What Are Landing Pages
A landing page is any website page on which a visitor may land. There are three types of landing pages.
- Organic landing page – intentional
- Organic landing page – unintentional
- Dedicated landing page – usually the target of a pay-per-click ad
Organic Landing Pages
An organic landing page, whether intentional or accidental, is a page that is reached when a visitor selects an organic (unpaid) search result. Since the search engines may link to any page on your site that is in their index, visitors may land on any page.
Dedicated Landing Pages for PPC Ads
A dedicated landing page usually will not appear in organic search results. It will be created and reserved for a specific purpose, most often to serve as the destination for a pay-per-click ad.
What Is the Purpose of a Dedicated Landing Page?
Dedicated landing pages are intended to compel visitors to take a specific action. A well-designed landing page will explain the product or service, build excitement and convince the visitor to take the desired action.
At Charlottesville SEO Web Development we specialize in creating dedicated landing pages that get results. We know how to design and write pages that catch the eye and communicate their message with clarity.
Additionally, we believe in testing landing pages. Using hard data, we can fine tune each component and optimize a page’s effectiveness, to give you measurable, repeatable success.
A lot of factors go into crafting a high quality landing page. Below are just a few of the design principles we follow at Charlottesville SEO Web Development when building landing pages for our clients.
Landing Pages Have One Objective
Landing pages are most often used to capture a visitor’s information via a form. Because they have a singular objective, unlike a home page that often must meet multiple criteria, their design should be clean. Err on the side of minimalism. They should have copy and images that are persuasive, but no other distractions.
Well-designed landing pages make good use of white space. Clutter can confuse or overwhelm visitors. Simplicity is best. Landing pages must be optimized for one thing only – conversion.
Draw Attention to Your Incentive
Conversion on a landing page usually means having your site’s visitors provide their contact information so they can either be added to your mailing list or contacted by a salesperson. Motivate visitors to complete the form by offering an incentive. Typically, this would be a free e-book, some other digital product, or registration for a webinar. This offer must be prominently placed on the page so visitors can’t miss it.
Furthermore, your design and copy must communicate the incentive’s value to the prospect. You should present just the one offer with no other options competing for your visitors’ attention.
Elements of an Effective Landing Page
While design styles for web pages vary greatly, the design of landing pages typically follows a proven formula that includes the following components:
- Headline – The headline should speak directly to the product or service’s unique selling proposition. This can be a benefit statement. Explain in a few brief words exactly what problem the product solves. Your statement should be concise and also consistent with the ad that originally steered the visitor to the landing page.
- Subhead – A subhead should elaborate on the headline.
- Copy – Keep copy to a minimum. Even just a few lines including, perhaps, some bullet points that summarize features, should further clarify the benefits of your offer.
- Testimonials – Quote one to three of your most satisfied customers on what they love about your product or service. Limit quotes to three sentences maximum.
- Pictures – Include one or more pictures of the product or service. You might even consider including a brief video if it will add clarity.
- Call to Action – Your CTA should be a straightforward statement telling the visitor what to do next – complete a form, click a link, download a document or make a purchase.
- Form – This is where your visitors will type in their information and submit it to you. Ask the minimum amount of questions – usually just a name and email address – as at this stage they may not feel ready to provide more personal details.
- Logo – Include your logo for brand recognition.
When designing a landing page at Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we maximize visibility for the most important information by placing it above the fold, the area visitors can see without scrolling.
Color Considerations
Choosing the right colors to represent the look and feel of your landing page can be difficult. Much like selecting a paint color for your living room, you need to consider what impression the colors will make. The wrong choices could distract visitors or convey an unintended message, resulting in damage to your brand and lower conversions.
Readability should always be a priority. For that reason, avoid colors that are too light and keep reverse text, white type on a dark background, to a minimum. To further increase conversions, make important elements like headlines and your call-to-action button stand out with bold color.
Use Photos and Graphic Illustrations for Impact
At Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we recommend using company photos or high quality stock photography. Lesser quality stock images that have a generic look can negatively impact your brand and lower conversions. Real photos, especially those that include people, will increase the impact of your page.
Place photos with care and use them to direct attention. For example, a picture of someone looking in the direction of your headline or contact form can serve as a focal point to direct the reader’s eye.
Limit Links
One or two links in addition to the call-to-action can be okay. But think hard about whether they’re necessary. Remember, you don’t want to steer the visitor down another path. They may not return. You want them to stay on the landing page until they’ve converted, that is, completed the form.
The landing page should have no global navigation tying it to your main website. Again, you want to limit the visitor’s options. Links to other pages will only be a distraction and could keep them from taking the desired action. The narrow focus of your landing page should be reflected in both the copy and the design.
Why Guess When You Can Test?
At Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we like to take the guesswork out of designing a landing page and base our decisions on actual data. Once we’ve designed a page, we use A/B testing to randomly show visitors two different versions of the same landing page. We track which one gets the best results.
We start with a baseline control sample and then change a single variable at a time, such as the headline or call to action. Testing determines the winner with certainty, the landing page design that is most effective for the audience you’re attracting.
By testing and optimizing your page, we can increase leads, sign-ups, downloads, or sales, while also providing you with valuable insights about your visitors. By measuring the impact of little changes, we can maximize the overall effectiveness of your landing page.
Add Landing Pages to Your Marketing Mix
With online competition continually growing, you want to be sure to put your best foot forward when promoting your products or services. Tightly focused, well-designed landing pages are a proven strategy for generating leads and sales. They deserve a prominent place in your marketing mix.
Charlottesville SEO Web Development can design and write landing pages that are highly persuasive. They will cut to the heart of your offer, speak directly to your visitor with meaningful photos and compelling copy, and get you the results you seek.
Call us at 434-284-2840 today to discuss what landing pages can do for your business. After hours (in Virginia), please use our contact form in the footer below. We look forward to hearing from you!
