How to Build a Landing Page That Converts

Scott D'Ambra

In today’s highly competitive online world, businesses need to know how to build a landing page that converts. Online businesses have much more power than they may realize to convert visitors into customers.

One way to do this is to send visitors to a specific landing page that includes everything they need in order to feel confident enough to either call, purchase or request more information. This strategy proves to be much more effective than sending them to a general page and allowing them to browse a number of related pages to get the information they need.

Since several elements go into a carefully crafted landing page, the process may seem overwhelming to the unschooled in landing page design. Yet it doesn’t need to be. Following the guidelines laid out in this article, you’ll learn how to build a landing page that converts, and start seeing a better ROI in all your online marketing campaigns.

How to Build a Landing Page

To make things simple, the anatomy of a perfect landing page includes the following elements:

These are the basic nuts and bolts of what should be included in a landing page. Things can get a lot fancier but let’s start here and explore each element in detail to make sure you know how to build a landing page that converts.

1) A Compelling Headline

A compelling headline must be clear, relevant, and address a need or concern your visitor has.

  • Clear – Say exactly what you want to convey clearly without added ideas or fluff. This may include your unique value proposition (UVP) or your unique selling proposition (USP).
  • Relevant – Match the headline message with the ad that got your visitor to click through to your landing page. It should also relate to the content they are going to view when they read your landing page.
  • Address a need or concern – Convey that the information on this page will meet a felt need or concern or answer a question they have.

Your headline can ask a question, contain a “how to” such as the title of this article: How to Build a Landing Page That Converts, or provide a solution to a problem. Remember that the headline is the first thing your visitor will read and it will either compel them to continue reading your landing page, or click away to something more compelling.

2) Effective Media

In choosing effective media, there are some key elements to keep in mind. Whether the media is a video, static image or animated image, it should be relevant to the content of the page and evoke emotion in your visitor. It might showcase a product or service that will meet their need or someone using that product or service with a smile or satisfied look on their face. Even an animated gif can show someone using a product or service, or explain how it is used in moving picture style. Videos should be short and to the point and express how the felt need will be met through your product or service. It may even include a testimonial or two of satisfied customers honestly sharing their experience.

3) Compelling Copy

As you write the copy for your landing page consider that most visitors skim through pages. For this reason it is important to include the following:

  • Sufficient white space between copy and media
  • Bullet points
  • Numbered lists
  • 2-3 sentence paragraphs

You can also bold or italicize important words or phrases, but don’t overuse these elements. Also, be very careful with using all caps as this signifies shouting.

You will also want to follow the rules of building organic search traffic through SEO and other copywriting techniques. Remember that if you offer too much information your visitor will click away. Not enough and they won’t convert because they won’t have gotten what they were seeking. Provide relevant information and answer any questions the visitor might have about your product or service, without going overboard.

4) Social Proof/Trust

When a visitor trusts your brand they will be more likely to become a customer of your product or service. Proving that they can trust you is paramount to conversion. In order to build trust, provide the following on your landing page:

  • Provide some proof that your product or service will meet their need. You can most effectively do this through customer testimonials or showcasing other businesses who use your product or service. If others trust you, maybe your visitor can too. You can also include usage statistics.
  • Showcase any seals of approval, certifications, or other badges that state that your product or service meets certain standards in your industry. An example of this might be Better Business Bureau (BBB) approval.
  • Provide a 100% money-back guarantee if for any reason the customer is not satisfied.
  • If you’re selling something, provide and promote that you have a secure check-out.
  • Provide a clear privacy policy that assures any information they share with you will not be shared with a 3rd party.

5) Call-to-Action (CTA)

Always, always, always include a call-to-action (CTA) on your landing page. You got the visitor there, so don’t leave them hanging. Whether this means filling out a form to learn more, requesting a call, downloading a guide, or purchasing a product or service, always have an action available for the customer to take. Make the CTA compelling just like your headline and page copy. Showcase what the customer came there for and compel them to take the next step, whatever that step is.

6) Lead Capture Form

Always include a lead capture form for a secondary free offer. This could be as simple as a free PDF download or access to a particular report or even to your newsletter. This gives you a way to capture their identity so that in the future you can work on persuading them to take you up on your primary. And of course, if the lead capture was the main CTA, then you can still include an opt in to your newsletter or a link to a find out more form.

7) No External Links

A landing page is designed to stand alone, therefore do not include external links to other websites or other pages on your site. Making people search for more information to answer their questions once they clicked to your landing page defeats the purpose. The landing page structure should contain everything the visitor needs to find what they seek, trust you, and take action by becoming a customer or inquiring further with a real person should they have specific questions or concerns.

Need Help Creating Landing Pages that Convert?

Spending money on marketing campaigns or advertising without having effective landing pages that convert is a waste of your company’s money, time and resources.

Having effective landing pages that convert leads to sales will greatly increase your advertising ROI. At ClearTech Interactive, we are experts at creating landing pages that convert, as well offering outstanding PPC management and inbound marketing services.

We offer a free 30 minute consultation (a $250 value) to discuss your landing page needs.

Request a Call or contact us at 727-562-5161 to find out what we can do for you.