Generating more leads through optimized landing pages
In this episode of Process to Profitability, I delve into the importance of landing pages in lead generation. I explain how landing pages differ from full websites, focusing on their ability to convert visitors into action-takers. I share strategies for optimizing landing pages, including clear headlines, compelling visuals, persuasive copy, and focused calls to action. Additionally, I discuss the common mistake of using industry jargon that doesn't resonate with the target audience and the significance of mobile responsiveness and fast loading times. Tune in to learn how to create high-converting landing pages and boost your lead generation results.
Timestamps:
[00:00:22] What is a landing page?
[00:00:57] Why landing pages are crucial for lead generation
[00:03:06] What makes a high-converting landing page?
[00:05:08] How you can evaluate and improve your landing page design
[00:07:21] The importance of mobile design for landing pages
[00:09:47] Test your landing page design and continue to optimize
[00:11:54] Create landing pages that are consistent with your overall brand
Key Takeaways:
Importance of landing pages in lead generation
Maximizing lead generation results through landing page design and copy
Elements of a high converting landing page
Language and design considerations for landing pages
Mobile responsiveness and quick loading times to accommodate mobile users
Testing and optimizing lead page design for the best conversion rates
[00:00:00] Samantha Mabe: When we think about lead generation, one of the things that a lot of people talk about is landing pages. Not your full website, but a landing page where somebody might end up for a couple of reasons. Either they are interested in a freebie or a download you have to offer, maybe they want to learn about a course.
What is a landing page?
[00:00:22] Samantha Mabe: A landing page is going to be a standalone page that doesn't link to the rest of your website, but it's where you are really trying to convert somebody into taking action that moves them in a very clear step forward.
[00:00:39] And what we want to do with these landing pages is get our maximum lead generation results through the design and the copy on these pages so that when people land there, they are much more likely to continue to read and then take that final step.
Why landing pages are crucial for lead generation
[00:00:57] Samantha Mabe: So why are landing pages so crucial in lead generation? The way that I think about it is this: my website has everything that I have to offer. You can learn about me, you can learn about my services, you can apply to work with me. It's very strategically laid out. I've kept it pretty simple, but there is still choice that somebody has to make.
[00:01:24] Instead, a landing page is going to be a single page that gives people only one action to take. They generally can't even get to a main menu or a footer. All they are seeing is here is the information about this thing that I have. Do you want it? Yes or no. And then they go to the next step.
[00:01:48] And so this is a really good way, if you have something like a course or a summit or a download that you want people to take action on, you want a landing page that is going to make it super easy for them to decide yes or no, and then click on that button.
Design your landing page to optimize lead generation
[00:02:10] Samantha Mabe: And you want your landing page to be optimized for lead generation so that people don't bounce off of it. It makes a huge difference in how many people sign up for things when you think about the design of a landing page.
[00:02:27] I have a friend who has a conference that she hosts every year and her landing pages for that conference convert at over 50%. So, when people come to that page, more than 50 percent of them are going to sign up for the conference. Some of that is paid, some of those are free tickets, but that is a huge amount of people considering that industry standards that we see can be closer to five or 10%.
[00:02:59] So the better we can make our landing pages, the more lead generation we are going to see.
What makes a high-converting landing page?
[00:03:06] Samantha Mabe: So what actually makes a high converting landing page?
[00:03:11] What makes the landing page different, as I have mentioned, is that we do not have menu links. We don't have footer links. All they can do if they are interested is click on one call to action, and that is going to keep people on the page and it's going to build more conversions because they don't decide to go somewhere else and then forget to come back.
[00:03:35] We also want to make sure we've got very clear headlines, be very clear about what it is as soon as they land on this page. So, if you have a free download, make sure you include the name, what it's going to do, make sure you include that it's a free download so people can see what it is that they're opting in for.
[00:03:58] You also want to have compelling visuals, so high quality images. If this is something like a download, give a preview of what that looks like. If it's a summit, use headshots of the people who are speaking and give people a feeling of what that's actually going to be like.
[00:04:15] And then we want to think about the copy. We obviously want it to be persuasive. We want to include the details that they need to know. We want to use language that resonates with the people we want to convert and then give them a focused call to action that might be download this now, it might be sign up for this summit. But whatever it is, we want that one call to action that's going to be repeated on the page to be very focused and clear as far as what are they signing up for.
How you can evaluate and improve your landing page design
[00:05:08] Samantha Mabe: Okay, next, I want to talk about something that I see a lot of industry experts struggling with and the reason that they are using landing pages that may not convert.
[00:05:19] And most of the time, these are going to be used for a free download and opt in something to get people onto your email list and keep them in your world.
