Landing pages are an important part of successful online marketing strategies. In addition, you promote your products and services. Companies use landing pages to get more customers, sales, contacts or bookings. The focus is on attracting leads or generating sales.
A landing page is a microsite, i.e. a single subpage of a website that is advertised via marketing channels. The site avoids distraction and focuses on a concrete goal of action.
For this purpose, the scarce content of the page usually addresses a specific target group and offers it a solution for a specific need or an exciting product. You can read the success of a landing page at the conversion rate – the percentage of users who carry out the offered action. Rule of thumb: The higher the conversion rate, the more successful the landing page is.
What do you need a landing page for?
Landing pages can be precisely tailored to the addressees of your campaigns and advertised more specifically than a classic website. The marketing opportunities are great. Create an entry page for example for:
- digital campaigns, Google Ads, newsletters, social media promotions;
- Banners and links on your own homepage;
- SEO and SEM;
- affiliate links;
- Offline advertising using QR codes and URLs in brochures, flyers, print mail and on business cards as well as poster advertising.
You can build a separate lead generation campaign landing page for each project and audience. Google itself explains that optimized landing pages are a prerequisite for well-running Google Ads. The structure and content of the page are decisive for the effect of your entry page. The following 10 tips for an optimal landing page should support you in planning and implementing a successful landing page.
- Tip 1: Define the goal of your landing page
- Tip 2: This belongs on a landing page
- Tip 3: This doesn’t belong on a landing page
- Tip 4: Use a clear layout
- Tip 5: Pay attention to a stringent customer journey
- Tip 6: Call-to-actions: How to generate leads
- Tip 7: Catch dropouts
- Tip 8: Track your landing page
- Tip 9: Stay true to your communication
- Tip 10: Ensure success with the landing page
Tip 1: Define the goal of your landing page
The answer to the question “What do we want to achieve?” is the first step on the way to a successful landing page. What business goal are you pursuing with the site? And who is your target group? For example, would you like to make your company or a product better known? Have you developed an innovative process for which you are looking for a partner or licensee? Do you host webcasts, webinars or workshops? Want click-throughs to product pages? The better you know your potential customers, the better you can tailor the landing page.
Once the goal is set, set a strategy. It consists of a specific benefit or solution. What do you want and can you offer the clicking user? Provide the answer to his need. For example, an e-book with tips on hygiene measures in the workplace, a special offer on a transport vehicle or a seminar on workplace digitization.
The message is: This information or this offer is only available here and now. Users should immediately realize that if they don’t click, they’re missing out.
Tip 2: This belongs on a landing page
There is no prescribed structure for landing pages. Your content and interaction options should match the visitor’s intention. According to statistics, you only have ten seconds to convince users of your message. Good landing pages are therefore monothematic, clear and easy to understand. The following elements have proven themselves:
- a short, meaningful and speaking headline;
- a top notch hero shot;
- the core statement in short form as an introduction;
- Call to Actions.
Options:
- features and services,
- appealing images,
- Trust indicators to build trust: testimonials, social proof and customer reviews,
- Seals of quality, awards and certificates (also create trust).
Tip 3: This doesn’t belong on a landing page
Avoid distractions and focus on a single goal. Leave out anything that might distract the visitor from the desired action. Unlike your company’s homepage, you don’t give the user the opportunity to click around on your site. Therefore, do without the usual navigation and all non-targeted page elements. This includes, for example, banners, information elements, cross-links and newsletter offers.
Tip 4: Use a clear layout
Make sure the important info is at the top of the page. So place the core content and call-to-action above the fold. This means the section of the page that visitors can see immediately without having to scroll.
Make sure the landing page has a responsive design. Prioritize compatibility with the displays your audience prefers to use. Avoid elements that may not display correctly on mobile devices.
Tip 5: Pay attention to a stringent customer journey
Keep the content promise of the advertising medium. Ensure message match: To do this, the heading of your landing page must match the ad text or link that led the visitor to the destination. This increases the likelihood that users will continue with the invitation to act.
Tip 6: Call-to-actions: How to generate leads
A crystal-clear call-to-action ultimately turns visitors into leads. The call-to-action (CTA) is the most important element on the page and must create a unique selling point. It is the direct and personal request to perform a specific action.
So make sure the CTA is easy to see. Make it stand out visually so that it stands out and catches the eye at first glance. To do this, it must be visually distinct from the rest of the page: The call to action should consist of a short text in the form of a central button or link. A CTA box with a headline, action text and a button or input form is also common.
If your entry page shows several buttons and links for good reason, the CTA link must be the most prominent. With the CTA, you tell the potential lead what to do:
- Formulate the action actively.
- There is only one instruction for action in the CTA.
- Make it as easy as possible for the user.
- Use clear language.
- State what needs to be done: click the button, leave an email address…
- Create a personal connection.
- Work with a social proof (“do like and sign up”).
- Make the CTA as brief as possible.
- Ask for as little data as possible to keep the abandonment rate low.
If you need the e-mail address or telephone number, you can combine the input with the sending of a link. A field for the e-mail address in combination with a send or download button is then sufficient as a CTA. The recipient confirms the address via a link in the email. This then starts the download of a free e-book or white paper, software or the playback of a video or podcast.
With a good CTA, you reach out, hold, and guide the viewer. We recommend repeating the CTA as a link in the body text.
Tip 7: Catch dropouts
Don’t just let your visitors go! Dropouts are common, even with successful landing pages. Users look at information, often even make entries in forms, but then leave the page. Therefore, offer your visitors supplements to the CTA. Depending on the campaign, the possibilities for this include, for example;
- an automatic reminder by email or text message;
- Links to further information (agenda, daily program);
- the sending of an information package by e-mail or post;
- the immediate answering of questions in live chat;
- contact in case of queries;
- requesting a callback.
Tip 8: Track your landing page
Record access to your entry page, e.g. with Google Analytics or another web analysis tool. This includes the read status (page fully scrolled) and of course the CTA clicks. Also track the duration between calling the page and executing the action. This allows you to determine important data on the read and conversion rate – and thus the success of your marketing campaign. With the statistics, you can react early and adjust the landing page if there are no clicks.
Tip 9: Stay true to your communication
Whether users are on your homepage, landing page, social media, or receive an email from you, the communication should be consistent. Pursue holistic brand communication – that means the common thread should always be recognizable.
Tip 10: Ensure success with the landing page
It’s not that easy to create successful landing pages. Especially when time and manpower are scarce, external support can help to implement your own ideas in a targeted manner. Are you planning to optimize your online advertising but don’t know exactly how to design the landing page? Our certified Google Ads experts support you in the implementation of campaigns with landing pages that generate a high conversion rate.
