In this blog post, we’ve summarized all the key elements that you need to design a powerful landing page. To help and inspire you further, we’ve also included a few examples to show to you how other brands have incorporated these elements.
How to Create a Landing Page [With Examples]:
What’s a Landing Page?
In short, a landing page is a dedicated web page that you purely use for advertising or digital marketing purposes. It is the first web page that new visitors will see after they have clicked on a link that corresponds to the landing page. If you are thinking at this moment that it sounds pretty much like your home page, you are not entirely wrong. A landing page could be something like a blog post, product page or a home page. Though, unlike your traditional home page, your landing page has been specifically created to receive and convert traffic generated by your online marketing campaign. You can, for instance, create a landing page for an online course, or to encourage people to buy a product, register for an event, phone your business or simply sign up for your monthly newsletter.
The Benefits of a Landing Page
A landing page is a key element of any online marketing strategy. When it is designed effectively, it can help you to boost conversion rates by moving your visitors more efficiently down the sales funnel, while at the same time reducing the cost of getting new leads. In fact, it is one of the most effective tools for lead generation. Simply by taking some time to design a powerful landing page, you can basically take a step back and quality leads will find you. What makes it so great is that you can share a customized message to a targeted audience as landing pages concentrate on one product, service or special offer. This way you can zoom in, for example, on a specific product and evaluate its success.
Step-by-step Guide for Creating Landing Pages
While the steps for designing an effective landing page are not set in stone, there are elements that the most successful landing pages share. So, whether you are designing a landing page to market a new product or you need one to get people to sign up for a webinar, here are the steps that you should follow to make sure that you have included all the main elements.
Wrapping Things Up…
When it comes to designing landing pages, there are several factors to consider that include your target audience, goal, service/product, industry and value proposition. Consequently, there is no approach that will be suitable for all landing pages. Though, some elements remain the same and landing pages that work many times share these characteristics. There are numerous landing page builder software solutions available that are easy to understand and use. Most of them have built-in drag-and-drop editors and hundreds of templates that make it very easy to create a compelling landing page quickly. Though, make sure that the builder that you select offers A/B testing (more about this later). Your subheading should be used to fill in the key details, especially when your offering is too intricate to be explained in just a short heading. It can be that additional important detail that can help visitors to convert, while at the same time helping to make your headline more captivating. Now that visitors have landed on your landing page, it is your subheading’s job to give them a reason to stay.
The Coffee Network, an online marketplace situated in Australia, uses its headlines and subheadings really intelligently. The headline, “Finding your next favourite coffee made easy” is short and clear and makes sure to keep the focus on the audience instead of the company. The subheading adds the important details that could not be included in the heading and helps visitors to convert by explaining how they can benefit by giving their products a try.
Marley Spoon does a great job of including high-quality photos of a couple of their meals. What makes their use of visuals so great is that they also use images to list the benefits visually. If your product boasts impressive craftsmanship, close-up photos can help your audience to see precisely what they will be purchasing. Just take a look below at how LIV Watches ensures that the photographs show off their watches in various ways.
Wherever you decide to include this explanation, it should focus on the advantages that you have to offer to your potential customers. In other words, it should not be a statement about your brand, but instead should be cleverly written so that the focus is shifted to how your visitors will reap the rewards. For example, Skullcandy created its content to include a customer-focused value proposition. Rather than explain the technical specifications of their product, they instead shift the focus to how their product can help to boost their potential customers’ mood.
Ermenegildo Zegna uses clear and relevant call-to-action buttons. The white button contrasts well on the dark background as does the black text of the call-to-action prompt against the white background of the button. This clever use of color helps the CTA to stand out. Also, this landing page is an excellent example of how your call to action does not necessarily have to ask the visitors to buy something immediately. It is important to remember that the minority of customers are ready to buy something immediately. So, it is best to tailor your calls to action to where they are in the sales funnel accordingly.
Though, if these numbers are not that impressive yet, it is best to stick to a few testimonials in the meantime instead. Ideally, you should include at least three written testimonials or two video testimonials that can serve as proof that your brand can deliver. The best testimonial is specific and includes a photo of the actual customer, his/her name and job title. This way, visitors could actually Google the person who has written the testimonial and even verify the review. You can even go the extra mile and add video testimonials. As a video testimonial is even more challenging to fake, this type of testimonial will be even more believable. Plus, it is much easier for your customers to share their genuine interest in your brand via this medium. A video testimonial can possibly also offer another indirect benefit as shown by Slack. Not only did they use a video testimonial to share one of their user’s experiences, but in the video the client (Sandwich Video Inc.) also explains all the different features offered by Slack. So, in fact, the video also doubles up as a product demo.
Lastly, to help show your business as trustworthy, you also need to remember to include contact details like a physical address, email address and/or phone number. In short, visitors want to know that your business does really exist. After you have made a few changes, you should then also test the different landing pages and identify which version’s performance was better. Armed with this information, you can continue to tweak your landing pages to improve its performance even further. It might sound like extra work, but without completing A/B testing there is no way to tell if your marketing strategies are actually working. While these elements might sound like a long list, the design of your page should still remain simple and uncluttered to ease navigation. Fluff belongs on a bird, not on your landing page. Now that you know exactly what elements to include, it is over to you to create a landing page. Landing pages can offer a better user experience which will help you to establish a deeper connection with your target audience. So, it is totally worth the effort.
