Landing page advertising can be incredibly effective.
It’s the best way to grow your email list and increase sales. But how can you create landing pages that convert?
That’s exactly what we are going to discuss today…
What Is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a web page designed with a single conversion goal in mind.
Ideally, the only clickable elements on a landing page should be the call-to-action buttons so that the potential customer would only have two options:
- Click the call-to-action button.
- Leave the landing page.
Don’t give them any other options – don’t link to your social media, YouTube channel, blog, etc.
You shouldn’t even have a navigation bar on your landing page – if the potential customer wants to leave, they can do so by either clicking the “Back” button or closing the window.
Lead Generation Landing Pages vs. Sales Landing Pages
It’s probably safe to say that the vast majority of landing pages fall into one of these two categories:
- Lead generation landing pages where the conversion goal is to get the potential customer’s contact details – typically their email address.
- Sales landing pages where the conversion goal is to persuade the potential customer to buy a product or service.
It’s worth noting that when online marketers use the term “landing page”, they are usually referring to lead-generation landing pages.
However, sales landing pages, which are usually referred to as “sales pages”, are also landing pages.
That’s why we are going to discuss both lead generation landing pages and sales landing pages in this article.
Short-Form vs. Medium-Length vs. Long-Form Landing Pages
Landing pages can also be divided into three broad categories depending on their length:
- Short-form landing pages are also known as squeeze pages. These are the most basic landing pages that are just one screen long. They are used exclusively for lead generation.
- Medium-length landing pages. These are more complex landing pages that are several screens long. They are used for both lead generation and for selling inexpensive products and services.
- Long-form landing pages. These are the most complex landing pages that seem to go on forever.
They are sometimes used for lead generation but are typically reserved for selling medium-priced and high-priced products and services.
The general rule here is that the more expensive the offer, the longer its landing page should be – hence the spectrum from lead magnet squeeze pages to long-form sales pages.
How To Create a Landing Page That Converts
Here are some tips that can help you create a landing page that converts:
Decide on the Conversion Goal
First things first:
What is the conversion goal of this landing page?
You need to be crystal clear on the outcome that you want to achieve.
As we have already mentioned, landing page goals are usually either getting the potential customer’s contact details or making a sale.
By definition, a landing page should only have ONE goal so don’t try to get the potential customer’s contact details and sell them your product at the same time.
Pick ONE conversion goal that you are going to focus on.
Choose the Right Landing Page Format
Now that you have chosen a conversion goal, it’s time to pick the landing page format that is the most conducive to achieving that goal.
As we have already mentioned, in general, the more expensive the offer, the longer its landing page should be.
Something else to consider here is whether you have already validated your offer.
If people are already downloading your lead magnet or buying your product, then it might make sense to invest in a longer landing page.
However, if you don’t know whether anyone is interested in this offer to begin with, then you might want to go with a squeeze page for a lead magnet or a medium-length landing page for a product.
That’s because the longer the landing page, the more time, energy, and potential money you will need to invest in it.
So it makes sense to validate the offer first with the shortest possible landing page and then start experimenting with longer landing pages once you are sure that people are interested in it.
Use a Proven Landing Page Template
Landing page design is extremely important.
In fact, we would argue that it’s even more important than landing page copy. Why?
Because if the design is horrendous, potential customers aren’t going to stick around – they will leave immediately. It doesn’t matter how great your copy is if no one reads it!
That’s why we recommend going with a landing page template instead of designing a landing page from scratch.
ClickFunnels comes with a library of proven, high-converting landing page templates for all of the most common use cases, from basic squeeze pages to long-form sales pages.
All you need to do is choose the template that suits your needs the best and then customize it using our visual page editor. It’s that simple!
Start Your ClickFunnels Free Trial Today!
Emphasize The Benefits of Your Offer
One of the most important copywriting principles that you need to understand is the distinction between features and benefits:
- A feature is a quality or a function of a product (e.g. “These shoes are waterproof!”).
- A benefit is a value that the customer will derive from that product (e.g. “These shoes will keep your feet dry!”)
People take action based on the benefits of the offer which is why you should emphasize them throughout your landing page – from the headline to the body copy to the call to action.
