In the modern world, people frequently buy things on the Internet. This is no longer a technological miracle: the benefits of online shopping are well appreciated and highly acclaimed by the general public to the extent that customers are inclined to choose this method of acquiring good over all other options.
There are dozens of ways to sell something on the Internet, and the tactics are in abundance as well, but one of the main tools that helps promote goods is definitely a landing page. Unfortunately, sometimes this wonderful tool brings in so few sales that it is not always possible to recapture the funds invested in its making — in this case, net profit is completely out of the question. Such landings do not convince anyone to do anything, nor do they impel a potential buyer to make a purchase.
In this article, we'll teach you to make up landing pages, show you a few tricks, and give you a brief analysis of what should and should not be on your landing pages. Ready, set... Go!
What Is a Landing Page
Two different things get easily confused: landing and pre-landing pages. Time to strip out of the ignorance imposed on us by intricate articles.
A landing page is an offer page with a call to action. It demonstrates the values of the products, enumerates their benefits, provides evidence, namely, facts, numbers, research findings, graphs, charts, videos, etc. In short: BUY THE PRODUCT. You'll be happy, here's why.
Pre-landing is a tool of influence. It can be a success story told by a happy product owner, detailed reviews, or stories of satisfied customers. Pre-landers prepare consumers for the purchase, persuading them to make a positive decision.
So, a feedback form containing a timer and a bonus on a pre-lander page is a mistake you should avoid along with miraculous stories about miraculous products posted on landing pages. We've already spoken about pre-landers (here and here if you're interested), so this time, we focus on landing pages for lead generation.
Conversions
Your landing page should effectively interact with the target audience and convert traffic into leads.
Conversion (CR) is the ratio of users who have completed the target action on the page to all site visitors. In short, a landing page conversion shows what percentage of clicks turn into leads.
For example, 500 customers went from the pre-lander to the page. The target action was performed by 7 users. Here's a formula to calculate the result:
CR = 7/500 * 100% = 1,4%.
1,4% is the conversion rate.
Increasing Conversion, Improving Sales
The formula clarifies this general idea: the more users turn into leads, the higher the conversion rate, the more sales occur on the landing page. To make a long story short, more conversions — more sales.
When tracking conversions, focus on the fact that the return on investment is the most important factor for any advertising campaign. The situation below is no paradox: sometimes your conversion rates go through the roof, and the sales gradually increase, but the campaign is far from being profitable.
Here's an explanation. The centerpiece of your attention is the money you invested in the website and advertising, so you think of the payback. Only after that, you consider future profit. Therefore, we must bring up the ROI indicator (Return on Investment).
ROI = (income - expenses) / expenses * 100%
You should always analyze if there's a return on the money you invest in campaigns, so investigate the weak spots to cut the expenses or reform your approach.
Now, onto a conversion funnel, also known as a sales funnel. A sales funnel is the customer journey that depicts the sales process from awareness to the target action. In this case, there are usually three steps: a landing page, an application or request, and the purchase.
At each subsequent stage, many users get eliminated. So you should analyze and optimize each segment of the funnel to make the entire campaign profitable.
Landing Types
Landing pages are various, and it's easy to get lost. But you can rely on us: we've drawn up an entire encyclopedia of landings.
Product Landing Page
Product landing pages sell goods and services. The purpose of a product landing page is to force the visitor to leave a request or place an order.
Such landing pages usually represent a showcase with a list of products consisting of 10-15 items and a shopping cart. Sometimes they can also promote several products or services at once.
However, product landing pages are designed to sell one product or service in an online store, thus making this particular product a centerpiece of user attention. Then, you can reveal the value and benefits of the item you're promoting by making up a list of advantages, standing out in the chain of competitors. Here you can also formulate your USP, work out possible objections, find selling pictures, videos, reviews, and mention warranty conditions. Usually, such landing pages bring in more conversions than regular showcases or stores.
