It's easy to create an effective landing page that converts visitors into customers with this simple seven step tutorial. Anyone can do it
Creating a landing page for your business can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. After all, if you're not directing traffic toward that page, then what's the point? Here are seven steps to follow that will help you create the perfect landing page, and do wonders for your business.
Step 1: Know Your Audience
Your landing page isn't going to be effective if you don't know who exactly it's targeting. It should only apply to a specific group of people, so knowing each person in that target is critical. What age are they? Are they men or women? What income level do they fall into? What is their education like? All of these things need to be taken into account.
Once you know this information, it will allow you to shape your page and direct your copy toward that specific audience. Think about the goals and needs that each person has, and then focus your offering and messaging towards those two things.
Step 2: Know Your Goal
What are you trying to accomplish with this landing page? Are you trying to get people to sign up for an email list so that they receive updates via email later on down the road? Are you trying to get new subscribers for your blog, or website visitors who might end up purchasing something? Understand what you're trying to do before creating the page, as this will shape your copy and offer.
In order for a landing page to be considered "effective," it needs to move people toward a specific goal or action. Make sure that you have a well-defined goal in mind before you start. If you don't, you might end up going in circles and never accomplish anything.
Step 3: Create Valuable Content
The page itself shouldn't be the only thing that's valuable. Your copy needs to be valuable as well. As you create your landing page, remember the tip about knowing your audience and knowing your goal -- this will give you a leg up and allow you to write and create copy that really packs a punch.
Remember, you don't have much time to capture their attention and get your message across. When they land on the page, what are they going to see? Ensure that it's clear what you're offering, that there is valuable content for them above the fold (that means within the first 6-8 lines of copy, depending on the size of the monitor), and that it's clear what you want them to do.
If people land on your page and they don't understand what benefits they're going to get from it or how signing up or purchasing will help them, then there's no way for you to convert visitors into customers.
Step 4: Use a Strong Headline
Remember, you only have a few seconds to capture their attention and let them know what the page is about. In order to do this, you need a strong headline that immediately lets people know what's going on.
Your headline has to stand out and be relevant, so don't just slap something together and hope for the best -- spend some time crafting a strong, attention catching headline that really lets people know what they're going to get if they move forward with this page and take advantage of the offer.
Keep in mind that your headline will be one of the first things that visitors read on your page, and it needs to immediately draw them in. The more enticing you make the headline, the more likely it is that people will move forward with your offer or visit another page on your site where they can learn more.
Step 5: Create an Offer
You always need to have something to offer people in order for them to take action. People aren't going to sign up or buy anything if there's nothing to be gained by doing so.
Your headline should immediately let people know what they're getting if they click through and move forward -- whether it's a free ebook, access to exclusive content, early bird discounts, or whatever else you can think of.
Think of your headline and your offer as two separate entities that work together to motivate people to move forward with your page. They need to interact in some way, whether it's by offering something complementary (something along the lines of "get access to special discounts when you sign up for our blog" -- the early bird offer is the special discount) or by creating a sense of urgency.
If you can give people two good reasons to take action, then that's even better! Don't underestimate the power of social proof, either -- mentioning testimonials from past customers and including quotes on your landing page will not only let potential customers know that other people have benefited from your offer, but it will also build trust in you as a business.
Step 6: Include a Clear Call-to-Action
Finally, you need to include a clear call-to-action that summarizes everything that your potential customer has read on your page thus far. You want your call-to-action to stand out, be relevant, and reiterate everything that you're offering.
You also want to create a sense of urgency with this call-to-action. Tell people what they have to do in order to get the offer or purchase the product -- if there's something that they can click on or some copy that they can enter into a form, then make sure to include it.
If you've done your job correctly thus far, then your call-to-action will motivate people to act immediately and get the offer or purchase the product before it's too late.
For example: "Click Here to Instantly Receive Your Free eBook" or "Click Here to Get Exclusive Offers Before Anyone Else" or "Enter Your Contact Information Below for Access to Special Discounts."
Step 7: Optimize for Conversion
After you've created the perfect page, you need to optimize it so that it's more likely to get people to act. The headline is one of the biggest factors in optimizing your page for conversions, so spend some time working on that.
You'll also want to include social proof elements that show people that others have benefited from the offer -- again, this will help you build trust in your business and improve conversion rates.
Once you've done all of this, you can use split testing to determine which combination of headline, offer and call-to-action will yield the best results.
With these seven steps, you'll be able to create a strong landing page that's optimized for conversions. You can then use this landing page on your website or include it in your email marketing campaigns and let them do all of the work for you.