When it comes to effective lead generation, your best friend is your landing page. Your landing page needs to work hard for you – which is why it makes no sense when clicks are directed to a substandard landing page or, worse, a home page. You’ve made the considerable effort to collect leads so don’t waste those clicks when they come through. Invest time and energy in your landing page to get the best possible results. Start by avoiding these common mistakes and you’ll be onto a winner.
1) Terrifically Slow Loading
You don’t have much time. In around 5 seconds, if your page hasn’t fully loaded, your visitors will take off somewhere else. Think about it – are they so invested in your product that they will wait and wait to see what you are offering, or do you need to draw them in further? Visitors who click onto a landing page are expecting to be offered something immediately. They won’t invest their time in trying to find out more. A slow loading page is the biggest turn off and one of the biggest wastes of the considerable lead generation efforts you have made.
What to do:
Make sure you test the speed at which your page loads. There are plenty of tools you can use to do this, and – predictably – it’s quick to complete. You can also look at your code and make sure it is as clean as possible. Resize any visuals that are too large to load quickly. You can host large files like videos externally or use an image compressor so your files are not preventing a smooth load.
2) Horribly Cluttered Layout
Think of your landing page as a clean, clear, uncluttered page where people easily see the one amazing offer you are making. Strip away multiple offers that confuse people when they land on the page. Take away navigation bars so the only reason people are on the page is to act on your offer. Clean up the design so the offer stands out and eyes are immediately drawn to it. A landing page needs to be attractive but not so attractive people miss the point. Make sure thecopy scans well and draws the visitor through the actions you need them to take. Don’t make people think, or scan around on a page to find the point of it. There are lots of examples of super-clean landing pages out there that really work – if you are short of inspiration, do some research and find some of the best; take what works without copying and your landing page will work harder for you.
3) Predictably Boring Headlines
It can be hard to write a headline, we understand – the greatest minds in journalism often hit a block so why shouldn’t you have trouble finding the words? But when you get it right, you’re onto a winner. And often it just takes a little trial, error and testing to find out what works. An excellent headline summarizes what is probably a complex idea into a few easily understandable words, which catch people’s attention. Again, you can do some good research into which headlines really work. Headlines work when they promise to solve a problem. In a good way.
4) Terribly Dull Images
Are you using stock photos on your prize landing page? Better make sure they are top of the range and perfectly suited to your offer, otherwise you will find they send people in the other direction. If you can, use photos that show your product or service in action; images that you have specifically created for the purpose of the landing page. Make sure that the images show people how they could be if they also took you up on your offer. Show the products in action, in an inspirational setting. Great photography can create the entire tone of your landing page and draw people in. And above all, make sure your images are never dull.
5) Awfully Generic CTAs
The Call to Action is your final chance to grab your sale or your conversion. Firstly you have to make sure it is above the fold. You can also attract attention to the CTA with subtle or not-so-subtle page furniture like arrows and shaded boxes. Plus, you need to make sure you are not wasting the CTA on something too generic like “sign up now”. The more specific you are, and the more relevant to the offer in hand, the more likely you are to see success.
Optimizing your landing page may take a little time, but when it comes to lead generation and sealing the deal, it is worth spending that little extra to get the best results.
Image via Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot/ freedigitalphotos.net
Image via David Castillo Dominici/ freedigitalphotos.net