Subscription Landing Page
Subscription landing pages collect user data, email addresses, or other bits of interest for further mailings. This data creates the base of your potential customers, which will quickly come in handy, as newsletters are extremely effective for promoting goods and services. As a rule, users are curious to know new information and consent to receive it. By the way, if your potential customers understand their benefits, the number of these subscribers will rapidly come galloping up.
There are a few tricks to gain a subscription base quickly.
Make your offer valuable. Offer a checklist, a training plan, a free lesson, a book, a video, an individual blog subscription, a discount, a promotion as a gift;
Create a feeling of limited time, push the user to take action not just by the price of a product or service;
Make the subscription form beautiful, simple, clear, and easy to fill out;
Provide the user with the opportunity to receive content a la carte. Ask the user how many times a week, or a month they want to receive newsletters;
Think the entire thing through and create personalized calls to action with mottos, pictures, videos, or other things your target audience would definitely like; encourage people to order from you, regardless of other offers on the market.
Quiz Landing Pages
Quiz landing pages provide an embedded questionnaire that contains 5-7 questions describing the characteristics and benefits of a product or service. The purpose of such landing pages is to collect applications and orders through game surveys, interactive tests, and quizzes. It's a perfect way to define what the user needs, as answering the questions they talk about their problems, learning more about the product, and playing a game they might later send to their friends. Customers answer one question, get a series of clarifying queries, and then receive a specific product that is destined to solve their problems. This is how you can quickly identify the visitor's problem and offer a solution, protecting the client from unnecessary questions during the call.
After the quiz, people are offered to fill out a feedback form where they can type in their contacts.
Quiz landings can increase your conversion, and with the right approach, this increase can reach 10-12%.
Brand Landing Page
Brand landing pages create a loyal audience, maintain brand awareness, and stimulate consumers to interact with the brand. These pages do not have a specific call to action.
This marketing tool is usually used in large campaigns, but it's also possible to make a small website and promote your personal brand.
Presentation Landing Page
These promo pages gather people together for a free webinar or a conference. The information on such pages is quite terse: the topic, purpose, and brief plan of the event or the project. In a contact form, users are offered to leave their name, e-mail address, and phone number. Such landings are often used during seasonal discount promotions, sales, and fairs.
Landing Page: How to Create
Have you ever seen how many queries are there in Google asking cpa landing page make, cpa landing page build, what is landing page build, how to landing page create, can landing page create free? You don't need to be a mastermind to imagine the situation. So we're saving you some time and giving you clear instructions.
Step 1. Define Your Target Audience
A correctly defined target audience results in high conversion rates, so before you make a website, find out who you are working with, this is a key point.
When determining the target audience, you need to understand:
Any selling landing page is designed for a specific target audience. For example, you do not create a landing page for men in their 40s. You create a landing page for men in their 40s who are also dealing with baldness.
Figure out the problems and pains of your target audience. People don't buy goods and services — they buy solutions to their problems. For example, they do not need an anatomical mattress; they are here for a sound sleep without pain in their spine. It's not a bottle of slimming capsules; it's a figure everybody is jealous of.
To identify the pains and problems of the target audience, you need to investigate:
thematic forums;
thematic blogs and websites;
blog comments, social media, and websites;
competitor websites.
With enough information, you can draw up a portrait of the target audience and make a good website. In this case, it is necessary to determine:
Sex.
Age.
Income level.
Sphere of activity.
Interests.
Pain and problems, find out what worries the client.
Wishes and dreams. What a person wants to get as a result.
Customer objections. His fears, doubts, mistrust, etc.
Sometimes it's reasonable to use spy services to make a highly converting landing page: usually, affiliates resort to Publer, AdSpy, and Adplexity. But mindlessly copying other people's one-pagers is not a good idea: you don't know how successful your competitor's campaign was, so use these tools to find ideas and new solutions. They will help you create your own strategy for the site.
Step 2. Setting the Target Action
Tracking the target actions is compulsory if you want to understand how well your landing page performs. Target actions can be different: filling out an application, placing an order, registering on the site, installing an application, purchasing, subscribing to a newsletter, etc. We create an entire website for their implementation.
