A landing page is more than just another place to host your content or digital marketing copy.
It’s a website specially designed with a dedicated purpose in mind — to interest curious visitors in your product and transform them into leads that may later convert into eager paying customers.
This is usually done by offering a freebie of some kind (like an ebook or a mini-course) in exchange for basic contact information that can later be used to get in touch with the person and attempt to nurture them through a sales funnel.
But naturally, some landing pages are better than others at serving this purpose.
An excellent landing page not only needs to be able to interest a person in a particular brand or service but also convince them to part with their personal information.
Crafting yours with current landing page best practices in mind is the key to ultimately getting your conversion rates where they need to be.
Keep reading to learn more!
1. Keep landing pages in sync with your advertising goals
When it comes to advertising a digital-age business, it’s vitally important that all of your marketing efforts be in sync with one another.
Consumers who will eventually interact with one of your landing pages will likely have already read your content or experienced your brand messaging on at least one other platform before finally clicking through.
For that reason, it’s crucial that the language, tone, and energy of your landing page be consistent with the rest of your brand’s message and unique point-of-view.
For example, if the visitor came to your page via an ad that told them to “click here to learn how to dominate Twitter,” your landing page should tell them exactly what they came there to learn.
2. Don’t overcomplicate your forms
Many landing page best practices boil down to keeping things as easy as possible for your visitors, as most people who click through aren’t looking for a meaty read.
They plan on taking a quick glance just to satisfy their curiosity, and that’s it. So if they do decide to give you their contact information before moving on, you don’t want that process to take all day.
Keep your forms as simple as possible. Ask your visitors for the basics, and resist the urge to include too many extra fields. (Remember, you can always request these details at a later date.)
And make sure your forms are well-optimized for mobile devices, as well as desktop systems, as many of your visitors will be coming to you on the go.
3. Put extra thought into your headline
Most landing pages have relatively high bounce rates as a rule, often between 70 and 90 percent. But you still want to do what you can to keep that rate as low as possible.
One terrific way to do this is by making sure visitors know what’s in this for them from the instant they hit your page. A well-crafted headline does this perfectly.
Keep in mind that a landing page’s headline will be the first (and possibly only) thing a visitor reads.
That means its quality will likely make the difference between someone sticking around to read further and leaving as quickly as they showed up in the first place.
Make yours clear, concise, and benefits-focused so there’s no room for error.
4. Make sure your page design is user-friendly
Everyone knows what it’s like to click through to a web page only to wind up immediately confused or overwhelmed.
Maybe the page design is cluttered, loud, or overstimulating. Or perhaps there are just so many extras, you can’t actually find what you came there for.
Whatever the case may be, you’re likely not going to waste much time trying to figure it out.
Your visitors are no different. That’s why landing page best practices dictate that you keep your designs clean, clear, and to the point.
The page should offer a positive overall user experience, meaning it’s easy to skim, read, and navigate.
And it should use colors and imagery people already associate with your brand, so people know immediately that they’re in the right place.
5. Write captivating on-page copy
At this point, you’ve convinced your visitor to click through to your landing page in the first place.
You’ve captured their attention with a sparkling headline and an attractive page design, as well. The last thing you want to do now is losing them with lackluster copy that’s boring or that rambles on without getting to the point.
Excellent copy for landing pages is snappy, dynamic, and concise. It also serves a particular purpose — to deliver the information promised by the advertising that led the visitor here and convince them to complete a specific action of your choosing.
Help this process along by speaking directly to the reader using words like “you” and “your” to keep the content engaging.
Also, once you have the type of message you want, you can outsource this to a ghostwriter, this will allow the writer to understand better the needs of the project.
6. Add illustrative imagery to your page
If you’ve ever visited a landing page or other web page without any images, you understand how stark such pages can feel.
At best, they’re boring and lack personality, which doesn’t exactly inspire visitors to stick around and find out more.
That’s why landing page best practices dictate that adding at least one image is mandatory.
Choose an image, graphic, or illustration that not only appeals to your target audience but does an excellent job of conveying a clear emotion.
It should show your visitors how they can expect to feel if they give your product, service, or brand a chance. Naturally, some imagery will be more effective than others, so it’s always good to test different options.
7. Ensure your page loads quickly
According to Google, the standard to shoot for when it comes to web page load times is two seconds or under.
People aren’t willing to wait much longer than that, especially for a landing page they likely only visited out of curiosity.
So if you’ve noticed one or more of your landing pages have an unusually high bounce rate and your on-page layout has tested well, a slow load time could well be the issue.
Resist the urge to take shortcuts when it comes to setting up your landing pages, even if they’ll only be live a short time.
Make sure none of your images or on-page elements are big, bulky, or otherwise slow to load.
Large files, numerous photos, and heavy scripts all take time to load — time you don’t have to spare when it comes to your audience’s attention span.
8. Include plenty of social proof
Modern consumers are pretty skeptical and discriminating.
That means they’re not going to hand over their contact information (or their payment information) without giving it some thought first.
That said, your visitors are going to be scanning your landing page for clues that it (and you) can be trusted.
Social proof is a compelling way to inspire trust and peace of mind in an instant, as nothing puts a consumer’s mind at ease quite like endorsements from other consumers.
So if you’ve got testimonials, quotes, and positive feedback from happy customers, place it in a prominent spot where your visitors are sure to see it.
Many platforms — like Yelp or Google My Business — will even allow you to embed reviews into a landing page to keep things nice and fresh.
9. Keep your page up to date
Both web users and Google favor fresh, current web pages when it comes to information, so make sure you keep yours up to date.
Landing page best practices and trends can also change over time just as surely and quickly as anything else in digital marketing, so stay informed. Update various elements of your pages accordingly.
It often doesn’t take much to jumpstart a previously successful landing page and bring it back to life.
A quick copy refresh is a must, but even some updated accent colors, graphics, or calls-to-action can make a big difference.
The fresher you keep things, the more relevant your pages will stay on Google.
Bonus Tip: Give your page some pop by adding interactivity
These days, it often takes more than just great copy and beautiful imagery to keep an increasingly fickle audience engaged.
People are always on the lookout for something new, fresh, and fun, and interactivity is an innovative and effective way to give it to them.
So consider ways you can create interactive landing pages that break the mold a little and force your visitors to sit up and take notice.
They’re not only more likely to stay on the page and complete a recommended call-to-action, but they’re a lot more likely to remember the information you’ve given them, as well.
Creating landing pages that engage visitors, generate leads, and send conversion rates soaring definitely takes some skill, practice, and know-how.
But staying up to date on current landing page best practices is a great way to ensure maximum performance over time.
This includes keeping an eye out for effective ways to make your pages more interactive and compelling.
Check out our comprehensive interactive content guide for more information on how you can put the magic of interactivity to work for you and create fantastic digital experiences that leave your visitors in awe.
You’ll learn how to integrate interactivity into your current content strategy, discover best practices for putting a new approach into action, and more!
