The Ultimate Checklist to Build Landing Pages for Higher Conversion Rates
Why are landing pages fundamentally different from other web pages on your website?
In a nutshell, they target a specific niche within your audience with a singular purpose, whether that is lead generation or selling a product or service.
This singular focus makes landing pages much more effective at converting visitors into prospects or full-fledged customers. Landing pages “exploit” our impatience when searching for solutions to our specific pain points, because the moment we land on such a page, we can find everything we need to make an informed decision on whether we need what is offered or not. As a result, we don’t need to waste time by visiting the main website and browsing for the item or service that we need or saw in the ad.
If a landing page is built the right way and it gets attached to a well-targeted advertisement, it will be a highly efficient tool for generating leads and driving conversions.
But how do you go about building such a landing page? Let’s find out the specifics below!
What are landing pages, exactly?
When website visitors click on a Call-to-Action (CTA) button in one of your posts or adds, they are taken to a web page; that’s where they land, developing the connection between them and your brand.
To get the most out of a landing page, marketers build them with a single focus in sight. Each element, from the header to the footer, is designed to convince visitors to go further and take the desired action; whether it’s a simple download in exchange for contact information, or the purchase of a product.
Most landing pages operate without a navigation menu, or it’s at the very least less extensive than the main website’s menu. The goal is to make it a short and sweet pitch for carrying out the action.
Why should you use a landing page?
The power of a landing page is measured in its ability to better target your audience in a timely manner, while providing a higher chance of conversion as well.
If a business is providing training services to several industries, but they are currently running a paid advertising campaign that’s targeting salespeople of manufacturing companies, where should the link at the end of an advertisement redirect readers? To the business’s homepage or a landing page that focuses on improving sales teams’ performance and quotas through training in manufacturing industries?
Rhetoric question aside, landing pages are excellent, standalone pages that can be used in Google, LinkedIn, Facebook, display ads, and even sponsored messages in podcasts, for example.
Can you use a landing page without a website?
And what happens if you have no main website for your brand yet but there’s an outstanding opportunity that you could promote and implement right away? Should you wait until the website is there?
Absolutely not. You can always create simple, aesthetically pleasing, single-page landings even if they are not connected to any other hosted websites. Just think of a good promotional page name that resonates well with the unique, branded offer, and start creating it via any free landing page builder on the Internet.
How to build an outstanding landing page?
First of all, let’s see the structure and elements of an ideal landing page that is guaranteed to increase conversion rates:
Looks quite straightforward, doesn’t it? Now, let’s go through these 10+1 must-have elements and make sure you check them when creating your landing page!
✅ Value Proposition
A concise and compelling summary that describes the primary benefit that you offer to leads.
It’s better if you open the very first phrase by talking about the pain points that are on the prospects’ mind, followed by your offered solution right after.
Generally speaking, a great value proposition answers the following questions within the first 5 seconds of the visitor’s landing:
- What product or service does this page offer?
- What makes the offered product or service unique?
✅ Dynamic Visual
This is the background image first seen by visitors, so make sure it’s something that stands out and looks good. Best not use a static image that exudes boring vibes.
The best approach to secure your prospects‘ attention is to combine the visual with the value proposition, thus emphasizing your offer:
- For a product, present it in the hands of or near a happy customer. For example, in the case of a software promotion, display its ease of use or fantastic UI/UX design.
- For a service, show satisfied customers in an environment that matches the location where such a service would be applied.
- For a personal brand, show your face.
The best you can do is find or create a visual that helps with getting the feeling or result of your product through to your visitors.
✅ Short Forms
Forms that are to-the-point with only a few (2-3) fields to fill earn better conversion rates. Request a name and an email address (maybe a company name), and you’re ready to initiate a conversation – no need to trouble your lead with any further information.
Longer forms not only take longer to fill out but are also “unnerving,” leading to lower conversion rates.
