How to construct a killer landing page: 4 elements to incorporate for success

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how to build a killer landing page

While there may not be a perfect formula for building a successful landing page, it is true that high converting pages typically share some basic elements. If you want to ensure success and garner positive results from your landing pages, then don’t forget to incorporate the following four important components into your landing page construction process:

1. High quality images

In 2016, there is no aspect of content marketing more important than the use of high quality visuals and images. If you’re not convinced, just check out these 37 statistics to get an idea of what we’re talking about. Some of the stats that stand out from this list are:

  • Research has found that color visuals increase a user’s willingness to read a piece of content by as much as 80%
  • When a relevant image is paired with information people hear, the chance that they retain the information three days later increases from 10% to 65%
  • Visual content is 40X more likely to get shared via social media than any other type of content

As you can see, relevant visuals and high quality images are vital for enhancing your content marketing efforts and engaging your target market. Case in point: don’t forget about visuals on your landing page.

Let’s take a look at an example to demonstrate what this looks like in practice. Check out this landing page from Luxury Estates International. The first thing you’ll notice are the vibrant, clear and compelling images on the slideshow at the top of the page. As soon as you see them, you’re given the impression that the page is of high quality.

By contrast, take a look at these examples of awful landing pages. While there are a lot of things wrong with these pages, one of the most glaring issues is the lack of quality images. When you click on one of these pages, you don’t get a warm, fuzzy feeling. Quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, you’re left confused and disappointed.

The moral of the story? Use high quality images on your landing pages. What is a high quality image, you ask? High quality images are high-resolution, original, vibrant, and relevant.

2. Precise and effective CTA

Whenever you hear someone complain about a poor conversion rate on a landing page, the first question you should always ask is: What’s your call-to-action (CTA) – and have you tested it? In most cases, the issue is that the CTA was haphazardly slapped onto the page as an afterthought, which is a backwards approach. If you want to build successful landing pages, the CTA needs to be the foundation upon which the landing page is built. Here are some suggestions:

  • Use actionable language. A strong CTA always features actionable language. Ideally, you want to go for quick reactions and familiar phrases that people recognize. Try words like: start, stop, grow, build, now, hurry, discover, save, find, today, ends, etc. Check out this article for additional copywriting tips to spark your CTA efficiency.
  • Pay attention to visuals. Once again, visuals are paramount. Your CTA needs to be highly visible and overtly displayed. In most cases, you’ll want to use colorful buttons and contrasting colors to make your CTA stand out.
  • Size matters. One of the common things that people tend to overlook when building a page is size, which is an extremely important component. The key is to use a CTA that is big enough to stand out, without overwhelming the reader. Honestly, you’ll have to play around with this one. There’s no concrete rule regarding size. It’s generally considered page-specific.
  • Consider the location. In most cases, people read landing pages in an F or Z formation. That said, it’s generally advisable to place your CTA in the upper left-hand corner or bottom right-hand corner. This allows you to engage the user at the beginning or end of their consumption pattern.

The CTA is very important. When designing your next landing page, make sure to prioritize this all-important element. Relegating it for later in the process is a recipe for disaster.

3. Elements of social proof

Social proof is a critical component of any digital marketing strategy – though you could argue it’s most valuable when designing landing pages.  “When someone lands on your landing page, they don’t know whether your offer is any good – which gives you the opportunity to sway them using quotes from customers, embedded tweets, and so on,” writes marketer Lindsay Kolowich.

“If they see that people who have consumed the offer are speaking positively about it,” Kolowich continues, “they are more likely to think positively about it, too – and are therefore more likely to fill out the form and convert to a lead.”

So, how can you use social proof to your advantage? Well, you need to consider the different types. Generally speaking, the most popular social proof elements are customer testimonials, quotes, case studies, trust seals and share numbers. Every page is different, but you need to include at least one of these elements on any given landing page.

4. Clean layout and flow

All of these aspects are great, but they won’t lead to conversions unless you have a clean layout and flow. Just as there are certain blog post formats that are more efficient than others, same goes for landing pages. Remember the F and Z patterns we discussed earlier? This is where you really need to take the time to think strategically about how users consume your content and order the different elements in a way that maximizes their preferences.

Here’s a good example from WebDAM. The page features a clear headline in the upper left corner, a succinct sign-up form on the right, key content incorporated in the middle, and a collection of social proof elements displayed at the bottom. There’s a lot to be gleaned from examples like this one. Take some time to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Putting it all together

The beauty of landing page design is that no two pages are the same. That being said, all successful landing pages share a few basic elements and approaches.

If you want to be successful in 2016 and beyond, you need to think about visuals, CTAs, social proof, and layout. These are the keys to success.

If you have more tips for how to build successful landing pages, feel free to share them in the comments below!

And if you’d like tips for how to improve your SEO, feel free to download a copy of our complimentary eBook:

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Image by Diana Robinson.

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About the Author

Larry Alton
Larry Alton is a professional blogger, writer and researcher who contributes to a number of reputable online media outlets and news sources. A graduate of Des Moines University, he still lives in Iowa as a full-time freelance writer and avid news hound. Currently, Larry writes for Inquisitr.com, SocialMediaWeek.org, Tech.co, and SiteProNews.com among others. In addition to journalism, technical writing and in-depth research, he’s also active in his community and spends weekends volunteering with a local non-profit literacy organization and rock climbing.
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irclay444
irclay444
8 years ago

Good advice Larry, i think i sort of covered that in my latest book on Hotel Website Strategy – Its live on Amazon – kindle version is under 1 dollar right now in case you are interested – Love your feedback See http://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Hotel-WEBSITE/dp/B0196D0OJS/

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