SEO BLOG

How to Create Landing Pages That Convert

Image of a landing page mockup on a gridded notebook

Landing pages are one of the most important elements of a successful online marketing campaign and a successful website that attracts and converts leads. A landing page will be the first page a user sees when they come to your website and will act as that first impression that will either engage a user or cause them to bounce – and no one likes a high bounce rate.

If you are looking to improve your marketing campaigns and increase leads, conversions, and traffic, you’ll want to be armed with an effective landing page – or multiple. In fact, according to Hubspot, having 10 to 12 landing pages on your site can increase leads by up to 55%!

By definition, a landing page is a stand-alone webpage designed for marketing or advertising purposes that is usually tied to a specific product, service, user intent, or use case. Similar to an elevator pitch, a landing page introduces the business, its products or services, and the issues they resolve. It can be the page that visitors “land” on after clicking on an ad, email link, or other external link placement, or the main resource page on your site for a given product or service.

So, how do you even know if your landing page is good? Testing your landing pages is the best way to make sure they meet user needs and expectations and it can even be done before going live. But let’s not get carried away. Before testing a landing page, you need to build one.

Use this guide to learn the steps and tricks involved in creating an effective landing page, and how to test and optimize your landing page once it’s live.

Landing Page Definition: What is a Landing Page?

When a potential consumer clicks on an advertisement, social media post, email link, or another online resource, they are directed to a page of your website specifically designed to inform, engage and convert. This is called a landing page. These pages provide information on a particular subject and are generally geared to particular search queries, audiences, services or products.

Your landing page needs to reflect the message and goals of your service or product to engage users and get them to learn more about what you are offering. An effective landing page should be informative and tell a user what the offering is, what it can do, and how it can be obtained.

Why do you Need a Landing Page?

With the help of a landing page, you can target particular audiences with specific needs, which is why a landing page is important for digital marketing. Landing pages can be lead generation-based, click-through pages that direct users to other pages, like your e-commerce site. In exchange for the submission of contact information, lead-generating landing sites frequently offer things like an eBook, free trial, contest entry, or webinar registration.

Through landing pages, a company can tailor messaging to talk about benefits for specific users and launch different ones for various tools or offerings.

A successful landing page will accomplish its goal by persuading potential consumers that it is worthwhile to trade their information for whatever it is you are offering. A potential customer is more likely to convert through your landing page if the page is directly related to their search and is clearly beneficial to them.

This is why landing pages also play an essential role in the search engine optimization of a site. To be visible, landing pages need to be properly optimized with the right content and verbiage. The most effective landing pages utilize SEO copywriting based on in-depth keyword research.

To ensure you create an effective SEO landing page, you can also invest in a professional. As an SEO consultant in Toronto, Paul Teitelman SEO Consulting can take care of every step of optimization for your site, including optimizing your landing pages with SEO content, and acting on off-page SEO opportunities to support your money-making pages.

Landing pages also help meet the end goal of the business: to get visitors to engage. This can come in many different forms, including:

  • Making purchases
  • Signing up for the platform
  • Scheduling a meeting
  • Engaging with a chatbot
  • Filling out a form

A landing page is not just any web page; it serves as a continuation of your marketing effort. As a business grows and expands its offerings, its site will also grow with landing pages designed to showcase new and changing products or services.

Elements of a Landing Page: What to Include in Your Landing Page?

An effective landing page should include a number of different elements, and the structure of your landing page will rely on your objectives. That said, there are some fundamental components that must always be present in a landing page.

Header

The header or headline of a landing page must draw the users’ attention and be relevant to the search query or user intent. Using targeted headlines incorporating keywords, focusing on user intent, and increasing conversions is a great starting point for a landing page. The headline is the first thing your readers will see and will significantly influence whether they engage further with the content. A header or title must be simple, understandable, and effective enough to keep your audience’s attention.

It’s not enough to have a title for your landing page; you also need compelling headlines or headers that draw users in and highlight benefits. An optimized headline will center on the user’s search query and provide them with a solution to their issue.

You have a small window of time to capture users’ attention with a headline that serves as a first impression. According to Forbes, you have only 7 seconds to make a strong impression on a website. When a company takes the time to craft engaging headlines, the target audience is more likely to convert.

Effective Body Copy and Content

Use the space after your headline to describe what you are offering, the benefits that come with it, and all notable features. Explain your talking points, and how you will help solve user problems or help them achieve their goals. Your landing page should be straightforward and timeless, but not dull.

Credibility

Your landing page needs to show credibility and build trust with the users. This can be in the form of logos from companies that have used your products or services. Trust logos can include companies that work with you, badges of awards you received, or partnerships your company is in good standing with.

Credibility can also come in the form of social proof or testimonials, as this helps show new users that others trust your company and have had a good experience using your products. Use these forms of credibility to show visitors that they can join a long list of happy clients when they work with your business.

