Is paid advertising on Google or any of the major social media networks part of your digital marketing strategy? How about email marketing efforts or even traditional mailed media campaigns? If you’re looking to enhance lead generation and nurturing efforts, each of these marketing channels should be considered. And a vital asset to any of these, especially paid digital campaigns, is the landing page.
What Is A Landing Page and Why Do You Need One?
In short, a landing page is the place on your website where users “land” after they’ve taken action on an associated ad out on the larger internet, clicked a link in your marketing email message, or even scanned a QR code on a physically mailed piece like a postcard.
Any page on your website can technically become a landing page. However, employing an existing page as a landing page is not ideal because it will not be tailored to the campaign.
Brands create landing pages in order to direct users to a specific action, like redeeming an offer or applying for an open job position. But before they can take the action or receive the offer, the user must provide contact information/preferences by completing a form, which can then be used for follow-up and future contact opportunities.
Why You Should Customize Before You Optimize
Users will be more likely to provide their info and complete the process your campaign is promoting if the page clearly asks them to take action. This is why we encourage you to think more closely about creating a custom landing page for each new campaign and why it pays to do so versus simply landing users on your homepage or one of your service pages.
So, remember… before you optimize your landing pages to drive the best results for any campaign, you need to first customize your landing pages! Now is the perfect time to take a closer look at your landing pages—and the lead-capture forms they contain—with the following list of landing page design optimization tips in mind.
How to Make a Landing Page: The Tips You Need to Know to Get Results
While the best landing pages are very focused and seem straightforward, creating an effective landing page that generates the most possible leads takes some practice and experimentation to get right. The following tips will help you hone your landing page design skills, but it’s also worth mentioning that you don’t have to go it alone. If you need help reaching your goals for better B2B lead generation, customer conversions, and more, just let us know. The GRIT team is here to help!
Make Your Copy Matter
When developing copy for a landing page, keep the target audience in mind. Ensure the copy addresses their pain points and inspires them to take the desired action that the landing page design is centered around, which is likely filling out and submitting the form on the page. Copy that does not resonate with visitors who have responded to an associated ad will lead them to quickly leave the page without taking any action.
It bears repeating that landing pages are part of an overall campaign, where the entry point is an ad or other marketing message. For digital campaigns where users are being directed to a landing page from a Facebook ad, LinkedIn ad, or Google ad, it is critical to ensure the ad copy is related to the landing page copy. For example, if the digital ad copy is focused on getting users to sign up for a free trial of a product, but the landing page copy is focused on getting users to purchase the product, the disconnect in messaging is confusing and will likely turn users away. The copy used in both the ad and landing page must support each other.
Additionally, make sure you don’t go overboard with your landing page copy. It should be clean, crisp, and aligned with your brand voice, but since the landing page has one true purpose, our copywriter recommends “hitting the high notes” of your campaign offer and treating your landing page like an expansion of the ad that led to it. You can also think about your words as visual assets on the page. The content matters, of course—you have to make your case for why a user should complete your form and take next steps—but you also don’t want to overexplain or make them have to scroll so much that they lose interest. Attention spans are short, and there is nothing wrong with keeping that in mind!
Use Eye-Catching Visuals Like Video
There is no question that video rules the world of online content these days. Plus, according to HubSpot, users report consuming video in greater depth than any other type of content. For best engagement and whenever possible, GRIT recommends including video content on landing pages. When promoting a product or service, an overview video that educates users about the offerings in an entertaining way can also be beneficial. Customer testimonials are also great tools as consumers tend to trust third, non-related parties who have used the product or service.
Don’t have a video available? Still images can also work. When using images, remember to ensure they are related to the content on the landing page and align with the company’s brand standards.
Make Sure Landing Pages Are Mobile Friendly & Optimized for Conversion
It is no secret that most consumers today research products and services and even make purchases on their smartphones. Therefore, if a landing page is not optimized for mobile devices, not only will it provide a bad user experience, but individuals will be more likely to leave the page without taking action. To ensure landing pages work on smartphones or tablets, remember to use a responsive landing page design. Having a mobile-friendly landing page is one of the easiest ways to increase the user experience and conversions.
At the same time, there are a few technical details to keep in mind related to how your custom landing pages relate to the rest of your website—and the larger internet. When it comes to landing pages, it’s crucial to remember that you intentionally want to omit certain technical SEO aspects in design and setup because you are NOT optimizing for search engines.
Wait, what?
That’s right. For best results, your landing page should be “hidden” from Google and other search engines. You will also want to make sure there are few—if any—links to other content that might lead users off of your landing page. Similarly, your site’s navigation should not appear. Again, all of this is because landing pages have a single purpose: to get visitors to fill out your form and potentially become customers. That means keeping them on the page and driving them to your form!
Use a Single CTA to Guide Users Toward Taking Action
It is critical that all landing pages feature a straightforward call-to-action (CTAto help guide users to the next step.
When creating a CTA, be specific and ensure that it fits the context of your ad and the rest of your landing page copy. For example, avoid saying simply, “Click Here.” Instead, say, “Sign Up for a FREE Trial.” Additionally, landing page best practices call for placing a CTA button above the fold so it is visible to users. If the first appearance of a button is hidden or placed low on the page, it could easily be missed and not generate the results desired. Further, all buttons on the page should jump back to the form (or cause it to open as a pop-up) instead of taking users off the page, as discussed in tip #3 above.
Craft Your Form to Only Ask for What is Needed
We have been talking a lot about form fills and submissions in previous tips, and that’s because lead-capture forms are the best way to capture information from users who hit the landing page. However, it is important only to ask for the information truly needed, as fewer fields lead to higher conversion rates. Longer forms may seem like more work for the user, and people are generally disinclined to fill out every field if there are too many. Additionally, savvy users have concerns over the privacy of their personal information, and asking for extraneous details, such as a home mailing address when the user is redeeming an offer that won’t be mailed to them, is a red flag. Therefore, GRIT recommends sticking to what is absolutely necessary to gain quality leads.
Bonus Tip for Advanced Marketers: A/B Test Your Landing Pages
Performing A/B tests (aka “split tests”) on various aspects of your landing pages can help you optimize and boost form fills and conversions to make your overall campaign more successful. Every tip we covered above presents at least one opportunity to test and see what works best. While you will need to create at least two versions of each landing page and direct ads to the different pages—either simultaneously or one after the other—finding out which page elements your users seem to respond most positively to can be extremely valuable. Here are three things to consider testing:
1. Call-to-Action (CTA) Buttons
- Test different colors, sizes, and placements of CTA buttons. As long as all buttons on the page drive to the form, you can also test multiple buttons vs. just one.
- Experiment with varying text, such as “Sign Up Now” vs. “Get Started.”
2. Headline and Copy
- Compare different headlines to see which one grabs more attention. Try formatting your headline as a thought-provoking question and test against a bold statement or exclamation.
- Test variations in the body text to determine which messaging resonates best with the audience. You can try different tones, lengths, and even subtle vs. direct messaging styles.
3. Visual Elements
- Test different hero images or videos to see which visual elements engage visitors more effectively.
- Experiment with various layouts and styles, such as minimalist designs vs. more colorful and graphic-heavy designs..
Need Help with Landing Page Design? Trust The Experts
At GRIT, our diverse experience with lead generation, landing page design and creation, and digital marketing strategy development allows us to help brands take their marketing efforts to the next level. If you are looking to generate more leads this year, connect with our team today. We would love to help!