Best Practices: Landing pages

The landing page is the final step in converting a visitor to a lead.  It starts with a valuable offer and must have a form to collect visitor information.  These 10 tips will help you optimize your landing pages to generate qualified leads.

1)  Explain Value of the Offer

The landing page must clearly explain the benefits of receiving the offer in exchange for their contact information.  The content must answer the question: “what’s in it for me?”

2)  Consistent Headers and Call to Action

Headers should clearly explain the offer and be consistent with the call to action visitors clicked on to reach the landing page.  The headers should start with an action verb like “learn” or “download”.

3)  5 Second Rule

In less than 5 seconds, visitors to your landing page should be able to understand what the offer is, the value of the offer and what they need to do to get the offer.  Make it easy for the visitor to scan the information by using 3 to 5 bullet points.

4)  Create a Short Form

Short forms are always better than long forms to make it easier for a website visitor to become a lead. Only ask for the information that will help you or your sales team follow up with or qualify the lead.

5)  Place Content Above the Fold

The content and form on the landing page should always be visible above the page’s fold.  Testing has proven you will see a higher conversion rate if visitors do not have to scroll down to see the form.

6)  Go Naked

Remove menu navigation and links that could distract the visitor from filling out the form or provides an easy means to escape.  The only action you want the visitor to take is to fill out the form and become a lead.

7)  Include Attractive Images

Including a relevant, interesting image on the landing page will help your visitors visualize the offer. For example, you can use an image of the cover of an eBook or Whitepaper, first slide of a webinar presentation, or screenshot of free-trial software.

8)  Redirect to a Thank You Page

After someone completes the form on your landing page, redirect them to a thank you page.  This is a perfect opportunity to try to upsell the lead on another offer of to just let them know that you will be in touch with them.

9) Test, Test, Test

Test your landing page to see what works well with your audience.

10) Optimize your Landing Page for Mobile Devices

How many times have you received an email or clicked to a landing page from your mobile device and were immediately turned off because of the obvious incompatibility of the communication?  Make sure that doesn’t happen to your important message by

Ensuring your landing page is optimized for all devices.