In 2024, creating a landing page is a staple when it comes to generating leads for your business, boosting sales, or running special promotions.
A landing page, as we know, is a standalone page that is created for a very specific purpose. It’s for your users to “land on” after coming across a source with a link, i.e. an email or an ad. The source varies, as well as the conversion rate according to source:
The goal of a landing page is, of course, to lead the user down the funnel and right to the desired action stated on the page’s CTA.
But how are you going to do that? You’ll need to set your goals, use landing page templates that can inspire you, understand your audience and use their pain points to your advantage. All through clever copy and design.
Landing Page Facts in 2024
The reasons marketers use landing pages in 2024 may vary. Up until recently, landing pages were used as lead-gen machines that could attract more prospects, more traffic, and, eventually, better sales.
At this stage, landing pages are used for various purposes that go beyond simple lead generation and have to do with advertising, promoting various marketing actions and offers, or even building an email list that really matters.
Landing pages come with a specific focus in mind, but this focus will differ between brands and actions.
The singular focus of a landing page is what sets it apart from other webpages. A home page, for example, broadly communicates your brand identity and business proposition and it invites further exploration.
Home page visitors may want to explore multiple categories, view video content or look up customer service contact information.
By contrast, a landing page typically focuses on a single call-to-action (CTA) that is hard to miss. Every element of a landing page works to help visitors complete that single action without distraction or confusion.
The focus of a landing page is how you can tell it apart from other marketing materials, like web pages.
And since landing pages are a standalone element of an overall marketing action, they’re always used as part of a specific campaign. Which is why some of the core tools marketers use come with a built-in landing page feature.
This is why you’ll see primarily CRM tools like Hubspot, newsletter tools like Moosend and Brevo, or even Wix, which is a free website builder, all sport built-in landing page builders. This aims to boost a brand’s marketing stack and create a more holistic campaign.
But despite all of the above, there’s still a pending question: How does a marketer create a successful landing page in 2024 as part of their overall marketing plan?
Let’s find out.
Landing Page Creation in 2024: A Complete List of Steps
Marketers usually mind their landing page creation tools but don’t think too much about the content of their standalone page. And this always leads to less success than what they thought they’d have with a killer landing page builder.
The most important components of a landing page are the headline, the CTA buttons, and actionable verbs peppered here and there. But that’s not where landing page creation ends.
Set Your Goals
As with any marketing effort, setting your goals before starting is mandatory. Make sure your goals are SMART. As in:
So, before you start creating a landing page, you need to answer the question why. Why do you need it? Why is this one of your goals? This will help you create your CTA button.
After that, you’ll need to understand the hows of your landing page. This will help you measure your success in a specific manner and know what landing page optimization tactics to apply and for what reason.
Thirdly, you’ll have to ask yourself whether your goal is reasonable. Do you and your team have all the necessary tools to attend the goal? If not, maybe this just isn’t for you yet.
Is your goal something that makes sense to do and comes as a natural continuation of your overall marketing strategy? This is the fourth element you’ll need to consider before coming up with the perfect landing page.
And lastly, is your goal achievable in a clearly defined time frame? Is there a clearly defined time frame to begin with? This is especially important when it comes to a landing page, seeing as it’s a standalone page with a clearly defined objective.
Sticking to a SMART goal is important, as it will help you create and curate a body copy that will give users a clear sequence of actions.
Will they need to fill out a form for a content upgrade? If so, how long will it take? Is a free trial waiting for them upon registration? If the answer is no, what else is there to give them?
Sticking to a goal will boost your chances of getting the right leads at the right time. No user will sign up for a free ebook that has nothing to do with their interests and niche.
The Perfect Landing Page Template
Choosing your landing page template carefully will do more than half the work for you. A fitting landing page template sets the tone for your brand and can convey professionalism, credibility, and a seamless user experience.
Of course, to manage that, you’ll need to understand your target audience and their pain points. A template that resonates with your audience’s aesthetics and your website will enhance your brand’s tone and the user’s experience with your brand.
Opt for a visually appealing and user-friendly design that expresses your brand’s tone and can clearly communicate your message and your goal. Of course, when it comes to lead-gen tools like landing pages, responsive design is a must. Here’s why:
With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, it’s crucial to ensure a smooth experience across all devices.
Also, don’t forget to look for templates that are easily customizable. The ability to tailor the template to match your brand colors, fonts, and overall theme ensures a cohesive and branded look.
Lastly, your loading speed is something to take into huge consideration, seeing as it’s essential both in terms of user experience and in terms of SEO.
Choose a template that is optimized for speed to prevent potential customers from bouncing due to slow loading.
