What Makes a Good Landing Page?

Adding landing pages to your website can improve your digital marketing success.

But, not all landing pages are created equal and knowing what makes a good landing page can help you engage your audience more effectively. Potentially increasing sales, brand awareness, and customer loyalty. Read on for landing page tips, including why you should use them and what makes them effective. 

What is a landing page? 

A landing page is a single page on your website or a stand-alone page used as a “landing” point for a specific purpose like an online marketing campaign. The landing page is where users end up when they click on an ad, an email, or a link posted on social media. You could also create a dedicated landing page for different events to make it easier for people to find all the relevant details.

While your homepage aims to keep people interested in your website, a landing page creates more detail for your visitors. Depending on how you’re using the page, it should feature elements that convince people to sign up for offers, keep in touch with you through your email list, buy a product, attend an event, or become paying customers.

What are the benefits of an effective landing page?

Because landing pages are more flexible than your homepage and other static content, you can tailor them to a specific audience. You can make these pages more personal, speaking directly to your target market and their values.

A good landing page can also help improve your ad campaigns. Promoting special events, new products, and sales through digital channels like social media and email marketing is only part of the story. You need an intriguing landing page to grab people’s attention and get them to take action.  

A strong landing page can help boost your conversion rates, target specific audiences, and determine what kinds of content yield the most engagement.

Improves your conversion rates

Part of what makes a good landing page is providing interested customers with more information. Your social media posts, ads, newsletters, and other content capture a customer’s attention, and the landing page fills in the blanks. 

The average landing page conversion rate varies by industry. Across industries, the average is 2.35%, but effective landing pages can increase that to 5.31% and beyond. And using more than 30 landing pages can generate seven times more leads than sites that use fewer than 10.

Helps you target your content

Your website homepage, social media, and other digital marketing channels reach a broad audience, so you should write them to appeal to more than one target group.

Create targeted landing pages based on your campaign goals so that you can focus your language on a specific audience. For example, if your campaign goal is to focus on nurturing people new to your email list, your landing page might include details of your company that appeal to new customers. 

Conversely, if your goal is to build customer loyalty, create a landing page with a special offer to customers. You can create an email that links to a landing page or features that product.

Provides valuable data

You can create landing pages that live on your website, or you can create stand-alone pages. Whichever option you choose, you can track each page’s analytics. Use the data to find out which content is driving the most traffic to your site. This might help you come up with ideas for blog posts, newsletters, and other content that interests your customers. 

When you use landing pages with your ads, you can also check information like how long people engaged with each landing page and which sections of your pages are generating the most interest. If you create a separate landing page for each ad campaign, look through the analytics to see which ads brought the most traffic to your website. 

What makes a good landing page in 2023?

Like other technology, website design guidelines evolve with trends. These vary with different types of landing pages. Here are some trends to capture on your landing pages this year.

Video

Video content has quickly emerged as one of the best ways to inform customers, and it shows no signs of slowing down. In a recent survey, nearly 75% of people said they had been convinced to buy something because of a product demonstration video. Videos are easy to share, so your customers have an easy way to spread the word about your business once they’ve checked your landing page.

Part of what makes a good landing page is capturing people’s attention. Putting an informative and engaging video on your pages can improve your conversion rates by 86%. You want your video to entertain, but keep it short.  

Write a script and practice it a few times. You want to keep your video between 15 and 30 seconds. Make it as entertaining as you can. If your video is used to supplement an ad campaign, add a call to action that encourages people to try your deal.

Animation

Another popular landing page feature in 2023 is animation. You don’t have to make a full-blown feature film, but adding little touches like falling snow in the background or moving your product across the screen can make your page more memorable. 

When you’re working on ideas for your landing page, think of where you can add animation to liven up the experience. 

Branded color scheme

Your landing page should match your overall branding, including colors and fonts. You can create campaign-specific elements, including animation and video. But make sure that everything on the page matches your brand voice and tone. 

Making the most of your copy

When it comes to determining what makes a good landing page, using fewer words is better. People’s attention spans are short. Keep your copy conversational and make sure it matches your brand voice. Add compelling headers and include a clear call to action that inspires people to engage with your content. 

Write copy that clearly addresses the benefits of your product or service. Change copy based on your target audience, as what they value in your products and services may differ. 

