Today every online marketer is aware of the single most effort which can make his online business go bust or boom: increasing conversion rates on a tight marketing budget. With acquisition costs rising at the rate of around 60-100 dollars per customer, the demand for better written copy and word lists has shot up significantly. In the wake of this issue, the term “Landing Page Optimization” has become an important aspect of effective web marketing. But before I go any further, let me enlighten you about landing pages and their creation and their creation and optimization for the best possible efficiency for your website.

“Landing Page” is actually a self-explanatory phrase. It is the specialized page a visitor or a potential customer lands on or arrives at when he clicks on a link, which can be that of an advertisement or a search engine generated result. This page generally displays content which are logically related to the link and is augmented to include several keywords and phrases for the purpose of indexing by search engines. In marketing terms, the landing page usually focuses on a specific product or service with the sole aim of getting the visitor of the page to make a purchase or undertake an action swiftly which can result in a sale. In addition to this, the landing page works as a reference guide to every single page of the website, hence every single page of your site can be rightfully deemed as a home page.

Types of Landing Pages

There are mainly two kinds of landing pages, reference and transactional. A page which displays useful information which is relevant to the needs of the website’s visitor is called a reference landing page. These pages display elements like text, images and dynamic links, which seek to prove their efficacy by fulfilling the objectives of their publishers, which is to bring in more revenue for the advertising. On the other hand, a transactional landing page tries to capture the lead right from the moment the visitor enters the website. This kind of page persuades the visitor to make a transaction by engaging in actions like filling out forms and interacting with ad links. The final goal of all this is of course to have an immediate sale of an offering, or to capture some visitor information, like e-mail address and phone number to increase the prospects of future sales.

Why You Should Optimize Your Landing Page?

The sequence of events that take place as a part of the sale process on a website varies greatly, but we can generalize it to an extent. The first step is always the arrival of a prospective client on your website’s landing page or home page. After this, the client browses through the page to eventually click on a link or select a menu option, in tune with a particular offer that attracts him. On clicking the link the client is redirected to another page, which contains the details of the product or service that the person wishes to buy. As a final step, the client buys your product in an ideal situation. All these steps may or may not occur, but we can judge the importance of the landing page of a website by this sequence. So, building a landing page is essential, but optimizing the page to attract visitors to it and finally have positive conversion rates, is what requires the most attention from you.

How To Build Effective Landing Page?

Before you start building a landing page for your website, make a note of a few things first, which will help you organize your thoughts and decide on the core elements of your page. Write down a detailed list of all the products and services being offered by your website, along with necessary details. Then think about the kind of people that you wish to appeal to and if they would really be interested in buying your offerings. Also, think about the ways you want to engage your prospective clients during their visit to your site. But remember that the main goal of designing a landing page is to rapidly convert these prospective clients into actual clients of your company.

You can begin your landing page in many ways. You can start by introducing your site with a brief and precise headline which ensures the visitor that they are at the right place and the page is specially created for him. This can be called the ‘make or break’ part of the website because the headline needs to keep the visitor engaged and not let him wander to other sites. Make sure that you include a clear “call to action”, like “Limited Offer” or “Buy Now!” close to the top of the page as well as the rest of the document as a constant reminder of your offer. Provide valuable information but don’t get long-winded while explaining your product, as this might distract your potential client. Also, don’t get too creative with your phrases as you’re conducting serious business and not expressing your poetic talents.

Visitors are known to skim through web pages, so keep your important points in the beginning of paragraphs and bullet points. It is always preferable to write in the second person (you, yours etc.) because the customer is not interested in knowing about you or your company but only how your offer will benefit him. Keep your first paragraph short, around 2-3 lines to make it easy on the eyes for the reader. Writing a long copy is alright but make your case tight and motivating enough for the reader so that he acts rapidly. Remove all visual clutter and unnecessary information from your landing page to make it less distracting for the user. Focus on the design elements of the page too, like colors, layouts, fonts etc. as well as the interactive audio-video aspects to ensure a winning image of your website for the visitors. Last but not the least, test all the aspects of your landing page, find out more ways to boost response from users and never forget to follow-up with your site’s visitors.