As an Inbound Marketing Agency stern believes that a landing page isn’t meant to serve as an advertising platform, a neat graphic, or even an example of your web design capability, but instead should be created to generate interest and capture leads. Always define the target audience, determine goals and establish messaging, but the key principle to keep in mind is to make a page that leads customers to take an action.

Optimize your headline and introductory paragraph to address the key customer pain points right away. They clicked because they were interested, so keep that interest. Don’t shift gears immediately away from the message you sold them. As an example, if your headline is “The 5 Best Practices in Retail C-Store Management”, briefly examine the chief problems faced by these managers in your opening, and then mention how the practices listed on this page will make these problems vanish. Identify the pain, present the medicine.

Brevity isn’t just the soul of wit; it’s the soul of copywriting. Get your message across right away or you’ll lose their attention.

After the brief introductory paragraph, provide succinct bullets which establish the value of the content within should the reader take the next step. Throw your best points out there right away, and tease at the value of the rest of the content. You’ve got 5 seconds, maybe, to grab their interest, so don’t waste it. Simple, precise benefit statements are all that is needed. Or, to put it more appropriately:

  • Use succinct bullets
  • Highlight key benefits
  • Lead prospects to take action

See what we mean?

Trust elements are also important, especially if the leads are coming in through an email blast. Put testimonials, unsubscribe buttons, and anti-spam statements where you can, and allow readers to preview upcoming content as much as is possible. People want to know what they’re getting into, so being upfront about the purpose of the page is a necessity. Never bait and switch a customer with landing pages. That’s like getting them in the door then punching them in the face. It’s just bad strategy.

Preview the white paper, eBook, or product with images on the landing page which show what the customer will be sent after they sign up. There should be a potential call to action wherever they look asking them to provide their info, contact the company, or make a download. Whatever you’re asking them to do, the CTA should say exactly what will happen when they click, use persuasive benefit statements, and imply urgency. “Today” and “Now” are always great terms to use here.

When you’ve created an optimized landing page that states the benefits concisely, streamlines copy, provides trust elements and uses a simple CTA to point customers ahead, you’re applying the full utility of responsive web design. It’s all driven towards the same goal. Don’t just grab their eye. Get them to do something.