In today’s highly competitive world, online presence is unquestionably an important marketing leverage for every business. And as you dive deeper into the territory of digital marketing, you will soon realize that marketing your business and reaching your goals require more than just a website and social media accounts. Whether your objective is to increase traffic, capture interest, or increase sales, there are several marketing tools that can be used when building effective marketing campaigns. A landing page is one of the many marketing tools.
What’s a landing page?
If you search the term “Landing page” online, you will receive numerous results with general definitions; such as HubSpot’s landing page definition: “a web page that allows you to capture a visitor’s information through a lead-capture form” or Web Ascender definition: “a part of a first impression...your handshake or greeting, or smile.” Simply put, a landing page is a web page that a consumer “lands” on after clicking a hyperlink from a different page, search result, or most often, a search advertisement. Landing pages are often “stand-alone” pages - in other words, these pages have no links to any other sources or navigations (such as, your business’ website). The purpose of a landing page is to essentially move visitors down the sales funnel and eventually make them a lead. An effective landing page should be transactional; determined by its engagement or conversion rate. As a result, making a purchase, giving a call, or subscribing to the business are some examples of a “transaction.” In that case, a landing page should have a clear and direct intent with specific information of what the business is offering to “push” potential customers to convert.
Why use landing pages?
According to HubSpot’s Marketing Benchmarks from 7,000 businesses, companies that have implemented landing pages in their marketing strategy have seen a dramatic increase in leads. HubSpot also reported that the more landing pages there are for a business, the more SEO benefits there will be as they appear in search results. If you want conversions, send prospects directly to the landing page instead of the business’ website. To improve your marketing campaigns, increase conversions, or generate data, incorporate a landing page in your marketing strategy and make use of its advantages. According to Hubspot, landing pages are “under-utilized” mainly because the internal marketing team do not know how to set it up, or they haven’t designed or optimized it to its full potential.
To create an effective and converting landing page, we will discuss six important points that should be practiced when creating a landing page.
- Have a direct and relevant headline Headlines are said to be the most important component of your web page. It is the first thing page visitors will notice as soon as they land on your page and potentially determine the page’s “worthiness” (i.e. “is it worth my time to read?”). In fact, headlines are so crucial that 8 out of 10 people only read the headlines. Your headline holds the power of your web page’s content; it’s what will encourage visitors to stay, consume the rest of the content, and possibly take action. But writing a headline isn’t an easy task—there is more to it than putting a title on your content. When drafting headlines, think about “quality over quantity;” it’s not about the length of your headline, but the message it conveys. Is your headline relatable? Is it conversational? According to a recent study, 55% of web page visitors actively spent less than 15 seconds on a page. Technology has given everyone access to all sorts of entertainment, each competing for attention. Your landing page is one of those entertainments; therefore, ensure your headline holds a clear and direct, “straight-to-the-point” message. Since your headline has the power to grab attention, make sure there is a sense of “usefulness” and “sense of urgency.”
- Have a clear and powerful description Your description is another tool with the power to pull a visitor further down the marketing funnel. Use it to your advantage and create a message that provides details of your headline without providing too much information. Start your description off by clearly outlining your offer and follow it with your objective and the value. Construct your description in a way that will have a powerful impact. One way to do it is to include components that will support the value of the offer, such as testimonials, awards, past/existing customer logos, or verification badges to showcase your business’ legitimacy.
- Have limited-to-no navigation Navigation is crucial for a business’ website, but it’s not the case for landing pages. Navigations allow web visitors to be directed to different areas of the website—which isn’t exactly what we want visitors to do on a landing page. The purpose of a landing page is to use it as a marketing leverage to acquire more leads; it should be completely separated from your main website. Presenting a navigation bar will provide visitors an opportunity to browse around and divert their attention from the landing page. Losing your visitors’ attention may lose your opportunity to get conversions. You only want your web visitors to click on links that will lead to a conversion. Therefore, to reduce or keep your landing page bounce rates low, omit the navigation bar.
- Have important keywords within your text As previously mentioned, landing pages can be used to improve the overall SEO of your business. Pay close attention to the keywords used within the landing page as it plays an important role in organic search. Ensure your keywords are relevant and strategically placed on your landing page for Google’s algorithm to pick up. (And remember to submit the page to Google if it’s outside your brochure website’s site map)
- Have a clear Call-to-Action (CTA) Aside from the headline, CTA is the most important element to a landing page as it is critical for conversions. CTA is the element that visitors will interact with; therefore, construct an engaging, clear, and word-specific CTA. Prevent from creating generic CTAs and ensure it’s relevant to your main objective. Your CTA should be action-oriented, persuasive, and should project a sense of urgency. Structure your CTA in a way that would flow with your overall content and lead the visitors into clicking the CTA.
- Images As previously mentioned under the topic of headlines, more than half of page visitors typically spend less than 15 seconds on a page. First impression of a webpage is therefore very critical. Visual context, such as images, is a powerful tool to include on a landing page—especially for first impressions—as it has the capability to appeal visitors and grab attention. On top of that, numerous studies have shown that images can be remembered better than words and processed 60,000 faster than text. For that reason, include clear and high-quality visuals that is relevant to the context; consider applying your words as visuals, especially for statistics or heavy word-based data.
Here is an example of a landing page that has too much information that isn’t necessary to include.
Here is a different approach to a CTA from Huemor that Hubspot pointed out to be an interesting concept. It exemplifies a creative direction for the CTA button, “Launch” with the words “Do Not Press” to help capture attention.
Related Article: How to Craft CTA
The images above are examples from Optimal Targeting utilizing visuals to illustrate statistics and data in a simplified and engaging form (i.e., infographics) without including too much text.
Images that people can relate to or build relationships with (e.g., images of people) is a good way to add value to your landing page and your business. Including images of people or “interactions” can “humanize the call to actions and conversions.” You want your visitors to empathize with your image to add authenticity and value to your business. So limit the amount of stock photos and attempt to use images that showcase the company’s products or services instead.
Also, note that images have the potential to enhance your SEO, if optimized correctly. Since search engines can’t “see” your image to determine its relevance to your content, ensure your image’s file name, alt text description, and title tags are relevant to the content of your business or landing page. These components can help your ranking on search engines. Consequently, take into account the file size, the responsiveness, the image size, and the page load speed, as these factors have an impact on your SEO.
Related Article: When to Use Stock Images vs Real Images