This is where we talk about identification, tracking, and analysis of the target action: affiliates do it to understand the behavioral pattern of a consumer, finding out where it usually goes wrong, and if there are weak spots in the entire campaign.
For example, you want people to watch video reviews of your product, learn about its benefits on the first screen of the page, or check out information about fast and reliable shipping. You can set up a tracking tool for all these actions, scatter them among the landing blocks, and then analyze and optimize the process.
Step 3. Making a Mockup
A mockup is a schematic structure of your company's landing page or a visualization of blocks that should be present. You don't necessarily have to do the task yourself: delegate it to your designer!.. And have some rest.
Just kidding, you can't miss this important step, so you should supervise the process: this is when you understand what your landing page will look like, its first screen, where and in what order the logo should appear, where to put the header, and where other individual blocks and parts that make up the LP are located.
The scheme can be drawn on a sheet of paper, in Word, in Adobe Photoshop, or in Figma, an very convenient editor when it comes to visualizing blocks.
A possible structure of a selling landing page:
Title.
Lead paragraph (required on the first screen).
Social proof (reviews.) Blocks of social evidence remove the emerging objection of users. They are usually placed at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the selling text.
A call to action block. It should reappear several times in the text. For the first time, it emerges on the first screen. It is mandatory to place the call to action after the sales block, and in the last block, where you put the BUY button.
User problem.
The solution to the problem. Arguments for solving the problem.
Benefits of problem-solving.
Product presentation.
Main advantages of the product.
Product sale.
Block with discounts, bonuses, and gifts.
Goods limit and time limit.
Warranty policies. Durable and reliable.
Step 4. Writing a Selling Text
A good selling text on a landing page is 50% of success. You can start writing it when the designer has already initiated their work on the site.
Basic requirements for the selling text:
The more user thinks, the quicker they leave. Write simple, concise, and clear texts. Instead of You will achieve financial freedom, use You will earn $1,745 per week.
Use simple and short words in the text.
Use short sentences for better information absorption.
Actively use the 'you' pronoun.
Always indicate your main advantage in the title and make a specific offer. For example,
Selling sites in 48 hours from experts in marketing, web development, and design for $499.
The headline should perform two functions: attract attention and motivate for further reading.
The title should be written in large and bold print.
A headline of several words should be written in capital letters. In long titles, each word should be capitalized.
The lead paragraph should follow the title and tell people about the benefits of the product or service, thus forcing the visitor to read further text blocks on the site.
Persuade the customer with benefits and positive results. For example, your company sells hair products. Tell them about the thick, long, and healthy hair the client will receive. Show hair, not a bottle of liquid.
Clearly state the benefits of the product. Don't confuse benefits and features. For example, the advantage of an anatomical pillow is sound sleep without neck pain, but the weight of the pillow is a function. Benefits make people buy. They bring value and remove the problems of the consumer.
Create your unique selling proposition. Set yourself apart from your competitors and stand out from the crowd.
Provide irrefutable and convincing evidence of the value of the product or service. Once people understand the product's value, they are more likely to spend money on the product. Here's what you can use:
Authoritative expert opinion (a doctor, a nutritionist.)
A celebrity image: actor, singer, blogger, politician, public figure. Any famous person using the product.
Reviews, comments.
Surveys, videos.
Statistics: facts, figures, research findings, reports, quotes, graphs, and charts that support textual information.
Write a clear call to action. Make the buying process as simple as possible.
Button texts should include:
Place the order easily
Fast delivery
Don't be shy and mention these advantages.
Accept as many types of payments as possible. Contacting and paying should be easy!
Offer a bonus from your team, a gift to the first few buyers. It all depends on what needs your target audience has.
Offer multiple paid shipping options or free shipping if possible.
Create the appearance of a shortage and limited time. Make a potential client of your company choose the site, and leave their data right here and now.
