Do you need to start creating amazing landing pages that actually convert like crazy?
Need to get more opt-ins from your current landing pages??
Then keep reading as I’m going to be sharing my top 8 success tips for creating landing pages that convert like crazy!
Email marketing is still one of the best ways to make sales online – so building your list of hot subscribers is kind of a big deal … and you do that by using landing pages.
Landing pages are also known as “squeeze pages” or “lead capture pages”
The idea for these types of pages are simple … to get people to join your mailing list.
Once they are on your mailing list, you can use automated emails to funnel them towards your paid offer.
When the whole process is done well, email marketing will become one of your most success money-making tools.
But there is a process … and if just one piece of that process is off, your email marketing effort will be a huge flop.
Keep on reading to discover my top 8 tips creating the best landing pages with the highest conversation rates you have ever seen.
Are you ready to start crushing it?
Then let’s dive in …
SUCCESS TIP 1: GIVE SOMETHING AWAY FOR FREE
Far too many people simply ask people to join their mailing list … and nothing else.
While this might work to a certain degree, it’s sure as hell isn’t the best practise for growing your email list – you need to give them a really awesome reason to sign up.
Email addresses are precious these days and people no longer give theirs away willy-nilly. They want STUFF!
So, your landing page should be you offering something awesome and valuable to your visitors in exchange for their email.
Not only will this help encourage more people to sign-up but it also gives you the chance to showcase your awesomeness within your freebie too.
When they download your freebie and see all that value you add, all that knowledge you have … they are going to want more. So, all those follow up emails you’ll be sending them will be irresistible to them.
By the time they make their way through your funnel – they will be ready and willing to buy your paid offer.
SUCCESS TIPS 2: KEEP IT SHORT AND SWEET
The main difference between a landing page and a sales page is the amount of content on them.
Sales pages tend to be long, with a whole host of details that aids in making a sale – but landing pages for freebies don’t need that much content – just keep them short and sweet.
If your visitor rocks up on your landing page and they are greeted with a ream of content that looks like War & Peace … they are going to bounce!
They don’t have time to read all that fluff … just tell them what the freebie is and really focus on the BENEFITS they will get from it.
I will go into the importance of showcasing your benefits a little further down.
You also need to make sure all your main content is seen before the fold on your page … again … I go into this important point further down, so keep reading.
Try and keep your landing pages easy to read and relaxed – trying to be overly professional or “too clever” in your content could put off more people than it entices.
I remember one of my web design clients giving me her content for her freebie page and I couldn’t make head nor tail on what the hell the freebie was, who it was for or what it did.
In her attempt to make it sound really desirable and awesome, she waffled on and on … using words and phrases that made no sense.
Keep your content short, sweet and to the point.
SUCCESS TIPS 3: DON’T HAVE ANY OTHER LINKS
One thing you’ll notice about landing pages is they don’t have any top menu bars like all the other pages on your website … and there is a vital reason for this.
It is important that you do not add any other links to your landing pages – just have your opt-in box … front and centre and then at the bottom of the page you would add your important links such as privacy policy, disclaimers, terms etc.
No other links should be on your landing pages whatsoever.
Why?
Because they will distract people from your page.
Us humans are nosy and inquisitive by nature and … well … we have quite short attention spans.
Your visitors are at risk of their attention being diverted to other pages on your site if they are visible, taking them away from your landing page and getting lost down the rabbit hole of surfing the web. And most will never return before they sign up.
You run the risk of losing a LOT of potential sign-ups if you have other links all over your landing page!
SUCCESS TIP 4: FOCUS ON THE BENEFITS
As with normal sales pages, it is vital that you focus on the benefits of your freebie on your landing page.
The benefits are what will make people sign up in a flash … if you don’t focus on these then most people won’t see what your freebie will do for them and bounce off your landing page quick as a flash.
As mentioned before – don’t fall into the trap of writing a mountain of content here – just choose 3-5 main benefits and really hammer these home!
For example: If your freebie is a mediation for stress relief you could highlight benefits such as:
- Improved memory and focus
- Helps reduce energy drain
- Improves physical health
For each of those points, you would want to say WHY these are important for your audience. Different audiences will have different reasons why those benefits of important.
For instance, if your audience is stressed out parents, then having a better memory would mean no longer feeling embarrassed at the school drop off because you forgot your kids school lunch for the 4th time this week.
