Seven tips to build functional landing pages
Many business owners, entrepreneurs, and digital salespeople put a lot of effort into their web pages without understanding that the most important page is the landing page. Although the website as a whole is, of course, critical, the initial page that a person sees when they reach the site is often the first and only opportunity to convert that person from a surfer to a customer.
Above-the-fold sales pitch
Whether a visitor to your website uses a phone or a large computer monitor, he or she will be faced with a section of information that is immediately visible. The rest of the page’s information, however, is unseen and requires scrolling in order to access it. The information that is immediately visible is commonly called “above the fold,” which is a carry-over term from newspapers that reserved important information to the space above the paper’s fold.
In the same way that newspapers reserved the space above the fold for the most critical stories, you should put your sales pitch or your hook in this space. Doing so will pique your visitor’s interest and keep them engaged long enough to start scrolling. Once they scroll for information, you have a better chance of converting them into paying customers.
Benefits
Once you have your web visitor hooked, you must convey to him or her the benefits of your product. However, these benefits must be conveyed in a way that is relevant to the visitor. The benefits must solve some specific and important problem. Ideally, your service or product should solve the customer’s problem better than a product from a competitor.
Proof
The proof is exactly what it sounds like. It is information that proves just how effective your product is. This proof can be scientific, relying on research results to convince the visitor your product works. However, social proof is often as effective or more effective than scientific proof. Social proof consists of influencers, celebrities, or popular personalities using the product and saying how much they like it. Their use is then taken as proof of the product’s effectiveness. Of course, the best option consists of mixing different types of social and scientific proof.
Reinforce benefits
In many situations, many people require many reminders. This need for reminders applies to your website. In fact, you might need to include two or three reminders, each worded slightly differently, on your landing page. When it comes to shopping for something new or trying to assess new information, a reminder simply helps people understand. It does this by embedding the information into a chopper’s short-term memory. If you repeat it enough, it can become embedded into someone’s long-term memory. When someone understands the benefits of your product, only then will that person commit to buying it.
Multiple calls to action
A call to action is a prompt to do something. The action might be to register for a free account, or it might be a request to contact the site’s sales team for more information. Whatever the call to action is, it needs to be included on the landing page because many people will not take action unless prompted to do so. Of course, the most important action involves making a purchase, and the landing page should make it easy for someone to add something to the online shopping cart and complete a transaction.
The best landing pages, however, intersperse different types of calls to action across the page. By mixing and matching different desired actions, you increase the possibility that someone will either contact you for more information or complete a transaction. Additionally, multiple calls to action allow the online shopper to choose how he or she wants to engage the website. This choice is important in helping to convert shoppers into buyers.
Video
The video represents one of the most effective ways to communicate because it can connect to a person on multiple levels. For instance, an engaging trailer or testimonial connects emotionally to the viewer, making them more inclined to purchase. Additionally, a video can serve as social or scientific proof. Finally, a video can also include a reminder of the product’s benefits, and it can include a call to action.
Quick
Although the above items are content-related, the idea that a website must be quick is a technological best practice. Online shoppers have notoriously short attention spans and are simply unwilling to wait on a website to load. Your landing page must be optimized to load in less than a second.
To do this, the images should be compressed as .jpg files, and the videos should be hosted on YouTube rather than on your website. Of course, if you have problems with the technological side of landing pages, you should seek out services by SEO professionals, such as Joel House SEO. SEO professionals will know for instance that a key strategy to making quick sites is to use a cache system, which keeps information in memory rather than repeatedly re-loading the same information.
