Are your website landing pages for products, services – or even just lead capture – not getting you the results you want? Are people getting to the page but then failing to convert? Then check out these great tips from a TrafficSwarm video. In the video, he walks you through some audits of real landing pages in a straightforward, easy to understand way.
Remember, landing pages are different from your site’s shopping cart or product list. A landing page needs to correspond to a Search ad, directory listing or specific link placed on other sites.
Here are some of his top tips:
1) One landing page, one action requested: The landing page should be unique – don’t try to sell all products on one page, or even have distracting links and sign up forms all over it. While you might think you are giving people options, you just end up confusing them and do not get them to take the action you really want them to take. “One purpose for one landing page” should be your mantra. As stated above, this is different then a site shopping cart or product directory, where you can list multiple items – landing pages correspond to one Search ad, email campaign or listing on another site.
2) Grab attention with a strong headline: Start with a strong, benefit-rich headline, often in large font in a different color from the rest of the page. If you can evoke emotion or visually paint the benefit, even better. Remember, sell benefits, not features!
3) Page format matters: A 3-column page format does not work as well as 1 or 2 column formats for landing pages. Again, this is why your landing page may need to look different from your regular website pages. This helps keep the visitor focused.
4) Use testimonials the right way: Sprinkle testimonials through the page, rather than having a section announcing “Testimonials” – this will automatically make people turn off. Highlight quotes in some way, whether with shaded text, or italics. But not necessarily all in bold (see #5).
5) Go easy on the BOLD: When you try to highlight everything, you end up emphasizing nothing, so ensure you only BOLD key phrases or words that you really want to shine. Bolding everything won’t help you.
6) Use relevant questions and copy: Questions are great ways to headline a landing page, but make sure the question is compelling and relevant to the rest of the copy. Same is true for the ad – make sure the ad copy is relevant to what the visitor will see on the landing page and is not a bait and switch.
7) Ask for the minimum amount of info: The more information you request from a visitor in a form, the less conversions you will get. Try splitting this into a 2-step process: ask them their name and email in one screen, then give them more info on the next one and ask for a bit more.
8) Use a quiz to increase curiosity: If you are using a quiz to get signups or sales, ensure the quiz tests their knowledge in a way where they are absolutely compelled with curiosity to find out the answers – then you can get them to sign up in order to get those answers.
9) Leverage the Submit button to promote benefits: Use the Submit button as a chance to resell them on the benfits – “Yes! I’d like to save money” or something like that. There are subtle ways to entice action.
10) Avoid a color no-no: Green copy tends to look bad on a white background due to minimal contrast – try red or black for emphasis.
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Red Slice is a branding, marketing and communications consultancy that helps organizations tell their story. We provide both strategic and tactical marketing support to small and mid-size companies. Let us help you engage, inform, and delight your target audience and keep them coming back for more. Visit us at www.red-slice.com
