Landing Page Design: 3 Rules to Follow

 Landing page design is hugely important in the post panda, penguin or whatever animal Google comes up with next, era! Any online business must think carefully about the first experience a user has when they have their very first interaction with you, usually through a landing page. Just to clarify.

A landing page is a page a visitor lands on (hence the name) when they first visit your website. This might be from a Pay per click advert, perhaps a banner, maybe an article you have written. It must fulfil the promise to the visitor of what they are expecting. This is often where online business owners start to make mistakes. So what are 3 golden rules to follow?

1. Design

Your website visitors are more discerning than ever before. The days of poorly designed websites are long gone. In fact the latest data suggests that the better your design is the longer your visitor will stay on the page. Let’s say you have a website selling clothes for young girls. Something pink and feminine would be the order of the day. Not something black and gothic. An outrageous example maybe. Yet the subtlety of this seems to escape many designers. Think of the average age, and spending power of your market. What colours and design are appropriate? Make it appropriate to what you want to convey so that it gives a great user experience.

2. Content and A Call To Action

You need to content on your landing page and content that is relevant to what the searcher is looking for. If I Google dog collars, I want to see information about dog collars on that page. Not dog leads or dog crates. Subtle I know and yet it will make all the difference to the user experience. The best formats usually start with a good headline with the keyword included. This can then be followed by a paragraph that gives the user information that they are looking for. You can then summarise these with some nice easy to read bullet points. Finally, the all important part which is having an appropriate call to action. You must ask your visitor to do something. This could be a ring to place an order. Sign up for our free recipes. Or any combination of these that moves your potential new customer forward.

3. Page Navigation

Every landing page you send visitors to must also have access to all your other legal pages that prove to your website visitor that you are an ethical company that adheres to the latest internet rules and regulations. Your navigation needs to be obvious and yet at the same time subtle. This is pretty easy to achieve with the many pieces of website software available, specifically landing page software which makes it easy to create pages that enhance your visitor experience.

In summary. Decide the outcome of your landing page. Is it to get a customer to buy, pick up the phone and call or join your database?

Next make sure your design is appropriate for the job in hand. Think colours and style that align with your market and your offer.

Make sure your content provides value and is all about what your customer is looking for. Finally, make sure you are compliant. Have all the appropriate navigation links visible for your visitors to explore further.