The landing page is the page where the user lands once he/she has clicked on ads.
The landing page has one specific goal: getting conversions. No matter what kind: quote requests, new leads, more sales. it doesn’t want to inform or educate: it wants to push the user to act, to do a clear call-to-action.
The difference between landing page and your website
Every time you decide to create and run online campaigns (Google Ads, Bing Ads, Social Ads, but also SEO strategies), please use a landing page and not your website: the landing page has some high-converting elements that your website don’t have.
So don’t think “Ok, I’ve my website, so I’m ready to start converting campaigns. I’ll address people to my website contact page”.
Why?
Your contact page will be full of information, such as:
- telephone
- maps with the location of your Company
- social links
- medium-long form
- additional information about the Company
It’s too chaotic, it doesn’t go straight to the point.
The risk is that the user skips and closes the page.
That’s what we don’t want, right?
A landing page is composed by some key elements that follow the persuasive marketing nice-to-have.
The main differences between a landing page and a website are:
- The website is your own identity card, that people can see every day, always, worldwide; the landing page is a specific page, external to your website, that shows a single product or service, created to collect data and leads.
- The website has corporate tone, while the landing page is promotional.
- The website is composed by several pages; the landing page is just one page.
- The website goal is to inform and educate the user, while the landing page goal is conversion.
Landing Page Optimization Tips
Every landing page should be:
- Unique: focused on one product or service. It doesn’t have to distract the user attention.
- Specific: shows the solution to a single problem the target has
- Original: different from others
My suggestion is to create two landing pages for each goal you have, so you can do some A/B tests in order to understand which elements are successful for you conversion rate and you’ll be able to optimize it.
Take care of these notes to increase your landing page optimization rate.
1. Headline
It’s one of the most important element because you grab the attention of your reader.
Pay attention to what you write in your headline: the user has to find the same message he/she say in your ads. This gives a sense of continuity and reassurance of the communication.
If you talk about a special offer of 50% sales for the Black Friday on your Google or Social Ads, make sure your headline has some keywords of the ads copy. For instance: “Join our Black Friday offer: -50%”.
The user has to understand that you can solve his/her problems if he/she fill in the form.
Some tips to create impressive headlines:
- Numbers
They immediately communicate concreteness
“5 tips to find your perfect house”
- Identification
Allow the user to identificate himself/herself in the situation
“And if I tell you that…”, “Have you ever thought…”
- Question
It pushed the dialogue, the online conversation and make the user reading all the text to discover more
“Are you tired to procrastinate?”
- Solve a problem
“How to balance work and life”
- Tell a story. Your story. Create empathy and curiosity.
“Two years ago I was living the your same situation. I was struggling with productivity”
- Results: what you got.
“+300 subscribers to my newsletter in just 1 day”
- Be positive. Avoid negative sentiments and words.
According to Unbounce, headlines with a positive tone focused on benefits registered more than 40% of conversion:
Use these elements as suggestions: remember to do A/B test to find what’s the best solution for your landing page.
I love doing tests.
In this case (in Italian, sorry) I compared two different headlines: one focused on the main benefit for the Italian entrepreneur (saving money) – headline A; the other one focused on emotion (headline B), that is more serenity and productivity while working.
Which has been the most successful headline? The first one, the A, focused on the benefit related to money.
2. Copy
Your text should be focused on the main benefits/advantages for the user, not on the features of your product or services: why the user should fill in the form with his/her data?
Example. Instead of writing “Our jeans are 100% cotton, easy-washing, …” try “You’ll feel like a superwoman wearing these jeans: are you ready to live you best day in your life?”
When explaining the benefits, don’t forget the Web Copywriting nice-to-have:
- Use bullet points, so the reading will be easier and faster
- Use bold only to highlight some keywords
- Don’t underline words: they can be confused with links
- Don’t write all sentences in capital letters
- Divide your concepts into different paragraphs: one message per paragraph
See a clear example here below from Hubspot blog:
Magical tip for you: before writing your copy, do a listening online to figure our what and how your target talks about your topic. The key is to talk as your target.