The Perfect Landing Page Copy
Think that you’re generating leads for a goldfish. Does this sentence sound controversial enough? Well, let me explain:
(Source)
Users give about 8 seconds of attention on average, pretty much the same amount as a goldfish.
Which means that your headline should be memorable and catchy. Of course, what this stat doesn’t define is how humans learn, which is through cohesion and repetition.
Meaning that creating a headline that doesn’t match the message of your landing page is going to get you nowhere. You need a cohesive and coherent marketing message that will be able to get users from point A to point B.
Make sure to use actionable verbs that will gently nudge users further down the conversion funnel and use tools like headline analyzers or copy checkers to ensure top-notch quality.
Put some quality effort into the ways your landing page addresses prospects’ pain points and how doing as your CTA says will solve the user’s problem. For example:
(Source)
This landing page copy is all about sharing the knowledge, and this is what we needed users to do: To understand email marketing first and foremost, before deciding to embark on a journey with Moosend.
So, keep your message clear and short, and understand how prospects would use your product to solve their problems. Then, use their language to spell it out. This will help you most with your CTA button.
Start noticing the verbs you use. Are their meanings creating a logical sequence of events? Are the meanings actionable enough? Do they lead to the correct steps that complement the customer’s journey?
Answering the above questions will get you that much closer to the perfect landing page copy.
Landing Page Design Staples for 2024
What happens with your landing page when we’re talking visuals? Is branded content the way to go, or maybe a customer testimonial?
As we know, an image is worth a thousand words, and visuals can help you deliver a bold message with no copy, or enhance your copy with bold colors. Of course, both can increase conversion and help you create a lasting experience by expertly transforming your data into memorable designs.
This is what I get when searching for “cheap accommodation March 2024”. Notice how all of the information I need is right in front of me, with tons of whitespace, and a simple design? There’s nothing more I could want as a potential customer. The design blends with the form on the left-hand side, I understand the product perfectly, and I’m directed exactly toward the action I need to take.
There’s nothing over the top, no exhausting header images, just one real picture that helps me think that I want to visit this place.
This landing page is sure to create an emotional connection with the action I want to take – in my case, book an affordable place for my vacation. It’s faster to understand than just reading blocks of text and the whitespace makes it easy on the eyes.
Another thing you can include in your landing page design is social proof. Here’s why:
Social proof can help you showcase all of the capabilities of your brand in just one landing page. You can use customer testimonials, case studies, and even YouTube videos with tutorials made by former customers.
Just make sure to highlight the validity of your testimonials. Add the customer’s name and logo to increase trust and keep the content short to stand out. You don’t need too many words for a job well done, after all.
Of course, both customer testimonials and whitespace, bold images, photographs, or anything you decide to use as a design element should be working in tandem with your brand’s tone and not against it.
Branded content and a steady brand tone create a routine that can help your brand stand out and be memorable. A maximalist brand shouldn’t use Airbnb’s design as we saw above, and a minimalist brand shouldn’t opt for bold colors.
Test and Optimize
Optimization comes in many forms. It can be in terms of SEO, A/B testing, or even colors and alternative phrasings.
SEO optimization of landing pages is a non-negotiable in 2024, and with good reason. Optimized landing pages will drive more traffic and conversion, seeing as SEO makes it easier for users to bump into your page.
First of all, be mindful of your title and meta description. Much like creating a post for your WordPress blog, make sure to make a great first impression by keeping your title short and to the point – around 60 characters, that is. After that, provide a little something in your meta description – it can be a summary, or a message with a CTA like “Check it out”.
Use keywords and start A/B testing everything to maximize your landing page’s conversion. Your headlines, footers, CTAs, visuals, nothing is too small to test.
However, at this point, remember to only test one element at a time. Testing more than one and seeing results will be a complicated process, seeing as you won’t be sure what the winning component was in the first place.
So, create two different CTA buttons here and two different body copies and hero images there and see what converts better, to get the most out of your landing page.
And don’t forget the power of a unanimous brand image. Don’t use elements that come into stark contrast with your main page. And test the buttons you’ve included in your landing page. Sometimes, brands include more buttons than they would’ve needed, confusing the prospect and hindering growth.
The Takeaway
The last thing to remember when it comes to landing page creation in 2024 is the fact that the tools do indeed make a difference. So, whatever your goal is, don’t settle for a tool that does half a job.
Instead, go ahead and test as many platforms as possible and find one that works best for your goals, team and budget.
Author Bio:
Téa Liarokapi is a Senior Content Writer for Moosend, an email marketing and marketing automation platform, and an obsessive writer in general. In her free time, she tries to find new ways to stuff more books in her bookcase and content ideas – and cats – to play with.
