Building a PPC campaign requires several steps that go from choosing the right keywords to designing your ad and writing the correct sentences to target your audience. All this is done to lead people that clicked on your ad to your landing page.
Therefore, when it comes to building a landing page, design is everything. You have 5 seconds or less to impress and engage your visitor before they leave. So, it should be clear to potential leads what you are selling from the moment they get to the page.
Most people believe that aesthetics is the easy part of creating a landing page. But in reality, a poorly designed page has been known to kill conversion rates. Your design will make it easy for people to understand your landing page and convert.
These steps will guide you through designing a successful landing page that converts.
Step 1: Use good context, images and videos to explain your offer
The use of good quality images and videos can show the benefits of your offering. Images and video should have a direct purpose on your page rather than just filling space. It lets potential leads put themselves in the actual situation of your product or services. For example: if a hotel resort puts images of white sands and people relaxing by the beach, it will let people imagine themselves in this situation instead of just reading about it.
Also, display pictures of happy people to make the page welcoming to visitors. It will make your landing page warm and personal. Designers we can use emotions to make potential leads feel a certain way. Displaying a smiling face puts them in a comfortable and positive mood which has a positive impact on the conversion.
Step 2: Highlight the most important space of your landing page with contrasting colors
An example of a contrasting color is having a bright orange button on a dark blue background. People will be naturally attracted to this difference. Use this in your design to highlight the sections of your page that you want to be seen.
The heading, the caption, the form and the CTA should be the most prominent on your landing page. With contrasting colors and good use of white space it’s easier to potential leads to digest the information and convert. One thing to avoid is packing too much information on one page. This is a mistake that many marketers do.
Step 3: Design an obvious call to action button
Your CTA button is ultimately the most important feature of your landing page. The entire goal of the landing page is to get people to see that button so they take action on your page. The effectiveness of your CTA button can be instantly changed with eye catching design or a great placement.
A couple of design tips: bold the font and make the button quite large.
Generally, place your CTA button on the top part of your page for it to be seen directly without scrolling down. The more specific and clear your button is, the higher conversion rates will be.
Step 4: Make your benefits clear
Visitors will ask themselves “what exactly am I going to get from this relationship?” Potential leads need to know that your product offering meet their needs. Present your benefits in a clear and simple way that makes them curious for more information. It’s best to present these benefits briefly. This will let potential leads to easily skim through and see if it’s the right product for them or not.
Step 5: Provide potential leads with a single action to take
Your goal is to provide potential leads with an easy path to conversion. So you need to provide users with only one action that they can take. This means removing any navigation bars, footers, or outside links that drive attention away from your CTA. Having multiple things on your page for leads to click on, is a huge distraction from your CTA and your main goal. So get rid of the other distractions and keep them focused.
Step 6: Use bold headings to make it easy for potential leads to scan
Headings and sub-headings are crucial for a landing page as they hook in potential leads. To explain additional benefits or selling points, use bold headings to attract their attention. Break information down into small digestible segments. With small sections and large headings it would be easier for people to skim the information and really digest what you are saying. Near the bottom of your page you should have a bold statement that should reaffirm your value proposition. This is your last chance to tell potential leads that your offer is the right choice.
Step 7: Create a short form to prevent a high bounce rate
As a visitor there is nothing more frustrating than a huge complicated form. Think simple when thinking of designing your form. You want to make it easy for people to enter on your entry form. A recent study done by Hub spot shows that if you reduce the form fields from 4 to 3 it increases conversion rates. Also, avoid too many dropdown menus. When creating a sign-up form, keep your main objectives in mind. Only ask potential leads for information that is necessary to achieve those objectives.
Step 8: Check the loading speed of your landing page and device compatibility
The loading speed of the landing page is the most important factor to be taken into consideration. 40% of users abandon the page if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds. Even though your landing page is very effective at turning prospects into customers, it’s unlikely to generate a positive return if only half of your audience can see it. Spend more time on improving the loading speed of your page before you launch.
Another important component is compatibility. Make sure your landing page is responsive and opens on all kind of devices and browsers.
Designing a landing page is more challenging that it seems. For it to be profitable and effective, the design of your page is as important as the actual content. Potential leads need to easily read that information and understand the message that you’re trying to convey.
Improve your landing page by following the above steps and you’ll be totally satisfied with your conversion rates.
Source: Cre8mania
