Landing Page Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Each day, your website could be missing out on valuable opportunities by making just a few simple mistakes regarding what your visitors see first:  your landing page. Much like a business card, your website is the first impression that visitors have about you, your business, your offerings; and, what they see can cause them to either leave quickly or want to learn more about what your business has to offer.
According to a study by Hallam Internet, Ltd. there are several key factors in determining how well a landing page is received:

• Low bounce rate – Successful websites have less visitors clicking the back button or completely closing out a site to move onto a source that will provide the information they are seeking.

• Visits to other pages on your website – Landing pages that rank higher move their visitors past the initial experience, and compel them to want to know more by clicking on other pages. The amount of time spent on each also factors into the metrics.

• Proper analytics are in place – Whether your business is selling products or services it’s important to measure the performance, and those that have this set up for accurate tracking tend to be more successful in retaining visitors.

An attractive and easy-to-follow website is the first step to grabbing your reader’s attention right away with simple navigation menus and a clear message of what your business can offer them. Jay Baer, founder of Convince & Convert, provides a great example of this with a simple, straight-forward approach:

Always remember that a visitor is seeking something specific to meet their needs or solve a problem. They may have found your website through social media, search, an advertisement, ect. You’ve already captured their interest, and so your landing page should hold up to its promise. Here are 5 ways to improve your landing page, and attract more subscribers:

1. Create just one tantalizing opt-in offer

You don’t want to send mixed messages or confuse your visitors with different options for subscribing. Instead, provide something of value that they can use and will want to receive, like this offer on Kim Garst’s Boom Social landing page:

2. Provide an overview, slide or video of your products or services

While you don’t want to give away so much information that your website is not retaining subscribers your business can hold their interest and invite them to learn more with a synopsis or preview, video demo, slide, ect. Keep this information upfront and center like this website of one of my clients, Skinny Living:

3. Optimize for search and mobile

Most visitors will either come from organic search results or a search on their mobile device. Your goal as a business should be to stand out on these results, preferably on page one. In my website, for example, the broad search term for “social media marketing,” produces results in search generated from optimized content:

4. Nurture your leads with a separate page

While capturing your subscribers is a great first step you will want to give them a reason to stay loyal followers of your brand. By creating a separate ‘thank you’ page you have the opportunity to highlight your offers, and provide an easy link to a freebie or other incentive from your landing page. This is also a great place to encourage shares on social media to spread the word.

5. Discover what keywords work best for conversions

After a while your business can track the terms or phrases that your audience responds to the most. For example, an ecommerce store may do well with “deals,” while a B2B would benefit from “free report.” Google Analytics is the best place to start to learn more about how your content is performing.
When you make these simple updates to your landing page, you can expect to see better results in both search and in your conversion rates. You will make it easier for your audience to get the information they need and tell others about your brand both online and offline which is a big hurrah!