Every business needs customers or clients. Without this, it will crumble. No man builds a showroom without an expectation to entertain spectators and convert them to buyers. A landing page is also designed with this in mind, to convert visitors to customers.
A landing page is different from a homepage other pages of a website. The difference between the landing page and other pages is the information on it and its purpose. A homepage may have the general information, navigations and many call-to-action buttons. A contact page may only have a form and contact information while a landing page is designed with the motive to get the visitor to respond and take a specific action.
In many cases, a landing page motivates visitors into action by offering a kind of incentive for that action. It can be a discount, free product or informative free resource in exchange for an email.
When the purpose of a landing page is more than one, it can be distracting and may never convert. You may end up losing visitors when they are distracted. When designing a landing page, do not make this common but costly mistake. Let’s see steps you can take to create landing pages that convert.
Determine the purpose
Before you start creating a landing page, you must determine what you want the visitors or users to do. You may be introducing a new product, a subscription offer, launching a campaign or trying to get new sign-ups. The purpose must be specific since you wouldn’t want to distract your visitors.
Determine the content
Your landing page content must not only communicate but compel your website visitors. Imagine that these visitors are walking into your office and you have to convince them about what you are offering. You don’t have to say a lot, but you should be as much creative and compelling as possible.
There should be a headline and subheading as each section of your landing page should be able to speak volume. If possible, learn the art of storytelling and hook up with your visitors using suspense.
You must bear in mind that when talking about a product or service, you should be able to say what you are offering and what makes you the choicest. It is called the Unique Value Proposition (UVP) and should be creatively visible in every word on your landing page.
Keywords and Bullets
Use bullet points to list the features and benefits of your products so that people wouldn’t have to stress themselves finding the information. No matter how creative your copy is, not everyone will read.
Consider using the right keywords. It is helpful when you want your page to be discoverable on the search engine. Spell check and employ the services of an editor where necessary.
Just because your landing page will have few words doesn’t mean you don’t need an editor. If it is not within your budget, ensure you read over and over again to avoid grammatical errors. Mistakes happen, just don’t let it.
Design and Colour
No matter the content of a book, some people will always buy books because of the cover. At least, the cover will draw their attention and keep them on it for a while. The design and visual aspect of your landing page will play a vital role in converting visitors to customers.
The images, videos and colours you should use don’t have to be at odds with the content. When sourcing for images, videos and colours, also consider your brand values and personality. There are various places you can sort for free illustrations, pictures and videos like Pixabay, Freepik, Unsplash, Pexels.
Your use of colour should align with the purpose of the landing page. You can’t be advertising water and use yellow as the dominant colour. There should be harmony between your colours, pictures, videos, button and product.
Call-to-action (CTA)
Every landing page must have a call-to-action button. CTA button is very vital in converting visitors to lead. The CTA button could lead your visitors to subscribe, email, sign up, apply, call, buy and so on. Usually, CTA buttons are action-oriented and stand out.
Mobile Responsive Design
Smartphones and portable devices have made communication easy. More people use the internet on mobile devices than ever. As a result, various online services are beginning to redesign their websites and applications to be mobile responsive.
If your landing page doesn’t look good on mobile devices, you’ll be losing a lot of visitors at an instance. When designing your landing page, ensure you consider small, medium and large display screens. Also, consider the landscape and portrait display of your website. Regardless of where your site visitors are coming from, they must meet you prepared.
Determine the Exchange
To effectively convert visitors to prospects, you need to give something in exchange for their emails or phone numbers. Without these incentives, your landing page may not convert.
Determine what you are offering in exchange for an email, a phone number or response to your CTA. It could be a discount, a free ebook, a free course, a free service, a free trial and so on. Let people know why they should exchange their contacts with you and be sincere with what you want to do with their contacts. If you intend sending them reminders or weekly newsletters, let them know on time so that by registering their emails they agree with you.
Provide reviews
If your landing page is about a product or services, you should ensure you earn the trust of your visitors by providing the reviews of previous customers. People have the right to doubt what they haven’t tried while it is up to you to try convincing them.
While you try to add as much relevant content as possible, also try to keep it very simple and less busy. After designing your landing page always look for what is not necessary and remove them. Always remember that less is better.
A/B Testing
At this stage, you must have finished designing your landing page and its time to try it. No matter how much effort you’ve put into it, not everyone will find it appealing. You can decide to create two versions of the same landing page and see which one does better.
For example, you can create different versions of the same landing page using different headlines and subheadings. If you are sponsoring adverts on social media or search engines, you may decide to sponsor two different ads using each version of your landing page in each of the ads. This method allows you to compare the performances and determine which of the landing pages will serve a lasting purpose.
We believe you found this very helpful. Whether you are designing your landing page yourself or you are working with a designer, we believe this knowledge will help you understand how landing pages work and direct the design of a landing page that converts.
Onyedikachukwu George Nnadozie is the creative director of Funtrick Technology, an author and a public speaker. Aside from his creative job at Funtrick Technology, he takes time to write on his personal blog, George’s Diary. He also founded FunIQ Skills Academy, an online learning platform where he teach Digital Skills.
