Published by Simon Brooks on 15th January 2019 | Digital Marketing

The Anatomy of a High-Performing Landing Page

In today’s busy, information-crammed world, you’ve got just seconds to hook your website visitors. If the content is too dense, or your product benefits too obscure, you can expect a high bounce rate and no conversions.

It’s obvious your site needs to be well structured and designed, but the most critical page is the first one your visitor arrives on.

If you’re running a campaign or specific offer with a main call to action, you need a great landing page to grab attention, draw in the visitor and entice them into taking the desired action.

Example of a strong landing page

What Is a Landing Page?

In simple terms, a landing page is the webpage where the visitor first arrives after clicking from an external source, such as a social media post, Google ad or email. For general purposes, this is often the website’s home page. However, a general landing page isn’t always the best medium for converting visitors into a taking a specific step.

If you want to maximise clicks and conversions, you need a dedicated landing page for the job.

Here’s an example. Suppose you’re running a specific campaign aimed at attracting prospects. As an incentive, you’re giving away a free eBook, technical paper or professional guide, or inviting people to a free webinar. Or maybe you’re wanting target buyers to register for trial of a new product.

If the information and call to action button on your target webpage are not immediately visible and obvious, you will likely lose people instantly.

Time’s too precious and buyers haven’t got the time to hunt for information.

Next time you run a special offer or targeted marketing campaign, it’s well worth investing the time in a customised landing page designed specifically for your campaign. It needs to provide the information, offer and the call to action fast, directly and clearly.

So: what are the essential components of a high-performing landing page?

1.      Make Your Message Clear

Some websites and landing pages are so cluttered up with information that it can often be hard to find the information you need – even when you know it’s there. It’s frustrating and wastes time.

All the key elements of your message such as the offer and justification should be “above the fold” — i.e. visible on the screen without the need to scroll – along with all the content about the offer, its benefits, why it’s relevant, and what steps are required.

Your form and submit button, plus supporting information and terms and conditions can be below the fold as visitors will naturally scroll once they’re interested.

2.      Use a Strong Headline

Your landing page headline is your first and best opportunity to grab your visitor’s attention at a glance. As well as being clear and bold, it needs to be relevant, simple and appealing if it’s going to draw visitors in.

Make sure your headline clearly states the benefit you’re offering in a few words, and that it’s consistent with whatever message you used on your email, advert or social media post.

Your headline’s job is to catch the visitor’s attention, but you can also use a sub headline which puts your offer more into context. This can be a little longer and more factual, though it should still be emphasising your USP.

For example, if your headline is “LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DIETING”, your sub headline might be something like “A medically approved system that guarantees results in a month.”

3.      Repeat and Reinforce your Offer

Your offer is what brought visitors to your landing page in the first place, so make sure you repeat it and ram it home to them when they get there. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to winkle out the detail of an attractive offer because the landing page doesn’t do its job properly.

Reinforce and repeat your offer through the page so visitors are left in no doubt what they’re going to receive from you.

4.      Tell Your Visitors to Do

The key purpose of your landing page is to get the visitor to take a specific action – usually to complete a few form fields in order to receive something.

A common campaign call to action for visitors is to “download” a valuable piece of content or to “register” for a learning experience such as a webinar — both of which give you the opportunity to engage with your prospect further in order to move them down the sales funnel.

These words should be used clearly to tell the visitor what they need to do.

Make the message simple and unambiguous using an unmissable and clearly marked button. Ideally, it should take a single click to download content or register to avoid losing visitors before they convert.

5.      Don’t Ask For Too Much

Unless you’re giving away gold bars, remember that you can’t ask your visitors for their life history just in order to get a document from you.

Keep forms clear and simple, and really think about the minimum information you need from the visitor. Ask too much and they’ll click away. Too little and you’re not doing your landing page justice.

The amount of information you can legitimately request should be in direct proportion to the value of the offer you’re making.

6.      Focus the Landing Page

Avoid the temptation of trying to make your landing page work too hard.

Remember it has one purpose only — to engage visitors and convert them into prospective customers. Everything on the page should be focused on this alone so if you clutter the page with diversions and irrelevancies you risk the visitor missing the point.

Leave plenty of white space open to give it a ‘clean’ and ‘uncluttered’ feel, and in particular, avoid using unnecessary links.

It may seem a good idea, for instance, to post a link to another page or blog that backs up your claim. But diverting the visitor in this way risks detracting from the conversion results of your landing page.

7.      Make Your Content First Class

Your landing page design is crucial, but it’s the content (written copy, images and short videos) that will convince the visitor to take action.

The written content should be minimal, simple and clear. Less is more, so every word needs to appeal to your target customer and answer common questions about your product or service.

Ensure it is 100% accurate and free of typos or grammatical errors to underline the quality of your brand. At the same time, it should be easy and natural to read, so write like a human, avoid jargon and adopt an appropriate tone of voice.

Images should relate directly to the copy, be relevant to the offer and reflect your brand. Videos such as product demonstrations can be invaluable, as can customer testimonials.

8.      Provide Validation And Proof

Your headline and copy should make the visitor want to follow your call to action, but they may need to be convinced.

Use facts and figures as proof points and include reviews or customer testimonials in written or video form. Equally you can show off certifications or guarantee seals, all of which serve to underpin the promises you’re making with your offer.

9.      Test, Test, Test

Marketing isn’t about giving it your best shot and hoping for the best. Your landing page needs to be tested extensively before you can be sure you’ve got it right. Run a series of A/B tests, using different copy, different images, different calls to action and find out which combination works best.

When you launch the campaign, you should feel confident in your landing page and expect the results you deserve from taking your time to get it right.

Need help designing and writing your landing page? Get in touch with C4B Media or call us on 01763 877110 to find out more about how to build your high-performing landing page.

About the Author: Simon Brooks

Simon has over 30 years’ experience in all aspects of strategic and digital marketing. He is a director and joint founder of C4B Media and has led numerous successful marketing projects for clients across diverse industries.

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