Whether you’re new to internet marketing or a seasoned pro, your landing page is absolutely essential when it comes to online marketing and promotions.
That said, a mediocre landing page has the power to “stop selling” your potential customers… so you need to make a spectacular one!
How can you be sure your landing page doesn’t repel potential customers?
Follow these simple steps to create a landing page that sufficiently satisfies your prospect’s emotional and rational needs, and makes them take the desired action with confidence!
What is a landing page?
A landing page, also known as a lead capture page, is a web page where traffic is sent to convert, particularly into a lead or sale.
For best results, your ads should be directed to your landing page rather than the home page of your website. Your ad engages the prospect’s interest, but the landing pages pick up where the ad left off and lead your prospects to complete the transaction.
Typically, each landing page focuses on getting your visitors to purchase a product or service, whether it’s a direct sales page or a list they can join.
If you only send traffic to the home page of your website, it’s a safe bet that most of your visitors won’t magically find the page that prompts them to take the desired action.
(It’s been said that every page on your website should function as a landing page, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Crown your landing page with a title that addresses an issue
But not just any problem: Address the issue your potential customer may be experiencing that caused them to click to your landing page from your ad.
Use your headline to get into the conversation he’s having in his head. Engage it and it will read all the way to your subscription box!
Some good examples of headlines that address a problem are:
or “Do you sleep 7-9 hours, but are you still lethargic the next day?”
or “If you’re a lame duck when it comes to dating, look no further…”
or “Tired of not getting all of your taxes back in April? Find out how you can get every red penny back next year!”
You may have noticed that two of those headlines were questions. Using questions as headlines is a proven technique that marketers have been using for centuries: Questions beg your brain to come up with an answer, and will agitate you relentlessly until you do.
Fortunately, the answer to your question is not far away…
Use a subtitle that solves said problem
If you don’t answer that nagging question or give them a solution right away, you’ll lose a substantial amount of your valuable traffic.
Remember, most (if not all) web surfers refuse to pay attention to your page for too long… you need to grab their attention and really get them excited about your product or service!
However, the trick is not to give them too much. You don’t want to give away the whole farm, so to speak. Your subheading should solve the problem described in your headline and promise satisfaction, but it should leave something to be desired – the rest of your landing page will fulfill that wish and get them to convert.
Show your credibility
Whether you’re selling a product or building a listing with your landing page, put your customers’ collective mind at ease: show that your business is credible and trustworthy.
This means you need to convey that they can trust your company with your email address, your other contact information, and most importantly, any sensitive billing information. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes: Would you feel safe after buying something on a website without a secure payment button or badge? Of course not!
Describe the main benefits of your product… not just the features
There’s a method to this madness, and it’s not complicated: your customer simply wants to know what’s in it for them.
While benefits are derived from features, it is not enough for you to list the best features of your product or service; you should give your visitors the experience of owning it for a while. Let them imagine what it would be like to use it, or have it ready for when they can actually use it.
So, for example, if your company specializes in hosting and web design, you might want to list the benefits as follows:
Instead of: “We know HTML, CSS, AJAX and JavaScript!”
Usage: “Our experts can design an attractive and professional website for you!”
You can put a page on your website, such as an “About Us” page, where you can go into detail about your certifications, but in most cases your landing page should describe benefits rather than features.
Support your claims using facts instead of fiction!
You have a headline that addresses a real problem your customer is likely experiencing, a subhead that promises a solution, shows your credibility, and illustrates the benefits…now it’s time to back up your offer with hard facts.
Don’t be discouraged, this part is incredibly easy! Just reload your copy with some simple fixes, like this:
Instead of: “We are cheaper than the competition!”
Usage: “We can prove that we are 40% cheaper than the competition!” (Of course, please provide real statistics to demonstrate this.)
Other great evidence and figures to provide are: The overall return on investment your customers have experienced with your product or service, social proof (testimonials and case studies, etc.), the actual discount percentage your customers can take advantage of during a sale or promotion.
Close your landing page with a clear call to action
While the quality of your landing page content is critical to converting your traffic, you can’t realistically serve this purpose if your call-to-action isn’t clear as a bell.
Your call to action can be distributed as anchor links throughout your landing page, placed after every new topic or idea, or even just once at the bottom of your page. Either way, your instructions on how to perform the preferred action must be foolproof.
If your prospects need to click a button to buy your product or service, show them. (You can even show them how: research shows that right-click feedback, like the Submit button that changes color when hovered over, drives more signups!)
If your page requires them to submit their name and email address to receive more information or to get a free offer, let them know not only where they can do it, but reiterate what they get by doing it.
The goal of your call to action is to get your prospect to take the desired action, and it should be as simple as possible so that anyone can do it without much thought.
Sit back and watch your conversions grow!
In a nutshell, a converting landing page is a big deal when it comes to successful internet promotions… but it’s not impossible! You can certainly achieve more sales and subscriptions by fine-tuning your content and including a crystal clear call to action. Once you’ve nailed down the perfect landing page, trust me, you’ll know!
