8 Ways to Create an Effective Landing Page

A landing page or squeeze page is, in marketing terms, a specialized page that visitors are directed to once they’ve clicked on a link. This usually comes from an outside source such as a PPC ad but could also come from a banner or link that you have included in your email marketing campaign.

The reason for your landing page is to convince the visitor to continue reading your website or make a conversion, such as signing up for a mailing list, completing a form, buying a product or forwarding your email to friends. For these reasons, it’s vital that this page is eye-catching, succinct and follows on directly from the link. Remember that your landing page is what many first time users are going to see of your web presence, so you want to make sure their interest is peaked and maintained.

It’s important that the structure of your landing page corresponds to that of the PPC ad, link or banner that your visitor clicks on. All too often a link will take you to the homepage of a website, which isn’t where your visitor wants or needs to be. If they are already at the stage where they want to buy a product, the link should take them directly to a page where they can complete their billing information. Any deviations could cost you that conversion or sale, and any future sales for that matter.

We can distinguish two types of landing pages:

1. The instant access form
2. The mini sales letter form

The instant access form does exactly what you think it would – it informs your visitors that the action they are about to take will allow them instant access to a great content website, interesting information or the opportunity to download e-books, software etc. All they need to do is fill in the form and submit it.

The mini sales letter form encourages people to subscribe and focuses more on the benefits of what you’re trying to get people interested in.

When creating a landing page there are a few basic but revealing questions you need to ask yourself that will help you plan and target accordingly.

• What product or service are you offering?
• Who is your target market/audience?
• Why should they be interested in your offer?
• What will they need to do to participate or purchase your product?

Once you have considered these questions you can start thinking about the actual content and layout of your landing page. We’ve outlined a few tips for you to follow:

1. Have a strong, clear-cut and visible call to action. Sign Up Now; Sign Up Here; Call; Email Us; Contact Us; Find Out More Here. Make sure it’s big and bold and hard to ignore or miss.

2. Keep your content short and succinct. Ideally, you want everything above the fold. Your visitors don’t want to scroll through pages of text and information that can easily make them forget why they are on that page in the first place.

3. Offer a bonus or incentive. Everybody wants and enjoys something for free – a report, relevant document, software and discounts on your products or services are guaranteed to get results.

4. Write in the 2nd person – ‘you and your’. This goes a long way to making your visitor feel special like they are the only ones you are appealing to.

5. Remove any clutter and unnecessary content or links from your landing page. You need to keep the focus on your offer and make sure your visitor stays on track until they’ve made a conversion.

6. Don’t push them for anything that you don’t need at that moment, this being enough information to conclude the sale or the desired action.

7. Be consistent with the design and colour. The PPC ad, banner, link and the landing page itself all need to follow the same concept and style. This is necessary for two reasons. Firstly it looks professional and secondly, it helps the visitor visually identify you and know for certain that the link has taken them to the correct site.

8. Use images and pictures that are relevant and show the product in context. For example, a man downing a cold beer in a beer commercial, a baby having its nappy changed in a diaper commercial – you get the idea. This offers the visitor a real-life perspective and gives them something to take away from the situation. Bear this in mind though: tests have shown that if an image is placed on the right-hand side of a page it makes it harder to draw the eye to the content on the left-hand side of the page.