Step 5. Creating the Page Design
Design is crucial. Of course, it's better to entrust the process to a professional, but if you're a beginner making the first steps, here are a few basic rules for creating site elements:
Fonts. Any font has a meaning. For example, you can't advertise lace lingerie with a headline written in a masculine Cooper Black font.
For a better understanding, use Arial or Verdana fonts with a height of 12 or more points.
Use the minimum number of different fonts in different blocks. One or two would do, but if you need another one, three is where you should stop.
Studies have shown that users don't like reading serif fonts. Save Times New Roman and Courier New for printed ads.
Images. Use good-quality pictures only, as images directly affect the degree of customer response and conversion. Not infrequently, good pictures work with the same brilliance as selling texts. Don't make them wider than the standard scroll screen.
These are the image that will do the selling.
Product image. Clients of different companies often make decisions “with their eyes”.
Result image. Show a positive result to the client. For example, you sell a fish activator. Choose a picture with a happy fisherman.
Customer pain point image.
Product in action image.
Advantage visualization image.
Before/After image.
Color. The color scheme plays a significant part in the user experience. Colors can evoke certain emotions and influence them. So,
red color: activity, action;
green: calm;
orange: increases efficiency;
yellow: promotes creativity;
blue: helps to focus.
Consider the basic rules for using color in advertising:
Use no more than three primary colors.
Do not write in white letters on a black background: this text is harder to read. White and yellow are the most successful background colors in terms of reading comfort.
Use black and dark blue for the font.
Color preferences may change with age. Children prefer red; they grow older and pick yellow, then switch to green, and finally reach the blue spectrum. Is there a scientific explanation for the phenomenon? Yes, there is! A child's pupil can absorb only 10% of blue light, and an older person ─ 85%. One theory claims it's a natural way to protect the eye from painfully bright light.
Step 6. Testing Your Landing Page
You look at your newly established landing page and exclaim that this is the most perfect and successful website the Internet has ever produced, but hold your horses: everything needs to be tested. No matter how much you cherish the rules and stick to them throughout the process, do the tracking, do the testing. Mandatory, compulsory, necessary. Release the Kraken... Google Analytics, rather.
These are the aspects that should be tracked:
Rejects. The percentage of visits in which users were on the site for less than 15 seconds and left without taking any tracked action.
Watch time. The time spent on the site. You can analyze which blocks customers linger and what they ignore.
% conversions. We've already mentioned it somewhere above, but it feels right to remind you that ROI should be calculated too.
After tracking and testing, you need to analyze the results and optimize the sales funnel on the page.
3 Ways to Set Up Your Landing Page
We've just found out how to get more leads with a landing page, but there are still questions: can I create landing pages for free? Are there any other options? Do I always need a team of designers, programmers, and copywriters for that?
Let's see.
Templates
On the Internet, you can discover tons of ready-made templates for specific content management systems (CMS) and templates for HTML/CSS/js without a content management system. Some may become your basis.
Templates for a ready-made CMS are perfect for those who know nothing about coding and web development. This is what you can do using them:
quickly create a website that meets your requirements and expectations.
make the necessary adjustments, and change the content via the administrative panel.
save time on e and budget: you will buy a domain and connect hosting.
Most popular CMS systems:
WordPress,
Joomla,
OpenCart,
and Drupal.
Landing Page Builders
Yes, you can quickly make a landing page in an online builder. They operate on a fee-paying basis, and the prices differ depending on the conditions. However, you can find a great opportunity: online builders and programs.
Each has its own set of functions, but both options have wonderful support services ready to answer any question of yours.
Popular platforms:
WIX;
Weebly;
uKit (uCoz);
Google Sites;
Webnode;
Jimdo;
Tilda;
Webflow.
From Scratch
Creating a website from scratch is a long and tricky process if you don't have the skill or experience in development: it requires knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and even more. But if you have a lot of time to spare and a lot of eagerness to study, go for it! Those who cannot brag about having these qualities can resort to online builders.
Points of Significance
This entire article may come in handy if you're planning to set up your first-ever landing page, but there are still a few key points we may have overlooked. Time to dwell on them a little more!