Of course, you still need to mention the key features – generally, the more expensive the offer, the more information you need to provide about its features.
This means that providing the basic information might be enough for a lead magnet, but a high-ticket product might require a detailed list of its features.
However, you should lead with benefits, then support them with features, not vice versa.
How will your offer make the potential customer’s life better?
That should be the main focus of your landing page!
Craft a Compelling Headline
There’s a famous quote attributed to David Ogilvy, one of the best copywriters that ever lived:
“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
Ogilvy was a 20th-century man, so presumably, he was talking about print ad headlines.
However, it’s probably safe to say that headlines are even more important today than they were back then due to our ever-decreasing attention spans.
When a potential customer arrives on your landing page, it must be immediately clear to them what your offer is all about – that’s the purpose of the headline!
If your headline grabs their attention, they will start reading the rest of the copy to learn more.
Otherwise, they will leave, likely to never come back.
This means that your headline is the most important element of your landing page copy and as such, it should get the attention it deserves.
We recommend brainstorming at least ten different headlines for your landing page, then A/B testing them to see which one works best (more on this later).
Keep in mind that your headline doesn’t have to be complicated – what matters is that it conveys what your offer is all about.
Look at the headline of one of our lead generation landing pages:
Get “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook”!
As you can see, it’s super simple but it does the job – this squeeze page converts well!
Consider Adding a Super Headline and a Subheadline
There are two other types of landing page headlines:
- A super headline – the text above the headline.
- A subheadline – the text below the headline.
While the purpose of the headline is to grab the potential customer’s attention, the purpose of the super headline and the subheadline is to provide more information about the offer.
It’s best to use a large font for your headline, then smaller font for the super headline and the subheadline.
That way, when potential customers arrive on your website, their eyes will be automatically drawn to the headline.
Then they will most likely automatically read the super headline and then the subheadline.
You can use this to quickly convey the most important information about your offer.
Take a look at our homepage:
Note how:
- We grab the potential customer’s attention with the huge “Meet ClickFunnels.” headline.
- We then use the super headline to state the problem that our software addresses: “Struggling To Get A Constant Flow Of Customers?”
- Finally, we use the subheadline to convey what we are all about: “Getting People To Your Website And Turning Them Into Happy Paying Customers Is What We Do Best”.
When a potential customer arrives on our homepage, they will likely automatically read all three headlines – that’s just how human attention works.
This allows us to convey all this information in just a few seconds!
Address The Most Common Objections Above the Fold
It’s a good copywriting practice to immediately address the most common objections.
Say, we noticed that our potential customers tend to worry about:
- Their lack of technical skills. What if our software turns out to be too complex for them?
- Their business model. What if our software doesn’t work for their business?
- Sneaky contracts. What if they don’t like our software but then are obligated to continue paying for it due to some small print legalese?
So we address all that on our homepage:
We make it clear that using our software doesn’t require any technical skills, that it works for all types of businesses, and that you can cancel your subscription anytime!
What’s more, we do all that above the fold, so that the potential customer would immediately feel reassured without having to scroll down and look for the relevant information themselves.
We recommend using this approach in your landing page – address the most common objections above the fold!
Provide as Much Social Proof as You Can
Social proof is a psychological principle that says that when people aren’t sure what to do, they look at what others do to determine the best course of action.
In the business context, this means that when the potential customer isn’t sure what to do, they will look for indications that other people trust you.
That’s why it’s so important to provide social proof by:
- Displaying “As Seen On” media badges. The more prestigious the media outlet, the better!
- Featuring customer testimonials and endorsements from well-known people. Ideally, you want to include their names, last names, and photos, as well as Twitter handles whenever possible. All this will help reassure the potential customer that these are real people, not some fictional characters that you made up.
- Sharing relevant credentials, accomplishments, and numbers. The goal here isn’t to brag but to establish your credibility as an expert in your niche. Why should the potential customer trust you?
There’s no such thing as too much social proof – if you’ve got it, flaunt it!
And if you don’t have any social proof to speak of, then you need to get out there and acquire some!
