With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I wanted to talk about something everyone should have on their plate. As I have been brought in to consult on a number of site redesigns lately, I wanted to get out a very basic list that all of your landing pages should have. I continue to see developers and business owners forget some of the most basic of landing page essentials and it is costing them customers and money. This is quick and easy and everyone should absolutely be doing it. This is not advanced landing page and conversion optimization stuff. Just like it is a given that you need to be mobile friendly now, it is a given that you should have these elements on your landing page.
Specific Pages
This isn’t necessarily what is on your page, but what your page is about. Though PPC landing pages and SEO landing pages can be a little different, both are focused on specific content and your page should address that one specific concept. If you are a dentist that wants to bring in dentures patients, you need a page about your dentures services, not one page that mentions everything. Don’t just hope and assume they will find it and recognize you do dentures. Assume that everyone has a 2 second attention span and if they don’t see what they want right away, you will lose them. Your page needs to be clearly about that one concept and only about that one concept. They can use your navigation if they want to learn more about your other offerings. Don’t confuse them or the search engines with too much broad information.
Clear Headlines
These can differ in SEO vs. PPC strategy too, but much like page concept, make sure you have a clear headline that gets to the point of what you want the page visitor to do. For SEO, your page is often providing the best answer to a search query, and your headline may be that answer, whereas PPC may need more direct buying information, but either way, you need a clear and consise, relevant headline that matches what that visitor was searching for.
Obvious Contact/Buy Information
It is unbelievable how often I see site designs that forget this most basic and obvious element. Every page on your site should have a very clear and obvious method to buy your product or contact you for your services. If you want calls, your phone number needs to be on every page, and preferably in an obvious spot, not hidden in tiny type in the corner somewhere. Be obvious. Put a “Call us” button or “Buy Now” button for these things. On mobile the button should actually initiate a call. Give them another button to contact via email if they aren’t the calling type. That way you catch each method of contact a customer may want to use. This is crucial. It is amazing how often I see people forget to include this on every page. They figure people will click through to their contact page. They won’t. They want to see it right away or you will lose them.
Trust Elements
Anything you have to show your visitor they can trust you should be on every page. I’m sure you’ve seen badges on sites when you shop online showing that the site is secure, etc. If you have a good BBB rating, put that badge there. If you are a member of a chamber, industry organization, etc. put that there. If you won an award for what you do, make it in to a little badge and put it on every page. Even include reviews or review page links so people can check that out if they want. Make sure people know you are a legitimate business with a history and not someone just trying to get your money from their basement somewhere.
These are some of the absolute basics of landing page optimization that everyone can do and should do. Don’t overlook these elements. They are must haves, and without them, you are losing business.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!
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