What Is a Landing Page?

The goal of a great landing page is to increase conversion rates in order to reach your marketing or business growth goals. A landing page can be your homepage, or another page within your taxonomy, or it can be a standalone page created for a specific campaign, sale, or product.

When it comes to a landing page vs. a homepage or other page your visitors find through a search engine, people often get confused.

It all comes down to how they find your page and why the page exists in the first place. People often find homepages through word of mouth or social media, while landing pages are often found organically, using keywords and high-ranking search results.

Each page has its own purpose: to inform, to act as a gateway to the rest of the site (as in your homepage), or a number of other reasons.

A landing page is usually promoted through Google Adwords or another similar service, and it exists for one reason only: to convert. Again, this can be your homepage, if you set it up to increase conversions. 

Benefits of Effective Landing Pages

There are a few benefits of effective landing pages, beyond increased conversions.

Getting SEO Ranking

Landing pages are crafted to target a specific set of search terms. They’re also promoted using Google Adwords and other paid boosting methods. Both of these move the landing page up in ranking and get your product, promotion, or sale in front of people searching for similar topics.

Promoting an Upcoming Product or Sale

A landing page focuses on one promotion, product or sale. It lives outside of your site’s taxonomy and exists solely to get one message across. This is good in a few ways:

  1. It moves one specific sales or marketing goal to the foreground for higher conversion
  1. It gives you the opportunity to isolate and track the success of a particular product, goal or set of keywords.

Make the Buying/Subscribing Process More Efficient

A high-converting landing page acts simply as a portal to move visitors down the funnel more efficiently. Rather than people stumbling upon your CTA somewhere in your right rail or on your homepage, they find it right away on the landing page and move on to subscribe, sign up, buy or join.

The Truth About Good Landing Pages

It’s important to note that there’s no standard manual on the creation of a perfect landing page.

Landing pages that convert are as different as the people looking at them. Each one has a different call to action to drive, a different reader in mind, a different product or service to offer, and a different niche to address.

For example, consider these three scenarios:

  • One landing page is selling zero drop shoes to ultramarathoners.
  • Another landing page is inviting in-house marketers to a two-day conversion conference in Toronto.
  • A third landing page is asking sommeliers to take an online pairing quiz.

The page design that works for any of these three is unlikely to work for either of the other two.

That’s because there’s an incredible amount of variation among their audience, purpose, intent, product, angle, focus, industry, niche, perception, buy-in, cost, messaging, value proposition, and testimonial approach.

How to Create a Landing Page That Converts

Before you even begin putting together your landing page, you need to determine what you want it to accomplish. Are you looking to grow your email list? Promote a new product? Promote a discount on a subscription service?

Once you have your goal, think about what your message will be. How can your offering — whether that be a subscription for content, an email list, or a product — solve someone’s problem?

Then you can start your keyword research. What do people type in when they’re searching for solutions to the problem that your sale, product, or newsletter can solve?

Once you have your goal, message, and keywords, you can start putting your landing page together. Start thinking about the elements you want to include: a CTA, a sales pitch video, or maybe a form.

All effective landing pages have nine common elements. Let’s take a look at each of those elements in detail.


7 Essential Landing Page Elements

1. A Killer Headline

A headline is where everything begins — interest, attention, and understanding.

It’s what compels a visitor to stay and learn more about what you’re offering — or not.

Here’s what it needs to accomplish:

  • The headline should grab the reader’s attention.
  • The headline should tell the reader what the product or service is all about.
  • The headline should be short. Never make it more than 20 words, and preferably limit it to 10.

It’s also worth noting that if your headline complements an image that explains the product or service, then you don’t need to go into quite as much detail in the copy.


2. Persuasive Subheads

The next element you need to create an effective landing page is the subheadline.

If the headline makes the visitor look, then the subheadline should make them stay. Together, these pieces of copy make up the one-two punch of a landing page’s power.

Here’s what to keep in mind as you create yours:

  • Normally, the persuasive subheadline is positioned directly underneath the main headline.
  • The subheadline should have some element of persuasiveness.
  • The subheadline can go into slightly more depth and detail than the main headline.

 As you write your landing page copy, remember that you don’t necessarily have to follow a specific formula.

Arrange your content in a way that efficiently explains what you’re offering, and you’ll be much more successful in connecting with readers.


3. Pictures

Visual content is an essential component of landing pages that work.

In fact, the brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. This means that visitors will be affected by the images on your landing page immediately.

