9 Steps to Create a Landing Page that Converts

As a small business, one of your top priorities should be building a list full of qualified leads that will hopefully convert to lifelong customers. One way of doing this is by making sure your website landing pages are optimized for conversion. So let’s look at how to create a landing page that converts! 

What are Landing Pages?

Technically speaking, a landing page can be any webpage where your online traffic lands. However, a landing page is most often considered a stand-alone or static page that serves one purpose: getting traffic converted into leads or sales.

You may hear people referring to landing pages as “lead capture pages” or “squeeze pages.” But, regardless of what you call them, every small business looking to fill its sales funnel needs them. And more importantly, they need them to convert visitors into subscribers.

Regardless of how well your web pages are optimized or how much organic and paid traffic you see from your other marketing efforts, you aren’t moving your business forward if you don’t see conversions.

While getting loads of traffic is a great achievement, you need to see website visitors moving down to the lead funnel to generate revenue for your business. After all, no business can sustain itself without making money!

Let’s look at a few examples of landing pages to help inspire you.

Example of a Landing Page

Depending on your marketing goals, you can turn any of your existing pages into a landing page. Or, you can create new landing pages for new marketing initiatives such as lead magnets, PPC ads, etc.

Here’s an example of a simple landing page our team created to share our lead magnet on how to build a powerful nurture campaign for your lead magnet.

Actually – that lead magnet is something that you’ll want to download so that you can build a powerful nurture campaign to convert your leads after they subscribe to your landing page!

 

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Grab This Now To Set Up Your Nurture Campaign!

 

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Here’s an example of a PPC landing page created by Semrush. They drive traffic from their paid advertising to this page to help convert people to a free trial, a perfect first step in the lead funnel.

9 Simple Steps to Create a Landing Page that Converts

Now that you know what a landing page is let’s look at what it takes to create a landing page that converts.

To create a high converting landing page, you have to understand the elements needed for a landing page.

Here are 9 most important characteristics and components of a high converting landing page:

1. Create a Clear Call To Action

Contact us. Start your free trial. Subscribe. Watch video. Download your copy. Book an appointment.

All of the above are examples of calls-to-action, also referred to as CTA’s.

The best calls for action are clear, to the point, and create urgency for the user. And don’t include more than one call to action on your page. Adding too many actions will result in the visitor not taking any action.

2. Keep Your Page Design Attractive But Simple

Poorly designed landing pages tend to push prospects away. So, if your landing page has high traffic but low conversions, the problem could be with the page design.

High-converting landing pages have an attractive but simple design.

To avoid sidetracking people with poor visual elements, use a clean, minimalist design with plenty of white space that makes it look aesthetically pleasing.

Not sure if your design is the issue, try doing an A/B test of your landing page with two different design styles to see which your audience responds better to. If both fail, then it might be more about your copy or offer than the design.

3. Optimize Landing Page Loading Speed

Just as it can with your website, page speed can make or break your conversions because it has the highest impact on sales.

No one likes slow pages. If your landing page is slow to load, your prospects will leave without purchasing from you.

Did you know Walmart found that for every 1-second improvement in page load time, conversions increased by 2%?

On the other hand, web pages can see conversion rates drop by an average of 2.11% with each additional second of load time.

4. Think About Typography

A good page designer knows the importance of great typography.

Typography is the art and technique of organizing writing to make the written language legible and attractive when viewed. Typography also describes the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created.

If you can recognize an Apple, Nike, or Airbnb ad in no time, it’s because of its typography, visuals, and layout.

When designing landing pages, pay attention to font size, font style, color combinations.  The goal is for your reader to quickly grasp your message without reading too hard.

5. Develop Hyper Focused Messaging

A landing page has no space for fluff. If you add elaborate text thinking it might add more value, you’re mistaken.

Sharing too much information can lead to confusion and divert your readers’ attention.

When creating content for your landing page, cut the noise and get straight to the point. Keep your messaging hyper-focused and only add points that are relevant and add value. Your content should intrigue the reader to want more or know more, so they click the CTA.

6. Use Limited Navigation

A high-converting landing page offers limited navigation. That’s because more choices tend to create confusion and divert your prospects without converting.

Navigation links enable visitors to navigate a web page and have two main goals:

1. To let the user know which page they are viewing.
2. To allow the user to easily switch to another page.

Adding too many irrelevant navigation links will hurt sales yet 14% of marketers use more than ten navigation links that take visitors away from the landing page. Stop it!

If you are one of the 14%, we highly recommend that you review your landing pages now and remove those unnecessary navigation links if you want to convert more leads.

7. You Need a Catchy Headline

Your landing page headline is the first thing visitors will see when they enter the page. Make the first impression a great one with a catchy headline. This will help to keep your prospect longer on the page, ultimately converting them into leads.

So how do you write a catchy headline that entices prospects?

According to Instapage, there are three characteristics of an effective landing headline:

• Clarity
• Relevance
• Empathy

Make sure your landing page headline clearly communicates with the reader, briefly touches on the pain point, and shows a path to resolution.

8. Share Social Proof and Testimonials

Your product may very well be the best in the world but how will you communicate this to potential prospects? Why should they believe you?

This is where social proof, testimonials, and word-of-mouth comes into the picture.

Social proof and testimonials are validation from those who have purchased and/or used your product. It lets prospects know that your product is what you claim it to be. 

Social proof and testimonials play a major part in helping you build trust and create a positive influence on your prospect’s mind.

9. Use High-Resolution Visuals

Videos, images, and graphics are the core of any high converting landing page. They work because humans are hard-wired to consume visual content faster than text.

In fact, the conversion rate for brands that use custom visual content is seven times higher than for those that don’t have custom visual content.

When selecting visuals to add to your landing page, pay attention to color, contrast, and relevance. Also, see that you aren’t adding too many or too few.

By using high-quality visuals, you’ll have higher chances of increasing your conversion rate.

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If you look at the landing page examples we shared earlier, you’ll notice nearly all of the elements we discussed are present.

Next time you create a landing page for any marketing initiative, don’t forget these elements. Ensuring they are added will add value and help you create a landing page that converts.

Now that you know how to create landing pages that convert, it’s time to find out how to create lead magnets that convert.