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Hi and welcome to our weekly newsletter, which aims to share our knowledge at Bigfork in creating successful websites. If you haven’t already subscribed to the Web Insights newsletter then please click the ‘Join the Conversation’ button at the end. How to create a successful landing page. A great landing page can make the difference between a potential customer converting to a lead or bouncing away. If you want to know how to create an effective, easy-to-navigate page that takes users where they need to go, you’re in the right place. We’ll cover the basics of what makes up a solid landing page, that ensures your content gets seen—and understood—by the people who land there. What is a landing page? A landing page is a single web page that is optimised to convert visitors into leads and customers. These might be pages that people find in search engines, or you might direct them from a paid ad or offline promotion. There are two main types of landing page: Natural landing pages Your website may have “natural” landing pages such as product pages on an ecommerce website, or “services” pages on a professional service website. Every website has at least one natural landing page, which is the home page. You should treat these natural landing pages as such and make sure you follow the tips below when creating them. Curated landing pages Curated landing pages are designed specifically as landing pages that are extra to your core website content. A curated page might be based on something very specific that you’re promoting through Google Ads, or a promotion with a unique design that forms part of a social campaign. The main difference is that natural pages are already in your website to solve an existing need, you just need to identify and optimise them. Curated pages are for a need you’ve identified but need to be created especially for that purpose. Think about what you want your landing page to do The first step in creating a successful landing page is to define its purpose. What are you trying to achieve with it? What is the goal of this page, and how does it fit into the overall strategy of your website?

• Are you trying to direct someone to another page on your website
• Do you want to capture their email address to send newsletters,
• Maybe you want them to buy a product online.

Answering these questions will help you determine what content should be included on your landing page, as well as how best to convey that information Create great content Writing great content is one of the most important parts of a landing page—without it, you won’t have a compelling reason for your visitors to act. Focus on benefits, not features. A benefit is what your product or service does for the customer; a feature is how it works. When you write about benefits, people will be more likely to notice that you understand their problems and have solutions.

Remember: People don’t buy drills, they buy holes.

Use persuasive words and phrases in your headlines and body copy, make sure you “sell”, and don’t just “tell”. And remember content goes beyond words – images and video are content too. These should be high quality and relevant to make your landing page impactful. Use a powerful call to action Your call-to-action (CTA) is the button or link that your visitors click to continue their journey. It’s a critical part of a landing page, so make sure you choose wisely. CTAs need to be clear and unambiguous They should be written so that the user knows exactly what action they need to take on your site. If you want them to sign up for your email newsletter, say it – “Sign up for our email newsletter”. Use a button that stands out on your page design Visual tricks such as 3D borders, icons and contrasting colours will help. If it doesn’t stand out enough, users can easily miss it. Make sure it’s easy to find The worst thing that can happen with CTAs is having them hidden away or obscured by clutter. That’s why it’s important that CTAs are placed in locations where users will naturally look. Add trust indicators to your landing page Quite often a landing page is the first point of contact a potential customer will have with your business and one of the best ways to build trust quickly is through the use of trust indicators. A trust indicator can be a logo, an endorsement, or simply testimonials from customers that have been impressed by your product or service. Ensure the design and look is consistent with your branding It’s important that your landing page is consistent with the rest of your website and brand, otherwise it can feel forced. Keep landing pages relevant to what you are promoting. The goal is for people to focus on what you’re saying and not get distracted by lots of things going on in the background. Test your landing pages to maximise conversions After you’ve created your landing page, it’s important to test and keep testing. You should continually monitor your landing pages for any conversions problems or issues that need to be addressed, including:

• People leaving the page too quickly.
• Visitors not clicking on the calls to action.
• Users leaving the site without taking any action (like downloading a document or watching a video).

You can use Google Analytics, heat maps and A/B testing to measure how people interact with your website’s landing pages, so you can adjust accordingly. If your website has natural landing pages, all the above still applies. You can always improve product descriptions, add more / better images, a clearer “Buy now” button. It is safe to say that landing pages are one of the best ways to increase your conversion rates and make your website more successful. They allow you to customise your message for a specific audience, while also providing them with a streamlined process where they can complete any type of action without having to navigate away from the page. Getting started If you’re unsure where to start with landing pages, try your home page first. Home pages can always benefit from being optimised, for most websites you can do this by making it clear:

• Who you are
• What you offer
• What the customer should do next

Make sure you add tracking to your calls to action so you can see if they’re working. For other landing pages, look at your site and see if you have natural landing pages. Or review your website objectives to see if you should be creating curated landing pages to help your website achieve these. Or if you’re stuck, feel free to ask us about landing pages or anything else, we’ll be happy to help Mark Ellaway, Bigfork PS – You can find more great successful website insights on the Bigfork website Images provided by Bigfork