Speed
Landing page loading speed is of paramount importance. No one will wait for your page to upload if the site or individual elements take more than 3 seconds. As Forbes once said, 53% of people abandon websites if they take longer than three seconds to load.
Thus, low speed can ruin the conversion even for a good landing page.
Checking Your Speed
The Internet is abrim with engineering and programming solutions. You're perfectly capable of finding the option to your liking but we'd like to direct you.
First, PageSpeed Insights. It can analyze the content and give recommendations for further improvement.
The second tool we'd like to mention here is Cloudflare. Its main advantage is that it's free, but the functionality will astonish even the most scrupulous affiliates.
Adaptability
Check if your site looks good on all devices, as people log in from PC, smartphones, and tablets. Do not ignore mobile traffic in Google: its share continues to grow.
This is what you should do to keep mobile traffic:
Adjust everything to mobile devices. The site is expected to open in all browsers and adapt to the user's screen size.
Create a mobile version of your site with a separate address. Such sites are displayed only on mobile devices and load faster than adaptive ones.
WordPress Warning
WordPress templates are so exceedingly popular that they're used far out of the affiliate industry. Creators promise a sky-high conversion, but they rarely, if ever, mention one critical bit of information.
Sites built on WordPress often get hacked. Reason? Widespread use. Millions of affiliates work with this engine, paying little attention to access security issues.
WordPress sites' performance decreases due to an enormous number of plugins: at some point, the server can't load things properly, and everything goes up in flames. Metaphorically or not.
Problems may occur during the CMS update process; free plugins stop working due to version mismatches, so if there's a need to update something, do it manually.
Mistakes Were Made
None of us is perfect, the same about landing pages. Let's find out what mistakes can drop your conversion rates to avoid this blunders forever.
Corny/Hackneyed/Commonplace Design
Does template design affect conversion? Yes, it does. The unique design guarantees a better conversion rate and a higher position in the search.
Even if you bought a template, you're obviously not the only one who did so: thousands more users may have done the same.
Then, templates get created for a wide audience. Your business may not fit into the average framework of the template. Adjust it to your requirements and make it perfect.
USP Failed
Formulate a unique selling proposition! That has been mentioned several times in this article alone. You must stand out from the crowd of the same goods and services, presenting yourself in such an attractive way that people always choose you.
But how do you stand out from the crowd?
- Create your own system and methodology.
- Position yourself as an expert.
- Speak about the product in an unusual way, and do something no one has yet done.
- Create an intriguing bait, change the angle, and describe the product from an unexpected perspective.
Define Your Call to Action
The call to action button should be clearly visible: make it BIG, paint it BRIGHT. Scatter your call to action links all over the site.
The button is usually placed after the lead paragraph, but it is also needed after the social proof blocks and after the sale block. And yes, definitely: at the end of the landing!
Cut the Info
Too much information is equally bad as too little information. Set a clear goal: arouse interest, convince, influence, and push to action. No need to write another Ulysses on your landing page.
Target Audience on Point
Make sure you understand what your target audience wants and who it consists of because one error here can become critical and wipe out any benefit. As you already know, you can't give a product to someone who doesn't need it, so find the right spot to hit.
Enhancing Credibility
No one wants to say goodbye to their money. It takes a little convincing and coaxing to push people to exchange their bucks for your product. So, credibility tactics are as follows:
Post real reviews sent by real people with real account addresses and photos.
Find the contact details of the company you are promoting: addresses, numbers, locations, directions, etc.
Say yes to licenses and certificates on your site.
The warranty policy works flawlessly. Yes, long-term and reliable.
Wrapping Up
Actually, there's not much to say: the secret of a landing page can be folded up in one simple formula: Convince. Influence. Push to action.
To make your potential buyer reach the call to action button and click on it, you will have to work hard on the selling text and selling pictures, on the design, menu, and optimal structure. It's just the beginning because there are technicalities, too: the launching process, hiring, CRM connection, and many other aspects to follow.
May your landing page be successful!
