What’s the big deal about landing pages?
If you’re a business owners, chances are you’re going to sell something.
You promote your stuff on social media. You post it up in your Facebook Group sharing days. You’re doing all the things that the experts are telling you to do BUT you’re not selling anything.
I know what that one feels like because it happened to me. I’ve learned that posting up a photo of your product or something that represents your service on a page with some copy just doesn’t work anymore.
Everyone online is more savvy than that.
They want more than just an image of what you’re selling. They want to know how the thing you’re offering them is going to help them do something better, quicker, faster or easier.
The idea behind landing pages is pretty simple: Your potential customer clicked on your promotion link and now they want to land on your web page with an offer that gives them a single focused answer to their problem.
Why you need more than just a Buy Now button?
As I’m moving forward with my marketing plans to launch my next Social Media Images that Convert ecourse as well as a few more online products, I started to do some research to see how I can improve my landing page.
Having a successful landing page is more than just writing great copy to get your reader interested in hitting that “Yes, I want to buy this now” box. You actually need some specific visual components on your page to grab their attention and to help them to keep reading your offer.
Here’s four design elements that I discovered that can help you get more people to click that Buy Now button:
1. Colors
Choosing the right colors for your landing page is more than just picking out your favorite colors and dropping them into your web page. Your colors should be consistent with the look and feel of your site.
But to get your offer to grab your readers attention, your color palette should include contrasting colors.
To find your contrasting colors, let’s start with the color wheel:
When choosing complimentary colors, your best option is to pick colors that are located next to each other on the color wheel. The colors you choose should also be on the same “ring” or within a ring or two from each other. Being close to each other on the color wheel means that they’ll automatically blend well together.
Your contrasting color will be the color that you’ll use to emphasize something like your call-to-action button or the sale price. This color should be brighter or darker, meaning the ones that are closer to the middle section of the color wheel.
The best way to choose your contrasting color is to look at the colors that are on the OPPOSITE side of the color wheel.
2. Images
Your landing page is not the place for you to overload your readers with images. It’s more about having one or two quality images instead of scattering several small images in between the copy.
When you’re looking for images, here’s the best rule to follow: Say no to stock images that look like this:
I’m sure this couple is very happy looking at her computer and getting ready to buy something. But seriously, how real does this look? I don’t know anyone who holds their credit card like that when they go online.
Save your money using these kinds of stock images. If you want to connect with your readers, you’ll need to show real people doing real things. Your image needs to be clean and clearly tells your story of how your offer will help to solve your readers problem.
3. Visual Cues
At it’s most basic core, visual cues can best be described as one of those big arrows pointing towards your sign up box. Some folks think those arrows are dated and a bit on the cheesy side but let me tell you, they actually do work.
The idea behind using a visual element like an arrow is to give your readers a cue about where to look. There’s a bunch of science behind something called “eye tracking” where the use of these visual cues guides your readers to focus on your call-to-action.
If you’re not into arrows, don’t worry – there are some other options that you can use:
- Add extra colors around your Buy Now button.
- Create extra large elements or text to make your offer pop off the page.
- Images of people (not stock photos but real people like those who give you testimonials) looking at your Buy Now box – eye tracking tells us that your readers will actually follow the gaze of the people on your page and will look in the same direction that they’re looking.
- Using an image like a long straight road or path leading towards your offer – again it’s that eye tracking thing! Your readers eye will follow the direction of the road so put your offer box where the road ends.
4. Whitespace
Whitespace refers to the blank space areas within your landing page. Don’t try to fill up every bit of your page with a bunch of big blocks of copy.
Your readers need some breathing room in between all that important stuff you want us to know about your offer. And the same goes for your call-to-action. When you leave some whitespace around your Buy Now box, you actually emphasize what matters most on your landing page.
Everyone is talking about this stuff
It feels like everyone is talking about landing pages. I’ve seen webinars about how to use them with Facebook ads. I’ve read articles about what kind of copy to use in them.
It’s like it’s the thing to do for small business owners. And not just because everyone is talking about it is why it’s something you need to do.
It’s the thing to do because it’s the thing that works.
So understanding how to use the these design concepts will not only help you to grab your readers attention but these elements will direct them to click on your Buy Now button. Because at the end of all this work, the most important goal of any landing page is your ability to convert a reader into a customer.
PS What if you could find a way to grow your presence in your social sites? And what if it didn’t add hours to your already crazy day? What if it took just 30 minutes a few times a week?
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