6 Tips for Creating Effective Landing Page Content

A landing page is one of the most important pages on your site. It gives your visitors a place to "land" and provides information that can engage them and make them convert.

Creating effective landing page content isn't rocket science.

While you need to do more than simply design a page that looks good, you don't have to sit at your desk for days on end creating the perfect landing page. You just need to craft a message that corresponds with each user's needs.

If your landing page doesn't convert visitors into buyers, subscribers, or leads, it's time to do something about it. If it converts, but not as well as you'd like, implementing these tips will help you to squeeze more benefits out of it.

A good landing page doesn't just make visitors stay, it guides them to your sales funnel. Learning how to write killer content for your landing page is crucial. The copy must be conversion-centric and marketing-friendly. It should be brief and to the point, but appeal to different personas.

Start creating landing pages that convert with these six tips.

Write a Killer Heading and Subheading

You may not want to hear this, but it's the plain truth: people won't read every word on your landing page. They will scan, skim, and their eyes will flitter across the page.

The headline is the first thing your visitors will see. Spend some time working on it because it is the most critical component of the page. A compelling headline captures readers’ attention, offers value, and tells them what they will find on the page.

The average person's attention span is now eight seconds. The only way you can get people to stay on your landing page is by proving to them that there is something worth paying attention to.

Make the headline personal by using words like "you" and "your." Captivating verbs and action words should feature prominently in the heading and subheading. The heading is the most noticeable feature on the page and should stand out for all the right reasons. Write strong copy and also add a powerful call to action if possible.

In the subheading, explain the offer further and share the Unique Value Proposition (UVP). A good subheading will showcase what you're offering in a new light.

You can also mix things up and state the Unique Value Proposition in the heading, then discuss the actual offer in the subheading.

Keep It Simple

If your landing page copy is too complex, it will drive readers away.

You may not be as good a writer as Stephen King, but that shouldn't worry you. Writing prowess is not the most important skill when it comes to creating landing page copy. The most important skill is simplicity.

You don't have to brainstorm for hours, read a dictionary, or take long walks in nature to produce effective landing page content. You also don’t have to use meaningless buzzwords. Those no longer work.

Write as if you're talking to an 8-year-old. Why say “laborious” when you can say “hard"? Remember, people like to connect with other people. Write content that looks like it was written by a human, not a robot.

Highly-converting landing pages have these five vital elements:

• Simple headlines that quickly capture the attention of readers
• They focus on the reader. The content is written in the second person and there are no "we" statements
• The main Call To Action (CTA) is not placed far from the headline
• They focus on the benefits and make the readers visualise how good life will be if they use the product or service
• The images used do not draw attention away from the text, they are complementary

Stress the Benefits: Don’t Focus on the Product/Service

People don't care about your services or products, no matter how awesome they are. What they care about are the benefits they get. You may want to tell people about the specifics of your product, but the place to do it isn’t on your landing page. State the benefits your product/service offers and don’t spend a lot of time explaining its features.

People are naturally inclined to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Explain how your product will give them an exciting new experience, how it will transform their existence, or how it will give them something they've always desired.

Imagine you're selling medication that relieves arthritis pain. To everyone else, you're just selling pills. But to someone who suffers from arthritis, you're selling joy and freedom from pain.

You can apply this same principle to any product or service.

For example, if you sell gym wear, you're not just selling clothes. You’re selling health, trendiness, fulfillment, and vibrancy. Who wouldn't want to be healthy, trendy, fulfilled, and vibrant?

The important thing is to showcase your product in a way that emphasizes how it provides physical, psychological, and emotional pleasure.

Don't state the solutions, state the benefits. People only care about what your product or service will do for them—the outcome. For example, women don't buy mascara, they buy long flirty eyelashes that enhance their beauty. Build your landing page copy based on the benefits your product offers.

Be Specific: Include Numbers, Statistics, and Facts—or a Guarantee

Which of these two sentences seems more persuasive to you?

• "Your conversion rates will go through the roof!"
• “In just one month, we helped increase customer conversions for company X by 70.5%”

Without a doubt, the second sentence is more believable as it is very specific.

It's easy for anyone to make a claim about how awesome their company is. It's a lot harder to cite detailed metrics and statistics.

Landing pages that use data drive a hard bargain. Be sure to include figures, statistics, and relevant facts in your landing page. They will clearly show the value of your product and cause readers to take action.

If your business is still new and you don't have any figures or statistics to share, give a guarantee. You can give a 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee, a 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee, or a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Even a 100% No Spam Guarantee can work.

A guarantee can take many forms. Choose the one that works best for your type of business and include it in your landing page. Regardless of how a guarantee is presented, it helps people feel reassured. Simply using the word "guarantee" itself increases the chances of a conversion.

In addition, position the guarantee close to the CTA. This gives the prospect final reassurance and makes them ready to convert. You don't have to delve into the legalities of the guarantee, just state it.

Create a Powerful Call To Action (CTA)

The CTA copy is the most important on a landing page. All the other copy is meant to direct visitors to the CTA. Make yours very compelling. It’s what will determine whether your prospects turn into customers.

Ask people to take action. They won't know what they're supposed to do unless you tell them. Remember, the whole point of your landing page is to increase conversions. So, don't be shy.

Your CTA copy should be persuasive, exciting, and explosive. Avoid using the word “submit” and use words like “discover,” “join,” “get,” and “learn.”

Here are seven examples of CTA phrases that perform well in different industries:

• Yes, I want X!
• Get started today
• Start your free trial now
• Add to cart
• Get X% off
• Buy now/shop now
• Start your journey toward X

Keep tweaking your CTA copy to find out what works best. For instance, research has shown that the phrase “add to cart” performs better than the phrases “buy now” and “purchase now.”

Keep Testing

The only way you can know what kind of content converts better on your landing page is through continuous testing.

There are many kinds of A/B tests you can do on your landing page—changing the image placement, the layout, the flow, etc—but what will have the biggest impact will be the changes in the copy.

As you tweak other elements on your landing page, tweak the content. It's the only way to increase conversion rates. You may not be successful the first time, but if you methodically and carefully test different variations, you ultimately will.

Some of the landing page content you can test includes:

• CTA copy
• The headline
• The subheadline
• The list of benefits

Awesome copy is what increases conversion rates. Test entire sentences as well as single words. You never know, just by changing one word in the headline, you can improve the conversion rate by 30%.

Start Writing Better Landing Pages

Businesses around the world have moved their marketing campaigns online and use landing pages to boost sales. The pages provide a place for brands to display facts and offer value to their customers and prospects.

If they are well-written, landing pages increase conversions and create a constant revenue stream. If not, they have a high bounce rate and may harm your Google rankings. Your offer may be amazing, but without a good landing page, your business will suffer. Learning how to create effective landing page content is a skill worth mastering.