Susan Gilbert
November 2, 2015

Landing Page Mistakes to Avoid

Is your business website retaining visitors?

If your answer was no, or you aren’t sure, this could be corrected as simply as fixing your landing page, and without the right hook you could be missing out on golden opportunities.

Your website is the branded image and calling card where people learn what you have to offer them that is more tantalizing than your competitors. A good design and copy will either lure them in as an interested prospect or drive them away.

According to an article on Interactive Marketing, most visitors will leave the moment they arrive up until 8 seconds. That’s a very short time to capture their attention, and this is especially important for mobile viewers.

In order to keep visitors your website needs to provide the information they are seeking in a clear, attractive formula right off the bat. This should include easy menu navigation, professional images and/or videos, and a strong call to action that provides something of value.

Your audience needs to know right away what your business is about how how they can quickly get involved, like this straight forward example from a leading email service provider, Mailchimp:

mailchimp

Your target market is searching for solutions to meet their problem or desires. Once they find your website your business landing page should capture their interest and provide what you have outlined in your message.

The Simple online bank provides an emotionally compelling video which shows the ease of using their services:

simple

Is your business ready to attract more subscribers who will want to make a purchase?

Here are 5 tips on what to evaluate for your existing website or new layout:

●      Give them a valuable offer – Too many times an opt-in box or page will be set up to capture email addresses, but not provide something of value in return. Think of this section on your landing page as prime real estate that has the potential to garner a large return like this example from one of my clients, Kobee Manatee, which is a series of children’s books offering free coloring pages:

kobee

●      Outline your products or services – Depending on your niche your business may want to display a list of what you have to over or include an information video or gallery of images. The key is to make this unique to your brand message which can include humor, touching stories, testimonials, ect.

●      Optimize your website for speed – Sometimes it is just the loading times of the landing page that can turn away visitors. Check out the speed of your website for free right here, and then enlist the help of a developer to find out what could be causing any lag time.

●      Utilize a mobile-friendly format – If your business uses WordPress to maintain your website there are many different plugins and templates available that will make your landing page easy to read on smart devices. There are a growing number of consumers moving beyond just search who now make a purchase right from their phone or tablet. Other website platforms that also provide this optimization include Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Simbla, and more.

●      Make it easy to contact your business – Whether you are online, offline or both your visitors need to know how to get in touch with you without having to hunt around your website for this information. This should include your toll free number, email, and social media links.

●      Create a sales page with more offers – Once you have captured a subscriber why not offer them something additional of value? This can go a lot farther than just a generic thank you page, and can including social sharing links to encourage them to spread the word. There are several online services that can help you create this without the need to hire a developer.

With a stand-out landing page your business will begin to experience more leads and sales as you make it simple for your audience to get what they need right away. Track your results with tools such as Google Analytics and Alexa, and keep your content fresh with the addition of a business blog and updates on the latest news, product announcements, events, testimonials, ect.

The following two tabs change content below.
Online Marketing with Focus - Let Susan Guide you to Online Success. Especially loves to help Authors, Speakers, Coaches & Entrepreneurs. Susan Gilbert uses her laser focus knowledge to coach and provide online marketing and social sharing programs. Author and publisher of several books including “The Land of I Can,” and “KLOUT SCORE: Social Media Influence,” Susan combines online marketing with strategic thinking. Follow her Digital Marketing Tips at her blog: www.SusanGilbert.com
Filed Under: Tagged With: Landing Pages, Marketing, Web Design