The landing page below for Uber targets new drivers. There’s a clear call to action appealing to a driver’s ability to make money and control their schedule. Although there’s more copy, the most important points are included in the headers with clear messaging and a call to action to sign up.

Equality and inclusion

Equality and inclusion are a prevalent trend in 2023. When you create your landing pages, use imagery that features a wide range of people. Use gender-neutral language, so all potential customers feel included.

If you have forms on your website, skip the title and opt for only the first name and last name fields.

Creating an effective landing page

An effective landing page will have a lower bounce rate, which is the percentage of people who leave the page without taking any action, such as clicking on a link. When you’re ready to start designing landing pages to convert more customers, follow these guidelines for the best results. 

Set your goals

Your landing page design will vary based on your objectives. A landing page trying to get signups for your newsletter will include different calls to action than a page notifying people of a limited-time sale. 

Common goals include: 

• Lead generation
• Sales
• Building brand awareness
• Signups or registrations

Create your concept

After setting your goals, you can start designing your landing page. Start brainstorming your copy, including headlines, a description of your offer, the benefits of your product or service, and your call to action. 

Lay out where you’re going to put images, infographics, copy, videos, and fillable forms. Drafting your layout will help you build compelling landing pages that garner conversions.

Write your copy

Start writing your copy when you have an idea of what you’ll include on your landing page. When creating your layout, you don’t have to write the copy — just position the headers, calls to action, and other main elements. Once you’ve decided on your layout, start writing.

Look at the benefits you identified in your layout and write your headers, taglines, and other text. Write copy that’s easy to read. Steer clear of jargon and other confusing terms, and keep your language simple. 

Be clear. When someone clicks on your landing page, they should understand the call to action. Don’t bury it with flowery prose. 

Optimize your pages for mobile

Part of what makes a good landing page is the accessibility on multiple devices. Many people looking at your page will likely be on a mobile device. Before you publish your page, test it out on mobile. Ensure that all the links work and that people can fill out your forms successfully.

If you’re using a banner with a call to action, ensure it displays properly on different devices without cutting off the video and other elements on the page. 

Keep it simple

One of the best reasons to use a landing page is to target it to your specific goals. The pages should be simple and free of distractions. 

Anything you put on the landing page should focus on your goal and drive the visitor to take a specific action. You can use animation and videos to make the page interesting, but don’t make them distracting.

You could even use an animated slideshow to show the different benefits of your product. Or you can add simple movements to make your page more interesting — as long as you don’t use random animation just because you can.

You could take out your navigation bar to keep users from clicking back to the homepage. And make sure to add social media sharing buttons so people can share your offer with others. 

Make your call to action obvious

Create a call to action based on your goals. Make sure that it’s specific and actionable. Although you could use a traditional call to action like “Read more,” crafting language based on your goals can help bring better results. A strong call to action might be: “Click now to save 20%” or “Contact us to learn how to find your new home.”

Fundamentals of landing page design

Knowing what makes a good landing page will help you create more effective pages. Use these fundamental elements of a landing page to improve your results. 

Play on your unique selling proposition

Your unique selling proposition (USP) makes you stand out against your competition. It’s the reason people choose to do business with you over your competitors. When you know your USP, it can drive your copy.

Use your USP and different buyer personas to write copy to your various target audiences depending on your goals.

Your main headline should be like your main sales pitch. Keep it short, but communicate what you want people to do. Add a supporting headline for additional information to convince people to take that particular action. 

Be strategic with your imagery

You might be tempted to use royalty-free stock photos, but these can be limiting. Once you’ve drafted your copy, start thinking of compelling images you can use that will resonate with your target audience. You might pay for a picture or use a custom animation or video.

Approach your landing page the same way you would an ad. Use imagery that speaks to your target audience and their core values. 

Be strategic with your calls to action

While you may want to create endless calls to action to get people to click on your offer, don’t overload your page with them. Brainstorm a few and pick your strongest ones. Or test out different campaigns with various headers and calls to action to see which ones generate more traffic. 

Add customer reviews if warranted

People like to know that your business is reputable before they buy from you. One of the best ways to establish your reputation is with customer reviews. If you have reviews from happy customers, include a few quotes on your landing page. 

