A landing page is a website page that is meant specifically for a digital marketing campaign. In short, it’s where you land after clicking on a marketing mailer or advertisement link.
The concept of a landing page originated in Microsoft’s IT department in 2003. They struggled to sell the Office suite online, so they decided to reduce the number of steps and give their sales page a design twist. As a result, the modern-day landing page principles came into existence.
While sales pages usually have multiple buttons and functions, a landing page has a single goal — to convert visitors. The users are converted or signed up using a button called the call to action (CTA).
Before getting to the tips for creating great landing pages, let’s understand why landing pages are important in the first place.
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Why landing pages matter
Hubspot’s research suggests that having more landing pages can help you increase the number of leads by 55%.
It’s natural to ask why create a dedicated landing page in the first place? Can’t we have the call to action on a regular webpage itself? The short answer is your website isn’t meant to convert, and it probably cannot.
Your website has plenty of menus, SEO content, payment gateways, and other information to inform visitors. On the other hand, a landing page is meant only for getting sign-ups or lead generation activities.
Let’s find out the different ways to make your landing page more effective.
11 things to ensure while creating a landing page
Creating a game-changing landing page isn’t a cakewalk. It requires multiple skillsets like content marketing, designing, and creative writing. That said, you can surely curate an effective page by keeping the basics and the end goal in mind.
If you’re looking to create one for your campaign, here are the steps that you need to follow:
1. High-quality content
It’s here to emphasize that content can be a make or break factor. Invest ample time in ideating, creating good quality write-ups and designs, and highlighting the USP of your offering. Besides, answering questions can increase conversions by 80%.
If it’s feasible, hire a copywriter and designer to spruce up the landing page. They will help you make an excellent first impression.
2. Landing page optimization
Web users won’t stick around in this day and age if your landing page isn’t optimized well. Often great designs and well-written content don’t attract users due to technical issues.
High page loading time, formatting issues, or a software bug are the most common pain points. Hence, you need to test the page multiple times before going live with the marketing campaign. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to analyze the page’s performance on desktop and mobile devices.
Have multiple versions of the landing page for different demographics and devices. For instance, your fitness studio’s landing page could have a middle-aged person’s or a young adult’s picture based on who you’re showing it to. Similarly, tweak the page for users accessing it using their phones, tablets, and laptops.
3. Effective headline
David Ogilvy, the advertising guru, famously said that ‘when you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.’ If that quote is anything to live by, your headline is the most important element of the page.
Your headline should be clear, empathetic, and relevant for the target user. This article could have been called ‘Our 10 Strategies to Make Your Landing Page Look Better’ or something similar. Instead, we chose to deliver the message with the current headline. It’s more concise and compelling.
4. Perfect call to action
You do know what a call to action is, but do you know what makes it perfect? It’s knowing the objective of your campaign. ‘learn more’ or ‘find out more’ is an ideal button if you intend to inform people.
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Discover more On the other hand, if you want users to enroll or sign up, you might want to build a sense of urgency. ‘Grab the offer now’ or ‘sign up for your free fitness session today’ are phrases that could persuade your website visitors and get them to act quickly. You don’t have to stick to the regular ones since research indicates that personalized CTAs perform 202% better.
Along with great language, you need the perfect design. Ensure that your button stands out among other landing page elements and uses the right color schema. Its size should be big enough to make it spottable, and the position should be above the fold to make it clickable.
5. Eliminate navigation menus
Your website shouldn’t look like a website page. Navigation menus are a big no. Your users might stray away from the landing page and forget about the CTA.
6. Use numbers to convey the message
Using stats to make your point is the best way to gain your audience’s trust. While you could make excellent points to make your case, nothing resonates better than a convincing percentage figure.
Follow all the best practices while using numbers on your landing page. Remember to check your sources, and if possible, mention your source on the page. Most important of all, ensure that the stats you’re using don’t mislead the users.
7. Easily navigable
The page should have a logical flow. If you start with a price chart or a sign-up form without offering any value proposition, your landing page conversion rates will take a hit. Your audience will scroll to the bottom only if they’re convinced with the opening pitch.
Ensure that the page is easily accessible to people of all ages irrespective of their technical acumen. Use pop-ups to highlight important information or if the user shows exit intent.
8. Use social share buttons
Always include share buttons on your landing pages. It will encourage your users to share the opportunity with their friends and help you grow your business organically. Instead of adding share buttons of a dozen platforms from Facebook to Tumblr, stick to 2-3 of them.
Remember, you don’t want to add actual links to your social media pages. Doing so will lead to attrition and reduce conversion rates.
9. Testimonials
Social proof is a psychological hack to convince the audience your offering is important. Testimonials are one of the best forms of social proof. 37% of all high-converting landing pages include them.
A testimonial gives the genuine account of a user who trusts the product, making it all the more convincing. Gather feedback on your services from customers and add them to your landing page. If feasible, you could add videos of client testimonials as nothing beats this kind of concrete evidence.
10. Visually aesthetic
The designs should be appealing and invoke positive emotions. Numerous studies tell you which are the ideal colors to use on landing pages. Don’t use more than 2-3 colors, or it would become distracting for your user.
Another crucial visual component of your landing page is the image you use. What would you prefer — a 250-pound ripped person trying to deadlift with a tough expression or a bunch of happy gym-goers doing Pilates? Use an image that goes hand-in-hand with the objective of your marketing campaign.
11. Clear messaging
The landing page is not about you or your brand. Ultimately, it’s about the campaign and the offerings. Talk only about them. If you include a form on your page, ensure that number of fields is kept to a bare minimum. You surely don’t need their address with zip code, phone number, or personal preferences in the first interaction.
You can always get more details, cross-sell products, share your experiences, or explain new concepts later. The first and foremost step is to get them to click the CTA!
In summary
Keep it simple and stupid — as cliche as it might sound, this is the mantra that will help you create awesome landing pages and get higher conversions. At the same time, conduct A/B or multivariate tests to use the metrics to finalize the better-performing one. If you’re still not convinced with the outcome, browse through case studies and your competitors’ landing pages for some inspiration.
Here’s a recap of everything we covered in this article:
- A landing page is one of the most effective channels during a marketing campaign
- The ideal page uses an effective headline and content that resonates with the niche audience
- It needs to be clutter-free, use the right CTA buttons, and should not have the standard homepage’s elements
- Run tests and analyze the page to check for speeds or and other conversion rate optimization opportunities
- An effective landing page should be easy to navigate and have relevant statistics to gain users’ trust
- The messaging should be clear, and the landing page design should be easy on the eye
- You can choose the most effective landing page among two options by running multivariate or A/B tests
Want to know all the secret recipes of fitness marketing? Head to The Fitness Founders Podcast and listen to Mike Arce, the CEO of Loud Rumour. The marketing expert shares all about scaling fitness studios, branding, using social media, and how to boost conversions.
