Create Effective Landing Pages.

Build a feather bed - not a trampoline!

You want your landing page visitors to feel comfortable with where they landed and spend some time on your page – not bounce straight off it.

Your visitors might be pulled to your landing page from a variety of sources for example:

• paid search keywords based adverts - such as those found in the sponsored links on search results pages
• links in online articles.
• Interna links in pages on your own website.

Regardless of where your visitors are coming from, when they hit your landing page you definitely want them to stay around for a while – long enough for you to request that they take a specific action. What you do not want is them bouncing straight off the page before you have had a chance to communicate anything.

So how do you create a “feather bed” landing page rather than a trampoline.

Here are a few key things to bear in mind if you are going to build an effective landing page:

The ‘Call to Action’
Start with the objective for your landing page. What is the purpose of the page? The landing page – as the name suggests – is where your visitors are going to land when they have clicked on your advert or followed a specific link from somewhere else on the web. The landing page, ideally, should drive the visitor to take a specific action. In search marketing jargon this would be called a “conversion”.  A conversion can be anything from a sale (the ultimate conversion) to things like; a brochure request, a completed survey or the filling in of a contact form requesting more information - and many other actions besides.

Once you know what your call to action is going to be then you can work back from that point, building and structuring the page always with the end goal in mind.

Your landing page needs to take the visitor on a logical journey through the page to your request for action. By the time they arrive at the call to action point you should ideally have given them enough detail to make the call to action a seamless next step. (Yes, I know  – easier said than done!)

So here are a few tips that will help you achieve this. Remember you want to take the visitor on a clear and logical journey through the page to the call to action. Therefore you definitely need to consider the following;

• Make sure your visitors know they have landed in the right place. If they’ve followed an article link or clicked on an advert for - let's say - Nike Running Shoes, then your landing page headline and sub headings should be very clear that this page is all about Nike Running Shoes.  Don’t talk about general purpose trainers – they came here specifically for Nike Running Shoes – so give them clear, relevant, specific information about Nike Running Shoes and then introduce your call to action.
   
• Pictures can work well on a landing page as long as they are used properly. Your images should be clear and relevant to the landing page theme. Sticking with the previous scenario – your page is about Nike Running Shoes so show someone running in Nike shoes or show a stylish pair of Nike shoes – don’t put up a picture of a couple walking in the countryside. OK - they may well be each wearing a fine pair of Nike trainers - but they are not running in them and some of your visitors will have left by now!
   
• Check there are no obstacles, barriers or distractions that will hinder or disrupt the smooth journey through the page to the call to action. If you put active links in your page text then people will click on them – at that point they will go off your landing page. You’ve worked to get them to your landing page why encourage to now leave it before they have done what you want? Afterwards by all means take them somewhere else but not before you have tried to “convert” them.
   
• Make sure all text is specific and very relevant to the theme of the page. Don’t overload the page with unnecessary text and images. Say just enough and show just enough to make your key points and then present your call to action.
   
• If at all possible ensure the visitors can see your call to action without having to scroll down the page. You might be amazed at how many pages have the most valuable information positioned below the visible screen page – requiring the visitors to scroll down before they see it – often visitors are not even aware that the information is there and so they never see it. (Be aware that different browser settings could display the page differently – the way it appears on your screen may not be how others see it. Try looking at the page through different browser settings.)
   
• Don’t make your visitors work! Your landing page visitors have already taken an action to get to your page, don’t ask them to do more work before they can respond to your call to action. E.g. if it is a registration form you want them to complete embed it in the page – don’t ask them to click yet another link to a contact form. The less they are asked to do the better your chance of conversion. With this in mind keep the registration form simple and short. Only ask for the details you absolutely need and use standard tick boxes and drop down choices rather than asking them to type information in themselves. In this way you will avoid errors and the process will be less onerous to the visitor and more likely to be completed.

Now - going back to focus again on your chosen call to action – there are a number of techniques and suggestions that you may wish to test out or employ to improve the chances of gaining conversions. Some of these are listed below:

• Make sure that the call to action is specific and relevant to your landing page visitors. Let’s assume that your objective is to capture names and e-mail addresses by getting people to request a brochure. Staying with our previous scenario – if your visitors have landed on your page after clicking an advert for Nike Running Shoes don’t ask them to sign up for a brochure on your range of ‘All purpose walking / running / hiking trainers’! Offer them what they came for – a special brochure on Nike Running Shoes.
   
• Do not confuse them with multiple calls to action. It may be tempting to put several calls to action on your landing page in the hope that surely your visitors will go for one of them. This is in fact more likely to distract your visitors from one main objective. Remember the opening point – start with your clear objective and work back. If you try to accommodate multiple calls to action you could well loose the focussed message your landing page should be delivering. Stick to one clear message and lead them to one clear call to action.
   
• What’s in it for them? Your landing page visitors are more likely to take the action you want if they perceive  something of value coming back to them. This may simply be your interesting Nike Running Shoe brochure of course, but if you can offer something else to entice them then you should. Perhaps you could include a 5% off voucher with every brochure, or everyone who requests a brochure gets entered into a prize draw. Whatever it is – it could be that extra little nudge they need to obey your call to action.  It would be a good idea to run a test to see how effective your extra “gimme” is. Run the page with the extra freebie included for a month, then try it without. It may be that your extra 5% off voucher makes a significant difference to the conversion rate, or it may not. If it doesn’t then you can save yourself that 5%.

Without a doubt there is much more we could write about how to construct an effective landing page that drives conversions. But this article should give you enough to think about and to get started. However if you would like more help with landing page creation please e-mail steve@digitaltradingcreative.co.uk  or just call us on 01793 832102.  We would be delighted to hear from you.