Sunday, March 24, 2013

12 Tips to Write an Effective Copy for Your Landing Pages

It’s not enough to have a home page, you also need landing pages. A landing page is defined as any page that traffic is sent to for a call to action or a desired result. Landing pages are an essential tool for any ecommerce site. Instead of directing potential customers to your generic home page, directing them to landing pages for specific products can help increase your sales. Not only that, but landing pages can also help increase your rank on search engine results pages. Like all pages on your website, landing pages need to be easy to use and have engaging and unique content. Here are twelve tips to write an effective copy for your landing pages.

Watch Your Language

1. Match the headline on your landing page to the ad or place from where your visitor came from. If you can’t make it an exact match, keep it close. This will keep your visitor engaged and oriented to your page.

2. Keep your call to action clear and simple. Use buttons or hot-linked text, or both. A good rule of thumb is to have at least two call to actions on short landing pages, and three to five on longer ones.

3. Ditch the “we” mentality and embrace the “you and your”. Always write in the second person. People are looking for how your product or service will benefit them.

4. Remember this is business, not a writing contest. Use clear persuasive language.

Get to the Point

5. Keep your content tight. You can write long copy, but you have to keep the reader interested and keep telling them things which will benefit them. Always write a first draft and then pare it down to the most important message.

6. Use longer copy when closing a sale, and shorter messages when you’re getting a subscription or other non-sales related copy.

7. Stay focused on your goals. Build a logical progression from your headline to your offer. Don’t let your copy for your landing pages wander or digress into other territory. Once you’ve lost your reader’s attention, you’ve lost a sale.

How People Read Your Page

8. Most people skimweb pages so keep the most important points to the beginning of paragraphs. Bullet points are good tools to use for landing page copy since people can read them quickly and look for exactly the information they need.

9. People also read the beginning and ends of paragraphs first. Put your most persuasive arguments and critical points in these positions.

10. Keep your paragraphs short. Your first paragraph should be no more than one to two lines. No paragraph should be more than five lines long, and vary the size of your paragraphs to make your page easier to read and more visuallyappealing.

11. Remember screen size. Most readers won’t go any farther than the “fold” (the point where they have to scroll down to read more) if the copy isn’t engaging. Be sure your call to action buttons don’t get lost in the margins and don’t make your readers scroll from side to side.

12. Only ask for the amount of information you need to make a sale. Save the surveys for emails and social media.

The main purpose of a landing page is to make a sale, or complete a call to action. Keep the copy tight, on point, and tell the reader the benefits of taking advantage of what you are offering. Each product or service needs its own landing page. When you have well written and well-crafted landing pages you will get conversions and increase your bottom line.