If you read our last post about the three main types of landing pages, it’s probably time to take it to the next level. Once you have created your landing pages, what do you need to include? What are the tactics that can take your website from unimpressive to unparalleled?

When it comes to the best practices for your landing page, we’ve got a whopping fifteen tactics to hook your audience.

1. Market Callout

When they land on your page, your visitor needs to know they’re in the right place. You have to call out to them. Let them know they have arrived and you’ve been waiting on them.

There are a couple routes you can take for this.

• Directly call out to them: “Attention: ____”

• Indirectly call out to your audience: use recognizable images and vocabulary that are consistent with your other media

2. Clear, Concise, and Easy to Understand

The best practice in a landing page is a single message and a single offer. The 5-Second Test should be considered from a customer’s perspective.

Can your prospect answer these questions within 5 seconds of reaching your landing page?

• What’s in it for me?
• Why should I care?
• What do I do next?

3. Compelling Headlines

Your headline needs to grab attention. When your audience reaches your page, this should draw them in. A compelling headline has a few key elements. It should be:

• Clear
• Concise 
• Benefit-rich
• Attention-getting
• Hitting on a pain point or struggle 

4. Use Social Proof

Make sure your website demonstrates your standard and your reputation. A few things to include are:

• Reviews
• Social media links
• Customer highlights
• Impressive statistics 

This way, you can help your potential customers know they are making a “socially proven” decision by opting in. They can join the countless other clients you have by working or shopping with you.

5. Brand Consistency

Your pages might be different on various platforms, but they should all represent your brand with a similar feel. Use consistent colors, fonts, and overall feel and style. The tone of your brand voice should be the same, as should any images that you use. This is true even if they guide the customer through a journey.

6. Source Congruence

Your landing page design and the copy used should match that of the ad or page that directed your prospect to your site. Your purpose in the post needs to be a continuation of the story.

Again, this is a point for fonts, colors, and the imagery of the ad that lead to the landing page.

7. Visual Privacy Policy and TOS

Most pages are required to have their privacy policy and terms of service if they want Google to include them. Be sure you always include a link to these key pieces of information.

You don’t have to take up that much space on your landing page to display these, but they should certainly be present.

8. CTA Above the Fold

Most of the time, your visitors won’t scroll through the whole page. So, make sure you have a call-to-action button in a prominent spot. You want this “above the fold”. That means it’s high enough on the screen that the prospect doesn’t have to scroll down to see it.

9. Contrasting CTA Button

There is debate on what color your CTA button should be. In truth, it doesn’t matter as long as the color is contrasting that in the background.

Your CTA needs to stand out and bright colors tend to work best for this.

10. Custom Button Text

Have a very clear CTA that tells the reader what to do. Not only that, but tell them how this click will benefit them. Something simple like “submit” or “enter” isn’t going to do the trick. It should be compelling and clear. Depending on your industry, that may be “Buy Now and Save” or “Call for a Free Quote”. Whatever it is that fits your circumstance, make it count.

11. Limited Navigation

A busy landing page is an ineffective landing page.

It should never distract from the CTA, so make sure there aren’t too many places to navigate. If you have multiple options to navigate to different pages, you will lower the conversion rate for your intended action.

12. Use Visual Cues

Visual cues point the prospect’s eyes toward the intended action. Using visual cues will help encourage the action you need.

For example, you can use an image of a person seemingly looking toward your CTA. Otherwise, use simple cues like arrows or boxes.

13. Hero Shot

Typically, using an image or graphical representation of the product will bump conversions. This is because people are more likely to visualize using it themselves. While it’s not always a proven tactic, it’s worth testing.

14. Relevant Form Fields

Don’t ask for information you don’t need. If you include too many form fields, you may turn away more cautious customers. Also, be sure the content you’re giving is of proportional value to the information you are asking people to share with you. In the eyes of the customer, will this be valuable?

15. Optimize for Mobile

This is critically important! Make sure you’re not missing out on customers using mobile. You could also risk actively turning them away. Your landing pages MUST be optimized for mobile.

Make sure your page elements are responsive. In addition, consider building out separate landing pages that are designed specifically for mobile viewers.

Implementing Your Tactics

Building a quality landing page takes planning and knowledge. While you may be tempted to use an easy site builder, the end goal is a page that converts your audience into customers. For high-end results and boosted conversions, it may be worth it to work with an expert who can lend support.

At Planify, we love to help business owners take their landing pages up a notch. For a website that performs well, carries your audience through the funnel, improves SEO, and optimizes user experience, we’re here to help.

Regardless of how you choose to prepare and launch your landing pages, follow these tips for a great start.