The goal of a great landing page is to increase conversion rates in order to reach your marketing or business growth goals. A landing page can be your homepage, or another page within your taxonomy, or it can be a standalone page created for a specific campaign, sale, or product.
When it comes to a landing page vs. a homepage or other page your visitors find through a search engine, people often get confused.
It all comes down to how they find your page and why the page exists in the first place. People often find homepages through word of mouth or social media, while landing pages are often found organically, using keywords and high-ranking search results.
Each page has its own purpose: to inform, to act as a gateway to the rest of the site (as in your homepage), or a number of other reasons.
There are a few benefits of effective landing pages, beyond increased conversions.
Landing pages are crafted to target a specific set of search terms. They’re also promoted using Google Adwords and other paid boosting methods. Both of these move the landing page up in ranking and get your product, promotion, or sale in front of people searching for similar topics.
A landing page focuses on one promotion, product or sale. It lives outside of your site’s taxonomy and exists solely to get one message across. This is good in a few ways:
A high converting landing page acts simply as a portal to move visitors down the funnel more efficiently. Rather than people stumbling upon your CTA somewhere in your right rail or on your homepage, they find it right away on the landing page and move on to subscribe, sign up, buy or join.
A headline is where everything begins — interest, attention, and understanding. It’s what compels a visitor to stay and learn more about what you’re offering — or not.
Here’s what it needs to accomplish:
The next element you need to create an effective landing page is the subheadline. If the headline makes the visitor look, then the subheadline should make them stay. Together, these pieces of copy make up the one-two punch of a landing page’s power.
Here’s what to keep in mind as you create yours:
Visual content is an essential component of landing pages that work. In fact, the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. This means that visitors will be affected by the images on your landing page immediately.
So as you select and place your images, remember that
Your landing page needs to make what you’re offering perfectly clear. After all, if a potential customer doesn’t understand what your product or service is about, you’ve lost them. So a straightforward explanation is crucial. If your landing page is for a simple product or service, you might be able to get away with your headline and subheadline being the only copy.
But regardless of how you choose to approach your explanation, here’s what to keep in mind as you write it:
Customers love guarantees. A guarantee, regardless of what it is or how it’s presented, can help people feel reassured while on your landing page. Simply the word itself improves the likelihood of a conversion.
To create a high converting landing page, this is the most important element of all: the call to action.