The anatomy of an effective landing page
As an SME reseller, you know that driving online sales is crucial to your business’s success.
The humble landing page is one of the most powerful tools in your digital marketing arsenal. This standalone sales page hooks visitors in and converts them into customers.
But, creating an effective landing page is more than just throwing together some text and images.
It requires a strategic approach and a deep understanding of your target audience.
In this blog, we’ll dive into the key elements that make up an effective landing page. By understanding and implementing these elements, you can create landing pages that not only grab your visitors’ attention but also persuade them to act – whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or requesting more information.
We’ll cover everything from crafting a compelling headline to optimising for mobile devices, and we’ll provide practical tips and examples along the way.
Whether you’re new to landing page design or looking to optimise your existing pages, this guide will give you the insights and tools you need to succeed.
Clear and compelling headline
The headline is the first thing your visitors will see when they land on your page. It’s your chance to make a solid first impression. A clear and compelling headline can be the difference between a visitor staying on your page and bouncing off to a competitor’s site.
Your headline should achieve two main goals:
- Grab the visitor’s attention: Use strong, action-oriented language that speaks directly to your target audience. Make it clear what your page is about and why it matters to them.
- Communicate the main benefit or offer: Your headline should convey the primary benefit or unique selling proposition of your product or service. What makes it different from other options on the market? How will it solve your customers’ problems or make their lives better?
For example, let’s say you’re a reseller of cloud-based accounting software. Your headline might be something like ‘Streamline your finances with our cloud-based accounting solution – save time and money today!’.
This headline grabs the visitor’s attention with action-oriented language (Streamline your finances…) and communicates the main benefits of the product (saving time and money).
When crafting your headline, keep it short and sweet. Aim for around 10-20 words. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that might confuse or alienate your audience. Use clear, concise language that’s easy to understand at a glance.
You might also consider using a sub-headline to provide additional context or reinforce your main message. A sub-headline can be a bit longer than your main headline, but it should still be concise and focused on the benefits of your product or service.
Finally, don’t be afraid to test different headlines to see what resonates best with your audience. Try A/B testing different variations and monitor your conversion rates to see which ones perform best.
A clear and compelling headline sets the stage for a successful landing page that engages your visitors and drives conversions.
Engaging visuals
Visuals play a crucial role in creating an effective landing page. High-quality images and videos can help capture your visitors’ attention, demonstrate your product or service in action, and enhance the overall design and user experience.
When selecting visuals for your landing page, it’s essential to choose images and videos that are relevant to your product or service and that resonate with your target audience. For example, if you’re selling a physical product, include high-quality product photos that showcase the item from different angles and in various contexts. If you’re promoting a software solution, consider including screenshots or a video demo that highlights the key features and benefits.
Using visuals to demonstrate your product or service in action can be particularly effective. Showing your product being used in real-world scenarios helps your visitors imagine themselves using it and experiencing the benefits for themselves. This can be especially powerful for complex or technical products that might be difficult to explain through text alone.
In addition to product-specific visuals, consider using icons and graphics to enhance the overall design and user experience of your landing page. These might include using background images to create a specific mood or atmosphere or incorporating visual elements like infographics or illustrations to break up text and make your page more visually engaging.
When using visuals on your landing page, it’s essential to strike a balance between visual interest and page load speed. Large, high-resolution images and videos can slow down your page load times, which can negatively impact your conversion rates. To avoid this, optimise your visuals for web use by compressing files and using appropriate file formats.
Finally, don’t forget to include alt text for all of your images. Alt text is a short description of an image that helps search engines understand what the image is about. Screen readers also use it to describe images to visually impaired users. Including relevant alt text will improve your landing page’s accessibility and search engine optimisation (SEO).
Concise and persuasive copy
While visuals are important, the copy on your landing page is where you really have a chance to persuade your visitors to take action. To be effective, your copy should be concise, persuasive and focused on the benefits of your product or service.
One common mistake that many businesses make is focusing too much on features rather than benefits. While it’s important to highlight the key features of your product, it’s even more important to explain how those features will benefit your customers. For example, rather than simply listing the technical specifications of a product, focus on how those specifications will make your customers’ lives easier or help them achieve their goals.
When writing your copy, use short paragraphs and bullet points to break up the text and make it easier to read. Most people scan web pages rather than reading them word-for-word, so make sure your key points are easy to find and digest.
It’s also important to address any common objections or concerns that your visitors might have. For example, if you’re selling a high-priced item, acknowledge the investment and explain why it’s worth the extra cost. If you’re promoting a new or unfamiliar product, provide social proof in the form of customer reviews or testimonials to help build trust and credibility.
When it comes to your copy’s tone and style, aim for a warm and conversational voice that speaks directly to your target audience. Use ‘you’ and ‘your’ to make your visitors feel like you’re talking directly to them. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that might be confusing or off-putting.
Finally, don’t forget to include a strong call-to-action (CTA) in your copy. Your CTA should clearly state what you want your visitors to do next, whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for a free trial or requesting more information. Use action-oriented language and create a sense of urgency to encourage your visitors to act right away.
Social proof and trust elements
Trust is everything when it comes to making a purchase or taking a specific action online. Visitors to your landing page need to feel confident that your product or service is reliable, effective and worth their investment. One of the best ways to build trust and credibility is by incorporating social proof and trust elements into your landing page design.
