Congratulations! You’ve gotten visitors to your website. But now what? If you’re not collecting any contact information from your website visitors, there is no way to generate new business from them. For this reason it is extremely important to focus on converting the visitors into leads for your small business. One of the most surefire ways to do this is by using landing pages.
A landing page is a standalone web page designed specifically to prompt a certain action or result. It is where a visitor lands after clicking on a pay-per-click search result or online advertisement. A landing page is designed with a single, dedicated goal in mind, or call-to-action (CTA) for the visitor to follow.
High-performing landing pages should always contain certain “ingredients” to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of accomplishing the CTA’s goal. Below is the basic framework behind a high-performing landing page that will enable you to generate conversions for your small business:
Clear call-to-action
Having a clear call-to-action is critical to a high-performing landing page. It is important that a landing page should only have a single, focused goal to create an easy path to conversion. That goal might be to make a purchase, schedule an appointment, request more information or something else.
In one of the most famous experiments in consumer psychology, researchers found more choices lead to fewer sales. People experience what psychologists call "choice overload" or "action paralysis," meaning too many choices overwhelm them to the point of not choosing anything. For this reason, having a single, focused goal on your landing page reduces the amount of choice you give to visitors, which in turn makes it easier for visitors to take action.
Simple design and layout
Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye. According to researchers, you have approximately 50 milliseconds to catch your visitors’ attention. Simplicity is the key ingredient to attractive landing pages that captivate attention. It's about getting information (your call-to-action) across in the quickest way possible.
Marketing experts also recommend removing navigation menus from landing pages and limiting links on the page to eliminate distractions. Distractions will reduce the number of people who respond to your call-to-action, preventing them from converting into a lead. So keep your message center stage with a simple design and layout.
Effective headline
Once you've captured your visitors’ attention with a simple, but attractive landing page, you need to draw them in with a convincing headline. The headline contains the first words a visitor will likely read when they arrive on your landing page, so make it worth their while. A great landing page headline sums up what you you’re offering as clearly as possible. High-performing landing pages have direct headlines that get straight to the heart of the matter.
Straightforward copy
While the design of your landing page and headline are important, even more so is the actual content. Great landing pages have clear and concise copy which is easily understood by readers.Tell your visitors what you want them to know in as few words as possible by cutting copy that doesn't support your call-to-action. Keep in mind you should also deliver your message with persuasive words that are around the eighth-grade reading level. It's not that your readers are unintelligent; they're just too busy to labor over long-winded copy.
Less is more
When it comes to landing pages, the expression "less is more" really holds true. Creating a high-performing landing page begins with developing a clear call-to-action. A landing page should have a streamlined design that eliminates distractions from this message. The page should also have a captivating headline that encourages visitors to learn more. Copy is the bread and butter of your landing page, so keep it simple and neat to quickly spur your visitors to action. By following this basic framework for high-performing landing pages, your small business will successfully generate lead conversions, allowing you to grow and dominate your local market!
