Purpose:
A landing page ( also called a squeeze page) sets the goal of a business. Its aim is to turn visitors into customers. It should focus on one offer and should summarize all the pages connected to the specific product or service it offers. The landing page is the ultimate sales pitch – its content should be persuasive and clean. For those who need help writing compelling content, there are some great online writing schools available that can make it easier.
Many landing pages are linked through PPC (pay per click) ads. This type of ad is paid for through the number of clicks it receives from Internet users. Since each visitor to the landing page costs money, it is very important that the majority of them become clients. The landing page must cater to its audience in order to reach its goal.
The Audience:
Who’s the target audience? What do they like? What do they expect? What are their concerns?
For more expensive products, its beneficial to target multiple consumers with different landing pages. For people concerned with budget, make a page with key words like “discount” or “cheap”. For those who just want quality, focus on value and credibility. The content of each page should be similar to the original, though should focus on a particular point.
Make your primary landing page available for indexing. Use “robots meta tag” or “robots.txt directive” for others. This is to ensure that search engines don’t think you’re trying to spam them with duplicate content, which could result in penalization.
The Design:
If you have web design experience, creating a landing page from scratch is best. If not, there are dozens of free HTML/CSS templates available online. Though take note, these free templates don’t look as nice as custom designs. Alternatively, WordPress gives users the option to download templates and modify them for their various needs. The Thesis Theme framework is one of the top wordpress templates that will help you build SEO friendly landing pages.
The “call to action” is your sales pitch. It should be stated in bold text at the top of the page. This will suit those more impulsive people or those already familiar with the product or service. The “call to action” should appear again near the middle of the page. Near the bottom of the page, the “call to action” should be a button that links to final purchasing.
Use plenty of white space. Vary text colors to attract attention, though be sure to use a particular color scheme. Sentences should be short and brief, more like info points. If you are designing your own page, take a look at some example pages online to get a better idea of how they should look.
Only use images that are clean and relevant. Put images at the left side of page. For most your customers, who read from left to right, this will allow for an easier read. Length of pages vary. As a general rule of thumb, the more expensive a product/service, the more length is needed.
To add legitimacy, use testimonials. Put testimonials at the bottom of the page. Be aware that using a full name and location has more power than just initials or a first name.
Be sure to add a link to more information or a link for contact so that discerning customers have an avenue to learn more. This should be at the very bottom of the page where it doesn’t distract from the “call to action” link.
As an end note, providing a “bonus” can prove helpful. This usually requires a customer’s email address, allowing you to follow-up. So even if they don’t make a purchase the first time they visit your page, they’ll be reminded of it through later emails.
This is a guest post by David Murton, click here if you want to guest post on this blog.
12 comments
I have the feeling that I should start to try making some online income out of this method but I have always the feeling that I will lost my investment especially on ads.
Basically I have sufficient knowledge on making on landing pages but the feeling always be the obstacle.
Do you gave some advise for me?
PPC works well to convert sales, if you have a product to sell or are looking to generate leads or sign ups. It’s worth investing in PPC, most of affiliate marketers make money on PPC campaigns.
I recommend you start investing in PPC and closely monitor the clicks and conversion / sales. Start with $10 a day for a few days and see the impact on sales.
I think the designing of the web page would affect the sales of the product as well as the product itself.
Thanks For Sharing,
Bradley Nordstrom
Yes the landing page design and the elements of the page are vital to the success of the product / conversions. You should have 2 – 3 landing pages and using conversion rate test or multivariate testing or conversion testing to check which landing page works
Check this post for testing landing page effectiveness
http://www.webtrafficroi.com/conversion-rate-optimization/
Check these tips to ensure conversions
http://www.webtrafficroi.com/5-tips-to-ensure-ppc-landing-page-conversions/
I don’t necessarily agree with the statement:
“Since each visitor to the landing page costs money, it is very important that the majority of them become clients.”
You can’t really convert the majority of people landing on a site, a conversion rate like that is incredibly rare. Also, calculating the profitability of a channel/customer is more complex.
The way I usually do it is I compare the Customer Acquisition Cost per channel with the Customer Lifetime Value. If I know a customer is going to spend $500 with me throughout their lifetime and to acquire them through ads costs me $100 (meaning I convert 1 in 100 visitors, at $1/click in AdWords), then the channel is very profitable.
In this case, even if I only converted way less than 1%, the channel would still be profitable.
it is true that landing page is the most important page with all respects because almost 50% visitors run away from landing page there are many reasons behind that. first one is visitor could not find that he is looking for and the second one that is late browsing.
I, just like Helmi, am very pessimistic when it comes to PPC, especially as a new marketer.
I tested some of my, so called landing pages with some social traffic and I was less then impressed with the results, although I think the landing page was fine.
I had very few distractions, I tried to make the opt-in form stand out as much as I could, I made the text in such a way that it does draw to much attention from the opt-in form. Also, I focused on explaining how will the subscription help them, but yet, I failed.
I guess there are some tricks that still escape me, but I am willing to try and make myself better.
Thanks for the advices!
These are profound tips David! I tried making a squeeze page for my client’s online business and it nearly took me a week to finish the content. It’s really a big challenge to write compelling content esp. if the niche requires more information. Thanks, very useful post 🙂
The only problem at the moment is that most of the regular readers, the ones that come from mailing list, are very aware of copy skills of the author, and they may feel that they might be tempted to act as per the salesy smile of the writer..
This sure is a very educational post for me. I don’t know much about how landing pages work. I agree with Bradley that the web page design is one factor that would greatly affect the sales of the product. Too little or too many going on in the landing page can confuse the customers.
The landing page is the lifeblood of the website/blog submitted. Although I would prefer to see a page cut and dry rather than looking too busy or fancy. But, to each their own.
Since each visitor to the landing page costs money, it is very important that the majority of them become clients.. I agree with Bradley that the web page design is one factor that would greatly affect the sales of the product. Too little or too many going on in the landing page can confuse the customers.