What is a landing page and how do you write one that converts?
If you’ve been in the online space for a quick minute, you’ve probably heard the term “high-converting landing page” from the mouths of your fellow online marketers and entrepreneurs. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the different types of landing pages, their purposes, and how you can create a landing page that converts readers to paying customers or clients.
What are landing pages, and how do they work?
A landing page (or LP for short) is a webpage that clearly displays a specific offer for your audience. If landing pages could speak, they’d sound something like, “Hey! I’m over here! There’s something really neat I have to offer you, and this is where you can get it!”
Landing pages are sometimes also called sales page because exist within your sales funnel – often near the mid to bottom – and are for prospects who are pretty aware of your brand. They highlight one prominent call-to-action, typically for the visitor to make a purchase or book a sales call to make a purchase.
If an LP exists at the top of a sales funnel, it’s usually used to collect email opt-ins or freebies. In this case, the call-to-action would be completing a form to receive the freebie or subscribing to your email list.
At any stage of the funnel, however, a landing page serves up information for ONE audience with a clear goal, a single offer, and a focus on the information that audience needs to move forward with the offer.
Funnel Landing Pages
Landing pages can reside in two different spaces; within a funnel or on a website. Let’s look at the funnel LPs, first.
Funnels keep your readers in one buying experience with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It takes them through the various stages of the customer journey. Your funnel should take your readers through the following journey:
→ Gaining initial brand awareness
→ Establishing trust in your expertise
→ Converting them to a customer by making a purchase
Most funnel sequences look like this:
- Reader is made aware of your offer, through ads or organic social media marketing.
- Reader is directed to your landing page.
- Reader completes the form or checkout process on the landing page.
- Reader continues to be nurtured through emails.
Most of the landing pages within a funnel are longer (aka “long form”), but you will also see short LPs from Google ads or social media.
Here are some common types:
Opt-in landing pages
Opt-ins are short-form landing pages that require the reader to submit their email address in exchange for a freebie, a program waitlist, or a Masterclass sign up. This exchange allows you to nurture your readers by email around your upcoming offers, share updates around your business, and build long-term relationships.
Sales pages
Sales pages are used with the intent of making a sale. The reader will click on the sales page link they receive from social media, an email, etc. The sales page will explain the offer, who it’s for, and how this could benefit them. The content should be designed to make the reader feel like, “I just have to have this!” and click that ‘Buy Now!’ button right away.
Long-form sales pages
Long-form sales pages are used for the same purpose as sales pages but offer more in-depth content and are longer in form. That’s because these pages are meant to sell the offer to anyone, regardless of how aware (or unaware) they are about the program when they land there.
These are used for hard-sell, high-ticket offers that require a more significant commitment from the reader (i.e., a 6-month coaching program or a complete website revamp.) Thes are often used for signature offers and evergreen programs.
Website landing pages
Website landing pages, or standalone LPs, are clearly found on your website’s navigation menu (most of the time!). Just like funnel pages, they include a clear call-to-action. This will look different depending on the purpose of the page.
Service pages
Service pages that outline what you do for your clients, how you help your clients, and what your packages are. The call-to-action on service pages often looks like this:
- Contact me
- Book a consultation
- Schedule a sales call
- Purchase package x,y,z
Product pages
Product pages are similar to service pages but are used to sell a product. The call to action is to purchase! Even though they appear straighforward, the better product pages are quite strategic and do most of the heavy lifting for the sale (like this one that I repeatedly fall for from Brooklinen!)
Opt-in offer pages
Opt-in offer pages, as discussed above, collect email addresses in exchange for a free resource like this one! <<< Wanna learn how to write an About page that actually converts? You’ll want to check out that link!
The difference is, they live on websites, rather than living within a standalone lead gen funnel.
Components of a high-converting landing page
Now that we’ve covered the ins and outs of an LP and the different ways you can use them, here’s a list of components you should include to create a high-converting landing page.
1. Clear and singular audience
This goes back to the basics of marketing, but you need to get crystal clear on the audience you are serving with your offer. What do they want? What are their current problems? How does your offer meet their needs?
Copyhackers rule of one will help you get granular on who your people are. The rule of one boils down to figuring out your:
- One reader (your ideal client avatar)
- One big idea (your mission )
- One promise (your solution)
- One offer (your signature program, service, product, etc.)