✅ Call to Action
After you brought up their pain points and offered them a solution in the first phrase or short paragraph, spur your potential leads into action!
Website visitors generally have a short attention span and as most of them unfortunately leave the page (no matter how good it is!), it’s best if you make sure that they see the next step to take right after the introduction.
So, the formula for effective conversion so far:
A clear value proposition with a cool visual that reinforces the message, followed by a short and powerful CTA.
And instead of basic CTAs like “Contact us” or “Click here,” go for more sophisticated and personalized phrases, such as “Get your marketing e-book” or “Let’s plan my high-converting website now.”
✅ Social Proof
A good social proof is the best way to start building trust and connection between your brand and your visitors.
Make sure you include at least one of these most effective social proof schemes:
- Client logo reel for showing the brands you have helped through your solution
- Display how many people are using your product or service: “23,000 people use our software each day”
- Written testimonials from your customers
- Video testimonial with a satisfied customer
- Badges for awards, security, and trust
✅ 1:1 Attention Ratio
As your visitors’ attention is the most valuable resource you are trying to claim, make sure it is focused on the right aspects of your offer within the landing page. To succeed in this step, remove the clutter of redundant clickables, navigation elements, search bars, and other distractors.
✅ Personalization
Doing research on your target audience is a must for any marketing endeavor. It’s not any different when building a landing page. Discover how the niche you’re trying to attract speaks and writes, and what pain points they are concerned about. On the landing page, talk to them in their own language and style.
Don’t be afraid to use slang and jargon unique to the audience you’re targeting. If they see that you’re one of them, they are far more likely to pick a “friend” or a “distant family member” over competitors that seem more alien to them.
But there’s an additional rule to keep in mind. Even if your audience is made entirely of highly educated professionals with PhDs, don’t use complicated words when there are more simple alternatives.
Keep the landing copy at an elementary level; it’s a whole lot easier for a visitor (especially a tired one) to understand even when he or she is educated. It might seem counterintuitive at first, but it’s true and it works.
✅ Optimized Loading Time
Most people can get very irritated by slow loading times. Usually, if it takes longer than 3 seconds, they leave almost immediately, never to return.
While the speed with which your landing page loads and reacts is a passive component, it is vital to make sure it’s fast:
- Because if it’s not, you lose qualified leads and potential customers.
- A quick landing page ranks higher on Google search!
Both points lead to more visitors, more traffic, more clicks, and higher conversion rates.
✅ Clear Communication
After the value proposition and CTA, you should communicate directly about WHAT visitors can get on your site, HOW they can get it, and WHY they need it.
Plan the structure of your landing page according to these three questions acting as the support columns for the site. You can go about their order more flexibly, however, it generally looks like this:
✅ Mobile Friendliness & Responsivity
The vast majority of your visitors will check out the landing page on mobile devices. It is imperative that the page is optimized to display and function flawlessly on mobile. If it looks and/or works like a mess on an iPhone, Android, or tablet, you will lose many valuable customers.
✅ +1: Repeat the CTA
The visitor didn’t leave after 5 seconds, they are taking the time to check out your neat-looking page and like that it speaks clearly and easily to them. They’ve scrolled through its entirety and now they are at the bottom, near the footer.
Haven’t you forgotten something?
Yes, prompt them to do what they came here for again! Make sure they carry out the action, which will make them feel good for having done something instead of just wasting time on a web page.
You can actually repeat your CTA 2-3 times along the entire length of your landing page. The must-have is the first CTA at the top, and then you should have at least one at the end. It doesn’t harm if you have an additional button in the middle as well.
Just keep their mind on the action.
Now you have everything ready to start building an awesome landing page for your brand, product, service, or a lead magnet for generating prospects and opportunities!
Do you need any help? At Blackhole Media, we have built dozens of landing pages for our clients working in a variety of industries. For instance, check out the landing page for our most recent e-book… which can also help in securing better revenue and ROI through effective digital marketing!