Optimizing a landing page has been one of the key areas that marketers have been interested in improving ever since a site had been launched. With the first part (pulling people in) reeling in people and getting them to their site, a good landing page will mean the difference between converting leads and having them just leave the site without contributing in any meaningful way. The page should stand out, yet not be annoyingly invasive, informative yet concise; these and much more present just a few of the hoops one must go through to obtain maximum conversion.
1. Align your ads with your page
The first step would have to be making sure your ads and landing page agree with each other. If the ad did its job and got an individual to get redirected to your site – they only want information relevant to what they saw, nothing else. Being taken to something seemingly unrelated will turn off many a visitor, the ads spoon-fed them information, the landing page must follow suit. On the other hand, if they are in agreement, all the information will be right in front of leads and will raise the chances of getting converted.
2. Grammar is the glue
Let’s be honest since Lindley Murray and his English Grammar, grammar is the first thing you notice when reading anything, and if respected it will make your page look professional and wholesome. People are ushered to your landing page in hopes of getting converted, how are they expected to show trust if the site they visited has clear grammatical errors? Whatever the service might be, it can be incredibly off-putting to a potential customer to see spelling errors on something that’s supposed to be the deal closer. Whatever is voted to go on the landing page, it is imperative that the entirety of the content be screened for grammatical and spelling errors.
Susan Weinschenk, also known as "the brain lady", says that, when you use nouns instead of verbs on a landing page, this trigger greater response from your audiences.
In a survey about voting, Gregory Walton at Stanford sometimes asked "How important is it to you to be a voter in tomorrows election?" versus "How important is it to you to vote in tomorrows election?
The first sentence was phrased so that the emphasis was on the noun, "voter". The second sentence emphasized "to vote". Did the wording make a difference? 11% more voted when the noun (be a voter) was used instead of the verb (to vote).
3. Devise a clever headline
Make sure to optimize your headline as much as humanly possible, this can be done by highlighting impactful words such as “best” or “optimal” if present. This does not seem like much, but words such as these carry a lot of weight, and when combined in a sleek and concise headline, conversion rates will shoot through the roof. This ties into the psychology of leads coming over to the site, their interest has already been piqued, the landing page has to capitalize on this and close the deal.
4. Make sure visitors feel safe
Get every kind of sticker and positive feedback on the landing page. This does not mean that it should be placed at random, but they should be present. These help build trust with fresh leads, as they are momentarily informed that certain services approve of this site or that previous users were extremely satisfied with the service. Whatever the situation may be, we can all appreciate some security in a world like this. A sense of security lowers people’s guard and drastically affects their attitude toward whatever they’re presented with.
5. Use related media
The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” exists for a reason, there is simply so much information you can cram into one 100x100 image without being intrusive or overwhelming visitors. Colours can convey feelings of safety, warmth, calculated action, home etc.
We use symbolism in our ads and they’re more than effective, why then not utilize them on the landing page as well, or go one step beyond and use videos. Videos tie into the aforementioned idea of spoon-feeding leads, and they do a terrific job.
6. Be convincing
The only convincing your landing page has to do is to make visitors make the next step. After they’ve read through the page, there needs to be a so-called strong call-to-action. These function as instructions on what leads are expected to do next. These perform a similar function to headlines and also benefit greatly from great hook words like “free” and “instant”, pointing users to the conversion button. Depending on the service being offered and the conversion type (account, email list etc), these words will vary but absolutely need to be convincing and to the point.
7. Bold the buttons
From the very first moment the lead lands on your page, he needs to notice the conversion button right off the bat. The area needs to be formed like a large button, making it pop with a distinct color is a good idea as well. The whole process revolves around convincing them they want that “prize” at the end, because of this, it is necessary that they know where the prize is. Today’s fast-paced world has trained people to lose interest rapidly, making every second count.
Also, don’t clutter your landing page with share buttons.
Too many social sharing buttons can "cripple decision making." The majority of online users only use some of these five main social media networks: Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
8. Exercise moderation
Whatever the page might be offering, make sure to not go overboard in any single area. Too many images or videos can clog up the page and kill its appeal and even raise load times which will harm conversion rates by sheer load time increase. Another thing to be careful about is a number of outbound links present on your landing page, the more content you shove in, the harder it’s going to be for them to find what they’re looking for.
9. Positioning is crucial
When everything else has been crossed off comes the tricky task of designating what goes where and how it interacts with other objects. It is considered a good practice to keep all immediately relevant information above the fold. Perth web agency professes that all other supplementary information should be neatly organized further down and would require scrolling to get to. This way leads are fitted with the equivalent of horse blinkers, making them stay on course and always have their eyes on the prize.
10. Utilize your metrics
The last thing that needs to be done is to go back and review everything that has happened over a set period of time. There are metrics for literally every aspect of the site and will, without a doubt, provide information about what works and what doesn’t. This helps marketers constantly modify their approach and better tailor their content to the type of leads they’re trying to reel in. The fight is never over, it’s just a task of adapting and overcoming new challenges along the way.
Never stop
With all of these in check, there’s just one thing left to do – rinse and repeat. Sadly, this is something that is bound to shift with the times and can never truly reach a “perfect” state. Iteration by iteration, our data will inform us of what to do and what to avoid as people change their minds or a new target group arrives. Your landing page has to be a reflection of the service you’re offering and the current market, as such, it cannot stay stagnant.
Ronald Wolf was a law student who turned rogue and now works as a business consultant at a small Australian company Media Gurus. He is also a freelance writer who loves to share his experience and knowledge.
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