A landing page, also known as a lead capture page, exists to get your visitors to fill in the form. To convert them into your customers or subscribers. You often offer an information that your visitors need (e.g. free downloads) in exchange for signing up with you. A landing page can also be called a "squeeze page" because the purpose is (a) to squeeze out your visitors' information (i.e. email address), and/or (b) to squeeze the visitors into the list of your subscribers.
Landing page, lead capture page or squeeze page - the definition is often discussed by many, but they're fundamentally the same. The one and only objective of the page is to get your visitors to sign up with you. A home page can be a landing page, but rarely so if it has "distractor" elements such as menus, side bar with links to other pages/sites. There should ideally be only one exit provided to your visitors, which is your call-to-action button.
Elements to attract visitors and a clear intention to collect opt-ins are needed - here are some tips to create a successful landing page.
#1 Use A Landing Page Builder
It is possible to manually create a landing page out of a blank document, but a landing page builder plugin really makes things a hundred times easier and faster. Templates should give you an idea of what should be in the page before you start anything. Landing page builders should be versatile and full of inspirations - ones that I recommend such as;
- Thrive Landing Page Builder - fast WordPress plugin with the latest design templates, as part of its content builder, price starting from $67.
- Instabuilder 2.0 - fast and flexible WordPress plugin, price from $77.
- GetResponse - as part of the monthly email marketing membership.
This is one of many templates by Thrive Landing Page Builder. Pre-positioned tables, shapes, icons, content boxes, tabbed boxes are easy to edit (or delete)
#2 Keep The Layout Simple
How much information you want to display in your landing page depends on the nature of your business and also the intention of the page. Bearing that in mind, you must assume that;
- People don't read.
- They will scroll your page and may leave within 10 seconds.
For example if a niche itself is complicated, it may need a lot of explanation. Another example is where the industry or market is competitive you may want to prove to the visitors why you are better than others. You can display sections such as;
- Introduction to your business / history
- What your visitors will discover
- Testimonials
- FAQ
- Guarantee badge
Each section should be brief and just adequate enough to impress the readers. If you think it's absolutely necessary to display a lot of sentences/sections to explain, you could create another page and place a link in your landing page. But it means you're sending your visitors away from the landing page...so the linked page should always open in a new tab/window. Using a tabbed content function (see the example below) is an alternative way to compact an information within a small space.
- Tab example 1
- Tab example 2
- Tab example 3
Tab 1
#3 Create An Attention Grabbing Headline
Quicksprout explains that a headline should be unique, specific, convey a sense of urgency, and should be useful. The copywriting technique explained in this Quicksprout page is very useful to remember. Not only it should be sharp, brief and contains some attention-grabbing words, it should also have a personality and there's a matching content to follow.
#4 Clear Intention and Call-To-Action
The call-to-action button should be your visitors' final destination, therefore it should always be placed at the bottom of your landing page. However when a landing page is long and has a lot of information, there's a chance that the reader can "get bored" as they scroll down the mid-way.
If a content in the above-fold is impressive enough for reader to read on, that's great. But it's not always the case and therefore there should be an extra call-to-action button or two mid-way the page pointing at the same destination URL, or the opt-in form. So that the readers are clearly notified of what they're requested to do.
#5 Use of a Video Clip
Introducing your business or products using a video clip is considered effective. Real person talking to the visitor adds a credibility to the campaign, adds friendliness, spontaneity and it's persuasive for some.
Persuasive for some visitors perhaps, those who are extroverts would feel more comfortable in digesting information via audio & visual. Whereas others feel the opposite way - some feel they would need to read the article several times and give themselves good thoughts before making the final decision (to sign up or to make a purchase)
Some find it more convenient to watch a video campaign while commuting, for instance. While others find it more difficult because of the signalling condition.
I personally rarely watch video campaigns - I prefer to read. I don't like when a video (sound) starts unexpectedly as soon as I open a web page. I would put a pause on the video and search for a written article instead. Adding a video to your landing page may be effective but may not be enough to convince every visitor - it's always a good idea to add a written summary elsewhere (either within the landing page, or a link to another page).
#6 Make Sure The Page Is Mobile Responsive
It's important to ensure your finished landing page remains mobile responsive. Page builder templates should all be designed so, but as you customise the format and modify margins or alignments, there will be a good chance that the structure will be distorted.
#7 Social Media Icons - Show Discreetly
It's becoming an essential norm to place social media links in a webpage, but bearing in mind that they are other "exit points", the media icons should not be in-your-face but should be sat discreetly in the corner. And each link should open in a new tab/window.
#8 Scarcity Marketing with a Countdown Timer
No absolutely necessary, but a countdown timer is proven to help increase conversion rates. My optin rate increased by >35% after I added a timer to one of my landing pages. Either cookie based or IP address based, you can't fool users who know how it works on a landing page, but a timer does provide an urgency effect psychologically.
