Bop Design Announces Tips for Designing a More Effective Landing Page
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) November 05, 2013 -- For small businesses seeking to convert website visitors to customers, a site’s landing page is critically important. According to findings reported in the 2013 MarketingSherpa SEO Marketing Benchmark Survey, “The website, with its landing pages, is still the hub of conversion for many marketers.”
“A landing page is a key element for any small business website,” says Jeremy Durant, business principal at Bop Design, a San Diego web design agency. “Certainly, it outstrips all other web pages when it comes to capturing and converting potential sales leads. So there’s a lot riding on the design of this key page.”
Some small businesses mistakenly use their home page as a landing page. Generally speaking, a home page has too much content and too many design elements for this to be a feasible strategy. A web page solely dedicated to lead capture and conversion is far more desirable.
Here are tips for designing a landing page that interests and compels visitors to act.
1. Focus on the basics. Every landing page should have the following:
• A well-crafted headline
• A description of the offer that stresses its value to the visitor
• A clear call-to-action (CTA)
• The business logo
• Social proof and social sharing buttons
• A contact form that encourages, rather than dissuades, visitor participation
2. Nix navigation. “When a visitor elects to come to your landing page, it’s up to you to keep him there,” Durant says. Eliminate the usual distracting navigation links that can lead visitors elsewhere.
3. Keep it clean. Extend a “no-clutter” design strategy to avoid lengthy copy and an abundance of images (one supporting image is usually sufficient). Plenty of white space keeps the focus on the call-to-action—exactly where it should be.
4. Brand the page. “The one exception to number three is making sure you’ve branded the landing page,” Durant says. “Visitors who come here via social media channels or a search engine result need to recognize this page is part of your business.”
5. Use the CTA to stress benefits to the visitor. The landing page headline should closely match the call-to-action, with particular emphasis on how taking action will result in a benefit to visitors. Rather than state “Learn more about our product’s unique features,” frame the message along the lines of “See how using our product saves you money.” If supporting copy is necessary, employ bullet points for easy scanning.
6. Include social proof and encourage social sharing. People are more inclined to share their valuable information when a business offers such reassurances as social proof (embedded customer tweets, Facebook testimonials, etc); a privacy message that promises their email addresses won’t be shared or sold to a third party; and security seals or BBB rating, also designed to comfort visitors new to your business.
It’s also a good idea to promote social sharing, Durant notes, “A visitor who’s won over by your great offer is more willing to share it with her network if the landing page includes relevant social media sharing buttons.”
7. Contact form: Less is more. All landing page design efforts lead to this critical question: How much information should a business require the visitor to share?
“The more entry fields a form contains, the less likely it is a visitor will choose to opt in,” Durant says. “Everyone wants to get in and out as quickly as possible and the contact form should be designed to fulfill that goal. Keep your questions or fields to an absolute minimum, thus spurring the visitor’s continued involvement.”
8. Don’t use a “submit” button. “Submit” buttons might make sense, since this is what small businesses want visitors to do. A more effective way to generate leads is through wording that further emphasizes the call-to-action and the benefits outlined elsewhere. For example, “Download Our Free White Paper” is a direct promise a business can keep, once the visitor has clicked on the button.
“Simplicity is the guiding principle for designing an effective landing page,” Durant says. “Any element that distracts or otherwise blunts the purpose of this page should be eliminated. Every effort must be made to convince visitors that filling out the contact form is unquestionably in their best interests.”
Bop Design is a San Diego web design agency with offices also in Orange County, CA and the New York metro area. Specializing in B2B marketing, Bop Design creates holistic marketing plans geared toward lead generation and business development. Bop Design offers services in branding, logo design, website design and development, responsive web design, SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing. http://www.bopdesign.com.
Jeremy Durant, Bop Design, http://www.bopdesign.com/, +1 (760) 470-1275, [email protected]
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