Putting Your Landing Pages to Work
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Landing pages are among the hardest-working documents you'll ever write. Your landing page should not just inform visitors about what you're selling; it needs to convince them to convert, while at the same time give them enough information to feel good about their decision. So it must instill trust as well as persuade and inform. Keep reading to find out how.
I've written on the topic of landing pages before. Let's start our examination of this ubiquitous online selling tool from the point of view of your potential customer. Whether they've reached your landing page from clicking on a search engine text ad, a sponsored link, or even an email message, they saw certain things before they clicked that they expect to see on your landing page. If they don't see them there, they will click away faster than you can say “bounce rate.”
Hana Ondrusek, writing for Microsoft adCenter, gives a more concrete example. “For example, if I perform a search for 'travel deals' and I'm shown an ad for a travel agency that references 'travel deals' in the keywords, ad copy or both, I expect that clicking on the ad will bring me to a page where I will find their travel deals. If I click on the ad and find myself staring at the agency's home page with a picture of their staff and a list of client testimonials, I'm going to hit the back button on my browser almost immediately.” You've created certain expectations with the text of your ad; if you don't explicitly fulfill them, you immediately lose credibility with your prospect – and no smart person buys from someone who isn't credible.
That's purely aside from the matter that home pages don't convert well anyway. After all, that's not what they're designed for; there's a reason we create separate landing pages. If you want to keep your visitor, write your landing page a little like it's an extension of your ad. Use the same key words, and use them prominently. Make sure all of the content on the landing page is relevant to the keywords for which your visitor searched. Content is always king, but in this case, keeping the content relevant and focused is especially important.
Photo courtesy JandonFIN under Creative Commons license
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