WSI has created a webinar series that will run over the next few months. The most recent was a webinar hosted by Conversion Rate Optimisation expert, Marty Greif. He explained in detail the importance of good quality landing pages and the impact it has on lead generation.

As well as tips on how to create high-converting landing pages, he covered several other important insights. This includes what landing pages are, understanding their value and what many brands do wrong.

In part one, we’ll start with the basics and work our way to the nitty-gritty of conversion rate and landing page optimisation. The aim is to explain the power of shifting focus from ad spend to optimising your conversion rate. It’s really about measuring SEO vs PPC in terms of landing page optimisation.

What Is A Landing Page?

Whilst the concept seems simple enough, landing pages are not always what you think they are. It can be defined as any page a visitor lands on first whether it’s a dedicated landing page, home page or an SEO page.

Dedicated landing pages are those created with a specific goal or campaign in mind. For example, when you’re promoting a specific product or service you’d create a page for each one. Many brands also use their Home page as a landing page to drive traffic and build brand awareness but it’s not ideal when promoting something specific.

When someone lands on an SEO page, it’s as a result of your optimisation efforts which means you’re doing something right. However, to maximise your lead gen efforts from landing pages, you need to change your mindset somewhat.

Re-thinking Your Landing Page Optimisation Strategy

Whilst the focus is driving traffic to your landing pages, you must think about how to generate that traffic in the first place. You also need to understand how you are going to convert those leads once you got them there. How do you align PPC, SEO or social media marketing efforts to your landing pages?

It all starts with understanding the economic value which refers to what a lead is worth to you. If you want to generate 50% more revenue, are you simply going to increase ad spend, which will eat into your profits, or spend time and effort optimising your content for better conversions?

The Value Of Landing Page Optimisation (PPC v SEO)

When it comes to increasing revenue, many companies get it wrong as they only focus on increasing ad spend for better results. Whilst that can work in some cases, it’s often only a short-term solution. Increasing your ad budget means you keep spending that money over and over again which impacts your bottom line.

However, if you were to shift focus to conversion rate optimisation, it’s almost a one-off effort which won’t affect your profit margin. This is much like your SEO efforts taking longer to yield results compared to a PPC campaign. But, once you have optimised your content properly, your ad spend won’t have to increase while your profits do. Here’s an excerpt from an example you will find in the webinar.

Webinar Example

Why Conversion Rate Optimisation?

It’s evident from the example that profit is more when the focus shifted to conversion rate optimisation instead of increasing ad spend. This is the secret to landing page optimisation but it requires spending time getting your site and pages ready. It refers to web copy (images and videos included), SEO, keywords, a core message, simple instructions and a clear call-to-action among others.

Landing Page Design and Layout Tips

A well-designed landing page should be centred on your core message, whether it’s promoting a product, service or event. Here are some best practices:

• Keep landing page design consistent with your brand to build trust and familiarity
• Remove any content that might be distracting
• Make sure the content is easy to read with your primary keyword in the right places
• Put the main message above the fold for maximum impact
• Engage with the user through images and videos
• Add testimonials or trust icons to enhance your reputation
• Link your landing pages to social media
• Maintain a professional look and feel
• Don’t confuse the visitor with multiple or confusing calls-to-action

We’ve listed a few tips that play a part in the optimisation process but next week in part two we dig deeper into Distractions, Visual Navigation, Shorter forms and Trust symbols.

Recommended: ’34 Best Landing Page Examples Of 2020’

The Landing Page Dilemma

The webinar talks about selfishness and you might be wondering what that has to do with anything. Well, by nature we are all selfish as mankind is driven by an instinct to fulfil our interests. That means we don’t always listen or pay enough attention to people around us.

Marketing is all about listening and understanding your target audience but many marketers tend to forget that. Think back to your last meeting, webinar or conference and try to remember as many names of people you met (without checking your mobile phone). It probably isn’t a long list, right?

We’ve all experienced this in some way where we forget the names and faces of people we don’t find that interesting. As you’ll learn in the video, it relates to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as nearly everything revolves around ego, esteem and self-worth.

Final Thoughts

A lot can go wrong with landing page design and your marketing strategy. However, if you follow the guidelines in this blog series and watch the video, everything will make sense. Continued efforts in optimising your content will be well worth it in the end.

For high-converting landing pages, you need to pay closer attention to what your visitors want and create content accordingly. In Part two we will discuss landing page optimisation in more detail with examples and tips on how to get it right.

If you need help creating a new website or landing page content, get in touch with WSI eMarketing. We specialise in all things digital marketing including PPC, SEO, marketing automation and online reputation management.