How to Write Captivating Landing Pages That Deliver Customers to Your Door

In the early days of the internet, most businesses banked on visitors to their website coming through their front door, or what’s commonly known as the home page. But that was when websites were little more than online brochures and competition for visitors wasn’t nearly as fierce as it is now.

Not every visitor has to enter the website through the home page/front door. Instead, let visitors come through whatever entrance most closely suits their interests.

Landing Pages Focus on One Subject

Today’s most successful online marketers use landing pages. A landing page is where visitors arrive after clicking a link from a search engine, ad, e-mail or other type of targeted promotion.  It typically has a singular focus.

For example, let’s say you have a website promoting your home renovation business.

While the home page of your website talks about your renovation capabilities in general, you  could build landing pages that speak to your individual service offerings. Consider these examples:

• Update Your Kitchen
• Remodel Your Bathroom
• Design a Media Room
• Finish Your Basement
• Build an Addition to Your Home

Dedicate a full page to each of those topics and you’ll have added a great deal of useful content to your site. By breaking your capabilities into smaller, sharply focused topics, you position yourself as an authority on each of these subjects.

The search engines, when asked to deliver results on a topic that matches one of your landing pages, is likely to rank your site high. But the benefit goes beyond the search engine. The visitor who clicks through to your landing page now sees you as a specialist whose services precisely match his needs.

Target Different Markets

You can build different landing pages for each of your products and services. But don’t stop there. Look at all the possible applications of your products. Consider the different markets you sell to. Each of them deserves its own landing page as well.

For example, if you sell a product that prevents rust, you might want to target automotive manufacturers, military equipment manufacturers, office supply retailers and construction companies. Can you see how each of those markets might merit its own landing page, pointing out the features and benefits most relevant to that industry?

Offer a Freebie

If you’ve done the hard work to drive traffic to your landing page, you want to be sure you capture your visitors’ email addresses. Since most people don’t make a purchase the first time they find a business, having the ability to send prospects sales letters, promotions and other follow-up emails is critical.  You want a second, third and fourth chance to sell them on your product or service.

One of the best ways to get a visitor’s email address is to offer a free report, white paper or case study. The product must be relevant to the landing page and the prospect’s interest. And it should be informational in nature with any sales pitch limited to the end.

Other freebies can be:

• Limited-Time Trial Offers (i.e. for subscriptions or membership)
• Limited-Function Software (The full-featured version is for sale.)
• Video Training
• Audio Recordings of Webinars
• E-books
• Transcripts of Interviews (i.e. with industry leaders)

Because of their digital nature, these products don’t cost you anything to send.  But be sure you’re offering something of value that will motivate visitors to provide their email address.

Remove Distractions

Unlike your home page or your product pages, landing pages serves one purpose – conversion. Distractions are conversion killers. The more visual stimuli, links and extraneous information, the less likely your visitors will take action.  Don’t overwhelm them. Instead command attention and direct it the way you want by doing the following:

• Remove the Navigation Bar – Its buttons leading to other pages of your website will compete with your call to action.
• Use One Call to Action –  You don’t want the prospect to have to choose between multiple options.
• Simplify Your Form – The form to request your free report or other digital product should have the fewest possible fields.  For every additional form field you include (name, address, phone, etc.), you will have users abandon.  Minimize distractions by settling for just an email address.

Well-designed and thought-out landing pages with the fewest possible distractions have the best chance of being effective.

Convert Visitors into Customers

To be effective, the landing page should move visitors to take action, turning them into sales leads and eventually customers. Your landing pages will serve you best if they include most or all of these elements:

• Headline – The title at the top of the page should clearly identify the subject matter, such as “Remodeling Your Bathroom” for the example used above.
• Subheads – Subheads help break up big blocks of text for easy readability. These too, should speak to the subject matter and include keywords that are likely to be searched such as “Replacing Tile in a Shower” or “Installing New Bathroom Cabinets.”
• Descriptive Copy – Explain what you do, who you are, and how your product or service solves the visitor’s problem. Include key features and benefits.
• Formatting – Decide whether the copy is best delivered in block text, bullet points or some combination of the two for easy reading.
• Testimonials – Build trust and credibility using testimonials from customers.
• Pictures – Photos, illustrations and graphics break up the copy and make a page more visually appealing. Just make sure they are relevant and help to illustrate the text.
• Call to Action – Tell the visitor what steps to take next: get your free report, call you, subscribe, complete a form, request a free consultation, order your brochure, get a free trial, etc.

 Build, Publish, Test

Landing pages should be optimized over time.  Even small changes to your messages, design and user interactions can affect your conversion rate.

Use A/B testing to fine-tune each of the elements of your page including:

• Headlines
• Body copy
• Photos
• Graphics
• Colors
• Layout
• Call to action

Change one variable at a time and track conversions to determine what resonates with your visitors. There’s no reason to guess at what works when you can easily obtain hard data.

Put Landing Pages to Use in Your Business

Landing pages can be an extremely effective marketing tool for generating leads. Use them to promote your products and services, target niche markets and even test new applications.  Imagine the possibilities!

Remember though, you only have a few seconds to grab the attention of your visitors. Your landing page must speak directly to their needs. If you need help, hire a professional copywriter. They’re more affordable than you think and often pay for themselves many times over in the revenue good copy generates.

When landing pages are done right, your visitors won’t hit that “back” button, and you’ll soon have a potential sale in the making!

You can read more about landing pages here.

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