Without good landing pages online marketing is a waste of your time and money:
A landing page is
technically any page where visitors“land.” In other
words, the first page visitors see on your site is a landing
page.But usually a landing page means
a page that has a specific purpose
beyond keeping visitors on the site.
Your goal for the page can invite the visitor to:
• Join your email list
(opt-in landing page)
• Buy your product or
service (sales page)
• Contact you (contact
page)
• Learn more about
you, your company, or your products(about page)
And sometimes the goal
is to just strengthen your brand’simage in the visitor’s
mind.
In most cases, the
effectiveness of a landing page can be measured by the conversion rate.
For example, if you want
visitors to join your email list,the conversion goal is
the sign up.
The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors that reaches the conversion goal.
Typical conversion rates differ widely from lower than 1% to over 90% depending on the page’s conversion goal,the industry, and the traffic source (where the visitors
come from).
The items in this list aren’t specific to one landing page type. They focus, however, on landing pages with a measurable conversion goal (e.g., sign up or sale).
And one more thing you should remember: This is a checklist, not a course on how to build effective landing pages. In other words, its purpose is to help you look at
each key element of your land.
Does your headline start a conversation?
The headline is the key element of any landing page.
It’s the first thing readers see,
and if it fails to capture their interest, they won’t read anything else.
There isn’t one “right” way to
write a headline, but it should always start a conversation.
Here’s a simple test that tells
you if your headline is good or not:
Let’s look at this headline: “Your
search is over! We offer the most reliable web hosting you can find.”
It’s not going to work, and here’s the
test.
Imagine a guy approaching a girl
in a bar and using that headline to start a conversation that results
in “conversion.”
“Your search is over! I am the
most reliable bachelor you can find” is
unlikely to earn him anything more
than the equivalent of hitting the “back” button.
If your headline isn’t something
you can say without sounding dumb,change it.
Does your copy talk in your readers’ language?
The copy (text of the page) must
speak your readers’ language. If your target market wouldn’t
ordinarily use a specific word or expression, you shouldn’t use it
either.
There are some exceptions to that,
but you should simplify your copy if you’re using words or expressions
that are more complex than those your readers use. What level of
experience do they likely have in your industry or area of expertise? Gauge accordingly.
Do your images and graphics support your value proposition?
If you use images and graphics,
they need to support your value
proposition.
They must support your message and
help readers understand the offer or the value of the offer.
Don’t use them for decoration or just because you think you should.
Does your call to action promise value?
You have to—literally—ask
visitors to do something they want
to
do. For example, a button that submits
a registration form should not say, “submit.” No one wants to submit.
They do, however, want to “get the video” or “download the ebook” you’re offering on the
page.
Do you focus on the reader?
People are interested in
themselves and their goals and problems more than anything else.
Write about the benefits they will get. Write about their problems.
If you write about yourself, they’re
not as interested as they would be if you wrote about them.
Introducing yourself can work, but
even that has to relate to their needs, problems, and goals.
Does the page smell wrong?
The message on a landing page
should remain congruent with advertising and headlines.
For example, if your ad’s headline
says “Free yoga lesson,” your landing page’s headline should say
that too (or it should otherwise be very prominent on the page).
This continuity of the message is
called “scent.” If the message changes, people “lose the scent”
and turn back to find it again on the page where they were before—or they quit.
Does your page answer questions and handle
objections?
Provide the information your visitor needs concerning features and benefits of your product or
service.
You should also be sure to address
objections—reasons for not taking action—that your visitors are
likely to have.
Remember, you have to answer all the
important questions and minimize the main objections on
the landing page. Otherwise your conversion rate will be minimal.
Do you have a PS?
The PS is often
one of the most read parts of a long landing page. So, if your page is even
relatively long, you should have a PS at the end unless there’s a specific reason for not having
it there.
Do you communicate a strong value
proposition?
NOTE: This is the most important point;
everything else in this checklist is trivial by comparison.
If you don’t have a strong value
proposition, you’ve got a big challenge. The value proposition is the
reason your targeted visitors would prefer your offer over all competing
offers. In other words, if you don’t have a strong value proposition, your
visitors don’t have a good reason for doing what you want them to do. And even if your value proposition
is compelling, it doesn’t matter
unless you clearly communicate it
to your readers.
Simply put, the page has to focus
on making the readers understand and feel the value they’ll receive if they
take action.
Focusing on your product’s benefits—not just features—is the
start.
But you also need to convince readers you’re giving
them something unique they can’t find
elsewhere.
And you must be able to do that
without exaggerating, misleading, or lying.For more about online marketing click a link.
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