Social proof is based on the premise that people are more likely to take a specific action if they see others doing the same thing. Showcasing customer testimonials and reviews on your landing page provides visitors with real-world examples of how your product or service has helped others achieve their goals. Consider including photos or videos of your customers alongside their testimonials to make them feel more authentic and relatable.
In addition to customer reviews, you can also display trust badges and certifications on your landing page. These might include logos from well-known industry organisations, security badges that demonstrate your commitment to data privacy, or awards and recognition from respected publications or associations. Displaying trust signals prominently on your page helps visitors feel more confident in their decision to work with you.
Finally, consider highlighting any notable clients or partners that you’ve worked with in the past. If you’ve provided services to well-known brands or organisations, featuring their logos on your landing page can be a powerful way to build credibility and demonstrate your expertise.
When incorporating social proof and trust elements into your landing page, it’s essential to be authentic and transparent.
Don’t use fake reviews or testimonials. Make sure any certifications or badges you display are legitimate and up-to-date. Being honest and upfront with your visitors builds a sense of trust and loyalty that will serve you well in the long run.
Mobile responsiveness
In today’s mobile-first world, ensuring your landing page looks and functions well on mobile devices is essential. With more and more people accessing the internet on their smartphones and tablets, a mobile-responsive landing page can make the difference between a successful conversion and a missed opportunity.
To create a mobile-responsive landing page, start by using a responsive design template or framework that automatically adjusts to different screen sizes. This will ensure that your page layout, images and other elements look great on any device without requiring separate versions of your page for desktop and mobile.
In addition to responsive design, it’s also important to optimise your page’s loading speed and performance on mobile devices. Mobile users are often on slower connections or have limited data plans, so a page that takes too long to load can be a major turnoff. To improve your page’s loading speed, consider compressing images, using fewer large files or videos, and using a content delivery network (CDN) to serve your page content more efficiently.
Making forms and CTAs easy to use on smaller screens is another vital consideration for mobile-responsive landing pages. Traditional web forms can be challenging to fill out on a mobile device, so consider using mobile-friendly form designs that are easy to tap and complete with minimal typing. Similarly, make sure your CTA buttons are large enough to be easily tapped with a finger and use clear, concise language to encourage visitors to take action.
Finally, don’t forget to test your landing page on a variety of mobile devices and screen sizes to ensure that it looks and functions as intended.
Testing and optimisation
Creating an effective landing page isn’t a one-time event – it’s an ongoing process of testing, analysis and optimisation. Experimenting with different elements of your page and making data-driven improvements can increase your conversion rates and achieve better results over time.
One of the most powerful tools for landing page optimisation is A/B testing, also known as split testing. With A/B testing, you create two slightly different versions of your landing page and show them to different groups of visitors. Tracking the performance of each version helps determine which elements are most effective at driving conversions, so you can make informed decisions about what to change or improve.
Some common elements to test with A/B testing include headlines, images, copy, form fields and CTA buttons. For example, you might test two different headline variations to see which one resonates better with your audience or experiment with different CTA button colours to see which one gets more clicks.
When conducting A/B tests, it’s important to focus on one element at a time and to run the test for a sufficient period to gather statistically significant data. Avoid making too many changes at once, as this can make it difficult to determine which specific elements are impacting your results.
In addition to A/B testing, it’s also important to regularly analyse your landing page data and make data-driven improvements based on your findings. Use tools like Google Analytics to track key metrics like bounce rate, time on page and conversion rate, and look for patterns or trends that might indicate areas for improvement.
Finally, don’t forget to stay up-to-date with changing user behaviours and preferences, and be willing to adapt your landing page strategy accordingly. As new technologies and trends emerge, what works today might not work tomorrow.
Integration with other marketing channels
Your landing page doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s just one piece of your overall marketing strategy. To get the most out of your landing page, it’s essential to integrate it with your other marketing channels and ensure a consistent, seamless experience for your visitors.
One key aspect of integration is ensuring that your landing page messaging and design are consistent with your other marketing campaigns. If a visitor clicks through to your landing page from an email or social media ad, they should immediately recognise that they’re in the right place based on the messaging and visual elements they see. Inconsistencies can lead to confusion and erode trust, so take the time to ensure that your landing page aligns with the rest of your marketing materials.
Don’t forget to leverage analytics to track and optimise your cross-channel performance. Use tools to track how visitors are arriving at your landing page from different sources, and use this data to make informed decisions about where to focus your marketing efforts. For example, if you find that visitors from a particular social media platform are converting at a higher rate than others, you might choose to invest more resources into that platform to drive even better results.
Integrating your landing page with your other marketing channels and using data to guide your decisions helps create a more cohesive and effective marketing strategy that drives real results for your business.
How can inControl Marketing help?
If you’re looking to build a landing page or need support managing your reseller marketing campaigns, InControl Marketing can help.
Our all-in-one, cloud-based channel marketing platform streamlines and enhances the reseller marketing experience, enabling stronger, more effective customer connections.
It delivers powerful tools and insights to resellers and vendors, offering a powerful blend of features for efficient marketing. These include a self-serve library with ready-made landing pages, social media assets and emails, and easy-to-use tools for creating custom content. Bespoke studio and managed campaign services are available if you don’t have the time or expertise to create your own.
So, if you’re looking for a marketing platform that excels in flexibility, data handling and integration capabilities, book a demo and let us show you how the InControl Portal can work for your business.
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