Wednesday, November 4, 2015

How to Leverage the True Potential of Landing Pages

How to Leverage the True Potential of Landing Pages

Conversion copywriters are people who write awesome landing pages with specific goals; either to convert readers into loyal followers or convert potential customers into paying ones.

For starters, no one is born as an awesome conversion copywriter. It takes a lot of training and trial and error to create powerful landing pages, regardless of what your goals are.

At the end of the day, it is all about conversion and how you leverage the true potential of landing pages. As a content marketer you don’t have an option but to figure it out. And if cost is a challenge for you, there are many free landing page services (such as this one from Spaces) that you can use for both blogging and eCommerce purposes.

But having a flexible landing page service isn’t enough. There are many factors which contribute to their success (or failure).

So, here are 8 very simple but powerful ways to create awesome landing page copy which will double your chance of a conversion.

Ready?

1. Craft killer headlines

Headlines are the first thing that your readers see. You know, the big bold words on the top of the page.

Most marketers (including myself) spend merely minutes writing a headline – and after that, you are done with it.

But here’s the thing. People don’t spend 20 minutes reading word by word on your landing page copy. They scan and skim through the headlines … most of the time.

According to this case study, most people only read about 20% of the text on an average page.

Now, take a moment to think about it.

Headlines, sub headlines and sub-sub headlines. You really need to craft the best headlines as those are the ones that readers will most probably read (and only read).

Important takeaway: Spend equal time (or more) creating headlines as you are writing the entire landing page copy.

2. Keep your writing simple (K.I.S.S. method)

Simplicity is the king. There is absolutely no reason for you to ‘run around the bush’ when you are trying to convey a message.

Instead, practice the ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’ (KISS) method when you are writing your next landing page copy.

Quoted directly from HubSpot, “Your most powerful writing skill is simplicity. Simplicity sells.”

One of the leaders in split testing niche, Optimizely does a great job in creating a simple landing page option that is focused on conversion. See below.

Optimizely example of landing pages

This form of landing page is not only simple but highly effectively for what-ever-goal you are trying to achieve.

Here’s another example from Neil Patel’s Quick Sprout blog:

Quicksprout example of landing pages

When you land on Quick Sprout’s homepage, you are only given one option which is “Do you want more traffic”. There aren’t other options that you can choose from and this will lead to a better conversion rate.

3. Write like a human and for humans

I am sure you want to crush your competitors and here’s how: You need to write like a human being because your readers are humans too.

Readers feel connected with these pages because it resonates with them. More importantly, readers would want to connect with real people, not just the copy itself.

Here are several ways you can write like a human:

  • Construct the landing page using language which is common to you and your target audience
  • Make sentences short and precise
  • Breaking rules of grammar (from time to time) is recommended if it makes the copy sound natural
  • Use expressions to further infuse human touches in the copy (for example, words like “seriously” and “wait a second”)
  • Avoid using jargon or industry terminology

4. Emphasize the benefits, not the product or service

One of the biggest landing page mistakes known to mankind is over-emphasizing the product (or service) itself.

For starters, majority of the readers do not care how good your product is. They only care of the benefits or outcomes that the product can provide.

When you promote your product directly to them, you are not going to give them what they want and expect.

So what happens when you promote the benefits instead? They get what they want and more importantly, that is a strong signal to them that he or she is in the right place for a solution.

Take a look at the images below from GoSpaces:

GoSpaces example of landing pages

GoSpaces 2 example of landing pages

At the top of the copy, the landing page emphasizes the ability to sell jewelry online with ease (with the sentence, “Spaces makes selling jewelry easy”). Right below the landing page is the benefits gained from using their services which goes from different payment methods to automation.

5. Use customer testimonials

Customer testimonials are great purchase motivators for any businesses. The truth is, testimonials are compelling because they show the readers (or potential customers) what they can expect once they take up the service.

Neil from Quick Sprout does a great job in creating customer testimonials by displaying them on his sidebar.

Quicksprout example of landing pages 2

Did you notice the bolded sentence, “500 million pageviews”?

That’s a powerful motivator for the readers to take action since most of Neil’s blog readers are constantly looking for ways to increase blog traffic and the sentence resonates perfectly with them.

PostPlanner, the popular Facebook engagement tool has a testimonial tab which highlights testimonials from influential marketers. This increases the trust level with potential customers.

Post planner example of landing pages

6. Ask readers to take action

This last part is crucial. This is the gem, climax or whatever you call it.

You are only considered successful in creating a landing page when your readers take a specific action, which could range from clicking the sign up button to purchasing a product.

And what matters most here is using the right words. The choice of words used on the Call-To-Action button will determine the chance of you getting a conversion.

Some words would indirectly encourage the person to click on it while other words may just turn the reader off.

So, what type of words encourage readers to take action?

There is only one trick in this, which is your action words should always correspond with your offer.

Here are some examples:

  • Download This eBook
  • Reserve Your Seat
  • Buy Now

Udemy serves as a portal for selling online courses and the most common Calls-To-Action (CTA) that they use are “Take This Course”.

uDemy example of landing pages

The CTA that Udemy use is a great offer-related action which potential buyers will resonate with.

Sum up

Leveraging the true potential of a landing page is not that hard and many professional marketers are using landing pages to take their business to the next level.

Are you constantly trying to hack conversions of your landing pages? Leave a comment below on the tricks you use and let’s talk about it!

Guest Author: Reginald Chan is a creative writer residing from Asia, loves all aspects of digital marketing and social media. In his free time, he is either researching for marketing topics or planning for his next travel destination. Take a peek at his blog or follow him on Twitter

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