Nearly 1 in 10 people who click on a company’s landing page will become a lead.
That means an incredible 1,000 out of every 10,000 people who visit your landing page could end up purchasing from your business.
If this doesn’t highlight the power of landing pages, we don’t know what will.
It almost sounds too good to be true but believe us, with the proper knowledge at your disposal, you’ll be able to take advantage of powerful landing pages.
Of course, it’s important to mention that seeing these results requires work. There are essential steps involved in creating a successful landing page, and we’re here to walk you through them.
Let’s get started!
What is a landing page?
Before we get into the tips and tricks for writing an effective landing page, let’s ensure you fully understand what a landing page is and what it does.
In a nutshell, a landing page is a standalone web page that potential customers ‘land’ on when they take a specific action.
This usually involves clicking on an ad, a link in an email, or a link you’ve posted on social media.
A landing page offers visitors something of value, such as a free ebook, discount code, or podcast, in exchange for their basic information.
Unlike your main web pages, which typically have many goals, landing pages are designed with a single focus or purpose.
So a homepage doesn’t count as a landing page because it also serves other purposes.
What is the purpose of a landing page?
We now know that landing pages have one specific goal, but what is this?
The answer is simple: all landing pages are designed to convert visitors into leads and customers.
Landing pages are the last step in getting customers to take your desired action. It’s where conversions such as purchase, signup, or registration will take place.
For a landing page to be effective, it must be free of distractions. Your landing page should have one single action it wants visitors to take.
This simplicity keeps a visitor focused on the goal rather than distracted by multiple links trying to drag them in different directions.
Landing pages are most useful for:
- Getting more signups for your email newsletters
- Selling a product or driving pre-orders
- Registering visitors for an event
- Encouraging users to download an app
- Sharing marketing materials (ebooks, catalogues)
- Scheduling users for a product demonstration or sales call
What sections need to be included on a landing page?
Every great landing page is composed of a core group of elements. Each of these elements should be used as a guide when creating content for your landing page.
This may sound very formulaic and like there’s no room for creativity – but that’s not the case.
The truth is that landing pages that convert do so because they’ve got the fundamentals down. But once you include these fundamentals, you can find unique and clever ways to optimize your landing page.
The core building blocks of every successful landing page are the following:
- The main headline and a supporting headline
- A unique selling proposition
- The benefits of your offering
- Images or videos showing the context of the use
- Social proof
- A reinforcement statement
- A closing argument
- A call to action
Tips for writing a landing page
Here are some effective tips and best practices for writing a landing page:
1. Create skimmable content
Skimmable content is content that a person with time constraints (real or imagined) can read in several seconds.
Your landing page should be simple enough that even if a reader were to skim it, they’d still get the gist of your message and the action you want them to take.
Skimmable landing pages include:
- A strong headline and subheading
- Descriptive titles to break up sections
- Short paragraphs (no more than three or four lines of text)
- Bulleted lists to highlight benefits
- Plenty of images
2. Make sure your headline and CTA match
It’s important to keep the messaging in your landing page’s headline and call to action consistent.
Just think how annoyed you’d be if you clicked on a landing page that offered you a 10% discount only to find out later on down the page that there was a catch involved.
You wouldn’t be pleased, and your customers are no different.
If your landing page doesn’t follow through on what’s promised to customers in the headline, you’ll lose their trust and respect.
Similarly, when your headline and CTA don’t align, it can cause confusion for visitors. Once again, this will result in a high bounce rate.
Eliminate this confusion by ensuring your landing page consistently reflects what you promised in your CTA.
3. Emphasize benefits rather than features
In your landing page copy, you must focus on benefits over features.
Features offer customers facts about products or services, but benefits give them a reason to buy a product. Benefits explain to customers how the product or service will change their lives.
For example, someone searching for sports equipment isn’t searching for a treadmill. They’re searching for a healthier lifestyle and a slimmer figure.
Anywhere you’d mention a feature on your landing page, describe the benefit instead.
Imagine your reader is constantly asking you, “What’s in it for me?” Focus on that question throughout the landing page, and your copy will stay on track.
4. Share Customer Testimonials
Build customer confidence by sharing quotes from existing customers on your landing page. Testimonials are a terrific way to increase the conversion rate of your landing page.
Positive customer testimonials help to establish your credibility as a business. When customers land on your landing page, they’re close to taking your desired action.
Reading a great review from a past customer might be just what they need to finalize their decision.
Contacting past or current clients via email is the quickest and easiest method of asking for a testimonial.
Build the best landing page for your business!
We hope this blog post has given you a clear understanding of a landing page, its purpose, and the best practices for creating your own landing pages.
If you’d like more help creating a landing page for your business, don’t hesitate to contact us.
We’re proud to offer you everything you need to write professional copy without the cost of hiring a copywriter.
With our Website Copywriting Accelerator Pack, you can access the Whitelabel versions of the landing pages and website copywriting templates we’ve used to write over 400 websites.
