5 Steps to an Effective Landing Page
You spend a lot of money on Internet marketing. The business of grabbing the attention of a potential customer and getting him or her to your website is a big one, and for some companies the budget for Internet marketing is their single largest expense. As such, you want to be sure that your landing page — the first thing a customer sees when they come visit your site — is helping you and not hurting you. Here are 5 things to take care of to make sure your landing page is an asset to your business.
Be careful with form fields
A landing page that immediately hits visitors with a lengthy request for information is going to cost you. Many visitors — particularly if they have not yet had time to read your page and be sold on your business — will simply navigate away if they are met with onerous demands for information.
Rather than starting off by asking their name, contact information, and life history, let them read a few sentences to get a feel for you. Then, and only then, should you ask for information, and even then you should only ask for the bare minimum that you need.
Give something of value
If you’re giving something to your site visitors — be it information or a physical product — it should be something worthwhile. Don’t foist junk off on them, because they’ll know it. And they’ll resent you for it. On the other hand, if you give them something they value, they will be much more likely to do business with you.
Double check your images
Your images — whether photos, illustrations, or something else — should match what you’re selling and what your business is all about. Don’t be like a drug commercial that shows happy, carefree people while a narrator reads a list of terrible side effects. The cognitive dissonance this engenders will damage your chances of making a sale.
If you’re selling legal services, don’t litter the landing page with pictures of puppies. If you’re selling puppies, steer clear of courtroom montages. You want to create a theme, and that theme should match what your business does.
Strategically position your web form
Your web form should be placed so that it does not require a visitor to scroll down to find it. This will help ensure that more people fill it out, creating leads you can follow up on. Also, make sure your web form blends in aesthetically with the rest of the page. You want your page to look professional and polished, not as if some amateur web designer working out of his or her garage slapped it together.
Test your page thoroughly
Nothing is more disastrous than spending time and effort directing people to your page, only to find out weeks later that their web form submissions aren’t going through. Make sure you test your page: submit things on forms, click on links, and so on. Make sure it’s running properly before you launch it, and you’ll save yourself time and money.
If you would like to speak a Net-Craft.com representative to learn how an effective landing page can increase conversions on your web site, please contact us today.