The successful Landing Page in 7+1 points

Browsing the Internet or reading a newsletter, clicking on a link or an ad, we often arrive at a new page where we are asked to purchase, register or download.

Such pages are called Landing Pages. They are usually related to the online communication and advertising activities of companies and are the key elements of the multi-part infrastructure that helps to build new customers, retain and serve existing ones via online channels.

What is a Landing Page?

A Landing Page is a single web page with the sole purpose to convert the arriving visitor into an engaged user and later potential client, customer.

The page often asks for the visitor's contact information by filling out a form and offers something valuable, freebies in return.

The value can be almost anything, we have all come across these:

• participation in a prize draw for a valuable prize;
• guaranteed, free downloadable audio book, professional material;
• Discount coupon;
• access to recipes received in a regular newsletter or
• 30 minutes free consultation with an expert on a topic important to us. (Book a meeting)

But why do I need a Landing Page if I already have a website, a brand page, a webshop where the same information can be found and the products can be purchased?

The role of the Landing Page is to reduce the communication noise. It is optimized for a single message, a call-to-action, therefore it achieves better results, i.e. conversion, more efficiently than a website where contents, messages, and links compete for the visitor's attention and activity.

Why is it important to create an effective Landing Page?

The short answer is because we want to make money with it. Through the Landing Page we build engaged visitors then customers, which ultimately means revenue for our company.

In a little more detail: the average internet user faces lots of offers every day, you have to stand out from the competition. Our offer must be comprehensible and convincing in just a few seconds in order to attract and engage the visitors.

Every visitor that arrives at the Landing Page costs us money, since we either invested money in an online campaign and pay for visitors who click on our ads, and/or we create free content for our target group at our own expense, hoping that our offer will also be attractive to them. (just like this post)

This investment will pay off only if the conversion rate of our Landing Page is high enough. Good conversion means higher turnover, which can cover the costs incurred for acquiring visitors. (assuming we've defined our valuable conversion well)

Components of a successful Landing Page

• Compelling title
• Show the offer visually
• Benefits, advantages (USP) of the offer,
• Search engine optimization
• Call-to-action text above the fold (visible part of the page without scrolling)
• Leaving navigation links leading out of the page
• Short forms, minimal data request

Compelling title

Visitors decide to stay or leave the site in 2-3 seconds. The majority usually bounce back even if our site is otherwise perfect. A well-written title helps to understand our offer in a moment and makes the visitor stay to read the details.

Show the offer visually

A good image tells a whole story even on a Landing Page. The image adapted to the target group, shows the offer or the feeling that the offer can elicit, thereby strengthening commitment and involvement. (sweepstake prize beach vacation, cool sneakers with a 30% discount that can be mine)

Benefits, advantages (USP) of the offer.

We should briefly and convincingly describe why accepting the offer is a good choice and tell what the visitor must do. Address the visitor directly, make them take action.

Search engine optimization

A less visible, but still important element of a good landing page is search engine optimization.

On the one hand, use keywords in the text relevant to the target group and topic as well as our running PPC campaign. As a result, they bring us a more prominent page rank (result ranking) and more organic visits in the Google search engine, and we can also achieve lower advertising cost (CPC) in our campaign.

On the other hand, pay attention to the technical details, build the structure of the page in such a way that the search engines are able to process/read its content. Also, fill in the meta tags describing the page with appropriate texts.

Call-to-action (CTA)

The call-to-action is the most important part of the landing page, as it encourages conversion the most. It is usually a one or two word call-to-action message with a strong colour contrast. It has the format of a button, but it can also be a link.

Sign-up! Learn more! Buy now! Download for free!

Leaving links navigating out of the Landing Page

The sole purpose of the site is to get the visitor to convert. For this reason, we have to make sure that nothing else distracts her/his attention and don't leave our site without finishing the job to be done. 

Remove all unnecessary information and disturbing elements, especially links to other pages and websites, navigation, even your own social links.

Short form minimal data request

Keep our data request form as short as possible. It is easier to place a short form above the fold, on the other hand, the less data we ask for, the more willing the visitors will be to fill it out, i.e. the higher our conversion will be in the end.

If we basically only want to communicate with our users via e-mail, we don’t need to ask for an unnecessary phone number and exact address. If we need to request a lot of data, break it down into several steps. On each page, give a reason why we are asking for this data.

However, we should always pay attention to GDPR compliance, define exactly for what purpose we will use the acquired data, and ask for express permission to manage and use the data.

And there should be a confirmation and thank-you page after sending the form. The purpose may vary:

• confirm the successful data submission
• You can download and share the promised content
• We can offer you an offer that is relevant to you

+1 Landing Page A/B testing

If we want to increase our conversion rate, we need to make changes to the Landing Page. Since many small details can affect our conversion, and we cannot know in advance which change will cause what, it can be lengthy to examine their impact one by one.

A/B testing, i.e. simultaneous testing of two or more Landing Page variants, offers a solution for this.

The essence of the testing is that the Landing Page has several versions with different content and structure and we test their conversion on a smaller sample (e.g. a few hundred visitors). Based on the test, the more successful version will participate in the entire campaign.

A/B testing can apply to different versions of a small detail - e.g. the title or CTA - while the rest of the LP remains unchanged.

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