We’ve talked about the importance of mobile and responsive design before, now let’s discuss how to create a responsive landing page that plays well with others.
Wait… What’s a Responsive Landing Page?
A landing page can be any page on your website. It’s called a landing page because it is the page your site visitor “lands” on first when he or she arrives on your website. A landing page could refer to your homepage or any other page on your website. However, most people use the term “landing page” to refer to a dedicated marketing page where you promote a product, service, contest, or even freebie.
Responsive refers to how the page interacts with the viewing screen. Does the landing page intuitively respond to a smaller screen? Instead of forcing the visitor on a smartphone or tablet to pinch-to-zoom, a responsive landing page will conform to the dimensions of the viewing screen.
What are the Benefits of a Responsive Landing Page?
Responsive design makes it much easier for a mobile visitor to experience your site. It’s not just nice to have, it’s almost required, especially if search engine optimization (SEO) is important to you.
Landing pages are also crucial for most brands. As I mentioned earlier, you can use landing pages to sell your product or service, but you can also use it to grow your email list, promote your most popular content, and host interactive webinars.
[Tweet "Landing pages must be responsive because many people access the Internet from mobile devices."]
Putting the two together, landing pages need to be responsive because an increasing amount of people access the Internet from mobile devices. The last thing you want is to frustrate your site visitors with a landing page that’s awkward to navigate. Visitors won’t forgive you, they’ll just move on.
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Elements for the Perfect Landing Page
Let’s discuss what the quintessential landing page should include:
A Purpose for Being
Every landing page should have a purpose, but it needs to be a single-minded one. It shouldn’t try to do too much.
Perhaps your goal is to build your mailing list through an email course or by giving away an ebook. Great! Create two separate landing pages, one that advertises your email course and the other that advertises your ebook.
You can use this set up to segment your subscribers and provide relevant information to each group. If a person signed up because of your email course, they’re likely to sign up for another. It’s useful information to know.
That’s why it’s okay to create more than one landing page. In fact, get crazy with it. Create a new landing page for every product you offer, or a different landing page for each social platform you use.
For example, send your new followers on Twitter to a landing page with tools and resources; for those on LinkedIn, promote a landing page with case studies of previous customers.
Engaging Images
Your landing page needs to engage your audience visually. It’s not enough to have a wall of text, no matter how witty your writing.
Why?
Most of us are visual thinkers. Not only that, the brain processes visual data 10,000 times faster than any other type. That’s why a picture is worth a thousand words.
So, when you want to immediately grab the attention of your viewing audience, you need to do it with a big, oversized image that says, “I’m here, let’s do this.”
Well, maybe not those exact words.
The images you choose say something about your brand. It can inspire playfulness:
https://rezzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/playfulness.jpg
Hope:
https://rezzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/hot-air-balloons-1253229_640.jpg
Or it can just be a practical image of someone using your product or service:
https://rezzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/office-1081807_640.jpg
Whatever image you choose, it should fit with your brand and the message you’re hoping to convey.
All of the above images, by the way, are completely free, and were found on Pixabay. Pixabay has over half a million images, illustrations, and graphics that are completely free to use, no attribution required. So, if you’re looking for an image to complete your brand, check out Pixabay.
Short, Snappy Text
Most landing pages are about selling a product or at the least promoting an action that eventually leads to selling.
For this reason, your landing page needs good solid writing, and this is what trips up most people. Have you ever felt so paralyzed by not knowing what to say that you just don’t write anything?
I’ve been there. But then I realized I was overthinking the landing page copy. Sure, it needs to engaging and to the point, but once you understand the following tip, it’ll be a lot easier.
Be a friend, not a salesman.
On your landing page, try not to think of selling a product. Instead, think about convincing your friend to try something that he or she may be hesitant about. When you talk to the customer like your friend, you’ll find that the conversation becomes easier.
You’re not parroting a list of features, but explaining how your product will benefit them.
You know your friend, you know what his pain points are, and you’re showing him how this product will solve the problem.
It’s a significant shift that will make it easier for you to compose the content for your landing page.
Remember: no one wants to buy, subscribe, or download from a salesman who’s all about his bottom dollar, but they will respond positively when you have their best interest at heart.
A Short Form
Are you asking people to signup for your free trial, or to download an ebook, or to subscribe to your email list? Whatever the case, you probably need to include a form on that landing page.
But be careful with the type of questions you ask.
In this day and age, you probably don’t need more than two forms on your landing page: name and email address.
You may even be able to skate by without a name, depending on your purposes.
I know it sounds radical, but the less barriers to entry, the better.
If you’re asking for address, date of birth, and blood type on your landing page form, you won’t get nearly as many responses as you would if you kept it easy. And getting an email address ain’t easy, but it’s a lot easier when you don’t ask for too much else.
A Compelling Call to Action
Your landing page isn’t a museum where people go to look, but not touch. You should always drive the next action you want the visitor to take.
This is your call to action.
Your call to action should never be the word “submit”. No one wants to submit, but people do want to “download the free ebook” or “subscribe to receive my promo code” or “join the community.”
All of those calls to action set expectations for what the next action will be.
If you’re working with a long landing page, it’s quite alright to have more than one call to action. You don’t want to make your visitor scroll too far in either direction to go on to the next step, especially once they’re ready for it.
Social Proof
Social proof is a fancy way of saying: grab a whole lot of testimonials and put them on your page.
By showcasing glowing reviews of past and present customers on your landing page, you’ll inspire trust in your brand. It shows the visitor that others have trusted you and the world didn’t blow up.
Your social proof can take many forms. You can share a photo of the customer along with a general testimonial about your brand, or you can forego the photo and use a one-sentence praise that’s relevant to each specific landing page.
Gather social proof from complimentary emails (with permission, of course) or from social media shout outs.
No matter which type of social proof you use, be sure to include it on your landing page. This element, more than most others, will drive an on-the-fence landing page visitor to complete your call to action.
Social Media
Last, but certainly not least, consider adding social media buttons on your landing page. There are two main ways you can use social media on your landing page:
To activate referrals - If you want your landing page visitor to share the landing page with their own social circles, include social share buttons and ask them to share. This works great if you’re running a contest, too. You can get contestants to promote your contest while earning points towards the contest at the same time.
To recruit followers - If you want to build your social media following, ask your landing page visitor to follow you on your various social platforms. They may not know you have a Twitter, or a Instagram profile. Here’s your opportunity to share that information with them.
Final Thoughts
Remember that your landing page needs to look good on a computer desktop but also on a smartphone or tablet. Not sure if your landing page, or website, is responsive? Let’s talk.
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