When creating an effective PPC campaign, it is a good idea to focus on the page to which you are directing traffic from your ads. Is it the homepage? A product subpage? Or maybe a dedicated landing page? A good digital specialist should keep in mind that where they direct traffic has a huge impact on the results (not to mention the overall user experience on the site).
So, which page should you direct traffic to? Of course, it all depends on the website's purpose, the client's resources, and the effect we want to achieve.
At this point, we should answer the question: what is the difference between a landing page and a website?
A website is usually designed in such a way so as to provide as much information as possible about the activity of a given company, its description, and its offer presentation. It contains a lot of linked sub-pages, navigation, sometimes also a search engine. It can also be an online store.
On the other hand, the landing page has a specific and precise purpose. It focuses only on one message, one action to be performed by the visitor. The purpose of a landing page may be, for example, to download an e-book by filling out a form, to sign up for a webinar, or to inform the user about a specific promotion.
As you can see, it all depends on the goal of your campaign. However, today let's focus on the landing pages. To create a good landing page we need to stick to a few rules described below. They can serve you both when you create a landing page and also when you optimize it (yes, we can also save a weak and poorly converting landing page 🙂 ).
7 rules for creating a good landing page
To create a good landing page aimed at generating leads, you need to stick to a few rules.
A landing page should have a single purpose
Before building a landing page, we need to ask ourselves one question - what do we expect our users to do? The purpose of our landing page should be to convince the user to perform the expected action. A simple goal, e.g. downloading an ebook, no fiddling. And this is what we have to stick to. The marketing strategy should be built in close correlation with the landing page content, so as not to confuse potential customers.
Do not forget about a good header and subheader. They have to be catchy, memorable, and attention-grabbing. You should pay attention to the graphics in the background of the header (the so-called hero section). The main task of the header and graphics is to focus the user's attention and encourage them to browse the rest of the page.
While choosing the content, we are guided by the rule of what information the user needs first, what they are specifically looking for. Our task should be to answer all questions and doubts one by one. How? By providing the right amount of information in the right order, thus building the user's interest and curiosity. In this way, we ensure that we maintain the user's attention for longer.
The content should be arranged appropriately, not overwhelm the user, and be clear and readable. Remember who you are targeting with the landing page. Content should be tailored differently for people coming from remarketing and those who visit your business for the first time.
We can distinguish several types of landing pages based on their purpose, for example:
- Landing pages focused on lead generation - geared towards acquiring leads and prospects. Usually, there is a form on through which a user provides their data in exchange for a certain benefit (e.g. a discount or a free ebook).
- Click-through type landing pages - its purpose is to lead to another subpage, e.g. start a trial subscription.
Avoid distractions at all costs
Now that we have established our goal, let's avoid distractors that may draw the user away from achieving that goal.
- An important rule of a good landing page is not to refer the user to other subpages.
- The landing page should not have a menu.
- The logo itself should lead to the landing page, not to the home page.
- Think about limiting the information in the footer.
- Most importantly, when reading the landing page, no "read more" links should appear. Avoid elements that will take you to other subpages or direct you to the home page. Any distractors will lower conversions.
We must remember that a good landing page leads the user through the whole process from the beginning to the end. All the content should focus on the presented topic and increase the reader's interest.
It is worth remembering that good copy is a guarantee of success for such a page. There is no point in using worn-out and clichéd sales slogans. Let's use creative benefit language, around one topic all the time, providing as many arguments for using our offer as possible.
It is important not to direct the user's attention anywhere else but our website. We assume that users do not have divided attention. If we send them to another website, there is little chance that they will come back and read to the end.
Structure your page elements
Very often we come across landing pages that present information in a way that completely ignores user needs. At the same time, the structure in no way resonates with the planned goal. Usually, it is such a landing page that has a low number of conversions.
We can find a lot of good practices on the Internet, but it is important to adapt them to the purpose of the page. If our task is to collect as many leads as possible - the page structure will look different from a page informing about a promotion.
Order and order again! When creating an effective landing page, we must remember to present the benefits of our services creatively. Videos, short descriptions, case studies, infographics, and testimonials from satisfied clients are all well worth using. Such a way of presenting the advantages of your products before showing the price will increase the number of conversions.
Keep in mind that if we want to retain the user, we have to remember about inspiring trust in us and our business.
How to build trust while designing a new landing page? We start by introducing the product and its benefits. Describe its features, list the benefits, and what makes it stand out from the competition. Next, we show customer satisfaction and confirm our credibility.
We can use partners' opinions, testimonials, recommendations, reviews. In this way, we emphasize the quality and usefulness of our product. A finishing touch in gaining the trust of a potential customer is to provide verified and complete contact information in the page footer.
Don't forget about social proof
One of the most important elements of a landing page is social proof. It can be presented in various forms - partner logos, customer reviews, or even testimonial videos. Regardless of the form, it is crucial for gaining the users' trust and confirming the validity of the product or service.
It's worth testing different variants of social proof and choosing the one that best suits your users.
Probably everyone knows that the best converting marketing activity is word of mouth. Referrals will always be an unmatched source of information needed to make a decision. It's thanks to referrals that we found that restaurant, drank that particular coffee, bought that particular TV, or enrolled in that particular school. This is an incredible tool that should be used.
While choosing the right content and creating the model of the landing page, it's worth finding the place for absolute truths. For example, before the footer we can add a final statement, highlighting all the benefits of the product. Of course, you should make sure that they are confirmed earlier in the content presented on your landing page.
Remember that the user's attention may have been distracted while browsing the page after all. That is why it is worth emphasizing what we expect from them and why they should choose our offer. Do not use trite, repetitive phrases. Try to create your own style of expression, which will sound the most accurate in the final statement.
Add a call to action
A well-written call to action can help you achieve a high conversion rate. It completes the work we put into the landing page. In the final moment, it encourages the potential customer to realize the goal set at the beginning of our path.
Let's remember that the structure and content of the landing page are to convince the user to fill in the form, buy the product and convert. Therefore, its location and content should really be thought through. And to create a cause and effect chain from the content which will convince the user that this conversion will be a perfect solution to their problems.
The placement of the CTA is very important, as too early a call to action can scare the user away. Without a properly built trust and sufficiently encouraging presentation of the product’s benefits, attacking the user with a CTA right at the beginning may end up with them leaving the landing page.
Often asking for data such as email address too early may result in abandonment of the conversion. Also, don't place CTAs too late, as you can easily lose the user's attention and interest.
Test and test again
Questions often arise - is the conversion rate at the right level? Shouldn't it be higher? It's hard to determine the optimal level here. But we can always aim for a higher conversion rate. For example, with the help of AB tests. Only after releasing the first live version can we manipulate it and test different versions.
For example, we can test different headers, different CTAs, or even different texts on buttons. Remember not to test too many elements at once and to conduct tests that last long enough to collect the necessary data. AB testing can be done by yourself or with the help of a specialist, using, for example, the free Google Optimize tool.
Working on a converting landing page takes time. It is worth spending it both on planning the structure and testing and optimizing it after the start of the campaign. With that, knowing our audience, we can adjust the landing page to their needs.
