Landing Pages and Conversions – The Do’s and Don’ts
The objective of a Landing Page is clear: Attract the visitor’s attention and get that visitor to take an action. Typically that means that the landing page (LP) must be converting enough to warrant an exchange of information between the visitor and the website.
Choosing the right website templates is no mean feat however. It takes care and consideration to match the company’s products and services with a template that best exemplifies the qualities of the company.
However there is more to website template selection than picking something that is visually appealing, or a good fit. There is the issue of conversions. In other words is the template geared towards maximum conversions?
How to Determine LP Success?
The success or failure of your landing page is dependent upon the landing page being true to the ethos of the company. Does it embody the core principles of the brand? Does it exude credibility, and quality? These are important aspects to consider when selecting one website template over another. More importantly, does the website template make it easy for the visitor to convert to a subscriber or a customer? Once you have ascertained the inherent value of a website template vis-a-vis these qualities, it’s time to focus on things like the background images in the template. Many times you will see website templates that feature single images to fill up all the empty space. Is this the way to go? No! Big images make it difficult for your site to load up quickly. The longer it takes for your website template to load up, the lower your conversion rate.
Flash-Based Websites Are a Poor Choice for Landing Pages
Visitors are deterred by slow-loading websites, and are unlikely to recommend them. This is evidenced in the high bounce rates from sites that are ‘heavy’ with rich graphics and/or flash animation – a big no-no. Many novices in the website creation arena tend to think that plenty of action on the landing page is a surefire way to land as many customers as possible. This is simply not true. There’s another issue to consider when choosing website templates – how much space is actually available for your content? If you’re going for a content rich design, then you will want less imagery and more room to detail aspects of your website that customers need to know about.
Mobile Friendly Templates a MUST
The ideal choice would seamlessly blend a creative CTA with full mobile functionality. Too many novices fail to take the mobile aspect into account since the mobile market is the fastest growing component of Internet growth. For this reason, it’s absolutely vital to design a website exclusively for mobile users. Dedicated mobile website designs are preferable to responsive designs, but it should be remembered that mobile visitors prefer large buttons and CTAs that are focused on the mobile user experience.
In this vein, there should be a definite distinction between the mobile version of your website template and the desktop version. For mobile, less is more and for the desktop template the look and feel is dependent upon what the website is trying to achieve. In all instances, the landing page should be action oriented for the user. Nobody wants to scroll through reams of content; they want to be able to take action as quickly as possible if they’re interested. Minimal content, maximum impact and clear calls to action are the mainstays of successful sites!