation of the offer or to share the value proposition.
You only have 8 seconds to convince a visitor that your offer is worth pursuing. So, compelling headers and subheaders are not optional.
4. Less is truly more
Intuitive navigation and zero distractions (such as pop-ups) are key elements to a great landing page. Your landing page should provide all the necessary information needed and nothing more, or your page may become overwhelming to visitors.
- The information you decide to put on your page should be easily scannable. Consider using bullet points in your copy to explain details when possible.
- Key information needs to be shown above the fold, such as a form or button to purchase.
- Use below the fold to give visitors the information they are seeking in a non-intrusive way.
- Video landing pages highlight key points with text and use a clickable video to explain the details.
5. Optimize your page for mobile
Over 30% of all web activity comes from mobile. It’s been shown that having a mobile-responsive site can even double your conversions. Not having a mobile-responsive landing page isn’t even an option in 2020. If this is the case, we strongly urge you to hold off on all paid marketing efforts until you invest in updating your website. You want your visitors to easily navigate your landing page. It should look and feel great – fast loading, uber clickable, and most importantly sized appropriately for the device they are browsing from.
6. Testing, testing. Is this thing on?!
The grand finale of developing a good landing page is testing. An effective landing page simply cannot be created without a thorough amount of testing, and we mean multiple levels of testing.
- Step one : Test all of your links, buttons and forms, make sure everything is directing and performing as it should be, and that all email automations are triggering properly.
- Step two : Test and track your results to see what your landing page is doing right, and what it is doing wrong. Notice where your visitors fall off, how long were they on the page, and if they began to complete an action or not.
- Step three : Keep an eye on the landing page’s analytics throughout the entire campaign, don’t wait until your campaign is over to make adjustments, or to view results. Track, pivot, track pivot, and repeat.
Now that you have the tools to create a flawless landing page, it’s time to launch your ad campaigns! Need help creating a digital ad strategy with execution? We have you covered! Contact us here for a complimentary consultation.