This makes the sales process for your readers simplistic and abundantly clear. As a result, your readers will feel like you created the offer specifically for them, and those Stripe notifications will be dinging while you snooze.
2. Audience-friendly language
When writing content for a landing page that converts, pretend like you’re having an intimate conversation with your reader. For example, use words like “you” vs. “we” so they feel connected to you.
You should also consider where they are in the buyer’s journey when they land on your page. The language must reflect the knowledge you’ve shared with them.
Important: Avoid formal industry jargon, so they understand what you’re telling them!
3. Message matching
Message matching is just a fancy way to say that your messaging should be consistent throughout your entire funnel and reader experience. It should match any page your reader will see before they reach this particular LP.
The same goes for any page that comes after your landing page.
4. A catchy headline
Read all about it! Or make them want to, at least!
Use a catchy headline that quickly outlines the benefits of your offer and grabs the reader where they’re at. Use short sentences to highlight the transformation you offer or the “dreamstate” the reader wants to achieve with you!
5. A reminder of urgency
That means reminding your reader of the ‘pain’ that they’re struggling with (and that your service will solve).
But not too much or you risk putting the reader off entirely. Chat about the struggles they are dealing with right now, and then fill them in on how you can improve their life/business/relationship/etc.
6. One clear offer or solution
This circles back to the Rule of One. You want your readers to understand exactly what you’re offering them when they arrive on your landing page. To do this, make sure your page has precisely one offer or solution to make it super clear.
If you have several offers or solutions, it can confuse the heck out of them and deter them from moving on to the next step with you.
7. One call-to-action with a clear next step
Hooray! Your reader reads to the bottom of your landing page and is ready for more. Make sure you have a clear call-to-action so they know what they can do to work with you – and make it as simple as possible.
Some pretty effective CTAs include:
- Fill in a contact form so you can get in touch
- Book a call on a scheduling tool
- Check out and pay
8. SEO (page dependent)
While not all landing pages need to be search engine optimized, some will significantly benefit from it. If your landing page is evergreen–meaning it will live on your website–or if it targets a broad enough audience that a person can take action regardless of where they are in their buyer journey, then it’s a good idea to follow SEO best practices for your landing page. Specifically:
- On page SEO
- Keyword strategy and implementation
- Meta data
- Image optimization
- Mobile responsiveness
If, however, your landing page is more of a ‘closed’ experience for a specific audience at a specific moment in their buyer journey OR if the page lives within a funnel, then there’s no need to worry about SEO. That’s because you don’t want just anyone landing on the page and should keep it removed from organic search to ensure that happens.
Best practices for a high-converting landing page
Now that you’ve written out your landing page content (woohoo!), here are a few design aspects you can consider to maximize your conversions.
Ditch the top navigation
The top navigation menu on a landing page is like a shiny object. You want your reader
immersed on the page and away from your other offers and pages.
This is really only done with single funnel pages, so you can go ahead and keep the navi for your website pages, services pages, and the like.
Use just one CTA
To avoid confusion, keep the CTAs on your page consistent, so the reader knows exactly what they need to do.
Go heavy on the social proof
It’s your time to shine! Use your landing page to display all of the amazing things past/present clients have said about your work together.
Splashing social proof throughout your landing page is the equivalent of screaming about your offers from the rooftops. Testimonials, snippets of emails, and social media messages are all good ways to prove what you’ve got to offer.
Bonus points if you have multiple social proof sections to drive the point home. Readers will feel confident in their conversion because many others have confirmed that you’re the real deal.
Reduce friction & make checkout easy
Guide the reader toward the CTA by making it super easy to purchase, fill out the form, etc. They shouldn’t be clicking in circles to get to your desired outcome. That’s a quick way to send them packing.
To help support them on the most straightforward path possible, you should:
- Keep forms short (just include what you HAVE to have)
- Reduce the number of pages to the absolute minimum
- Make it easy to use on mobile
- Optimize checkout with as few clicks, pages, and instructions as possible
- Include your CTA multiple times throughout the page OR embed your form multiple times for ease of use
Now go write a killer landing page and watch those payment notifications come rolling in!
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