If your website goals are falling flat, you may want to take a look at your landing pages. Your landing page is the home page for your website. It’s the page most people “land” on when they come to your website. From your landing page a visitor can take a number of actions.
They can leave your site – not a desirable action! They can click on a page or link within your site and dig deeper. They can take action and fill out a form, or click to make a purchase. Ultimately your landing page is a decision-making page. This means it’s critical to your success.
Is Your Landing Page Captivating?
Does your landing page capture attention? Ideally it will have a compelling headline followed by keyword-targeted content that supports the purpose of the landing page. Additionally, your landing page shouldn’t be distracting. Everything on that page needs to support the purpose of the page.
What’s the Purpose of Your Landing Page?
Different landing pages have different purposes. If you have a theme-based website for example, then your page’s purpose may be to motivate visitors to dig deeper. You want them to get to the pages where your affiliate and PPC links are so you can earn money.
You may want visitors to sign up for your opt-in form. If so, then make sure that’s the action your landing page copy and graphics support. If your landing page is designed to motivate a sale, then you want the page to sell a product or a service. Everything on the page needs to support that action. You don’t want to distract with opt-in forms or content links.
If your landing page is struggling, take a look at it and see if the entire page supports your purpose for the page. If not, rework it.
Do You Have a Call to Action?
Regardless of your purpose, your landing page needs a call to action. Visitors need to be guided to what to do next. If this guidance is missing, they may likely click away. Support your page’s purpose with a compelling call to action.
If you want them to sign up for your opt-in list, then ask them to do so. If you want them to dig deeper and read your content and information, then tell them to click through. If you want to make a sale, provide a number of opportunities for them to make that decision and take action.
Test and Track
Test and track various elements to optimize your landing page to fit its purpose. Test which headline works best. Test which call to action works best. Test where to place your sign-up form for the best results. Split testing is easiest. You can use PPC ads to drive traffic to two nearly identical landing pages.
Because your landing page is the page where most of your traffic enters your site, it’s imperative that it support your goals. Make sure your landing page has a purpose. Follow it up and make sure each element of your page supports that purpose. Eliminate element that don’t and get rid of distractions. Optimize your landing page and you’ll optimize your business!
