Landing Page Optimization: Best Practices

A well-put-together landing page converts potential buyers into actual customers, while a poorly optimized landing page won’t drive the traffic you need. In this guide, we’ll go over landing page tips to help you generate new leads and convert those leads into paying customers.

Why You Should Optimize Your Landing Pages

When people say “landing page optimization”, it means that you’re taking your landing page and tailoring them for your target audience. By properly optimizing your landing page, you’ll have more visitors come to your landing page and see a quick conversion rate increase.

There are two major types of landing page optimization. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps increase your organic traffic by making it easier for search engines to direct leads to your landing page. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) helps your leads follow through on your call to action (CTA) once they get to your landing page.

By focusing on both SEO and CRO, you can drastically improve the success of your landing pages.

Steps to Do Before Optimizing Landing Pages

You need to be ready and prepared before you can optimize your landing page to improve organic traffic and conversion.

The first step is to audit your existing landing pages. Use Hotjar to see how leads are interacting with your landing page when they get there. Heat maps can help you figure out which elements of your existing landing page are working and which elements are being ignored completely.

After you’ve done an audit of your existing landing page, your next step is to define the goal of your landing page. What do you want leads to do when they arrive at your landing page? Having a goal in mind lets you establish metrics and will allow you to measure the success of your landing page going forward.

You should have just one goal for each landing page. If the goal of your landing page is unclear to you, you need to better define the type of landing page you’re creating and improve your call to action.

Defining Your Landing Page Type

There are two main types of landing pages: lead capture and click-through. Understanding the difference between the two—and which one you’re using—is the first step toward optimizing your landing pages.

Lead Capture or Lead Generation Landing Pages

The goal of a lead generation or a lead capture landing page is to gather contact information for people who may one day be interested in buying your product. In exchange for a visitor’s contact information, many lead capture landing pages offer a free product. You might give away a free eBook or offer a discount on your products for any customers who sign up for your email newsletter.

Click-Through Landing Pages

Your goal for a click-through landing page is to get customers to click through the landing page and enter your main website. Direct them to a product or service like a free phone consultation.

The Importance of a Clear Call-to-Action

You need to know whether you have a lead capture or a click-through landing so that you understand the goal. Once you have a clear goal, you need to create one clear Call to Action (CTA) that achieves that goal.

If you have a landing page that is getting a lot of views but isn’t generating the results you want, the CTA may not be clear enough. The best landing pages have precisely one call to action. You’re either trying to get a client to sign up for your newsletter or you’re trying to get them to buy your product. Don’t try to get them to do both on one page.

Many companies fall into the trap of offering too many CTAs. At the top of the landing page, they suggest signing up for their newsletter. Further down, they link to a product they think the customer should buy. Later, they suggest checking out their blog. At the very bottom, they invite you to follow them on social media.

These brands think they’re covering their bases, but what they’re really doing is confusing website visitors. CTA overload can cause a phenomenon known as decision fatigue, which can prevent your customers from clicking anything at all. 

Landing Page Optimization Best Practices

Once you have a landing page with a clear call to action, your next step is to optimize that landing page using SEO and CRO best practices.

Create Clear Copy

It should be clear to your customers why they’re on your landing page and what the goal of the page is. Your CTA should be called out—maybe using a different text or font—and your customers should know precisely what they’ll be getting if they follow through on that action.

‌Ecommerce copywriting can be hard to master, and your customers will absolutely judge the quality of your brand on the quality of your writing. If you’re not confident about your copywriting skills, consider hiring a professional e-commerce copywriter to complete this task.

Use Sticky Buttons

Sticky buttons keep your CTA in your users’ eyesight, especially if they’re scrolling through your landing page on their phone or tablet — as over half of users these days are. Once your landing page has sold them on a specific action, sticky buttons make it easy for them to follow through without having to scroll back to the top.

Try A/B Testing

Creating two different landing pages with the same function allows you to test elements and compare their effectiveness against one another. This will help improve your current landing page, and it will help you make better landing pages in the future.

Keep it Simple

Many web design companies talk about the importance of a multimedia presence, but simplicity is the key when it comes to your landing page. The fewer external links available to click or items that need to load, the more likely your customers are to pay attention, stay on the page, read what you have to say, and follow through on your CTA. If they feel overloaded, they may just close the page and go to a competitor.

You also need to pay attention to your information that is “above the fold.” Above the fold content is any content your leads can view before scrolling on their phone or computer.

Why keep important information above the fold? If your customers aren’t interested by the time they need to scroll, they’re not likely to scroll. Keep the majority of your information, including your CTA, above the fold without making it look cramped. Below the fold, you can include more details, contact information, or social media links.

Create Your Best Landing Pages Today

A high-quality landing page will increase your leads and conversions, as long as you have a clear goal and a clear CTA. By making simple adjustments to how you craft your landing page, you can demonstrably increase your brand’s success without much work. If you want to know more, listen to or read about our podcast episode, where we talk even more about creating and optimizing landing pages that work.