A step-by-step guide to creating landing pages that convert
Here’s the challenge: From the moment someone arrives at your landing page, you have three seconds. Within this time, everybody answers the one crucial question: “Is this for me?”
If the answer is “Yes”, but the reader didn’t click, you haven’t done your job.
Do you really know what makes your landing page convert? Is it the CTA? Is it compelling content? Maybe the color-scheme? There are endless possibilities, and let’s be honest no one has the time to test everything.
Customers are suspicious; spelling mistakes will create doubt, sloppiness will reduce interest; a broken link will get them lost. Everything has to be perfect.
6 Rules for Creating Successful Landing Pages
When I worked for a digital marketing agency, I learned the hard way. Now I am ready to share with you the essential practices in creating landing pages that convert every time. You may know some already. That’s why I am also throwing in some little-revealed industry secrets.
Rule No. 1: Less is more!
Offer limited choices. Remember, your landing page has one specific purpose, and you need to design it solely to fulfill it. When people face too many options, they become indecisive and postpone the decision. Later never comes. Make one or two precise offers and lead them there.
Stick to one consistent core message, conveyed in every element of the landing page. Any more than that only confuses your audience.
Reduce the amount of text to a minimum. On the internet, people skim pages; they don’t read. Therefore, invest your writing energy on quality, not quantity. Make sure your message is concise and understandable.
My special insider tip: Don’t allow your audience to navigate away from the landing page. This includes not putting any sidebars or navigation panels, header- or footer menus, etc. Anyone who navigates to your homepage, testimonial page, or resource library is a lost conversion. Don’t fool yourself; they don’t come back.
Rule No. 3: Amazing picture or video
Apply the same principals as above: One image or one video, not more, conveying a clear message that resonates with your audience. Don’t overload them with information or with stimulators. Just get to the point.
Remember the three-second-principal I mentioned in the beginning? Everyone arrives at a landing page with the same question: “Is there something for me?” The image plays a critical role in determining the answer.
If the image does not provide your prospects with a “Yes” and they need to decipher your core message from the text, you’re losing valuable time. If it provides the wrong people with that answer, you won’t achieve your goal. Therefore, be amazing and straightforward, but stay focused on what matters.
Add uniqueness; you don’t want people to think they’ve seen this somewhere already. It should be recognizable and in-line with your brand character in look & feel.
Rule No. 4: Awesome headline
The second most important factor in determining the answer to the 3-second question is the headline. Writing killer-headlines is an art, but there are a few basics to remember that can turn every headline into a conversion boost.
If you incorporate the following four elements into your headline, chances are you will hook your prospect.
First off, be specific about what you are offering. Present it in the headline, and your prospects will relate instantly.
Next up is relevance. Again? Yes, again! Showing why it is valuable for your prospect must always be one of your priorities.
Express some level of urgency or scarcity. Try not to leave this for the CTA only. Your candidate may never get there if your headline is not compelling enough.
Last, and probably most difficult is to be unique. Find something that makes people remember your headline. If they have read similar phrases too many times, you’ve lost them.
Rule No. 5: A compelling CTA
So much has been said and written about the importance of a good CTA. Every day, someone shoots out a new philosophy of how to create the ultimate irresistible Call-to-Action. But when you look closely, it often is the familiar wisdom stirred and reheated.
Therefore, I decided not to add on to it. I include it in the list because it is a key element on the landing page. Here are some CTA truths everyone agrees upon. Yes, make the CTA visible. It needs to jump out. Yes, use powerful words. Yes, make it personal. Address the prospect directly. It’s that simple.
Let’s not delude ourselves. Even the best CTA will not magically get people to act if the rest of the page is not optimized.
I’ll add one little secret we learned with experience at the agency, though. Color plays a vital role in the way people react to a button. It turns out that orange is the best-converting color. Try it yourself.
Rule No. 6: Stick to a logical flow
Now that you are sure you got the individual components right, you need to put everything in a logical and visually attractive manner. Believe it or not, but this may be the single most decisive factor for several reasons.
First, the three-second-principal kicks in again. Make sure to draw the eye to your focus point, and no one wastes time searching for relevant information. Once the time is up, they’re out.
Second, a logical flow of content functions as a guide. It sort of takes your prospect by the hand and leads them to where you want them to go, step by step. The nice thing about it is that it remains the same for all landing pages.
What are the steps you want your prospect to take? Here’s the flow, which your prospects will follow with ease:
Show them the benefit they will have. Don’t let them figure it out for themselves. Present the visitor with what they can gain. That’s what they want to know.
Give them a reason your product can bring them that benefit. Explain how this will happen. We are not talking about technical features but the personal path of your prospect.
To strengthen your claim, you now need to provide some proof that what you are saying is true. (This can be accomplished by presenting testimonials right here on the landing page.)
Now they are ready to be called to action.
One Final Tip (Actually Two)
It sounds like a lot to remember when building a successful landing page. The landing page is where conversion happens, so you can’t get sluggish on any of these issues. On the other hand, a landing page doesn’t stand alone. You need every aspect of your campaigns to be excellent, and that requires effort.
You can take away some of the stress and reduce points of potential errors. Choose one landing page that worked exceptionally well for you and use this as a template. Don’t waste your time trying to reconstruct from scratch each time. But be sure to base your choice on real data, not just gut feeling and test, test, test.