10 Must-Haves for Landing Pages That Convert

As a freelancer, having a website with landing pages that direct visitors to your services or products is essential. But just having these landing pages isn’t enough.

Many things impact how your landing pages convert. In this article, I’ll list the top ten things you need to have on your landing pages to increase the number of conversions you are getting. I’ll also give you seven bonus landing page optimization ideas.

Top 10 Landing Page Optimization Ideas

1. An Intriguing Headline

You need to grab your visitor’s attention and make them want to take advantage of your offer. You can do this with your page’s heading and subhead. Now, I’m not talking about creating misleading headlines, such as clickbait, but something that intrigues the visitor, making them want to act on your offer.

Which of these two headline examples would make you want to take action?

The first landing page headline talks about you, not your visitor. The second headline talks about the significant benefit the visitor will get if they use your product or service. This is a much better approach to get people to act on your offer.

2. Mobile-Friendly Design

If you look at the traffic coming to your website, you’ll notice that more and more of it has been coming from mobile devices over the past few years. If your landing pages aren’t mobile-friendly, you’ll be alienating visitors who are coming to your landing page from phones or tablets.

If you’ve ever used your mobile device to look at a web page that was designed for a computer screen, you know what I’m talking about. The text is usually too small, clickable objects are too close together, making it difficult to click them, and there is often too much content.

Keep all the visitors to your landing page happy by optimizing them (and your entire website) for mobile devices.

3. CTAs That Stand Out

This is one of the biggest mistakes I see on the websites and landing pages I’ve reviewed over the years. Keeping the color scheme of a web page too consistent and not including a color that pops and draws attention to the action you want the visitor to take.

One of the most important things you can do to help visitors convert from your landing pages is to have call-to-action (CTA) buttons that stand out. Using a bold color that works well with your page’s color palette and draws attention to itself is vital.

Just look at the difference between these two examples. Which one would get your attention?

That small change, using a contrasting color (and changing the text up), can make a huge difference in how many clicks you get.

4. Singular Focus

Every landing page you create should have one specific goal. Do you want email signups? Do you want someone to call your business? Do you want someone to buy a specific product? Each of these desired results should have its own landing page.

If you have competing actions on a single landing page, it will be challenging to get the results you want. Different types of landing pages have better results with different formatting and information included in them. So, for each landing page you create, you should have one desired outcome.

5. No Distractions

When you create a landing page, you want the visitor to complete the action of the page. You don’t want the visitor to get distracted by other content on the page.

Your landing pages should not contain:

• Other links on your website.
• Your usual header/footer content.
• Extraneous information about you or your business not related to the goal of the page.

This doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of content on your landing page, but all of the content on the page needs to be focused on getting the visitor to take the action you want them to take.

6. Images That Support Your CTA

Including pictures on your landing page can go along way to increasing conversions. There are several types of pictures you can include, depending on what you are trying to accomplish:

• Product images.
• Images of people using your product or service.
• Photos of people that bring out the emotion you are trying to convey.

One of the best tactics you can use when adding an image to your landing page is to include a smiling person looking at your CTA button. This will help draw the visitor’s eye to the CTA and encourage them to click the button. They may think that if the person in the image is happy, it’s because of your offer.

Whenever possible, use your own photos instead of stock photos. These will come off as more authentic, but you may need to hire a professional photographer to get the imagery you need.

7. Benefits Not Features

From your perspective, you can effortlessly write about all the features of your product or service. But when you’re writing copy for your landing page, you’ll get better conversions if you keep your visitor in mind. Instead of spewing off a list of features, write about all the benefits the visitor will get from what you have to offer.

When you write from your visitor’s point of view, you will help them see why they need what you’re offering.

8. Social Proof

Let visitors know that others already like your product or service by including social proof. Some ways of showing social proof include:

• Testimonials.
• Reviews.
• Star ratings.
• Awards.
• Details about social media likes.

9. Trust Symbols

When someone comes to your landing page, they may have never heard of you or your company before. Because of this, you need to include content that builds trust.

Some symbols of trust you could use on your landing page include:

• Company logos of businesses you have worked with or sold your products or services to.
• Certification logos.
• Industry-specific licenses or associations.

These and other symbols can prove you are someone serious about your business and you can be trusted.

10. Emphasize the Offer’s Value

Clearly stating the value of what you are offering can go a long way to increasing the conversions you get from your landing pages. It’s not always easy to put a monetary value on what you are offering. Keep in mind, in addition to how much money someone might save or make, other ways your products and services bring value.

For instance, you might consider how much time your product or service can save someone who uses it. Or how quickly your product can get the user to the desired outcome. Describing how you can positively transform someone’s life will help them see how they can’t live without your offer.

7 Bonus Landing Page Optimization Ideas

We’ve looked at some of the top features you should have on all of your landing pages. Here are some additional ideas to help you create landing pages that convert.

1. Social Sharing

Add social sharing buttons so that visitors can share your offer with their friends, family, and colleagues.

2. Video

Adding video can add credibility to your landing page or can be used to explain the benefits of your product or service.

3. A/B Testing

Sometimes a small change to your landing page can make a big difference in how it performs. A/B testing will give you the chance to figure out what works (and what doesn’t).

Just make one change at a time, so you know which change improved the page.

4. The Right Colors

There are plenty of sites that talk about color psychology and how color impacts decisions people make. Check into this before you choose the colors for your landing pages.

This article by Larry Kim of WordStream goes into detail about how different brands use color to convey emotion.

5. Short Forms

If you’re requesting information from your visitors, request as little information as possible. The shorter your forms, the more likely it is that someone will fill them out.

6. Urgency Through Countdown Timers

Adding urgency to a landing page will help foster the feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out). Get visitors to act on your offers quickly by letting them know they may miss out if they don’t act now.

7. Promo Codes

Including special offers, promotions, or coupons may also help provide some urgency for your offer and get your visitors to act.

Conclusion

Your landing pages are an essential part of the success of your business. There are many things you can do to optimize your landing pages for conversions. I hope you find the ones I have included in this article helpful. Are there other things you have done that have increased your landing page conversions? Share them below, so we can all work on getting more conversions!

Brenda Keller is a software coach who helps people feel comfortable with and learn how to use software. She has been an Excel user since it was first introduced in 1985 and has taught the program in various settings. Her new Microsoft Excel: Quick Start course was designed to help those new to Excel or those wanting a refresher to get a handle on Excel’s key features quickly. Check out her course on Udemy here or view her YouTube channel here to get more help with Excel. To learn more about Brenda Keller, check out her official website here.