So here you are. Your website is beautiful, your newsletter is outstanding, and you’ve created products capable of solving all the problems in the world. If that’s true, then why are your conversions so low? It could be a number of things. But the simplest explanation is visitors may not understand what they’re supposed to do when they arrive at your site. Sometimes turning customers into buyers can be as simple as telling them what to do. For this reason, you need a good landing page.
I’m not sure what a landing page is
The basic description of a landing page is a page that has just one purpose. Its only purpose is to convert visitors by getting them to complete a desired task. This task could be buying a product, giving their contact information, or signing up for your affiliate program. Either way, the landing page should be completely independent of the rest of the site. This is the best way to help website visitors understand what they are supposed to do on that page. That may sound pretty demanding, but it’s important to remove all distractions to get visitors to perform the desired action. Remember, their sole purpose for visiting this page is to complete the desired action that you request. So let’s break down the basic anatomy of a landing page.
Task Explained in the Headline
Before creating a landing page, you must have a certain goal or purpose in mind. It should be possible to explain the purpose of the entire page in just the headline. Important points worth mentioning again: all landing pages should be for just one purpose. If you have multiple purposes, you are in need of more than one landing page. The landing page you are creating should be devoted to one thing only. Therefore, when creating a landing page you should clearly understand what that one task should be. Decide if that task is newsletter sign-up, product purchase, or something similar. Once you have decided what that one task is, now it’s time to sit down and write the headline. Be sure your headline gets to the point very quickly. The headline should tell the webpage visitor exactly what the entire pages is about in just one line.
Say it once, say it well, and move on
Web copy for every landing page should be as simple and straight to the point as possible. You should only cover the most important points as overwhelming webpage visitors with long sales pages will only scare them away. Once the visitor leaves your website without performing the desired action, your landing page has failed. Start by writing the desired sales copy and eliminate as much of the copy as possible. When you think you’re finished, eliminate more copy. In fact, keep eliminating copy until you are down to the least amount of words needed. Once this is accomplished, copy should be formatted in a way that viewers can take it in quickly. Therefore, bullet points should be used to highlight the biggest benefits. Remember to use plenty of white space and avoid big blocks of text.
Let your visitors know how this action will benefit them
In order to encourage visitors to perform the task you desire, let them know what you have to offer. Furthermore, it’s not enough to simply tell them, include testimonials that will show them doing business with you is the right choice. This will provide a much-needed trust factor between you and the visitor to encourage them to take the call of action.
Landing page Call to action
The call to action, or CTA, is by far the most important element of any landing page. In fact, every other element on this page is moving visitors towards this call of action. Call of action is telling users exactly what you want them to do. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the webpage is, it doesn’t matter how valuable the newsletter is, it doesn’t matter how fantastic the product is, missing the call to action will confuse visitors causing them to leave. The call to action can come in many formats. This can be a form, survey, or a link for payment. Just be sure visitors aren’t confused. Remember, the call to action should tell your visitors exactly what they are expected to do next. Now is not the time to be witty. They should know exactly what is expected of them without thinking.
Make sure your landing page is visually appealing
Every savvy webmaster knows the design can make or break a landing page. Therefore, it should be considered very carefully. Use a clean and simple design and be sure it’s consistent. There is no need for bells and whistles, flash presentations, or any other unsightly things you see all over the Web. But that doesn’t mean visual elements can’t be used. In fact, using some type of visual element may help get your point across. If you choose to use images, be sure they support the content. You may wish to use presentations or videos to help entice the visitors to perform the desired action. This can have a powerful impact while keeping your landing page simple and clean. But just as with copy, too many visual elements are ineffective; choose between images or video never both.
Keep the majority of the content within the first fold
Location of the elements within your landing page is extremely important. The call to action and list of benefits should always be in the first fold. If a landing page must be scrolled, be sure to break content into sections that are related. Furthermore, repeat your call to action at various points throughout the page.
Now create your own landing page anatomy
These are the bare essentials of what I consider to be a successful landing page. However, this isn’t an exact science. In fact, the only way to be sure of the best solution is to continue testing until you create a formula that works best for your business. Remember, the purpose of a landing page is to convert visitors so the landing page created must be specific to your business.
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