What is a landing page and why should we use it?
A company’s marketing strategy is to invest money to produce a high return on investment (ROI). The success of an online advertising campaign is not only related to the success of an online advertisement such as newsletter or banner ad.
The real success of an advertising campaign occurs after a potential customer clicks on advertisement. The user will be directed to the landing page (also known as a lead capture page) which is essential to successfully convert the leads generated by the announcement.
In this article we will discuss on how to design landing pages, how to write their content, how to avoid frequent mistakes and finally we conclude with some good practice examples.
How to design a landing page rules
- All important elements of landing page should be within a height of 500 pixels and most important without scroll!
- The design must be consistent with the newsletter or banner advertising campaign and with the website design that led the visitor to the landing page. Therefore the main navigation of the site should be included.
- Do not only focuses on new customers, as old customers must recognize your product or your brand!
- Use a short path as it must be understood immediately.
- Engage the User visually. An impact full image that tells a story or sells a product is more powerful than a lengthy explaining text.
- Use call to action buttons. Visitor must notice the button on landing therefore use a bigger, prominent, call to action button. Also, don’t skimp on button size. The whole page should be focus around the desired action.
- A fast loading page is a plus!
- Use plenty of Whitespace. Visitors don’t read they scan the text to determine if the page is relevant to their goal or not. A clean use of space allows visitors to scan and understand immediately the key messages.
Rules on how to provide a compelling message
- Use a clear and direct headline. A good first impression is just important everywhere and the headline is one of the first thing user notices upon viewing the page. The headline must attract the visitor and fill a need he has.
- The advertisement text (from newsletter or ad) should in the landing page because it will provide confidence as the ad it related to the landing page.
- Soften the Call to Action message. The use of direct words such as “Buy,” “Add to Cart” or “Subscribe” indicate an obligation that the visitor may not be ready to make. Such words can lower conversion rates and therefore a softer call to action button like “Try it Now” can drive users to try it and it will result in higher conversions. Use short calls to action message with no more than 7-12 words.
- The Call to Action button must necessarily be included in the first third of the page.
- Provide a clear offer! Visitor will scan your page and you should answer any potential “whys?” In three to four bullet points visitors have to quickly and easily understand the benefits of your product or service or else chances are that they will leave. Be clear, no time to get cute.
- Use message with impact. Your landing page is a “salesperson”. Make sure of using compelling messages especially directly above the call to action such as “Thousands of people already use…” can also improve visitor confidence and increase return on investment.
- Last important point is to convey trust and security. A quality trustworthy inspiring design, adding trust/security icons, as well as adding testimonials provide credibility and give confidence to the visitor.
How to avoid common mistakes
- A campaign should never lead on the home page of your site! A dedicated page to the advertisement is needed as the homepage is presents your products and doest no call to action. On the other side if your website features only one product such as skype.com then it is ok as you only highlight one product and you call to action for this product.
- The call to action button should be included in the first third of the page and it is essential that the user must not scroll.
- Only one action should be highlighted.
- Avoid distracting features such as animation or unrelated images.
Being a part of Las Vegas Web Design, I like your work a lot.