So as you select and place your images, remember that

  • The pictures should be large.
  • The pictures should be relevant to your product or service. If you are selling a physical product, it is essential that your landing page contains an image of the product.
  • If you are selling a service, the primary purpose of the image should be to grab attention and demonstrate relevance to the visitor.
  • The pictures need to be high-quality.

And as you determine what to include, keep the focus on high-quality, relevant visuals. This is not the place to feature stock photographs or last-minute Photoshop jobs.

After all, if your images are the first thing a visitor processes, they have the potential to shape that visitor’s impression of your brand before they even read your copy — and you need that impression to be a good one.

It’s also important to remember that because many people will base their opinion of your brand on your landing page, you should view it as a chance to differentiate yourself from your competitors.


4. An Explanation

Your landing page needs to make what you’re offering perfectly clear.

After all, if a potential customer doesn’t understand what your product or service is about, you’ve lost them. So a straightforward explanation is crucial.

If your landing page is for a simple product or service, you might be able to get away with your headline and subheadline being the only copy.

But regardless of how you choose to approach your explanation, here’s what to keep in mind as you write it:

  • Your explanation can be integrated with your headline, or completely separate.
  • An explanation should be benefit-oriented. Explanations are functional, but functionality should be tilted in favor of the user.

So your explanation doesn’t necessarily need to be separate from your headline and subheadline, instead of thinking of your explanation as a standalone element, consider it more of a goal that your page needs to accomplish.

Taken in isolation, each of the elements on your landing page might not explain your product or service. But if, as a composite, they create a clear picture, your page accomplishes what it needs to do.

That’s why for most landing pages, your best bet is to keep things straightforward. You might want to make your copy “fun” and “unique” — and that’s possible. But your top priority should always be clarity.


5. Methods of Contact

Is your business legit?

Then make that clear on your landing page.

Some of the most persuasive landing pages that I’ve visited have multiple methods of contact, including a phone number, a physical address, an email address, and a contact form.

Some even have popups where a customer service representative asks me if they can be of help.

These go a long way to help strengthen my trust in the company and to eliminate any friction in the conversion funnel.

Here’s what to keep in mind as you add contact information to your landing page:

  • At the most basic level, provide some assurance that you are a real company. Usually, this involves a physical address and a phone number.
  • Live chats featured in a popup can be helpful, but not a must-have. Using live chat is somewhat controversial. If you insist on using one, do your homework, and make sure you have some convincing reasons for keeping it there.


6. A Guarantee

Customers love guarantees. A guarantee, regardless of what it is or how it’s presented, can help people feel reassured while on your landing page.

Simply the word itself improves the likelihood of a conversion.

Here’s what to keep in mind as you create one for your landing page:

  • Guarantees can take many forms. Choose a type of guarantee that works for your business type, and state this guarantee on your landing page.
  • In the absence of any explicit product guarantee (e.g., satisfaction, money back, etc.), you can provide a different type of guarantee: e.g., “100% No Spam Guarantee.”
  • Position your guarantee statement close to the CTA. This proximity will help the potential customer receive a final bit of assurance, and be ready to convert.

As you write your guarantee, you don’t necessarily need to delve into the legalities of it. Just say it. The point is that you have a guarantee, and the customer knows it.


7. A Powerful Call to Action

To create a high converting landing page, this is the most important element of all: the call to action.

No element listed in this article is as important as your call to action. After all, this is the element that the rest of the content on the page is designed to drive visitors’ attention to.

It’s what ultimately converts visitors into customers.

So With That in Mind, Here Are a Few CTA Must-Haves

Make it big. Generally speaking, the bigger, the better.

Make your copy compelling. The actual CTA copy is the most significant copy on your entire landing page. Don’t use the word “submit.” Instead, use something explosive, exciting, and persuasive.

Use a button. People have been trained to expect the CTA to be a button. Do not attempt to force back years of expectation by using something other than a button. Stick with the tried and true. People know what to do when they see a button.

Use a contrasting color. Your landing page, your company, your stylebook, and your designers all have certain colors that they like. Your landing page has a color scheme.

Now, whatever color you use on your CTA, make it different. At the most basic level, your CTA needs to possess color. And, to make it stand out, that color needs to contrast from the other colors on the screen. Contrasting colors help to attract the eye and compel the click.

Bonus points if you can incorporate graphics that draw the eye to your CTA!


Conclusion

A high converting landing page is a place where all your efforts come to fruition. This is the place where customers click, people buy, and you earn revenue.

Fortunately, creating a powerful and high-converting landing page isn’t rocket science.