Every website owner wants people to check out their website, and that visit starts with a landing page.

When a visitor lands on your site, the landing page is the first thing they see. It’s not only visiting the page that matters, but you also want these visitors to actively click on your content.

When a person visits your landing page, you want to convert them from a passive guest to an active one.

But how do we do this? With the massive amounts of information and requests that everybody receives daily, how do you stand out, catch the interest of your visitors, and get conversions?

In this article, we’re going to share some of the proven ways of improving a landing page conversion rate.

There are crucial elements that directly affect your landing page conversion rate, they are what you need to optimize in order to improve your overall conversion rate.

• How to handle your copy

• Building and keeping the trust

• Implement Structures that work

• Show focused paths

• Call to action that gets people moving

• Create Forms that don’t fail

Let’s do this.

Handling Your Copy

Copywriting is the most versatile tool in your toolbox, and it’s the heartbeat of your landing page. Without good copy, visitors aren’t going to have any idea what you’re about, the services and products you offer, and what you can do for them.

To have an effective copy, you need to establish who your audience is, so you know who you're talking to. Now, communicate like your audience.

Imagine what problem you’re solving for your visitors, and how you would explain the solution to a live human being.

• You’re not going to offer productivity programs to someone looking for gifts for a friend.

• You’re not going to offer marketing tools to someone planning for a trip.

• You’re not going to offer ways to grow your website's traffic to someone looking for stock photography.

You get the idea.

Things to consider:

• Gender

• Age

• Ethnicity

• Family Status

• Income

• Occupation

• Interests

It’s crucial to imagine your target audience so you can craft your copy for these people, and bring them to the next level: investing in what you have to offer them. You want to solve specific problems for particular people.

The second thing about copy is cut the excess.

People visiting your landing page are probably multitasking. They don’t have an extra 20 minutes to read your mission statement, vision, profit reports, the latest newsletter, and your grandmother's apple pie recipe, because they don’t care even if you do.

People want instant gratification and results. Most people take 10 seconds to read the headline of something, be it a news article, blog post, or sales offer and move on. You have roughly about six words to catch their attention.

Six words.

That’s it.

Say what your product is or maybe what it can offer. Then, cut it down to a few words. The more concise your copy, the more likely you are to have someone become interested.

Build Trust

As a consumer, you’re going to buy from sites that you know well and trust.

You can earn a person’s trust in your landing with these elements:

• Free trial or Money back guarantee

A money back guarantee or free trial is more than a marketing slogan. It shows that you believe in your product. You know you can solve your audience’s problem. When you show the visitor trust in yourself makes other people willing to trust you.

• Phone number

Phone numbers matter. People want to connect with you, not an automated email service. A number that customers can call lets people know that you’re not a robot, and you're willing to take the time to talk to them. You care about their needs and want to deliver a product they deserve.

• Demonstrate that others trust you with past customer testimonials.

If you have other businesses or clients that trust you, show it off. People believe the recommendations of other people.

Videos, testimonials, and blurbs go a long way in softening a person’s attitude towards you, turning you from an object to use and into a person with a solution.

Now, you don’t have to hit every point (remember we want to keep this landing page clean and on point) but incorporating some elements from this list will go a long way.

Structure your Landing Page

There are proven structures that appeal to human psychology. Putting your landing page together with these elements will get people’s attention.

• Message matching on ad and landing page

• Clean and clear headline

• Copy with impeccable grammar

• Indications of trust (social proof, logos, guarantees)

• A call to action button

• Visually drawing the eye to the button

• Important things above the fold.

• A/B testing

• Visual elements that enforce the copy

• Go easy on the links

Look at any landing page, and you’ll notice one thing: the landing pages that make you want to log in, sign up, or do something will have these elements presented in a clean, direct, flowing way.

If you want conversions, set your landing page up with these elements. And remember, less is better. Don’t clutter up the page with needless things. Every aspect of your landing page should be there for a reason. Don’t just fill space. Be useful with your landing page, and people are more likely to use your service.

Go to One Direction

Why send people to Facebook if you are trying to get them to sign up for your mailing list? Humans are easily distracted. You only have around 10 seconds to catch people’s attention and get the click you want.

You don’t have time to give people a choose your own adventure.

Too many navigation options, information about things other than the offer, and pop-ups are all going to tank your conversion rate.

Streamline that landing page and get people to your call to action, not your Facebook page, not your latest blog post, not your best vlog.

So how do we clean up and get one path?

Cut down your navigation bar. You don’t have to kill it, but you do want it to be only the essentials. People don’t need a link to every page of your site on the landing page. They need to know where you want them to go to sign up.

Call to Action that Gets Results

Without an excellent call to action (CTA), people aren’t going to click, and aren’t going to buy. And if they don’t, your business is going to fail, and you want the opposite. Having a compelling CTA will help your company thrive.

Don’t just throw a CTA button on your page and call it a day. You need to put time and thought into your call to action.

A few things you can do:

• Make it stand out

• Use active language

• Offer instant gratification

Make what you want the visitor to do a priority on the page. Use a bright color. Put it front and center. Make it visible demand attention from the viewer.

The language you use is going to play a big part in getting people to sign up, click through, or sign in. Don’t be afraid to ask.

“Join now” “Sign in” “Sign up” “Buy now.”

You know that expression “ask for what you want?” You won’t achieve your goals if you never try. Always ask for what you want so you can get it.

And give people a sense of gratification now.

• Now

• Instantly

• Get

• Buy

• Today

• Quick

• Results

• Overnight

• Kickstart

Using words such as these are going to help visitors feel like they are getting something now, just for clicking. Avoid words that make people think they have to wait.

• Request

• Start

• Learn

• Submit

People don’t want to be involved in a process. They want results now. So, give it to them with your language. Give their dopamine receptors a boost.

Forms That Get Filled Out

Nobody likes filling out forms, even me. We hate putting in out information on this site and that site again and again. Even with autofill, it’s a tedious process that everyone wants to avoid.

Want to kill a conversion? Give them a complicated form under your call to action.

Want to get a conversion? Keep the form simple.

You don’t need 900 security questions, an address, their dog’s name, a captcha where you click on the street signs, and a password. You can get away with a name, email and maybe a phone number. The point is this: the smaller number of fields the better.

The less work people have to do to get you the information you need to solve their problem the better and more likely they are to respond to your call to action.

Things to Remember

The bottom line:

·         Copy

·         Trust

·         Structure

·         One Direction

·         Call to Action

·         Few Forms

I’ve given you the superpower to make a killer landing page that guarantees higher conversion rates. Don’t be afraid to implement these strategies.  

Let’s get better conversation rates, and achieve your goals!

About the Author:

Sarah Fader has been writing professionally for over a decade. She's been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Quartz, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, HuffPost Live, and Good Day New York. www.sarahfader.com