Landing on Point – 8 Ways to Create a Steller Homepage

The first thing which appears when a customer goes to your website is the landing page. Just like at your house, a website should make visitors feel welcomed and comfortable as soon as they arrive. Because this page has to do with your business, you want your visitors to be aware of their surroundings - figure out who you are, what your business does, what are your offerings, etc.

That’s why it’s essential that you have a good looking landing page which makes people want to buy or follow through with the action your brand desires - capture leads, get visitors to click-through to another page, introduce your product or service, showcase your company in a specific way, etc.

It’s highly important to meet these goals, and hence, you need to optimize your landing page.

What Makes a Good Landing Page?   

There’s no hiding in the closet about the fact that the design and layout of a landing page are the meat and potatoes. But the words on the page play a huge role too.  

A few fundamentals which successfully drive actions contain:

• Catchy headlines
• Convincing examples
• Engaging CTA’s
• Listing benefits before features, etc.

Although simple sounding, these fundamentals are often overlooked when crafting a landing page, thus resulting in the possibility of inaction.

Recommended: Little Sneaky Secrets to Optimize landing page

To put this into perspective, here are 8 ways to reach people’s hearts through your homepage.

1. Catchy Headlines and Subheadlines

You only have a couple of seconds to capture the attention of your visitor, and you can do so with a caption that is attractive, bold, simple, and straightforward.

The headline and subheadline should give visitors an idea of what your brand offers and compelling reasons to browse through the other pages of your website. Think of it as your one and only shot to win over the visitor to linger on your site.

Oh, remember to be short, sweet, and to the point. With the tiny attention span your visitors have, you need to ‘wow’ them from the get-go.  

Also, keep the wording simple and use words your audience use. Labyrinthine words will lead to a dead end as every user’s lexicon varies. Dropbox illustrates this point excellently. Rather than using words such as resources, files, data, etc. they use very simple jargon to convey their business model.  

According to Marketing Sherpa, you shouldn’t neglect your headline. The possibility is 90% of visitors who read your headline will also read your call-to-action.

2. Craft Compelling Content

From the outset, what you offer is what decides if your audience is inclined to delve into the other pages of your website. A sure shot way of increasing conversions is to ensure that your content that is to the point, genuine and convincing.      

The One Week Website is the perfect example of compelling content. Why? Because as soon as you land on the homepage, it tells you all you need to know - ‘your website in just one week.’ It’s clear, simple, and easy to understand. If this is what you want, you know you are on the right page instantly.  

Along with the content to capture the attention of the customer and retain it, the visuals are a must. Images have the penchant for stirring emotions, which results in following through with the desired action. There are no ifs, ands, buts or two ways about it - pictures are essential for a great landing page.

Always use high-quality photos. Pixelated pictures display a lazy and sloppy website which will instantly drive customers away. Don’t skimp on quality.  

The content and image need to complement one another not only on the landing page but all through the website too.

A quick tip: A pretty picture isn’t enough to drive conversions; the content should be compelling as well. The key is to use great content coupled with the eye-catching images, which narrate a story for elevates results.     

3. Engaging Design Speaks Volumes

No matter what you are offering, an offer with good design has higher chances of winning. When your page looks good, you are communicating to your audience that you are professional while also instilling trust and security.

Yes, all this is achievable by just looking better than the others out there. Your quality of design automatically transfers to the quality of the product/service which the visitor is likely considering purchasing from you.

In spite of having one of the best products, if you suffer from bad conversion rates, it could be due to poor design. The Great design might just boost your conversion.

The element of design grabs the attention of the visitor and gently guides them toward the CTA.     

A quick tip: It’s best to steer clear of templates that are readily available. If you intend to be noticed, you need to be different. Invest in a good designer - it’s bound to pay off!   

4. Call-to-Action (CTA)

Essentially, a CTA guides the visitor and tells them what you want them to do next.

An effective CTA beckons the attention of the visitor as well as encourages them to pursue the desired action, whether it is to fill a form, call, purchase, etc.