Benefits

It helps to show users how they can use your products or services to achieve their goals. The benefits of your offering need to be at the forefront of your landing page. The benefits should be explained or listed in your copy and content.

One of the most frequently used rules of a persuasive text is emphasizing benefits rather than features. Features are what the famous copywriter Eugene Schwartz refers to as your “physical product” – the components, dimensions, and features of your goods or services. The “functional product,” on the other hand, is what the service or product does and is a justification for the purchase.

Calls to Action

A call to action (CTA) is a short explanation that directs visitors to perform the desired action. On your landing page, a CTA (call-to-action) is often a button or a brief form that encourages a visitor to proceed and convert. If you’ve seen a “Sign Up” or “Contact Us” button while reading content on a landing page, you’ve seen a call to action.

Your CTAs need to tell the user what they have to do next to benefit from what you are offering them. Make them clear, concise, and prominent on your landing page to get the most visitors to convert.

Images and Attractive Graphics

A landing page needs to be eye-catching and interesting, just like any other page on your website. Employ graphics and design components that enhance the aesthetic of the page, and use descriptive images that help communicate the purpose.

We digest images considerably more quickly than text. This means an image is the first thing a potential consumer will see on the landing page and may be the only thing keeping them from leaving the page, choosing to read more, or making a purchase. Therefore, including graphics on your landing pages can aid in gaining users’ attention.

Images and videos are both great assets for a landing page as, according to Smart Insights, landing pages that have videos can increase conversions of a page by 86%.

How to Make a Landing Page That Converts?

While it’s ideal for every landing page to be tailored to the unique demands of your niche target customer, there are several actions you can take to increase the overall effectiveness of your landing pages.

A landing page is likely the first interaction a visitor has with your business, regardless of whether they arrive there via your homepage, a link from an advertisement, or through search results. Your visitors’ first interaction leaves a lasting impression that can make or break a sale.

To make sure your landing page motivates your audience to follow through on your CTAs, make sure to incorporate the following tips:

Keep it Simple

Landing pages need to get to the heart of what you are offering, if you want users to convert include the most important content that explains why the visitor should purchase your product. If you want the visitors to fill out a contact form or sign up, keep your landing page simple and to the point so users can quickly and easily navigate and understand the content. 

Include CTAs

According to Hubspot, CTAs convert a whopping 202% better than standard options. If you want the user to make a purchase, subscribe, or perform another action, be specific about what that action is. Place CTAs in visible locations on your page to encourage visitors to take action.

The standard call-to-actions (CTAs), such as “Sign Up Today,” “Start Your Trial,” etc., have become very routine. Creating unique CTAs could help improve your landing pages. Use verbs encouraging action, such as Start a Free Trial, Boost Conversions, etc.

Prioritize the UX

The way users interact with your landing pages has a big impact on the likelihood of them converting, and prioritizing UX helps create a great landing page. With a seamless experience and design, you can make a closer connection between your clients and your product.

Customer satisfaction is significantly impacted by a landing page’s structure, navigation layout, content, graphics, and overall design.

Test your Design

When you develop a landing page (either live or in staging), you can test it by asking users to interact with the designs, use the landing page, and give feedback on their experiences. This will enable a company to determine whether the page is ready for launch, whether there are any problems, and which design components are most effective for users.

Real-world testing removes prejudice from within the company by allowing users from outside your organization to interact with your landing pages. It aids in determining the key design components, meeting user needs and expectations, preventing abandonment, and boosting return on investment.

Testing user preference on your landing pages can be a quick and easy way to optimize your pages for users. Choosing the platform you wish to test on should be your first step. Then create your test design, select your test strategy, audience, and segmentation, review, and launch. Most importantly, you need to analyze the results, find insights, and make changes to your landing pages based on feedback.

Analyze Feedback & Iterate

Once you get feedback on your landing page design you need to iterate the design with feedback from your tests. This will help you eliminate roadblocks, focus on the most important elements of the page, and optimize the design for a better user experience.

The user feedback you obtain during landing page testing is the most important part of optimizing your pages. Participants will provide you with useful insights on how to enhance your pages. You can examine, study, and share the data to grasp the insights that help you optimize your designs and inform future decisions after you receive the results, which will include both qualitative and quantitative data.

Final Thoughts

Landing pages are vital to the success of your marketing campaigns. They need to match user search intents, display benefits, and persuade a user to make a purchase, subscribe, or take another desired action. A landing page is directly tied to your marketing campaigns and is much more than just another page on your website.

You need to create landing pages that are simple but informative and focus on the user experience. A good landing page includes multiple vital elements such as headers, content and copy, credibility, benefits, CTAs, and attractive graphics. Testing a landing page with a platform like Poll the People or Pickfu can help you quickly get insights that help optimize your designs before going live.