When constructing a landing page, SEO experts in Sydney and elsewhere advise paying careful attention to design best practices. Not only does this help with better ranking in search engines, but also improves conversions when visitors land on the website.
Visitors should know what you’re trying to communicate within five seconds of viewing your landing page or they will most likely leave. Most people believe aesthetics are the easy part of creating a landing page when in reality, a poorly designed page has been known to kill conversion rates.
Here are some best practices web marketing agencies in Sydney and elsewhere recommend when designing a landing page:
Use relevant images and videos to explain your offer
High-quality images or video should clearly communicate the benefits of an offer being made on the landing page.
Images and videos should have a specific purpose, rather than just filling space. It lets potential customers place themselves in the scenario you are creating.
For example, a holiday cruise company showing images and videos of passengers enjoying themselves will make it easy for viewers to imagine the kind of experience they can expect when they sign up for a cruise. It evokes a powerful emotion than describing the experience which can be had by writing about it.
Make Your Page Look Welcoming
Make your landing page look welcoming to visitors. Images of people can make your page more warm and personal, and your potential leads more comfortable on your page.
Studies have shown people act out their feelings and a smiling face puts them in an optimistic mood which can have a positive impact on conversion. Highlight the areas you want your visitors to read with contrasting colours and white space. People are wired to be naturally attracted to contrasting colours.
For example, a bright orange button on a dark blue background is a striking contrast and will instantly draw the eyes of your website visitor. Highlight sections of your page which you want to be seen. With contrasting colours, it’s easier for potential leads to digest the information and increase the chances of their opting in to receive your offer.
Use Headlines and Subheadings
Most visitors to your landing page will skim through the page to see if anything particular catches their interest, so it’s important to lay out your content in a way that makes it easy to consume.
A main headline and subheadings used throughout the page are crucial to hook in potential leads. To explain additional benefits or selling points use bold headings which attract attention.
Break Information Down Into Digestible Segments
With small sections and large headings, it will be easier for people to skim the information and really digest what you’re communicating. Near the bottom of the page, you should also have a bold statement that reaffirms your value proposition.
Briefly summarise what you have to offer and back up claims with testimonials which are a strong proof element. You can also use proof in the form of industry statistics and data based on research conducted by recognised institutions.
Conclude your landing page with a convincing call-to-action. This is your last chance to convince potential leads that they need your offer. Make it clear and simple, so people can understand what your offer is.
Use a Prominent Call-to-Action (CTA) Button
Your CTA button is ultimately the most important feature of your landing page. The goal is to get people to see that button so they take action on your page.
The effectiveness and your CTA button can be instantly changed with an eye-catching design or a great place on your page. Use bold font for the text and make the button quite large. The more specific and clear you are with the text in your button, the higher the conversion rates will be.
Your first CTA button should be positioned above-the-fold so if someone visits your page they’ll see it right away instead of having to scroll down.
While there’s no fixed rule as to how many times the CTA button should appear on the landing page, web marketing agencies and elsewhere recommend that it appear at least twice on a landing page, if not three times.
Make Your Benefits Clear
Potential leads need to know that your product offering meets their needs. Present your benefits in a clear and simple way that makes them curious for more information. It’s best to present these benefits using bullet points.
Visitors to your website have different needs, and it’s hard to know which benefit will get them to take action. Benefits presented as bullet points allows potential leads to easily skim through and see what it is about your product or service that appeals to them specifically.
Remove Navigation Bars and Other Distractions
When creating a landing page the goal is to provide potential leads with an easy path to conversion.
To achieve this goal potential leads should only have one single action to take; this means removing any navigation bars, footers or external links that drive attention away from your CTA. Having multiple things on your page for leads to click on is a huge distraction from your CTA and your main goal.
Get rid of any other distractions and keep visitors focused on the singular message and the call-to-action.
Design Short Lead Capture Forms
For a prospect visiting your page there is nothing more frustrating are daunting than a huge over complicated lead capture form.
To prevent a high bounce rate, ensure the lead capture forms require minimum information to be filled out. The name and email fields should be sufficient in most instances. A phone number is appropriate if the offer is for a phone consultation.
When thinking of designing a lead capture form you want to make it easy for people to enter their details. If not, they’ll be sure to jump off your page before converting.
These are some of the guidelines used by SEO experts in Sydney and elsewhere follow to design high-converting landing pages. Landing page design is as important, if not more important, than the actual content on your page itself. Potential leads need to be able to easily absorb the information and understand the message you’re trying to convey in order for them to take action on your offers.