While building your landing pages, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind in order to maximize the success of the page. For the best results follow the following 7 Best Practices for Optimizing Landing Pages.
- Write a Clear, Action-oriented Header
When someone is directed to your landing pages you want to have a clear, action-oriented header so that they easily can understand what they are doing on the page and what offer they will receive in exchange for their information. Someone is less likely to hand over personal information if they are not confident in the offer or the quality of the offer.
- Explain the Offer and its Value in 1-5 Sentences
Use descriptive and positive statements to explain what value the offer has. This should not be a lengthy description but short snippets of good and quality information. Think about your ideal customer or buyer personas. What would interest them most about this offer? What would be worth giving up their personal information for? These few phrases or sentences can capture their attention and increase the desire for the offer.
- Use numbers, bullets and bolding in the copy
Keep it simple and keep it short. Utilize numbers, bullets and bolding to bring attention to keywords or phrases that will capture the reader’s attention. In the busy world today, very few people have the time to sit down and read a synopsis of an EBook or webinar. Bullet points allow for easy skimming and do not overwhelm the reader with information overload.
- Include a relevant image
The human brain can process images faster than text and an image will be the first thing that a reader’s eyes will engage with on the landing page. By having a relevant image, visitors are more likely to stay on the page for longer and in turn will have more of a chance to understand the value that your offer has to them.
- Form Fields need to be Relevant to the Value of the Offer
Keep the value of the offer in mind when creating your form fields. You cannot ask for all of a person’s personal information for an offer they are only half-heartedly interested in. This is another opportunity to keep your buyer personas or ideal customers in mind. What value does your offer have to them? How much personal information do you think they would reveal in order to receive it? You do not want to drive potential leads away by getting over eager and asking for too much information in your forms.
- Place Content above the Fold
When using landing pages, the visitor should be able to see all of the content and should not have to scroll on the page. By keeping your content above the fold, you are utilizing the few seconds that the average visitor spends scanning a page. The visitor should not have to work to see or find any of the information about your offer. Keeping your content above the fold will optimize your submission rate.
- Do Not Include Navigation or Links
The last thing you want a potential lead to do once you get them to your landing page is to leave without capturing their information. When there are navigation, links, and social icons on your landing page, you are allowing the opportunity for this visitor to get distracted and navigate to a different page. Keep your landing pages clean of other navigation and save these links for your thank you pages and after you have the visitor’s information.