Whereas, if your audience is female entrepreneurs … then having a better memory would mean being able to retain all the information they are learning on that course they just invested a butt-load of money on.
The benefits re what will make people chose to sign up – so, focus on those and show your visitors exactly why they need your freebie in their life.
SUCCESS TIP 5: GET YOUR PAGE LAYOUT RIGHT
As mentioned before, landing pages do not need to be long with a stack of content in them.
In fact – all the key points of info and the sign-up box should be front and centre and the only thing people see when they first land on your page.
All the key info needs to be BEFORE the fold of your page.
See the screenshot below.
Before the fold means, the area of the screen that is visible before someone starts to scroll down your page.
When it comes to landing pages, most people do not scroll past the fold – so it’s vital you have your key points AND your sign up box in this section.
You can then go on to adding more information about your freebie or yourself below if you choose too … but really, this isn’t necessary, it’s a personal choice.
SUCCESS TIP 6: GRAPHICS AND IMAGES
Everyone likes pretty things and your landing page shouldn’t be any different but don’t fall into the trap of making it look like a hot mess with distracting and unnecessary stuff all over the place.
When creating your landing page, remember to keep it on-brand.
Use your brand colours, fonts, logos. This will help your visitors get to know your brand and get a “feel” for you.
Make sure any graphics or images are relevant to your freebie – don’t be adding random pictures of a cute dog [just because you liked it] if your freebie is about meditation. Keep them relevant.
I know you think I’m making a joke there but I did, in fact, have a client ask me to add an image of a cute dog to her landing page which was a free training on the benefits of daily meditation.
One way to avoid making this common mistake is to simple us an image of your actual freebie.
So, if your freebie is an ebook … have a picture of your ebook right there on the page.
SUCCESS TIP 7: AWESOME CALL TO ACTIONS
Your call to actions [CTA] on your landing page can make all the difference when it comes to high or low conversion rates.
A call to action [CTA] is basically you “telling” [calling] your visitors what to do next [the action].
You need to make it very clear to your visitors what you want them to do next and this means spelling it out so clearly, that a child would understand.
This is because people are busy. They already have a million and one things running around in their brains … they don’t want to have to sit a “figure” the next step out for themselves.
Make it crystal clear!
You CTA need to be very clear, stand out from the page and be direct!
If you CTA don’t stand out or are not easy to find, then people are just not going to bother to look and again … will be bouncing off your page so quickly and onto the next thing.
You also want your CTA to be descriptive and encouraging … saying something along the lines of “join my list” just won’t cut it these days. It’s not juicy enough or click-worthy enough.
On my landing pages, I tend to use the following on my CTA buttons …
“Claim Your Free Copy Now”
“Instant Download”
“Hell Yeah, I’m In”
“Get Exclusive Access Now”
They all sound a lot juicier and more interesting than just “join my list”.
But … don’t go cray-cray with these and have them make no sense whatsoever! Keep it relative and as clear as possible.
SUCCESS TIP 8: MONITOR YOUR NUMBERS
This isn’t a particularly sexy or interesting tip but it’s VERY vital to landing page success!
You have to know your numbers!
What numbers am I talking about? … Well, your opt-in conversion rate!
We need to closely monitor how many people are actually going to your landing page and how many of those visitors are actually saying “hell yeah” and signing up.
You’ll then know how well your landing page is performing or if it is bombing harder than Justine Bieber at a Rolling Stones concert.
The industry standard opt-in rate for landing pages is about 20% but in my experience … that’s kind of on the low side. I have never had an opt-in rate that low before – even when I had no clue what I was doing.
These days, if my opt-in rate falls below 35% then I know I have to make some changes somewhere to get it performing better.
Most good autoresponder and website will have all these stats built into them for you to easily monitor – so you don’t have to sit there and do the math lol
If you have a nice high opt-in rate, then you know your landing page is doing its job well …. But if your opt-in rate is low, you know you have work to do.
You’ll need to test a few new things until you see those number rise and you hit the sweet spot.
Don’t change a million and one things all at once, or you won’t be able to figure out what changes actually worked.
Change one thing … monitor … then change another is that didn’t work.
Please … Please … PLEASE … do not skip this tip!
Know your numbers!!!
And there you have it … my top 8 tips for kickass landing page’s!!
Now go create your best landing page yet – I can assure you … if you follow these tips your opt-in conversion rates will skyrocket and your list will be bulging at the seam with hot-to-trot subscribers 🙂
