RSS FeedsWriting content for the perfect landing page
Jul 19, 2007
Your landing page is one of the most important pages of your website. Don’t let the laws of generalities and guesswork govern it. Pay close attention to what you write and present on your landing page and you’ll see a big change — for the better — in your conversion rate.
A landing page is a web page where your visitor arrives for the first time — from where he or she enters your website. Many think that your index page, or your home page is always the landing page, or should always be the landing page, but it’s not like that. As you grow your content, as you grow your number of pages, different people link to different pages from your website, and the search engines too rank your pages differently. For instance on Google, your index page may appear on the fifth page of the search result pages but one of your subject-specific pages may appear on the first page, or may be at the top. So for that subject, the subject-specific page becomes your landing page and hence, becomes your most crucial page if you want to earn some business off the traffic from Google. But then, if you consider the incoming links from the search engines, you cannot, and I think you should not, consider every page as the landing page. So there are two most important landing pages on your website:
- The page from where your visitors buy your product, or decide to pay for your service
- The page where your visitors arrive when they click on your advertisement appearing on another website (or your own website or blog), for instance, the Google Adwords.
The second kind of landing page too can be a “buy” or “pay” page, but sometimes you just want to provide information on that page. The main point is, a landing page should do precisely what it is supposed to do and it should do it optimally, without any distractions.
There are many things — images, text, layout, videos — that make a great landing page, but since I’m a copywriter I’ll focus on how to write content for a landing page. Here are a few points:
Remove all distractions from your landing page
The attention span of an average surfer is very short-lived: it’s not a defect, it’s just that it’s so easy to get distracted. A click on another link and there goes your customer! If the purpose of your landing page is to make your customer purchase something, then let him or her focus on that. In an older post on writing for landing pages I had written that there is no harm in having your navigation and other links on the landing page but now I’ve learned you shouldn’t; we don’t live in an idealistic world. No need to invite the visitor to “explore” your website further. The landing page, especially the landing page for your pay-per-click campaign, is there to make a sale, or get a subscriber, not to educate your visitor.
Prompt your visitor to act on your landing page
After every paragraph or two (if you must have many paragraphs that is) have an action link or a button such as “Buy Now” or “Subscribe Now” or something like that. It sounds repetitive but you never know which of your words may trigger a desire to click the link and get you business. I’d suggest after every important detail have such a link so that your visitor doesn’t have to scroll up or down to click the buy or subscribe button. Even during the scrolling something can cause a distraction, resulting in business loss. Remember that every second counts on your website.
Use the same words or expressions on the landing page that brought your visitor to that page
So if your advertisement says “Content development services” don’t have a big heading saying “We deliver you great content”. Although it’s basically the same thing, to your visitor it may not seem like the same thing. On that page too use the same heading: “Content development services”. Your visitor clicked the link because he or she found it attractive. Finding another expression may confuse him or her.
Don’t make your visitor scroll down to read the important stuff
Everything that can trigger a transaction or an action should be at the top; that’s why you should remove all the distractions so that you have all the space at the top. Most people don’t scroll down unless it is overwhelmingly important to them. So get to the point and don’t beat around the bush and I’m saying this after personally experimenting with it. My previous web copy at amrithallan.com started as if I was first trying to make my visitors comfortable and feel chummy and then gradually introduce my services to them, even though my heading stated that I’m a content writer. I changed a few things and brought the most important portions to the top and highlighted my main services so that the visitor could see them without having to scroll down, even while using a laptop. My queries have increased.
Use simple language
We are writing the landing page to seal the deal, not to get a Booker Prize or a Pulitzer. Write simple words. Don’t make your visitors think. Don’t use ambiguous expressions. Use small, simple, but powerful sentences. The main objective of your landing page is to make things clear as much as possible so that the visitor turns into a buyer or a subscriber. The purpose is to highlight the advantages as lucidly as possible. Go through your landing page copy again and again and try to find words that can distract or confuse the visitor. If you are writing for an international audience stay away from your local shibboleth.
Use bullets and headings and avoid long drawls
Bullets are easier to write and easier to read. Given a choice, a visitor reads the bulleted information and skips the paragraphs. You don’t even have to write complete sentences when you are organizing your information with bullets. It’s easier to absorb and remember information present in the form of bullets.
The same goes with the headings. Bigger typefaces are easier to read and they make a greater impact because usually they carry powerful, action-packed words. Headings stand out.
It’s not about length, it’s about relevance
People are always debating over whether the landing page copy should be long or short. It just needs to be compelling and gripping. It should make sense to reader further. It doesn’t matter if content on your landing page is long or short as long as it solves your purpose and doesn’t make the reader run away. If your landing page needs just two lines, use two lines, and if it needs ten paragraphs, use ten paragraphs. Just make sure you can write grippingly and keep your reader focused.
Test different versions of your landing page
It’s often not easy to write perfect content on the first try. That’s why pay-per-click programs like AdWords give you the facility to test multiple landing pages. It is time consuming and if you are paying someone else to create your landing pages it will cost you more, but it’s worth the effort and the expense. Trying out different landing pages lets you decide which one works the best for you.
Conclusion
If you are advertising using a URL then that URL, your landing page, decides the success or failure of your campaign, and of your business. Keep tweaking it, keeping testing various versions, follow some standard, tested rules whether you personally like them or not, and make your best offer up front. Devote enough time to your landing page: it is as important as your home page, if not less.
Technorati Tags: landing page, copywriting, content development, content writing
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August 24th, 2007 at 9:15 am
I will be rewording my entire site. I do make an effort to educate my visitors, but as you say, they don’t have a long enough attention span. I need to make them immediately aware as to why they hire me.
December 8th, 2007 at 7:52 am
If I may be so bold I do have a couple of thoughts…
When testing different landing pages it may be wise to limit each test to one thing at a time. Test two headlines. (test LOTS of headlines because these often have the biggest impact on sales.)
Many testing schemes (like Google’s optimization) allow you to test multiple things but they are very advanced.
One excellent tool to help increase the effectiveness of your copy is Glyphius. This software analyzes your headlines and other copy and “scores” it against a huge database of high-converting sales pages. The higher the score the better the response to your message should be.
Another tool also from James Brausch is Nemeas. This one helps find statistically superior domain names by comparing yours to similar high-ranking names.
Finally make sure your bullets emphasize benefits over features. A feature might be something like a “hard plastic case” and the benefit would be it protects the product from damage when not in use.
Thanks again for the great post!
Chet
March 10th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
April 10th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
If interested, I’d like to see some samples
Thank you
dave
April 10th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I have a couple new pages that need designed.
Please contact me
April 14th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Its also about the prominence of the content so that you can showcase the desired product to potential visitors without distracting his mind.