The Five Cornerstones of Effective Landing Pages

By this stage in time, you probably know how important your landing pages are. You may also be (painfully) aware of the fact that your current landing pages aren’t delivering the stellar results you’d like.

The content required to produce an outstanding landing page will be determined by the nature of the website and its intended audience. Nevertheless, there are certain important standards that apply to all landing pages across the board.
So if looking to create the kinds of landing pages you can count on to get the job done, proceed in accordance with the following five key cornerstones:

1. Establish your goal and stick to it

Every landing page exists to serve a specific purpose. Whatever this purpose may be is up to you to determine, after which you need to remain laser-focused on it. From boosting conversions to generating leads to enhancing your brand image, every aspect of the landing page should contribute to the cause in some way. You can’t expect a single landing page to achieve multiple goals – it’s far better to work out what you want it to do and ensure it does it effectively.

2. Write engaging headlines

As you’ve literally just 3 seconds or so to grab the attention of the visitor, you need to hit them hard with an engaging headline. Try to remember that every newcomer to your website will only be interested in one thing – what’s in it for them? You need to immediately communicate the value and appeal of whatever it is you have to offer, giving them every reason to stick around and see what you have to say. Unless you can win them over with a compelling headline, the rest is inconsequential.

3. Prioritise important points

When populating your landing pages with content, consider the fact that most visitors probably won’t bother to scroll below the fold. Hence, you need to ensure that all your most important points are positioned as prominently as possible towards the top. It’s essentially an extension of the headline – a concise overview of what you have to offer and why they should take an interest in you.

4. Focus on the benefits

Don’t fall into the trap of spending too much time communicating the various features, functionalities and unique qualities of whatever it is you’re selling. Instead, focus heavily on the benefits. Again, what the visitor can expect to get out of the deal, should they go ahead and do whatever it is you want them to do. Make them think they cannot (or at least should not) get by without you and whatever you have to offer them.

5. Include social proof

Last up, try to remember that you can’t realistically expect anyone to take your word at face value. If you want to truly convince visitors to your website, you need to do so through the words of other people. Social proof can be great for communicating your credibility and value – reviews, recommendations, testimonials and so on. Think of anything you can add to your landing pages that constitutes social proof and position it as prominently as necessary.