[00:05:29] But what we tend to do is we don't use language that resonates with our audience. And so when I go to these landing pages to review them, what I see is that you are speaking in your language, in your jargon. You're talking about these things, but people don't understand why it's relevant for them. And so they don't want to sign up.
[00:05:54] We need to address, in the copy, in the title, the pain point they're experiencing and how this free download or this summit is going to help them to fix that or to address it.
[00:06:15] And so we want to understand the language that our target audience is using so that we can tailor our landing page copy to reflect that. And that's a huge way that you're going to see more leads coming in from a page is by being very clear with language that they are using and that they understand what it is that they are signing up for.
[00:06:42] And then we've got the design piece, right? I'm a designer. We always talk about design. We want to make it super easy to figure out what the next step is and go ahead and take that.
[00:06:53] This means that we want to keep the design clean, we want it to be simple, we want it to look good, we want our buttons to stand out and be very easy to click on, and those things are going to carry over from the rest of our website design. We're not leaving any of that behind, but we do want to make sure that we are just making the entire page very easy to navigate and get the answers that we want.
The importance of mobile design for landing pages
[00:07:21] Samantha Mabe: It's also super important for landing pages that they be mobile responsive and that they load quickly. So when people visit these pages, at least 40%, probably more, are going to be visiting on a mobile device.
[00:07:39] They might have heard you talk about it on social media or they might have seen you referenced in somebody's Facebook post and so they're coming to your website on a mobile device and if your website is not mobile responsive, they are not going to stick around. They're not going to figure out how to get around and sign up for this thing.
[00:08:00] There's a couple of things that are super important when you think about mobile responsiveness.
[00:08:05] Number one, I really dislike pop ups on mobile because generally, the design is not done well, and it's hard to close them. If I can't close a pop up really quickly, I'm out.
[00:08:19] And then number two, we want to make sure that nothing is being overlapped or squished. Everything has breathing room and that the buttons that we're using are large enough that we can click on them. Whether you have the actual sign up on that page, which is ideal, or you link to another page where they do the sign up, you want to make sure that when somebody's scrolling with their finger, they can click on that button. They can type in their information.
[00:08:51] We want to make sure it's super easy on a phone. It's not small. They're not having to zoom in. They're not clicking on one thing and it's actually going to like bump into this other thing. We want to make sure it's very simple and very user friendly.
[00:09:04] And we also want to make sure it loads quickly. Despite how many images you might want to put on that page, I want you to make sure that things are moving quickly. Optimize your images in a software that does that for you. Make sure that you are not bogging things down by having a ton of stuff in the background.
[00:09:31] Make this super user friendly, so that when somebody comes to your page, they're not distracted by pop ups or buttons that don't work, or by the fact that it took 20 minutes for the website page to load.
Test your landing page design and continue to optimize
[00:09:47] Samantha Mabe: We want to start seeing what's working and doing testing and continuous optimization.
[00:09:54] One way that a lot of people do this is through A/B testing. They test different pieces and parts and depending on what people see, they're going to get a result.
[00:10:04] There are softwares that allow you to do this, but if you are building your landing page in a software that doesn't allow that, what I really like to do is look over time at how many people are clicking.
[00:10:17] So if I share about a page, I want to see how many people are coming to that page and then I want to see how many people are actually converting and those percentages are going to change based on the language that you use based on the design. And so you're always going to be optimizing and testing.
[00:10:36] One of the best ways to do this is make your first landing page for something like a free download that's going to be up for a long time, that people are going to be able to access and you start sharing about it. And then track every month how many people come to that page. From there, how many people actually sign up for that free download?
[00:10:58] The amount of people coming to the page is going to tell you how much more marketing you need to do. And so that might vary depending on the month and how many posts you made, but that percentage of people that are coming to that land on the page and then actually take action is what we want the design of the page and the copy of the page to continue to improve.
[00:11:20] You really want to make sure that your landing pages are going to convert as many people as possible so that you have an easier time at lead generation. You can do that through targeted messaging, user friendly design, optimization and testing and trial.
[00:11:39] I want you to think about any landing pages that you have. Take a look at them, make sure that they are working, and then see what you might be able to change and what results that get you in your business.
Create landing pages that are consistent with your overall brand
[00:11:54] Samantha Mabe: As part of my Website Design VIP Experience, I am often advising my clients on what they need to do in order to get more conversions from their website and to create more lead generation.
[00:12:08] Make sure that as you are thinking about this, you are tying it in with your overall website design. You want everything to feel consistent and on brand, and you want it to have a really strong design and user experience that is going to pull people in, speak to the right people, and make it a really easy and fast yes.
