Have you ever created a landing page that you were sure would be successful and bring you lots of new customers, but in reality, it didn’t happen? Or perhaps you’ve landed on someone else’s landing page and didn’t really stay to read it through to the end?
There are several factors that can significantly improve the success rates of your landing page and help you achieve results.
What do we mean by results?
Ultimately, landing pages are supposed to convert. That is, to succeed in turning potential leads into contacts, with whom you have contact information, and you can provide them with information, market services and products, and, of course, provide value.
So, we’ve gathered here 10 important principles that you should pay attention to when creating a landing page.
Ready? Here it comes –
10 Principles for Creating Effective Landing Pages
Defining the Page’s Purpose
Before you start, it’s important to define the purpose of the page – is it to inform your audience about something? To serve as a gateway to your website? To offer services or products? Or to convert leads into customers by leaving details in a form?
Along with defining the goals, you need to define the messages you want to convey through the page. This will help you focus and not scatter later in the content writing stage.
Once the goal and message are clear to you, it will be easier to organize the content and structure of the page accordingly, in a precise way that will help people connect with you.
Defining the Target Audience
After the purpose is clear, you need to define the target audience. This will affect the style and structure of the page, the content, the colors, and the images that will be incorporated into it. It is recommended to define your audience by age, status, occupation, and of course, the need you are addressing.
For example – parents of teenagers who want to communicate better with their children / college students on semester break looking for employment / independent business owners looking to improve their business marketing / older people renovating their homes and looking for design solutions, etc.
The more specific and accurate your defined audience is, the easier it will be for you to formulate messages that will make them connect and want to continue the relationship with you.
By the way, “everyone” is not a target audience ;), or at least not one that is precise and convenient for conversion.
Clean and Organized Design
True, it always sounds obvious and clear, but many times we are drawn to add-ons, colors, and a variety of options for images and gifs, and in practice, it creates unnecessary clutter and does not serve the purpose.
So, we just wanted to remind you that the appearance of the landing page significantly affects its effectiveness.
Based on the initial scan of the page and its appearance, people decide whether to stay on the page and continue scrolling, and whether to take action.
Bottom line, the design of the page has a significant part in conversion, so it’s recommended to pay attention to this issue.
Minimalism and Organized Structure
Continuing directly from the previous point, make sure to include all relevant information for conversion on the page, and not beyond.
Too much information can overwhelm and cause readers to miss the point. Your landing page should be clean, accessible, and the navigation in it should be convenient and clear for quick scanning.
We recommend emphasizing structured information, divided into points, simple phrasing that is easy to scan chronologically, and adding subheadings that will allow readers to understand what you’re talking about without necessarily reading the entire page.
Main Headline
The main headline of the page is like its first business card; it should attract the readers’ attention and make them want to continue reading. This can be done by appealing to emotions, addressing a specific need or challenge they are dealing with, or offering a relevant value proposition that you know people are looking for. Along with all the above, try to think of a cool copy that will make your main headline sound good and be unique and not boring or expected, this will make people curious and interested in you.
Here are some examples of main headlines from landing pages for webinars that worked well for us:
“The formula for creating selling messages” / “Who did you call junk? How to write a winning newsletter that won’t get lost among the sea of emails your customers receive” / “The secrets of getting into your customers inbox” / “Marketing writing is dead – it’s time for Talking writing” / “Creating effective landing pages that will do the job for you”.
Valuable Content
So, you’ve ensured a good appearance and organized structure of the page, attracted the audience with a unique main headline, now you need to ensure they keep reading and connect with your message. How do you do that? By providing valuable content that includes:
– An opening that addresses the need or challenge they are facing with
– Explanation and relevant information about the solution you are offering
– Some form of product or service warranty, with a description of an outcome
– Incorporation of examples/testimonials or recommendations
– It’s also recommended to add a paragraph that tells about you in a few lines, if the page is intended for an audience that may not necessarily know you.
Call to Action
In order to achieve the goal, there must be a clear call to action on the page. Define what you want people to do when they finish reading, what is the bottom line for you, and this will be the call to action. It’s important to start from the following basic assumption – people don’t know what you want them to do unless it’s clearly written to them. Don’t assume it’s clear to them, or they already understand on their own, is there something you want them to do? Write it in clear. You can scatter along the page several calls to action buttons, but not too many, so as not to feel too aggressive.
Mobile Friendly
Today, the majority of the audience read their content directly on mobile, so it’s important to ensure that the page is adapted for mobile browsing. There should be an option for mobile editing and design in most landing page interfaces. Here at smoove, the Landing Pages are responsive and mobile friendly, and you also have the option to create a smartphone campaign – which is a mobile-adapted landing page, and it’s very convenient to include it in SMS messages, knowing for sure that the link reaches the contacts directly on their mobile, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will open it.
Use of Images and Videos
Chances are you’ve already heard about this, but if not, we’ll tell you that the brain processes images much faster than written information, so it’s important to include large, high-quality images on the landing page. People respond much more easily to images. And if you’re up for it, it’s highly recommended to include a video on your page, as it allows people to experience something much more real, especially if it’s a demonstration and explanation of the use of a particular product.
Short and Precise Forms
Before asking people to fill out endless details in a form, put yourself in their shoes for a moment and think about how you would react in the same situation. Try not to overload with lengthy forms; people don’t like to provide too much information upfront, so only ask for essential data. Ultimately, the more fields there are, the higher the chance of abandonment. Typically, it’s easiest to fill in fields like name and email address. Phone number, and birth date details already decrease the likelihood of abandonment. You can request additional details later on, on the thank you page, or send them another form through automation after a few days to avoid overwhelming them.
In Summary
To ensure that your landing page is effective and yields results, it’s advisable to invest in advance planning and defining important details before starting to work, and strive to adhere to as many of the principles suggested here as possible.
Now it’s time to implement, and if you have cool landing pages that you’ve created and are working well for you, feel free to share the link with us so that other readers can also be impressed by your excellent work and get inspired.
And if you haven’t created a landing page yet, you’re welcome to open a free trial account in the system and start your journey towards results right now!
