Having a site in the top of the search results, or getting loads of targeted traffic through paid ads is great… but what happens if that traffic falls off your website as soon as it gets there? Your landing page is a lead capture or conversion page where its sole existence is to act as a marketing tool that prompts a specific action or result.
If you don’t set the landing page up correctly you cripple yourself with one of the most vital parts of your online marketing efforts. When small business owners aren’t reaping the benefits of a landing page, it’s usually because of some common mistakes.
Are you making one of them?
1. Confusing the visitor
The landing page should have a single purpose. If your landing page has more than a single objective or countless links that take them elsewhere then you’re presenting the visitor with too many choices. They aren’t able to process exactly what you want them to do.
2. Cluttered designs
Effective landing pages have just one objective. Every word or element on the page should support that one action. If it doesn’t, then it’s just extra clutter and it doesn’t belong on the page.
3. Weak copywriting
Having a landing page isn’t enough. It’s the content within it that helps convert traffic and capture leads or sales. The copy is your secret sauce that captures the attention of the visitor. That means you need a rich headline that explains the benefits with copy that makes the reader a promise and connects with them on an emotional level. Throughout the entirety of the copy you should be speaking the language of the customer.
4. Too much “you” not enough “them”
Nobody cares about you and your business except for you. Customers care about how you can help them. When you create landing pages on your site you should focus your copy on how you’ll help the visitor solve their problem.
5. No Credibility
You’ve got just a few seconds to capture the attention of the visitor and confirm that they found what they’re looking for. If they don’t trust you at all, and your copy and images send them running, then it’s going to be tough to seal the deal with potential customers.
6. Mismatched appearance from ad to landing page
Your headline and other landing page elements should relate to the ad copy that drove the click. In other words, the page should be relevant to your ad text and keyword.
7. Not optimizing buttons
If the buttons on your landing page don’t look like buttons or they say “submit” or “send”, you could have a problem. A Hubspot researcher studied more than 40,000 landing pages and discovered that landing pages with submit buttons labeled “submit” had lower conversion rates than those with more engaging button text.
