7 Design Best Practices
Get to the point. Why you need landing pages? One of the biggest mistakes a marketer can make is sending traffic from any kind of advertising or PR campaign to their home page. Your home page likely has little direction or direct connection to the campaign sending traffic to it. That can leave visitors confused. A landing page, by contrast, can be directly connected to your campaign. It can echo the language and images used in an ad or PR materials so that when a visitor lands on that page, they are guided through exactly what you want them to do while there. It creates a more cohesive experience, and one that leaves the visitor comfortable, rather than confused.
Use contrasting colors. Understand how landing page copy works Keep in mind that you always want your main call-to-action (CTA) to really POP off your landing page. So when you're encouraging visitors to fill out a form and click on that 'submit' button, make sure it's easy for visitors to see where they should complete that action. That's why using complementary and contrasting colors is a great way to call a visitor's attention to exactly where you want it.
Stamp on a logo.. Keep your brand top of mind when they're downloading your content and offers by making sure the viewer knows exactly where they are. All your landing pages should have your logo placed strategically on the page. While you don’t need to make it the focal point of the page, it's important that it's apparent enough that people will recognize the landing page as being a publication of your business. This is particularly critical for visitors who come to your landing pages from external non-branded sources, like social media and search. Once you've decided on placement for your logo, maintain that position on all your landing pages to maintain consistency. Talk about low-hanging inbound marketing fruit!
Avoid visual clutter. Keep things simple, and make sure the images you use on your landing pages support -- not distract -- the pathway to conversion. While displaying extravagant visuals on your landing pages may sound like a fabulous idea, A/B tests at HubSpot have repeatedly shown that including too many over-the-top images doesn’t actually help conversion. In fact, oftentimes it distracts the reader from the main point of the landing page, creation more friction on the landing page instead of supporing conversion. And while graphics are certainly attractive, they can also increase the load time of your website.
What Makes An Excellent La
Never underestimate formatting. Formatting is probably the easiest design best practice to follow when crafting good-looking landing pages. It's also one that can go a really long way with little effort. Clearly laying out your headlines, images, copy, form, etc. can help you highlight the value of your offer and tee up conversion by creating a visual-friendly user experience that guides visitors to complete the conversion.
Be consistent.. Here's a bonus tip for you! Remember that MarketingSherpa study we referenced earlier? Well, when analyzing which elements of a landing page has the greatest impact on overall website performance, page layout came out on top. This is likely because page elements that alter the layout of a page can make it harder for visitors to navigate the pages on your website. While it’s important to continuously A/B test elements of your landing page for maximum results, be sure you’re not radically altering your landing page layout every time. A sense of consistency can help the end user know how to navigate your pages over time, eliminating the friction caused by having to get the lay of the land each time, and resulting in drop-offs in conversion rates.