A great landing page is essential to all websites. If you have a landing page on your site, but it’s not converting as well as you’d like, you’re probably wondering why. Luckily, there are some simple changes that can improve landing page conversions. Here are five ways to get you started:
Focus on a Single Goal
First, before you start making any changes to your landing page, you should think about the goal for that page. A common mistake many make is to have a landing page that is trying to do too much. Your landing page should have a single goal and everything on that page should be there to advance that goal.
For example, let’s say the purpose of your landing page is to get more subscribers to your email list. On the landing page you have a form that users can submit to join the list. If this is the goal of your page, you don’t want to also have links to your products and social media accounts. They will distract from your main goal and make it less likely that your users complete the action you desire.
Focusing on a single goal will not only steer your users in a more direct way, but it will also help you to track the success of your landing pages.
Work on Your Copy
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Now that you have the goal for the page defined, the next thing you should look at is your page’s copy, or the text that’s on the page. There are three main things you will want to do when fixing up your copy:
- Have Simple Headlines – The headline on your landing page should be short and simple. You want to quickly draw in your visitors and let them know what the page is about. You’ll want your headline larger than the rest of the copy, so that it easily stands out on the page.
- Make Sure Your Text Flows – Next, look at the text on the page and ensure that it flows. You want easy to read copy that is all about directing people towards your desired action. Keep your sentences short, try to connect with your visitors on an emotional level, and break up long sections of text into new paragraphs. For more copywriting tips, you can check out this guide.
- Highlight Your Value – Finally, make sure your text highlights what makes your business different. What value do you provide that they can’t get elsewhere? Why should they choose you? These are the points you’ll really want to hammer home in your text.
Improve Your Calls to Action
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Perhaps the most important piece of your text is the call to action. This is the part where you ask your visitors to do something, such as “Call us today”, “Subscribe to our newsletter” or even “Click here to purchase.” Without a good call to action your visitors won’t have anything to do once they finish reading the page and will likely just leave.
To start, make the text of the call to action simple. Long sentences don’t work well, so get right to the point. “Click Here to Buy Our Book” is much better than “You can click this link to purchase our new book.”
Besides that, work on the colors you use for your call to action. Choose button styles and colors that stand out from the rest of the page. If your call to action is just a link that blends in with the rest of the text it’s going to be hard for your visitors to find it.
Lastly, make sure that your call to action is big enough. A big button on the bottom of the page is better than a text link that is the same size as your copy. The more your call to action stands out, the more likely it is that someone will click it.
Here are some additional tips for improving your calls to action.
Speed Up Your Page
As you’re examining your page and thinking about the items mentioned above, you may realize that you’re already doing everything pretty well. And yet your page isn’t converting. The reason for this could be because your page is too slow.
According to a study by Kissmetrics, 40 percent of people abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load, with 47 percent of people expecting a website to load in two seconds or less. You need to have a fast loading page if you’re going to attract in visitors and convert them. To find out if your page is slow, use this tool from Google.
To fix a slow loading page, there are a few things you can do. First, make sure the images on the page aren’t too big. Large images take a long time to load, and if you have several of them, this could be the culprit. If you’re using WordPress, some of the WordPress plugins you’re using could be the problem, so consider disabling them one at a time and seeing if it improves your speed. If you’re still having trouble with your speed, talk to your hosting provider about switching to a faster server.
Split Test
When you’re implementing new changes on your landing page, it’s hard to know if your changes will make a difference. One of the best things you can do is set up split testing. With split testing, you have two different versions of your landing page – one where you make the change you had in mind, and one where you don’t. You then randomly show visitors one of the two pages, and over time you track the results to see which page performs better. This will tell you if the change you made was a good one, and help you to make smarter changes as you go along.
For more about how to get started with split testing, or how it can benefit your landing pages, try this guide.
Always Look to Improve Your Landing Page
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Your landing page is one of the most important pages on your website. When done correctly, it can convert new visitors into customers, or get them to visit the rest of your site. As such, you should always be looking for ways to improve your landing page and get better results. Try out new things, look into landing page trends, and read up on new information to stay ahead of the curve.
Hopefully the above advice will get you started and you’ll be able to increase conversions going forward. Just remember that even if you do make improvements, you should never rest on your laurels, and keep trying new things to see if you can make even further improvements.
About the author:
Dave Schneider is the founder of LessChurn, churn reduction app. In 2012 he quit his job to travel the world, and has visited over 65 countries. In his spare time, he writes about SaaS and business at DaveSchneider.me.
