Conversion optimization is as important as SEO and knowing how to optimize your landing pages for conversions can make a huge difference when evaluating your website’s success.
The ultimate purpose of any website is to generate conversions. A conversion can be the sale of a product or service, the generation of a lead, the click on an ad or simply the registration to an email list.
While the actual design of a landing page can vary depending on the purpose, there are some best practices to follow to make sure that you’re landing pages’ convert.
What is a landing page?
The first thing that you need to understand is what are landing pages and how they differ from the other pages of your website.
Landing pages serve a specific purpose, they are designed and structured in such a way to lead users execute a specific action. Although they are called ‘landing pages’, these are not necessarily the first page’s users will see when they visit a website.
Usually, when people visit a website organically (i.e. searching something on Google and clicking on a link from the SERPS), they land on a blog page or the home page but when they visit by clicking an ad they usually land on a specific landing page that matches the ad copy.
When to use dedicated landing pages?
When the sole purpose of your website or blog is to get people register to your newsletter then you don’t need a dedicated landing page; a newsletter sign-up box or an exit popup can do the job very well.
In cases though that you want uses to carry out a more ‘complicated’ action like buying a product or service then you needs a dedicated landing page. Through a landing page you have a final opportunity to convince users and make them convert.
With that being said, your goal in all the other pages of your website should be to funnel users to your landing page(s). So, your blog posts or home page is the medium to get more visits and your landing page the place to make more conversions.
Anatomy of a perfect landing page
A good landing page has the following characteristics:
It promotes a single product or service
The information on a landing page should be very specific to the product or service it represents. You should not confuse users by giving them more information than they need in order to make a decision as to whether they should convert or not.
Has all the important information above the fold
All important messages, call-to-action buttons and other ‘decision-making’ information should be visible without the user having to scroll down the page.
It loads super fast
If there is a page on your website that you want to optimize for speed, this is your landing page. There is a direct correlation between loading speed and conversions and since this is something you can control; you need to make sure that the page loads as fast as possible.
Use a strong call to action message
A converting landing page has a clear ‘call-to-action’ message. Users need to know exactly what to do next to complete the process. Do not confuse them with a lot of options or buttons that are not related to a conversion.
Clear ‘call-to-action’ buttons
If you want users to buy a product make sure that you have buttons with the words ‘Buy Now’. If you want them to register to a service, then use the words ‘Register here’. Make it specific and not generic.
Source: Reliable Soft
