Landing Page Best Practices: The Do’s and Don’ts of Landing Page Optimization

Launching a new product or service? Trying to get people to sign up for an event? Why not launch a landing page as part of your digital marketing campaign? When supported by other forms of digital marketing, such as email marketing, social media and paid search, landing pages are an effective way to drive awareness, increase conversions, collect leads and boost ROI.

Since landing pages are the primary point of conversion for website visitors, email subscribers and/or social followers, companies can easily measure e-commerce value of their digital marketing efforts by tracking a direct funnel from awareness to conversion.

Consider this: You’re scrolling through Facebook and see an ad for a free product trial. You click the ad and are directed to the home page of Widgets.com. What are you going to do now? Where do you go? How do you claim your free trial?

If you’re like most users, you’ll probably get frustrated trying to find the information you’re looking for and leave the site feeling cheated. Without a dedicated landing page that’s designed with a specific conversion goal in mind (and one that contains a mechanism for collecting leads), businesses are missing an opportunity to capture consumers’ interest and buy-in to what they’re trying to communicate, promote or sell.

While nearly 65% of marketers say landing pages are the most effective way to test a value proposition, only 13% of marketers surveyed feel confident in their ability to launch a successful landing page strategy. Perhaps it’s because building and testing landing pages are cited as one of the top five challenges marketers face.

If you’re looking for a way to build awareness and drive interest for a new campaign you’re launching, here are some landing page best practices to follow:

Do

• Make your value proposition immediately evident. If the landing page is tied to a display ad, make sure the messaging and design match the ad. The goal is to create a consistent experience.
• Consider offering an incentive to entice users to provide their information. For example, you could send people a free e-book or limited time offer in exchange for providing their information.
• Follow SEO best practices and include your keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, the URL and several times within the page copy.
• Design with mobile in mind and use visual design techniques to grab visitors’ attention and highlight your intended conversion goal.
• Enable social sharing or page-follow integration to capitalize on social opportunities.
• Utilize A/B testing to see which value propositions perform better.
• Optimize, optimize and optimize some more.

Don’t

• Forget to install Web analytics code before the landing page is deployed. This will help you effectively track the landing page’s performance.
• Put your CTA or information capture form below the fold. This could potentially contribute to a high bounce rate and a low conversion rate.
• Forget to connect your landing page capture service to an existing email service like MailChimp.
• Write in a passive voice. Use action-oriented language to encourage users to act.
• Focus all your copywriting efforts on creativity. You only have a few seconds to capture visitors’ attention. Make sure your message is clear and concise.

Whether you’re trying to get people to subscribe to a service, sign up for an event, redeem a special offer or communicate another value proposition, landing pages are an effective way to increase awareness and drive interest in your offering. While this is not a comprehensive list of landing page optimization tips, it does outline a few important factors that companies should consider.

Do you have any landing page best practices to add?