Creating unique landing pages for each offer is critical. Sometimes companies put a ton of money and effort into driving traffic but they lose out right at the end of the process. Their final step of the engagement process is to convert prospects into marketing leads to help grow your sales funnel.

But remember, these assets need to be easy to use and interesting to customers. Having weak landing pages can have a direct impact on lead generation and overall conversion rates in a digital marketing campaign – and no one wants that.

Have fun reading our 10 steps to making a successful landing page and good luck converting more leads!

1. Write Clear, Concise and Compelling Headers
Headers include the offer, action required to obtain that offer and the benefit of receiving the offer. Start your header with an action verb, such as Download, Request or Try it, to grab your visitor’s attention. For example, Download The Ultimate Guide to Creating Landing Pages.

1. Ultimate Guide is the offer.
2. Download is the action required.
3. Creating Landing Pages is the benefit.

2. Explain the Value of Your Exciting Offer
Be sure to keep the explanation of your offer short – you should only need a couple of sentences. The explanation should answer “What’s in it for me (the benefit of receiving the offer) in exchange for my contact information?” The perceived value of the offer by a visitor must be equal to the value of the information they are giving. Make sure your offer is worth your customers’ time and information: A white paper – yes. A factsheet – no.

3. Use Bullet Points
Follow your explanation with a short, easy bulleted list that highlights the offer and makes it easy for visitors to quickly scan the landing page.

• 3 – 5 bullet points telling the visitor what they will receive if they complete the form
• Bullet points outline the benefits, these are NOT features of the offer
• When coming up with this list, think of questions, such as
  • What is the value?
  • What do I get for downloading this offer?
  • What is the value it will add to me?

4. Create a Short Form
Landing pages must have a form. That’s the purpose – to capture information and generate leads! Require visitors to complete only the essential fields to obtain your offer, for example, first and last name and e-mail address. Additional fields such as job title, phone number, company name and address can be included, but remember you want to make it as easy as possible for visitors to become leads.  Ask only for the information that will assist you in following up or qualifying the lead.

• Form title contains the action required to obtain the offer and the offer itself
• Use less than seven (7) fields
• A simple follow-up email, thanking the visitor for their interest and including the link to the offer, should automatically be sent after the form is submitted. It’s a good best practice to offer 3 supplemental links to similar/relevant articles.

Note: the more fields you require the fewer completions you will receive.

5. Place Content Above the Fold
No scroll bar! Keep your content above the fold, a simple concept but one that is often overlooked. Visitors should not have to scroll up and down to see content or the form.

6. Remove Menu Navigation and Links
Landing pages should not include a menu navigation bar or links that could distract visitors from filling out the form. The only action visitors should take on a landing page is to complete and submit the form.

7. Include an Image
Insert stimulating images relevant to the offer on the landing page to help visitors visualize the offer. This could be the first slide of a presentation or the cover of an eBook or Whitepaper.

8. Perform a Blink Test
In five seconds or less, your visitors should know what the offer is, the value (benefits) of the offer (can’t live without it) and what they need to do to get the offer. A simple way to test your landing page is to print a hardcopy and give it to a peer. Count to five and take the paper away. Ask what they thought of the landing page. Could they identify what the offer was? Do they know the value of the offer and how to get it? If your peer can “pass” the blink test, it’s a good landing page.

9. Redirect to a Thank You Page
Visitors should be redirected to a thank you page after completing the form on your landing page. The format should include a short message thanking the visitor for their interest, a link to the offer they just downloaded and any supporting links to similar content that add more value and benefit the visitor. Keep visitors on your site as long as you can, so you have a better understanding of not only their level of interest, but also what product(s) or service(s) they are interested in. Use this page as one last opportunity to showcase another offer or provide other relevant information.

10. Add Social Media Share Icons
Incorporate the social media share icons into your landing page for easy social sharing and to generate leads. Sharing with your followers means there is the potential they will share with their followers and so on. This equals good exposure!

Think of your landing page as your employee of the month, every month – it doesn’t call in sick, never takes a day off, works 365 days a year and is responsible for capturing leads. If you want to create effective optimized landing pages, increase website traffic and successfully convert visitors to leads, follow these 10 easy steps to build a solid foundation for your landing page. 

A great landing page starts with an offer. Want to learn more about creating leads? Download our eBook The Marketer’s Guide to Digital Demand Generation to learn more.