You can also include other information — like awards, your current customer count, and testimonials — to back up your credibility. 

Use a template

If you’re not comfortable with your design skills, use a template. Plenty of landing page templates are available that you can customize with your own fonts, colors, and imagery. Find some that work for you and rotate them out based on your goals. 

Choose different templates for landing pages with video and for copy-heavy pages with multiple headers and subheaders. Many templates include some animations, so you don’t have to know coding or web design to make an engaging and interesting page. 

Do A/B testing

When you’re unfamiliar with what makes a good landing page, coming up with a good design can be tricky. When you come up with your goals, create different layouts, adjusting the copy and images. 

You can create social media ads and target them to different audiences based on their demographics and interests. Change the landing page links on each test, and look through the analytics to determine what makes a good landing page with the best conversion rate. 

Good landing page examples and what they did well

Check out these good landing page examples to inspire your own. 

Headspace

This landing page aims to get people to sign up for a free trial. It’s simple, featuring a logo with a branded image built around it. Effective landing pages are sweet and simple. On this page, the tagline clearly shows what the user will get out of the app, followed by a simple call to action button. 

Promo

Promo is a content platform that makes it easy for people to make short videos. This landing page clearly targets small business owners. The copy is supportive, giving potential users the confidence to create a video themselves and use it to market their own business.

At the top of the landing page, Promo has listed different partners that can host various videos, so a business owner knows if they use one of the partner marketing channels. 

Casper

The Casper mattress is one of the best-known beds in a box. The attributes of a good landing page in this example aim to build customer confidence. For example, new customers might not be sure if they’re ready to spend a lot of money on a mattress. 

The page features a large tagline that says the company is highly rated and backs it up with various awards. It also prominently features Casper’s money-back guarantee that gives customers 100 days to try out the mattress.

Immersive Frida Kahlo

This landing page is linked to a Facebook ad promoting an upcoming art exhibit in Denver. Clicking on the ad brings you to this page, which automatically detects your city. The ad encourages people to buy tickets with a prominent image of the experience front and center. 

Scrolling down, you can see animated statistics of how the exhibit was created and read more about the event and its history. 

Mogul

This social network is specifically for founders and CEOs of SaaS companies. The landing page is simple and whimsical, with a call to action encouraging potential members to apply. The tagline “Because it doesn’t have to be lonely at the top” appeals to entrepreneurs who often work alone and may not connect often with others in their industry. 

Netflix

As more media companies make their own streaming services, Netflix keeps advertising to encourage new members. This landing page simply communicates what the service offers — 100% entertainment. 

Other copy on this page communicates the offer’s benefit, including the user’s ability to watch anywhere and cancel at any time. A call-to-action form lets the user enter their email address and sign up. 

FabFitFun

The landing page for subscription box FabFitFun uses imagery to give potential new customers a peek into what they might get if they sign up. The headline and supporting copy create a sense of urgency, letting customers know that the offer is available only for a short time. 

When you offer a special sale or promotion, add images to your landing page showing people what they’ll receive if they sign up. Use product photography tips to showcase your merchandise in its best light.

How to create more conversions with solid landing pages

Your first step in making a good landing page is to state your goals. Figure out what you want your social media post, newsletter, ad, or other landing page driver to do and use that to guide your copy and design. 

When you know what you want the page to accomplish, start designing the layout. Make it fun and interactive by using images or video and animation. Draft your copy and calls to action by defining which groups you want to target. 

After you’ve solidified your layout, refine your copy. Use your company’s unique selling proposition to figure out what makes you different from your competitors. Build your message with these selling points. When you’ve come up with a few good landing pages, test them against each other to see which one has the best conversion rate. 

Once you’ve been using landing pages for a while, you can start measuring their analytics to tweak the rest of your marketing effort. You might find that your landing pages for building brand awareness aren’t as successful as those intended to generate leads. That data might show you that your brand awareness campaigns can be stronger. If you are ready to go beyond landing pages, consider learning about splash pages and why they may be an important part of your business.

If you aren’t comfortable with your web design skills, use templates to build landing pages that are already designed well. Just pop in your copy and images and publish them on your website. Soon, you may notice that your site is successfully converting far more new customers.