To do it, try these techniques:
- Go to Google and search among the most common forum related to your topic
- Analyze discussions into Facebook and Linkedin groups
- Search on Q&A platforms, such as Quora and Reddit
3. Visual
Images and or videos are extremely important because they:
- grab the user’s attention
- help the user to better understand the key-message of the content
How to choose images for your landing page
- Use real photos and avoid those that have been use for catalogues or brochures. You’re online, you’ve to create empathy and demolish barriers due to devices. If you sell a product, show it; if you sell services, an idea can be recording a video of yourself explaining the benefits of it.
- Make sure images don’t cover the text or others important elements of your page.
- If you choose an image with a person, try to insert one image where the person is looking toward the space where your CTA is. Look at this image of Wordstream: the heatmap clearly shows how users watch in the same direction of the child’s look, that is oriented to the CTA.
4. Form
It’s the key-element that drives conversions. Some useful tips:
- Ask for only essential information (if it’s possible only email or email+name). Consider to get more information in a second step, maybe when you’ve already contacted the potential client.
- Always highlight the mandatory fields with an asterisk. Don’t take for granted that the user immediately understands what has to do.
5. CTA
The Call-To-Action must be unique and with one goal: conversions.
- The button should have a different background colour compared to the colour of the copy
- Make it visibile with a different font or dimension
- Use “my/mine” instead of “you/your”: “I want to download my free copy” instead of “Download your free copy”
An Unbounce reasearch shows how CTA with “my” formula get 90% more conversions.
- Use strong verbs, such as show, discover, book, receive, buy, join
6. References
People who say how useful is your product or service are your main treasure. Because people trust in others people.
- Use real references, better if you can add them with photo, name and surname.
- Ask for permission to publish a reference to the author (a legal advice could be nice).
7. A/B test
Use tool like Hotjar to see how the user navigate your landing page: look at the heatmap to know where his attention is focused on.
Pay attention also to recordings that show who and where the user click on your landing, how much time spend on it and others useful insights.
Key tip: keep track of what you see using Hotjar. Create an Excel file where you write down all important information. For example: “the user just scrolled down. Didn’t click on anything.”
8. Optimize for SEO
Do a keyword research and be sure to be present in the first page of Google when people search for your product or service.
You can use tools such as:
- Semrush
- Ubersuggest
- AnswerThePublic
- Google Keyword Finder
9. Introduce a live chat
It can make the difference when talking about conversion: for someone is crucial to chat with the team of the Company to know more about the features or to solve some doubts.
What a pity loose a potential client who is interested but just need more info in that moment!
How to optimize Landing Page for Google Ads and Facebook Ads
My practical tips to optimize your page for Ads campaigns:
- The navigation has to be easy and fast, so check you the page speed.
- Be sure your page is mobile-optimized.
- Follow all previous suggestions.
- Pay attention to the copy: what you promise in your ads, it’s what the user has to find in your landing page.
- Use a persuasive copywriting.
- Try to differentiate from competitors: look at them for inspiration, but don’t copy them.
Landing Page Optimization Tools
There are many tools that can allow you not just to create but also to optimize your landing page.
I love it!
I always use Hotjar non only to analyze landing pages but every website I manage.
When a Company or brand becomes our client, the first think I do is installing Hotjar code to start analyzing the situation.
It’s so useful to understand how users browse your website, if they scroll it entirely or just the top banner, where their attention focuses.
If in doubt, try the free version. You’ll fall in love!
Fantastic tool not only to create landing pages but also to optimize them and make them really convert.
It’s easy to use and it allows you the maximum of customization. It also gives you suggestions to improve your conversions.
Absolutely recommended.
A brilliant alternative to Leadpages.
It’s leader in A7B testing and personalization features.
When talking about optimization, A/B tests are crucial: that’s why you should be use Convert.com
Take-Aways
- Once you’ve created your landing page, don’t stop: you’ve to promote it to get conversions.
- If you’re searching for real conversions in terms of Lead Generation, don’t use your website. Create a successful landing page.
- Use specific tools to improve your conversion rate.
- Do lot of A/B tests to figure out the best landing page for your business for that unique goal.
