What if I told you that if you don’t have a landing page that you are directing your traffic to, that your entire marketing strategy is wrong and needs to be revamped? You would be surprised, right? That’s where most businesses are at right now. Many websites are not built to convert traffic, and that’s causing your leads to bounce off the page rather than do what you want them to do – buy something from you. A landing page can change all that in a jiffy. But what is a landing page?
And how can it help transform your marketing from blah to bazinga? Read on to see why a landing page is one of the most important tools that a business can use to convert leads, and increase sales.
Landing Pages Remove Distractions and Reduce Friction
The problem with most home pages nowadays is that there’s too much information on them. About 30 things are calling out for the customer’s attention and the poor confused customer either click randomly at links or bounces off.
You have less than 8 seconds to grab your customer’s attention, before they get bored, distracted, and wander off to get a sandwich, or to explore a cat video on YouTube. 8 measly seconds, you must be thinking? That’s all? Yes, that’s all.
In fact, according to the same Microsoft study, that attention span reduces by 88% every year.
There’s limited time to get at your customer before they zone out. This means that your home page with dozens of distractions on it won’t do the trick. You need something lighter, catchier, and more minimalist.
That’s where a landing page drops in. The only purpose of a landing page is to convert the visitors to your site into leads. Mostly, they are asked to take one primary action – fill in the contact form with their name and email address. That’s it!
Landing Pages Will Build Your List and Help You Collect Prospect Demographics
The only purpose of a landing page is to collect leads. A landing page is very simple, and the key aspects of it will be discussed below. But the main thing the customer will do is enter in their information.
This is where you can get savvy. Figure out what kind of information you would like most from your prospects and then ask them to fill that information in.
The promise is that they receive something, and in return, you get some of their precious information. It could be their age, or where they live. It could be their email address which, as you might know, is worth its weight in gold.
Don’t go crazy with this, of course. The whole point is to keep things simple. The landing page has to be so simple, and easy to fill out, that it comes within that 8-second window that was highlighted earlier.
As Forbes says, your email list is your Golden Goose. Build your list to see your sales increase at a predictable rate.
Don’t Just Have One Landing Page – Make as Many as You Can
The main deterrent that marketing teams have nowadays is that they don’t have that much time. If your marketing team is strapped for time as well, the best use of their limited time would be to build more and more landing pages.
In fact, you should have a separate landing page for every product and service you sell. If you are a bicycle store, that also repairs bicycles, and sells used bicycles, you need to build a landing page for each of those three services.
This way, when marketing, you can direct your prospective customers to the landing page that matters most to them. The more customized your landing page is towards your customer’s needs, the better your landing page will convert.
Build as many landing pages as you can. The sky’s the limit.
What Is a Landing Page Without All These Features
Here are some landing page design ideas that are crucial. Without it, your landing page is incomplete. It’s aspiring to be a landing page, but not one yet.
1. Headline
This is the first thing your prospect will see on your landing page. Make sure it stands out and has the capacity to keep your prospects’ attention for long enough that they fill out the form below. Don’t lose their attention with weak, watered-down headlines.
Get to the point fast!
2. Copy
The copy will inform your prospects about what you are offering them. What will you give them if they fill out the form below? Make it catchy and enticing – something that they can’t live without.
3. Keywords
This is an SEO given. Add keywords, but don’t overdo it. Use a primary keyword and some secondary ones, all sprinkled in throughout the text, in an easy-to-read manner. Don’t let them stand out too much.
4. Lead Capture Form
This is the big poobah. This is where your prospects put in their information. You can ask them for their name, email address, or home address. Whatever would help your marketing efforts best.
5. Social Sharing Buttons
Give people a chance to share the goodness with their friends, relatives, and coworkers. The ripple effect of one person sharing your form means that before you know it, hundreds have looked at your webpage. Bazinga!
6. Image
A landing page without an image is just words on a page. Too boring! Add an image and jazz things up.
Don’t have a random image, like one of a cat, unless you are selling cat food. Add an image related to your product and one that adds value to your page.
7. Hidden Navigation
Do not confuse your prospects by adding in unnecessary navigation on the top of your landing page. Keep it simple, clean, and minimalist. Again, the point of a landing page is to remove distractions!
A Landing Page Should Become Your New BFF
Do not be overwhelmed by the task of creating landing pages for every one of your services. What is a landing page strategy that works best for you? Figure that out and go slow and steady.
Landing pages are crucial to a marketing team‘s success and should be at the top of your priority list, no matter how busy you are.
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