Once someone has found you in the search engines and landed on your page, hooking them is essential. Increased traffic is one thing, but conversion is the real goal. Turning every potential lead into a verified customer is the real drive of Internet marketing. If someone is just clicking through, then your Internet marketing campaign has no follow through. Creating effective landing pages is essential to maintaining a successful web presence. Here are a few tips on how to do it.
Overview of Landing Pages
There are generally two types of landing pages. You have the “lead capture page,” which is created as a page to drive customers to after clicking on an advertisement, such as a banner ad, a link from an email marketing campaign, or a pay-per-click ad. These sorts of pages focus less on the technical components of SEO and more on conversion. The other type of “organic SEO landing page” focuses less on visitor conversion and more on the technical components of SEO to help the page rank well in search engines.
Define Goals
Before you even get into the meat of the work, you must first assess your goals for each page. Do you want someone to make a purchase, fill out a contact form, subscribe to an RSS feed, or learn more about your subject? Whatever your goal, clearly outline it so that your landing page can be designed to support that goal from the beginning. Each page has its own function and purpose. Knowing that purpose is key to designing the page so you can better encourage a successful conversion.
Research Your Customer
It’s important to understand who your customer is and what they are looking for, and then meet their needs directly. What do they need? Satisfy their wants. They are more likely to respond if you give them something in return.
Create Compelling Page Copy
Filled with billions of relevant information on any subject, the Internet is highly competitive for people’s attention. Add to that fact that people’s attention spans are as short as a goldfish, so you need to hook them from the beginning to keep them on the line. Otherwise, they’ll just go somewhere else. Keep in mind that a landing page is business. Don’t get too creative with your writing. Keep the copy clear and concise, but persuasive and interesting. Clearly state why the viewer should interact with the site, fill out a form, and purchase a product, whatever the site hopes to do.
Focus on both the opening and closing sentences. These are the two sentences people are most likely to read. If these sentences alone can be persuasive, you might just win a convert. In the opening sentence, reinforce the overall message and goal of your page, but keep it interesting. Your closing sentence should also reinforce this message, as well as explain the goal of the page in a compelling manner. Drive the reader to act now to complete the conversion. Immediacy is critical.
Design an Interesting Layout
Layout is extremely important to commanding attention. All you’ve got is a glance to entice your visitor. If your site is not visually appealing, you might want to consult help from a web design firm. Keep the layout simple, but logical and attractive. If any addition does not drive a conversion, remove it.
Stage Important Items Above the Fold
Critically important, “above the fold” is what your visitor sees on the page without scrolling down. Include the most important elements, such as a contact form or sales bar.
Persuasive Call for Action
You should have one ultimate goal with the landing page. Make sure that purpose is clearly spelled out, with easy to see buttons for visitors to respond. Make it easy on your visitor. Don’t make them search for the answer. If you don’t point them to it directly, they’ll find it somewhere else- on someone else’s landing page. Feed them what they need, as soon as they open their mouths.
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