No website or online company can be successful without a marketing strategy. By developing a strong online marketing plan, you can reach your target audience and funnel them to your website with the hopes of converting those visitors into paying customers.
But what is the key to ensuring that conversion? Your landing page copy.
A landing page is where visitors to your website land when they click on an ad or your link in a search engine results page. The copy on your landing pages is what gives your visitors the information they need and provides a call to action (CTA) to inspire conversion. Keep reading to learn more about how to write landing page copy that converts.
What is a Landing Page?
When it comes to generating leads, search engine optimization is key. There are many different tools that fall under the SEO umbrella, however, and all of them are equally important but in different ways. Many online business owners fail to recognize the importance of landing pages in their SEO and online marketing strategies when, in fact, they are a major influence on your conversion rates.
A landing page is just what it sounds like – the page your visitors land on when they click on one of your ads or follow a link on a search engine results page. The goal of a landing page is to obtain the visitor’s email address so you can begin the process of converting that visitor into a paying customer.
How Do Landing Pages Affect Conversion?
Landing pages are an extremely important piece of the conversion puzzle, particularly when it comes to lead generation. There are a number of ways in which landing pages support lead generation – here are a few of the most important elements:
- Offer – The purpose of a landing page is to help convert visitors into customers, and one way to do that is to offer your visitors something they want – an eBook, a checklist, or some other document that you can easily deliver.
- Contact Form – Once you’ve presented the offer to your visitors, the next step is to have them fill out a form with their email address and other relevant information in exchange for the offer.
- Thank You – After the visitor has filled out the form, they should be directed back to the website with a thank you message.
- Call to Action – In addition to thanking the visitor and directing them back to your site, you can provide additional CTAs in the thank you such as an invitation to subscribe, or additional offers.
Each of these four elements works together in a predictable sequence to capture the visitor’s attention and to convert them into paying customers. There are other ways to use landing pages for lead generation, but this sequence is simple and effective. Keep reading to learn more about how to write better landing page copy to turn your visitors into paying customers.
Tips for Writing Better Landing Page Copy
The purpose of SEO is to generate leads – to reach your target audience and to inspire them to visit your website. Through ad campaigns, social media, and other online marketing tactics, you can reach out to web users and direct them to your website. When a visitor clicks on an ad or a link on a search engine results page, they are directed to your site where the goal is to convert them into paying customers.
The purpose of a landing page is to present your visitors with the information they need to know about your company and to inspire them to take a closer look. By making an offer in exchange for an email address, you can capture that visitor and start the process of turning them into a paying customer. The copy on your landing page is extremely important for this reason – here are some simple tips for writing better landing page copy that will convert:
- Know exactly who you are talking to. The key to success with any online marketing strategy is to know your target audience. If you’re writing a landing page, you’ve probably already done the research to create the ad that directs visitors to that page. Use the information you’ve already gathered about your target audience to write a landing page copy with the customer in mind.
- Take advantage of customer testimonials. Sometimes the best way to reach new customers is to let your existing customers speak for you. Customer testimonials are a powerful tool because they are a living, breathing example of what visitors will receive if they respond to the CTA and become customers. The best format is a picture of the customer next to their quote.
- Emphasize the benefits rather than the product. Nothing is more boring than a long block of text that doesn’t actually tell the customer what they want to know – what are the benefits? Rather than wasting space giving the history of your company, focus on the benefits of the product or service you’re offering to inspire your visitors to respond to the offer. If they’re visiting your page, they already know what they’re looking for – all they want to know is whether you can provide it. That’s what your landing page should communicate.
- Craft an attention-grabbing headline. The likelihood that a visitor is going to read your entire landing page is fairly low, so spend your time focusing on what they will actually read – the headline. Your headline should be 10 to 15 words written in big, bold type with a compelling subheading that highlights some of your product benefits.
- Keep it simple and easy to read. There is a phrase in the industry – simplicity sells. You don’t need to write a novel on your landing pages, just decide what information is the most important to provide and then present it in the clearest, simplest way possible. Keep your sentences short, your language clear, and don’t try to get too fancy – your page should be quick and easy to read.
- Write the way you speak – like a real person. Visitors want to know if yours is a company they can trust, and they are more likely to trust you if you sound like a real human. Avoid fluffy, complicated language in favor of simplicity and stick to short sentences, simple wording, and first-person point-of-view. Don’t be afraid to break grammar rules, either, if it sounds natural.
- Don’t be afraid to get specific with real numbers. You’ve already tested your product and analyzed the competition, so you have some numbers to throw around – do it! It is far more persuasive to give your visitors hard data and real statistics than to throw around generic promises. Visitors want to know exactly what they will get by choosing your product over the competition, so use your data as a benefit and a feature on your landing pages.
- Ask your readers to take action and give them the tools. The whole point in drawing visitors to your site is to convert them into customers, so no landing page is complete without a call to action. It’s quite simple – if you don’t ask for conversions, you won’t get them! Something as simple as an “Add to Cart” button works well for many companies. Conversion is the end goal, so you need to design all of your landing page copy with that goal in mind.
There is no miracle formula for writing the perfect landing page. Your landing pages need to be customized to your website and to your target audience. Make sure that your offers are useful and appealing – you have to make your visitors WANT to give you their email address, after all. By following some of the tips above, you can improve the copy on your landing pages to boost your conversion rates. Good luck!
