If you are sending website visitors directly to your homepage, you are throwing away the money and effort you spend driving traffic. But, just having a landing page is not enough. You need a high degree of customization to get the most out of your web traffic. A few rules for the road:
1. More is better.
It’s not enough to have one landing page for your site. Hubspot’s research says that the more landing pages a site has, the better those pages convert. Going from having one to five landing pages to having 10 to 15 results in a 55% increase in leads. And, pages that have 40 or more landing pages have seven times the traffic of those who have less than 10.
2. Lead with your best foot forward.
Did you know that 80% of a site visitor’s time spent on the page is spent above the fold? Make sure that what is seen immediately has the force to capture attention.
This starts with creative and powerful headlines. A few suggestions for headlines that work:
- Ask a question. Ideally, this will be one that your customer has already asked himself.
- Offer an easy set of rules. This tells your reader to expect a quick, informative and persuasive read.
- Make an unusual or surprising statement and comparison. Just be prepared to back it up in your text.
Your responsibility to create compelling content doesn’t end with the headline. You need to keep the reader’s interest until the bottom of the page to get them to complete your desired action. When writing for these visitors, it’s good to answer the following questions:
- What are you offering? Make it clear, concise and compelling.
- How does it benefit your reader? Don’t talk features; talk about why and how your product or offering can solve a problem or improve your visitor’s life.
- Make it clear how to take advantage of the offer at hand.
3. Stick with one call to action.
Sometimes you want a visitor to opt in to an email list. Others, you want them to buy a product. But, no matter what, make sure that the landing page you create has a clear and specific purpose with a simple call to action. Make it as easy as possible for your prospective customer to do what you want to increase your chances of conversion.
4. Remember your audience.
When you are creating multiple landing pages, target individual buyer profiles. Look at your company’s past sales and other key data to learn about your customers’ demographics. Then, make pages that speak directly to each of those customers. By approaching them on their interests, you are more likely to create the rapport that can lead to conversion.
5. Customize the experience.
It often takes three or more visits to a site before a visitor is ready to buy. Not only should you create a different page for each buyer persona; you should create pages that address different clients based on the information you have on where are in their buyer journey. First time visitors should see a different page than one who has visited your site before. And, customers who have purchased from you in the past should see custom sites that mesh with their previous purchases.
Creating many custom landing pages may feel like a monumental task. But, with each page you create, you foster additional business growth.
Lara Stewart began copywriting in 1998. She’s a passionate participant in the changing, increasingly customer-oriented style of marketing that has come to dominate in the digital age. She has created valuable, informative content for a number of Fortune 500 companies and has written extensively about CRM technology and applications.