A powerful CTA should have the apt color so that it pops from the background, it shouldn’t be too big or small - aim for the right size according to the layout and design of the landing page, and it should convey the message in a manner such that it highlights the significance of the button.     

A recent study by Unbounce revealed after analyzing more than 18,600 landing pages that there a few key components which make customers want to click through and call-to-action ranks at the top.

The study also concludes that a landing page with one main call-to-action has a 13.5% conversion rate as opposed to a page with over five CTAs which has only 10.5% conversion rate.      

Netflix is an excellent example of a website which has a strong CTA. With the help of persuasive text, you are guided toward a free trial. They show you the convenience of their product - you can watch anywhere and cancel anytime if you aren’t satisfied.  

5. Speed is of The Essence

You can craft your landing page with utmost precision and include the right elements of design and copy, however, if your page doesn’t load within a fraction of a second, you have lost your visitor.

The average Joe has no patience to linger around and wait for your website to load.

Did you know that for every one second of a lag you lose 7% in conversion rate?

There are several things you can do to speed up loading time - keep code light, reduce and optimize image elements on the page, etc.

Infinity Digital, a leading web development company, can deliver a website that loads quickly and effectively, getting you better numbers for your business.

6. Make Landing Page Forms Mobile-Friendly

We’re sure every one of you have filled out a form on your mobile device, if yes, then you know what we are talking about here. When creating your landing page, keep in mind how frustrating it was to fill that form because your target audience will feel the same frustration!

Our smartphones have made us look for instant gratification everywhere! Meaning, if you intend to make a simple purchase, it needs to be done then and there, even when you are on the go. This means, your landing page on mobiles should be easy to use with minimal effort and provide a delightful mobile website experience.

Did you know that mobile-friendly websites have been heavily favoured by Google since April 2015, when it updated its ranking algorithm and in March 2018 started indexing mobile sites?    

Your mobile landing page needn’t necessarily be content heavy and bear a whole lot of information. Offer exactly what the customer is looking for to garner greater results.       

Google Maps is one of the best examples of an excellent mobile-friendly website. What makes it so great is that their mobile version is virtually indistinguishable from the website/ mobile app. Plus, it has an identical speed and functionality - a win, win, win!

7. Establish Trust and Gain Credibility

Most often, people exercise extreme caution when it comes to buying online.

If the visitors to your page have a hard time putting faith in you, that’s going to hamper your rate of conversion.

It’s crucial for you to establish credibility through your landing page with the help of trust symbols. There are hundreds, potentially even thousands, of different types of trust signals a few such are credentials, customer testimonials, awards or accolades, success stories of your customers, number of subscribers, security badges, and number of social shares.

Simply put, trust signals are qualities or features of your website, which inspires trust in the mind of the audience. With trust, you can convert a potential visitor to a long-term buyer.

8. Test, Test, and Keep Testing

There’s a reason behind the repetition. Before you start spending money, the first step is to test your landing page. The bottom line is that there is no substitute for testing.

Most designers, management, and marketing departments count on a mix of personal opinion, gut instinct, and experience when it comes to finalizing a design and what works for the target audience.

On the contrary, get ready to fling out all the boardroom conjecture through the window and acquire real insight into what doesn’t work and what works. Testing is like a camera; it never lies.  

Roll out some tests, find out what the online community thinks and feels.   

Once you have got relatively positive feedback and concluded on a finished product which works well with your test audience, now you have direction.

President Obama’s campaign analytics team used testing to improve their conversion rates. To their surprise, of the several versions tested, the ones which the campaign staff preferred didn’t deliver the best results!

Testing goes a long way!

Final Thoughts:

Landing pages put you in control and allow you to lead the reader to a specific action.

Instead of being a gateway, let your landing page do some heavy-lifting.

Whether the goal of your website is to generate leads, sell products, or anything else, an optimized landing page will result in higher conversions, which means more business for you.

Instead of going down a road to nowhere, with the help of your landing page, they guide users strategically to your door which will convince them to convert. This is the key to more sales for your brand.   

Your landing page should be a canvas of your story, let it speak for itself.

Author: Janette Lopez