Landing Page Creation: All You Need to Know
What is a landing page?
As the name suggests, a landing page is a webpage that serves as the arrival zone for any visitor who has clicked on an online advertisement’s call-to-action. These CTA buttons are found on websites as one of the key aspects of link building ideas.
In the marketing context, the landing page is a separate entity from the main site designed for a singular objective- to guide the user to your intended conversion goal.
It is recommended to build the page without any global navigation options to the main website to prevent the user from deviating from the specific marketing campaign at hand.
The basic types of landing pages can be categorized into:
Lead generation landing page: These are designed to gather valuable information about the prospective customers including their names and email addresses, consequently allowing you to connect with them to get your product or service endorsed. As an incentive for submitting their information, the user in return receives something from the company like discount vouchers, ebooks, etc.
Click through landing page: Commonly used for ecommerce, these are designed to serve as a channel between the marketing ad and the final page. They are used to describe a product or provide attractive details about it which “warms up” the user and convinces him into making a purchase.
Difference between a landing page and a homepage
Contrary to what you initially believed, a homepage and a landing page are far from being similar. The core difference lies between the contents of each page. A homepage is designed to encourage navigation through the website by providing links to other areas of the site, which are arranged in an orderly fashion. Links on a landing page, on the other hand, are regarded as an unnecessary distraction that dilute the original purpose of the page and have a negative effect on the conversion rate.
Significance of a highly converting landing page
It is crucial to understand that a well-constructed landing page can be the founding pillar of an online business’s success as it has a massive impact on the conversion rate of any marketing campaign.
To highlight the importance of an effective landing page, a case study was conducted by Conversion Rate Experts. They managed to generate one million dollars for Moz simply by optimizing the landing page and conducting a successful email promotional campaign.
Therefore, once you have stepped into the world of ecommerce, you should place undue emphasis on constructing an exceedingly converting landing page.
Following are the elements of a successful landing page:
An enthralling headline and a persuasive subheading
It all begins with an alluring headline which beckons the user to the main content. An ideal headline is one which immediately grabs attention and informs the reader about the product or service but retains some crucial information to generate curiosity. This “curiosity gap” compels the audience to continue reading to discover more about the product. The effectiveness of this gap was determined by Joanna Wiebe of Copyhackers who discovered that the “curiosity gap” led to 927% increase in clicks on the pricing page of Mad Mimi.
The concept of the subheading revolves around the same principle as that of the heading, apart from the fact that it reveals more insights about the product to engage the user and make him stay on the page.
Inspiring media
Visual illustration captures attention at a higher rate than text as our brain processes images faster than text. Therefore, add a large, vibrant image to your landing page that hosts a picture of your product or depicts the use of your service.
Adding a short video that walks the customer through the merits of your products is another attention-grabbing tactic. Videos are easy to view as compared to reading a textual paragraph and they retain the customers on the page long enough for them to understand and appreciate your product. According to sources, the presence of a video on the landing page increases the conversion rate by almost 80%.
Infographics are an interesting way to display statistics, product sale patterns, and growth trends. They also make it easy for the customers to conceptualize the data without overwhelming their senses and are smart tools to get the point across in a brief glance.
Explanatory text
An explanatory text on your landing page is essential to make the page legible and convenient for the audience to understand your product. The text should be brief, succinct and written in a clear large font. You can also combine the heading, subheading, image and a concise paragraph to form a stirring explanatory text instead of writing a separate passage.
The text should be able to convey the functionality and value proposition of the products or services to the user instead of just stating the obvious, for example “We make this product” or “We provide this service”. These can be replaced by clauses like “our product will change your life” or “the service will make you more money”.
Trust factors
You can go on hyping about your products or services but, often enough, it may fall on deaf ears. On the other hand, a raving review from a customer, who has already used your product, is sure to convince people about the credibility of your page.
According to research, products reviews enjoy 12 times more trust as compared to product description. Therefore, feature testimonials and positive reviews on your landing page to gain your visitor’s attention and make them consider your product.
Moreover, security indicators such as privacy policy and security badges from trusted companies make the users more comfortable about submitting their personal information on the page. Hence, they should be a prominent element of your landing page’s anatomy.
A compelling call-to-action button
An effective call-to-action button needs meticulous designing and an astute understanding of how the human mind works. Simple text on CTA such as “Download Now”, “Join Us” or “Click here to continue reading” are a dime a dozen and are often not very effective. You need to add text that offers an incentive to the user which compels them to click the button!
Furthermore, the shape, size, color and the location of the button are also important factors which can either increase or decrease the conversion rate.
An example of using clever text for CTA is as follows:
Empire Flippers, a company which helps online entrepreneurs expand their empire, changed their CTA text from “Join Us” to “Make Money Flipping Website” and saw immediate boost of 33.1% in click through rates.
Easy-to-follow flow
Ideally, the landing page should commence with a fascinating headline and subheading, followed by riveting media and the advantages of your product, include testimonials and awards and end with an intriguing CTA.
The logical flow of your landing page should compel the audience to follow a preconceived thought process which eventually convinces them of the compatibility of your product. Thus, in addition to perceptive components, their arrangement on the landing page is also of great importance and needs utmost consideration.
