10 Tips for Landing Page Optimization and Conversion Rate Optimization for Your Business Online Success
In online marketing there are different ways to get the targeted action by the site visitor. One of the most important tools is the landing page. It is precisely adapted to these special needs and optimized accordingly.
However, it can be observed that many site operators are giving away real sales potential here. It is not uncommon to increase the conversion rate, i.e. the number of successful deals in relation to the number of visitors, by several hundred percent.
Nevertheless, there are numerous site operators who have never heard the word “landing page”. As a result, they are not aware of the economic importance of this elementary building block.
The basic task of the landing page
Online marketing, social media and SEO, i.e. search engine optimization, are now terms that most website operators are familiar with. But when it goes deeper, there are often large gaps.
One of these gaps is often the landing page. A landing page is basically any page on which a page visitor can “land” – regardless of whether by clicking on the search results on Google, an advertisement or a link in a newsletter.
A good landing page unequivocally serves the visitor’s demand, shows the advantages or customer benefits of the presented offer and shows a clear call for action.
This call for action, also called “call-to-action”, can be, for example, visiting a further website, buying a product, registering in an e-mail distribution list or requesting a consultation – the possibilities are many. If the request for action has been carried out by the visitor or the desired goal has been reached, this is called “conversion”.
But in order to understand what is the best possible structure, i.e. a good conversion and revenue-generating structure, it is first necessary to understand who is actually visiting this page.
What does the average visitor to a landing page expect?
The user can find a landing page through a specific need in various ways: in search engines during a specific search, through a link in an information email, or by clicking on a contribution in a social network.
This means that the visitor has a certain expectation of the page viewed and its content.
If you do not meet this expectation, the potential new customer leaves the page after a few seconds and looks for alternatives that can be found quickly.
First steps for Landing page optimization: build on the visitor’s expectations
The user who is now on the landing page knows at least roughly what he wants. Nevertheless, the site operator now only has a few seconds in which to win over this user.
First of all, the site visitor will only fly over the site and clarify for himself whether he has actually found what he is looking for. You can take advantage of this typical behavior quite easily by creating many small “eye-catchers” in addition to a meaningful and clearly visible heading.
This is possible, for example, with short list lists, bold keywords in the body text, additional headings or pictures. When the page is roughly scanned (called “skimming” by experts), the human brain uses these contrasting or attention-grabbing elements as anchor points. Relevant content at these points often lowers the bounce rate considerably.
Tip: The first and last word is most striking in word strings. It therefore makes sense to formulate bulleted lists and headings accordingly.
Another optimization approach that goes hand in hand with the relevance of the content is the so-called “message match”. The visitor can expect content on the landing page that matches the referring element.
Here is a simple example: If you lure an Internet user to your landing page with the statement “Everything here for free”, but you explain the same with a purchase procedure, you have immediately lost this visitor again.
The content of the advertising message that brought him here does not match what he is now being offered. It is therefore important to adapt the landing page to the previous (advertising) message.
Different advertising messages require differentiated landing pages
Now one or the other may think “I have completely different products and I advertise them in many ways”. This is not a problem at all – on the contrary. This is where the advantage of using landing pages strategically comes into play.
It is advisable to operate several landing pages for different advertising messages or wordings. Each one is specifically optimized for the content that refers to this special landing page. If you look at landing pages from an SEO perspective, each subpage for a certain keyword offers real added value in terms of search engine rankings – provided that the content is unique.
If you use different landing pages as interconnected sub-pages within an Internet presence, it is important that the general layout of all landing pages are the same and, for example, the header and main navigation menu are designed uniformly, otherwise the user will quickly lose orientation and damage trust.
The decision is made within a few seconds
Now it’s about designing a landing page. Admittedly, this is a very difficult topic for a layperson who is not concerned with neuromarketing and conversion optimization. Only very general statements can be made here, since these must be very specifically based on the purpose of the landing page.
Basically, however, the following applies: less is often more. Under no circumstances should the site visitor be showered with information. Rather, the question arises as to how you can positively influence your decision to buy, which is precisely what we have to deal with briefly.
Helpful are legible headlines, graphics and also texts that literally direct him through the page in key points. It is important to answer the three most essential questions of every visitor:
1. What is this about?
2. How does this help me?
3. What’s next?
A clear call-to-action must be available, especially for answering the third question (what’s next?). This can also look very different. It is advisable to let the marketing experts incorporate the study results here or to hire someone who is familiar with the topic.
In general, the following applies to the labeling of the call-to-actions: “Arrange a consultation – free of charge and without obligation” is better than “contact”.
The psychological aspects of a page layout should not be underestimated. As mentioned before, the visitor to the landing page will first check for himself whether the further information he expects is available. There are also very interesting studies and graphics that show how long and what the eyes are focused on a page (eye tracking etc.). And as I said – there are only a few seconds in which the site visitor will decide whether to stay or go to the competition.
Tip: Your landing page will rarely be the only page visited in the prospect’s buying decision process. Visit the competition pages and ask yourself what you think of these pages as negative and positive. Use the knowledge gained for your landing page and secure yourself a noteworthy competitive advantage.
At the latest when the previously read has been implemented, it is necessary to carry out various tests. These can be expert reviews and usability tests.
Expert reviews give you a different view of things and a landing page is viewed very differently by a professional. Its ideas and experiences can therefore be incorporated. It gets even more interesting with the (crowd) usability test: Here numerous Internet users from the target group test the site and quickly identify weaknesses.
The main focus should be on performing A / B tests. Here two or more different variations of the landing page are compared. The real visitors are randomly shown one of the variants and a measuring method shows which variant brings more conversions.
If you do it right, you go through an A / B test cycle that never ends: The better converting layout from one test should also be compared to a further developed version in the next test. With many A / B tests, the conversion rate can be improved step by step. There is no optimum – at least not before a 100% conversion rate.
It is always important to be unbiased about the optimization of a landing page. Often it is exactly the page layout that you think is perfect that does not work at all. This is an aspect that depends very much on the target group and the product offered.
As a result, creating the (almost) perfect landing page is a very lengthy process. Several months or even years are not uncommon here, because internet users are also changing their habits. Of course there are other aspects to consider, some of which have already been addressed.
One of the biggest problems for website operators: They often do not know that the visitor to a landing page is no longer a “cold” acquisition, but a potential customer who knows exactly what he wants. As a result, most of the money is given away here.
10 quick tips for first landing page optimization
- Focus on only one topic
- Short heading that takes up the message of the advertising material
- 3-7 customer benefits as a checklist
- An attention-grabbing and understandable call for action with an interaction element (e.g. form or button)
- Make it clear what the unique customer benefit (USP) is
- Make keywords and important content eye-catching
- Use seals and certificates to build trust
- Credibly depict references and customer comments
- Generate urgency: explain why the visitor should buy now
- Success measurement via A / B testing
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