The Do’s and Don’ts for Designing Landing Pages that Convert – PART I

First, identify the problem. Are leads looking at your page, but don’t stick around long enough to follow your call-to-action (CTA)? If your bounce rate is high, don’t expect to generate serious conversions with your landing page. But don’t give up and do your best to optimize it – here are key do’s and don’ts to help you design a landing page that actually converts.

DO make it simple

A landing page design needs be clear and simple. But it should also be an eye candy – users decide within a matter of seconds whether they like and trust a design or not. Before you know it, you’re potentially losing a sale. Your landing page should be lightweight, quick to load and include streamlined graphics integrated with other brand visuals.

DON’T direct leads to your home page

Once your online prospects click on the ad, don’t just take them to your homepage. If you do, they might never convert. It’s your ad that got them curious about your offer, so instead of linking them to your homepage, bring them directly to a page about the product or service offered in the ad.

If you think that by leading users straight to your homepage you’re actually boosting the chances of a sale, think twice – these users took a long time since clicking the ad to browsing your website. And this time lapse is the reason behind lower conversion and higher bounce rate (and wasteful PPC campaigns too!).

DO include a strong CTA

Call-to-action is the most important part of a landing page. Knowing your target audience means that you’re able to tell what their problems are and how your products or service can address them. Now it’s time to help your audience realize it too.

A landing page should strengthen your message and convince users to click on your CTA – be it an actual purchase, a form to fill or subscription to a newsletter. After communicating your promise, ask your visitors to take action. Make sure that it’s easy for them to become your customers.

DON’T fail to track and test its performance

Make sure to track the performance of your landing page to gain insight into user behavior and preferences. This is how you’ll be able to create a better landing page for every campaign. Be sure to test various elements of your page to see whether you can boost its conversion rate. You don’t want to try different design ideas and layouts only to get no insightful data that would help you to improve your PPC campaigns, do you?

** About the author: Kate Bones is an experienced social media manager at checkdirector.co.uk platform. In her free time, she enjoys blogging and sharing her knowledge and expertise with other professionals on the web.

** How do your landing pages measure up? Let us know by commenting here or sending us a message via Twitter @testomato.com