Do you want to make sure that your online marketing campaign is successful? Do you ever feel like you’ve put a lot of money, time and effort into an online marketing campaign and the results have been more than disappointing?

 It might be because you’re sending people to the wrong landing page. Don’t worry, this also happens with a lot of my consulting clients. During the weekly coaching calls that I have with my clients I noticed a lot of them have the same problem… they don’t have a good enough landing page for their products. Luckily for you, I have a simple solution that you can implement right away. But first, you need to know why landing pages are so important…

What is a landing page?

As the name suggests, a landing page is the web page where an internet user is sent from a search engine, an email newsletter, a social media platform. It is the page where a user “lands” following a search.

But landing pages are more than simple pages.

When you create a landing page for your website, you have to have your end goal in mind: “Why am I creating this landing page? What do I want it to get me: sales, clicks or subscribers?”

Perhaps your online marketing campaign ate more money than it brought you because you didn’t know your goals. Mathematically… Traffic on Landing Page => Action

Why can faulty landing pages ruin your online marketing campaigns?

Whenever you’re creating a landing page, you will probably invest some money to promote it online. And you don’t want that money to go out the window; you want to make a profit of that investment.

 Now, think about how disappointed you would be if you started your online marketing campaign and, after putting a pile of money in Google Ads, you’d conclude it brought you zero profit. Or even worse, it brought you no money at all. So many people forget to include the basic elements  of a perfect landing page…

What are the best landing pages ‘made of’?

Landing pages are easy to ‘craft’ once you know their must-haves. These pages are composed of definable elements that must be included in every single landing page that you will ever create.

 While you can play with the page’s layout, ALWAYS make sure that these elements are there:

1. The main headline

Make it eye catching, interesting, attractive. Its purpose is to convince people to read the rest of the copy. Offer readers an instant benefit, a promise, identify a pain point, etc.

2. A Photograph

Include an image of your product or a representation of your service. Alternatively, you can include a short introductory video about your product/service.

3. Data collection

That’s the optin box, the place where people leave their name and email address to get access to the information you are giving them. You can also use the optin box to get them to subscribe to an upcoming event (such as a webinar, for example).

4. Call to Action

Located underneath the optin box, it is usually a button with an imperative message such as “sign up now”, or “Yes, give me instant access to this amazing product now!”, or something similar. The CTAs aim is to convince people to take action by reducing friction (the message reiterates an assurance of privacy, instant gratification, etc).

5. Second Call to Action

Use it to make sure people will not leave the landing page without taking action. The copy should be focused on a different benefit than the first CTA. For example, if in the first CTA you promised instant gratification, in the second CTA you can remind them that the offer is limited.

 So these are the things that cannot, cannot miss from your landing page. Additionally, here are some secondary elements that you can add to your page:

6. Client reviews and testimonials

7. Video of product or service

8. Social Proof

9. More Copy (to further convince readers to take action)

 

Create your own landing page right now

I created a landing page pattern that you can use as guidance when creating your landing page. While I need you to remember that the pattern is purely orientative, you can use it per se.

 

Alternatively, I always recommend running A/B tests with regards to the layout. (e.g.: you can change the position of the Product Photograph or the Call to Action to see if it brings you more conversions)

Tip: For best results, make sure that the Headline, Call to Action and Optin Box are above the fold. Tip 2: Different sites will require different colors to be efficient. So depending on your landing page & business activity, choose the colors that go best with your “theme”:

• YELLOW – used to grab people’s attention; usually in the CTA and submit buttons
• RED – implies urgency; also used for food websites
• BLUE – a corporate color, it is most often used by banks and B2B; gives the feeling of trust
• GREEN – related to wealth and health; it is most often used by insurance companies or finance websites, but can also be used by environmentally-friendly organisations or organic products websites
• ORANGE – most often used for Calls to Action
• PINK – femininity, it gives a romantic feeling; can be used by businesses whose target audience are women and girls
• PURPLE – again, this color “speaks” to women; it is most often used to sell beauty products or anti-aging products; can also be used for fitness websites, even though it is usually regarded as a soothing, calming color
• BLACK – this is a very powerful color that cannot be used by any business; it is luxurious and sophisticated, usually used to promote and sell very expensive, state-of-the-art products (e.g. expensive watches, jewellery, etc.)

Bonus Tip: Whatever your copy, make sure it has impeccable grammar. A small grammar mistake will shout out “non-professional!!” from the bottom of your landing page’s lungs. You don’t want that with your landing page…

Now it’s your turn…

• Do you already have a landing page on your website? How well does it convert?
• Are you using a different landing page layout than the one presented in this article? How did you decide upon that particular layout? Why?
• Have you invested in ads and online campaigns without having an effective landing page?
• Do you have a friend who could benefit from this information? Don’t hesitate to share this article with them!