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Has your website’s conversion rate been dropping for some time and you can’t figure out how to turn it around?
This happens all the time, most of the time businesses have a conversion problem, not a traffic problem.
The first thing we always check is the destination and that traffic is going to a proper landing page. You can have the most beautiful website but without optimized landing pages you’re missing out on so many new opportunities for your business.
Keep reading below to learn about landing pages and what elements are needed to ensure they are converting.
If you’re new to digital marketing you probably don’t know how a landing page differs from a homepage. The fact is they have unique roles.
Both are visible on your website and help attract new customers, yet their purposes can’t be any different. Think of homepages like your storefront. It’s what people see when they walk through the front door.
Homepages act like branding hubs where visitors are directed to what they seek. The homepage emphasis should be on promoting your overall brand rather than getting in the weeds on individual products. Homepages are the big picture.
Take a look at the homepage below.
The design is fantastic but it’s hard to make a sale on one product when the visitor sees so many options. Instead, they’ll have to find exactly what they’re looking for.
A landing page, on the other hand, is a specific single page trying to get visitors to perform a certain action like making a purchase, signing up for an e-newsletter, or downloading an app.
When companies order pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, they also create strategic landing pages. Ads direct potential buyers to that landing page with a strong call-to-action. Landing pages close the deal.
Landing pages can be created for products or services, and offer an array of options. But, in order for it to be effective certain marketing-based elements need to be present.
We all know that conversions can be tough. The old “Marketing Rule of Seven” states that potential customers need to interact with your brand at least seven times before taking an action.
And some conversions (like signing up for an e-newsletter) are easier to get than others (making an expensive purchase).
According to Wordstream, the industry-standard conversion rate is 6.98%. This means that for all of the money invested by carmakers, home goods retailers, or attorneys, they only get about seven percent of visitors converting.
Seems kind of low doesn’t it? It could be these companies aren’t including all of the necessary elements for conversions.
By contrast, the HOTH PPC landing page conversion rate is 19.55%.
You’re probably wondering how we do it? Our strategy is two-pronged. First, we ensure that PPC ads are fully optimized and include the very best text and imagery. This ensures more relevant visitors are directed to your landing page.
Next, we ensure every landing page has those key elements for high-performing conversions.
One of the best things you can do for a landing page is including your most important information “above the fold.”
You’re probably wondering what “above the fold” means? Originally, it was a term describing what showed above the fold of a newspaper but today it has to do with all of the content in the upper half of your web page.
There’s clearly no “fold” on a webpage but it means everything the visitor may see before they have to start scrolling.
Here’s an “above the fold” example:
The HOTH works with over 200,000 businesses. Over that time we’ve reviewed hundreds of heatmaps and data from tens of thousands of page views.
What do you notice about each of these heatmaps below?
Example #1
Example #2
Example #3
The red portion of each page is where the most visitors look and click. We also added a line to indicate the average fold. As you can see the most valuable content is above this fold line.
When we design landing pages for clients we ensure their key information appears “above the fold.” We also incorporate the top elements for a high converting landing page.
Below are the elements we incorporate into every landing page order. Whether we’re working with a plumbing company or a yacht broker, each of these required elements are on the page.
This consistency is what gets us a 19.55% average conversion rate. Take a look at what your page will need to be effective.
The headline is probably the most important copy on your entire landing page. It needs to hook visitors within seconds of navigating to the page. We’ll often test out multiple headlines to see which one works best.
Headlines also need to include your main keyword or phrase so the reader knows exactly what the page is about.
Once you have a visitor’s attention, you need to entice them with an offer. What is your customer seeking? This may take some research if you don’t already know. But here’s an important warning: what you offer can make or break a campaign.
Most of your audience will be “cold,” meaning this is their first interaction with you. Therefore, we build low barrier offers. We’ll start with discounts, free consultations, downloadable lead magnets, free videos, and more.
Whatever we do offer, we ensure it’s more valuable than the visitor’s concern about submitting their personal information.
This step is important! You’ve just spent all of this ad money to get a visitor to your landing page and the last thing you want to do is send them away. Never provide a navigation away or links to outside URLs.
The only two options available to visitors should be converting or bouncing off. The design of your landing page should be laser-focused. Leave nothing ambiguous.
As we said above, the CTA is the heart of your landing page. That should be the only option for visitors to take.
But what is a good call-to-action? It’s typically a prominent button with a short phrase like “Order Now” or “Claim My Free Consultation.” All of the copy on your landing page should support this objective.
Online consumers love reviews. In fact, 68 percent of consumers will form an opinion about your business by reading only one to six reviews.
Offering reviews, testimonials, trust badges, or listing the awards you’ve won will make it easier for potential customers to trust you. Social proof is especially important for new users or cold traffic.
Client testimonials can easily be added to your landing page:
How long does it take for your page to load up? A slow page speed could be hurting your conversions.
Google recommends that bounce rates be less than five seconds on both mobile and desktop platforms. HOTH PPC landing pages are built for speed and often surpass Google’s guidelines.
We often have new clients who’ve never checked their page speeds before. One great resource to check speeds is GTmetrix.
Our landing pages are focused on speed. In the screenshot below you will see this page had an average load speed of 1 Second.
More people are now using mobile phones to search the web versus a desktop computer. Mobile phones now account for more than half of all internet traffic, an increase of 222% in the last seven years.
With more potential customers shopping through their mobile phones, it’s important that your site is optimized to support this format. Nothing will drive away customers faster than a messy mobile version.
Check out how one cleaning company optimizes its mobile site:
When designing a landing page we always ensure the copy is easy to read, skimmable, and has no large blocks of text. This is important to do for all web copy but especially for landing pages.
One marketing study found that online visitors only read about 20% of the text on an average page. This means you need to eliminate fluff and make every word count.
The copy should be focused on the customer’s problems and how your product or service solves these problems. At The HOTH we break it down by 80% of what the visitor is looking for and 20% about the company.
Here is an effective sample of the copy and layout below the fold:
As you can see, this company incorporated graphics and headings to help skimmers. Visitors can get all of the key details within seconds.
You should now understand the difference between a homepage and landing page. The HOTH more than doubles the average landing page conversion rate because we include all of the elements discussed in this article.
There’s no secret sauce or proprietary information in our back pocket. We simply optimize our clients’ landing pages using these high-converting elements and we make revisions when needed.
Our company also employs the most talented copywriters, designers, and PPC ad managers on the market.
Do you need help setting up your landing pages or optimizing what you currently have to increase conversions? Book a call with one of our PPC experts today and we can chat about your goals!
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