Creating an impressive landing page is incredibly important to catch your audience from the outset.
Taking time to build the perfect website is an important part of your business’ marketing mix, as more and more people do online research and shopping, it will undoubtedly be the first impression for many of your potential customers. What you might not know, is that it isn’t always your home page that visitors will arrive at first. If you are marketing several different products and services, or you have a sale, it’s highly possible that a keyword search will bring your potential customer to a specific, deep page in your website first; this is called a ‘landing page’. What happens from there is up to you, you’ve got the visitor, but do they convert, or do they leave?
A good landing page will draw a potential customer in to browse your site, or to buy, depending on their place in the buying cycle. In the reverse, a messy page with little thought put into it can also drive them away, making your marketing efforts good for nothing. This is especially important if you are using PPC to drive potential customers to you, as you have paid for the privilege of solving their problem.
Whether you are still in the design stages, or if your website needs spring cleaning, there are things you can do to your intended landing pages in order to keep your potential customer on your site.
Below are 5 tips based on White Chalk Road’s website:
1. Call to Action
Possibly the most important element of a page, is the call to action. A visitor has entered a keyword in, browsed the results, and looked at the ads and has selected your listing to click through to. What can they do once they arrive? Do you have a phone number, a form, or a link to add the item to a shopping cart? This is the push most customers will need to continue to look at your site, and it’s products. Make sure it’s in a prominent position, and above the fold.
2. Above the Fold
You were about to ask what ‘above the fold’ means? This is a term to describe the content of a page that is immediately visible once someone clicks through to it, before the need to scroll down. Generally, most websites will need someone to scroll down to read the whole page, and the section that is above the fold gets more attention, as searchers become more and more lazy, whether they do scroll down or leave is based upon what grabs them immediately. Don’t put images, price and forms too far down, or you can risk losing them.
3. Images
Don’t include images that have little to do with the pages content, or images that are too large. While you will need an image or even several to describe your product or service, make sure that they are there to assist the written content, and are of high quality. If your visitor is shopping for your product, it does pay to have a true representation of it for their comparison.
4. Spelling and Grammar
Copywriting for your website should be treated seriously, but not stiffly. Make sure that your spelling is perfect and the sentences all make sense. You don’t need to have absolutely perfect grammar; but remember that communication is all about getting your message across clearly. If your descriptions are ambiguous, it can scare off potential customers.
5. Keep it Simple
Don’t crowd your page with unnecessary information. The visitor has clicked through to your page hoping to find info about something specific, but if you have heaped as much about your brand and other products on there as you can, they may feel overwhelmed and leave. Tricky pop ups and splash pages are also discouraged, as you want your visitor to have as easy access to your site as possible.
Landing pages can be tricky, but if you follow these simple guides, then you will be on your way to a page that can potentially increase your conversions and elevate your business to the next level. Remember to continually test pages until you get it right. Using a few different versions to see which ones get the sales can help, as can asking friends and colleagues for their user feedback. No website should be left as is for too long, so make sure yours evolves with your customers.
