Are you proud of your website?

Before creating a sophisticated marketing campaign first take a look an objective look at your website. Does it represent your business effectively and create a good impression or is it tired and in need of updating? Are you proud of it and happy to be associated with it?

Think of a marketing campaign as inviting potential customers to your shop. If your shop was semi-derelict and had dirty windows would you concentrate on inviting potential customers there or fix the shop up first?

Is your website is like an embarrassing relative? Do you love it but don’t really want to be seen out with it in public? If so it needs a serious overhaul.

What is a landing page?

As the name implies the landing page is the first contact potential customers have with your website usually. It is the silent partner in the business of creating interest and customer engagements. At its best it can promote your business, engage customers and create leads. At its worst it can turn off potential customers and send them scurrying into the hands of your competitors.

Landing pages create that all important first impression and can make or break your business. If a viewer is immediately turned off by what they find on the landing pages, it is likely that that will be the end of any potential business relationship.

From landing pages, viewers can subscribe to newsletters, download information about products or services and make contact with the company to request more information about a product or a service. The perfect tool to generate sales leads they will do it 24 hours a day even when your business is closed so getting the landing page right is crucial to your business success.

Here are some points to consider when designing the landing page:

First impressions count

The landing page should, from first glance be attractive and appealing.

Consider includes images to convey the message. Not only are these aesthetically pleasing and can create instant attraction, images and or videos can be a far more effective way of promoting the business than a page full of words.

Ensure that they layout is clear and that navigational links are kept to a minimum so as not to distract the viewer. An overcrowded landing page can make information hard to digest and be off-putting

Capture the imagination

Whilst having the relevant keywords are essential for SEO (search engine optimisation) and for any potential customers to find the website initially, it is also important that the text on the landing page maintains the viewer’s attention.

Using relevant keywords and catchy headlines which can be scanned over quickly can make the difference between keeping and losing a viewer.

The pitch

Announce your business!

The landing page should describe your business and what it offers in clear and relevant terminology. Ideally the content should be somewhere between a business card and a sales pitch. Viewers may have chosen to visit it, or have simply landed there by chance but regardless of how they got there, you have only a few seconds to create that all important first impression.

It is essential that the essence of your business and how it can be of use to the viewer is conveyed quickly as those browsing the web will not linger if there is nothing to interest them. One flick of the screen and they will have moved onto another website.

Contact form

If you have got over the first hurdle and viewers are keen to learn more about your company, products or services make it easy for them to contact you. If contact details are hard to find or it is necessary to complete a lengthy form your viewer may well walk away. Equally a content form should be sufficiently discrete not to dominate the screen.

Viewers are often reluctant to submit a lot of personal data to a business they are unfamiliar with. Clicking on a subscription button which only requires an email address is an unobtrusive way of making contact.

If there are any forms to be completed the emphasis should be on obtaining information from the company rather than submitting personal data which can be both off-putting and raise concerns about internet safety. Even if there is a link to your privacy policy many people are wary of submitting personal data to an unknown source.

Social media

Encourage sharing!

The use of social media buttons on the landing page facilitate sharing on social media sites and therefore have the potential to drive more traffic through to the landing page. They can also be used to create a bookmark for the website. Either way is good for business.

Softly softly

Just as in any relationship, it needs to be developed gradually. Jump in feet first, ask the wrong questions, behave inappropriately and the relationship (business or otherwise) will be over.

If you have a subscription service, aim as a minimum for those arriving on your landing page to sign up. This might be to an email newsletter or one of your social media accounts. Creating a following is the first step towards promoting your brand. This can then be used as part of an effective marketing campaign to promote the company, products or services in order to achieve a conversion.

Leave viewers wanting more

Landing pages which engage viewers and leave them excited about the brand or wanting to know more are the key to successful conversions.

So before your focus on your marketing campaign take a look at your website and specifically your landing page. Are you proud of it and is it engaging? If you are ashamed to be associated with it, you know what to do.