Add Bonuses To Your Main Offer
A great way to increase the value of your offer is to throw in some bonuses.
For example, on our Perfect Webinar Secrets landing page we offer not only the Perfect Webinar Secrets itself but also four bonuses:
- The Perfect Webinar Training – total value $297.
- The Funnel Frameworks Training – total value $197.
- The Stack – total value $197.
- The Perfect Webinar Funnel – total value $297.
So you are getting Perfect Webinar Secrets + a bunch of bonuses that are worth $988… All for just $7!
This approach works well for both lead magnets and paid products – bonuses can make any offer more appealing!
Have a Clear Call to Action
Once you have presented your offer, you need to make it clear what you want the potential customer to do next.
Do you want them to subscribe to your email list? Sign up for a free trial? Buy your product? Whatever it is, you need to tell them!
This is where call-to-action buttons come in.
Usually, squeeze pages have just one, medium-length landing pages have at least three, and long-form landing pages have as many as needed, ideally one per screen.
Online marketers are still debating which call-to-action button color converts the best and will probably continue doing so for as long as call-to-action buttons exist.
But we believe that there’s no such thing as “the best call-to-action button color” – it all depends on the color scheme of your landing page.
You want your call-to-action buttons to stand out as much as possible, which you can achieve by using a color that contrasts with the overall color scheme.
And when it comes to the call-to-action button copy, you want to use specific copy such as “Get Your Free Ebook Now” as opposed to generic copy such as “Download” or “Subscribe”.
Take a look at the call-to-action button that we are using on our 5 Day Lead Challenge landing page:
Join Our 5 Day Lead Challenge For Free!
Offer a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Buying something on the Internet is risky, especially if you have never bought anything from that company before.
That’s why you should remove all financial risk from the purchase decision by offering a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee.
You can even take it to the next level by offering a money-back guarantee if the customer doesn’t feel that your product is worth at least 10x more than they paid for it.
There’s a reason why Russel calls this his “You’ve Gotta Be Crazy” guarantee – it is indeed crazy!
But it works because it reassures the potential customer, removes all financial risk, and signals that you have unwavering confidence in your product!
A/B Test Everything
You can’t know whether something will work for your business until you actually test it.
That’s why we recommend A/B testing everything on your landing page:
- Create two variants of your landing page – variant A and variant B. There should be only ONE difference between them (e.g. the call-to-action button color).
- Split your traffic in half and send 50% of it to variant A and the other 50% to variant B.
- See which variant converts better and keep it.
A/B testing various landing page elements can help you increase your conversion rate.
In all likelihood, the vast majority of these tests won’t produce significant results but even tiny conversion rate increases can add up to a lot of money over time.
Plus, once in a while you might stumble upon something that leads to a drastic increase in conversions.
It’s worth noting that to do A/B testing properly you need to have a basic understanding of the statistics behind it.
Any decent A/B testing software will do the mathematical heavy lifting for you, but if you don’t understand what’s going on at all, you might end up making easily preventable mistakes or misinterpreting the test results.
Landing Page Troubleshooting
Okay, now you have a landing page, but what if it doesn’t convert?
We recommend taking a closer look at:
- The traffic. Are the people that you are sending to your landing page your ideal customers? You don’t want just any traffic, you want high-quality traffic!
- The landing page. What can be improved in terms of design and copywriting? Use A/B testing to optimize your landing page for conversions.
- The offer. Is your offer valuable enough? Whether we are talking about a lead magnet or a paid product, it needs to provide genuine value. Look for ways to make your offer more appealing to potential customers.
That being said, sometimes there’s simply no demand, in which case it’s best to drop that offer altogether and come up with something new.
Want to Learn How to Write Landing Page Copy That Converts?
Copywriting is one of the most important factors that affect the conversion rate of your landing page.
But how can you write copy that converts if you don’t have any previous copywriting experience?
Our friend Jim Edwards wrote a book called “Copywriting Secrets” where he shares everything that you need to know to get started.
If you apply his advice correctly, you should see immediate results, which is what matters the most when you are trying to get a business off the ground.
So don’t hesitate and get a free copy of “Copywriting Secrets” today!
