The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Cousin Sal to discuss the 49ers’ overtime win vs. the Bengals, the Buccaneers’ overtime win vs. the Bills, Browns-Ravens, Cowboys-Washington, Bears-Packers, and more (1:27). Then they guess the lines for NFL Week 15 (35:13), before another edition of Parent Corner (59:35). Finally, Bill and Sal are joined by Ryen Russillo to discuss the Season 3 finale of HBO’s ‘Succession’ [SPOILERS] (1:08:27).
A well-designed landing page can greatly increase conversions for your PPC or email marketing campaigns.
Rather than directing visitors from those sources to your general website (where they may have a hard time finding what they’re looking for), you can direct them to a specifically designed landing page that steers them in exactly the right direction.
Creating effective landing pages isn’t the same as crafting a successful website or email newsletter. There are certain guidelines you should adhere to in order to maximize your page’s success.
Here is what you need to know to create an effective landing page.
Set a Goal For Your Landing Page
Landing pages, like any other part of your online marketing strategy, need goals. Without concrete, specific goals, there’s no way to create an effective page. Your goal should be clear before you begin designing your page.
For example, your page might be designed to encourage:
sales
email list sign-ups
white paper downloads
software trials
webinar sign-ups
You also need specific expectations for your landing page, on which to gauge its success. These expectations can be based on previous experience, anecdotal evidence, or simply wishful thinking.
It’s helpful to have a specific number to compare your actual results with. This could be the total number of conversions, or the number of people who make it past your landing page, or some other number, based on your own goals.
A Clear Call to Action is Vital
Once you know what your goal for the page is, you need to come up with a clear call to action. This is possibly the single most important part of any landing page.
Your call to action should be specifically tied to your goal and should be supported by everything else on your page, from headline and body copy to images and overall layout.
The Backpack landing page has a very clear call to action, though they opt to first direct visitors to more information about their plans and pricing, rather than going straight for the signup.
Keep Copy Clear and Concise
Your copy should be clear and concise. It should be persuasive, too. Landing pages are not the place to show off your creativity, unless that creativity is clear, concise, and persuasive. Leave the creative turns-of-phrase for your blog.
It’s pretty safe to assume that most of the people who visit your page are already interested in what you have to say, because they’ve likely clicked through from a PPC ad or email. But just because they’re interested when they arrive doesn’t mean they’ll stay interested if you don’t get to the point.
Every single sentence and word on your landing page should serve a purpose, and that purpose should be to support your call to action. If it doesn’t do that, cut it. Be ruthless in editing your copy. Tell your visitors what they want to know in as few words as possible, and get them to respond to your call to action as quickly as possible.
The VideoWizard example has a simple design with clear copy that has definite goals.
Keep Your Landing Page Form Simple
If your page includes a form, make sure it’s only asking for the most vital information. If you’re trying to get visitors to sign up for an email newsletter, make sure you’re just asking them for their email address. Anything more than that decreases the chances that they’ll finish and submit the form.
If you’re asking them to make a purchase, keep it simple. Just ask for the vitals: billing and shipping information, plus a confirmation screen before placing their order. Wait to ask them for additional information until after their order has been placed.
This form only asks for name and email address, neither of which are likely to deter sign-ups.
This form, on the other hand, has too many fields. Do they really need a phone number and company name? And wouldn’t it make more sense to just ask for a name in one field, rather than two?
Remove Navigation Elements
The major difference between your normal website and your landing pages is your landing pages shouldn’t include the usual site navigation. Instead, the only clickable links should be your call to action, and possibly a link to more information for those who are undecided.
Linking your logo to your regular home page can also be a good idea.
This example shows just the vital links, without a ton of extraneous navigation.
Forget about links to everything else. All they do is clutter up the page and increase the likelihood that your visitors will abandon your landing page (and ultimately, your site) without converting.
Simplify Your Normal Site Design
Your landing page should still echo the design of your regular website, though, to reinforce your branding. This can be done through the graphics, general look and feel, or your color scheme and font choices.
This is important for branding and lets users know they are on the right page.
Choose Long Page or Series of Pages
There are some questions about whether it’s better to use a single page for your landing page that requires scrolling, or if visitors respond better to a series of short pages (sometimes referred to as a “mini-site”).
Mini sites generally have multiple pages with short content that funnel visitors from one step to the next along the conversion process. This has the advantage of getting users in the habit of moving from one page to the next, which can help get them in the right psychological frame of mind to convert.
The downside to mini sites is that they work best for conversion funnels that need a lot of content.
Landing pages, on the other hand, are perfectly suited to shorter content. They also only have to load once, which can be a big consideration for companies targeting people in rural areas or developing nations, where bandwidth and connection speeds could be an issue.
The downside is a lot of content can get overwhelming and can come across as spammy if not well-designed.
The CameraPlus page is quite long, with all the information you need about the app. (The image above is split, as the entire page would be several thousand pixels long.)
Compare this page, which barely fills a single screen, and uses multiple steps to gather information.
Pay Attention to the Fold
While there’s a lot of debate as to the importance of “the fold” in web design, landing pages are one area where the fold is crucial. Make sure that your call to action is located near the top of the page, where someone can click it without having to scroll.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that your visitors won’t scroll down the page to read more information. Hopefully, at least some percentage of your visitors will be ready to buy as soon as they arrive on your landing page, either because the email or link that brought them there already persuaded them, or because it’s not their first time visiting the page.
Putting a call to action right near the top of the page makes things easier on these visitors. (Plus, it can increase your conversion rates.)
The most important navigation elements are located just above the fold, with the call to action well above the fold.
The signup button is well above the fold here, too.
Below-The-Fold Calls to Action
That doesn’t mean you should neglect those users who scroll. Make sure calls to action appear at regular intervals on your page, tied into the page’s copy.
This becomes more and more important as your pages get longer. Make sure that your users have to do minimal scrolling once they decide to convert.
FreshBooks includes links to a free trial or tour throughout their landing page.
Use Minimal Images and Larger Fonts
Your landing pages should use only one or, at most, two images. You want to avoid visual clutter on the page, or anything that detracts from the message and call to action.
Larger font sizes are also a good idea to keep visitor’s eyes focuses on what matters and reduce eye strain. Just don’t go overboard and put everything in a headline-size font.
The ideal line length for copy readability is 39 characters, so size your font (and column width) accordingly.
The typography becomes a major part of the visuals of this landing page, minimizing the need for graphics.
Start With a Centered, Single-Column Design
Studies show that centered, single-column landing pages convert best. Yet, there are still plenty of marketers out there who are opting for two-column designs.
Make sure that you test single-column versions against any two-column versions prior to committing to a design.
This is a great example of a centered page that makes great use of the available space.
Match the Look and Feel of Your Campaign
If your page is tied to an email campaign or PPC campaign, make sure the landing page echoes the look and feel of the ad or email.
If the designs of the two are wildly different, your visitors may wonder if they’ve ended up in the right place. The easiest way to do this is to carry over fonts, images, and colors from your campaign to your landing page. This is especially important for paid ads, as it can increase your quality score.
Use the Landing Page Tools to Get it Right
If you don’t want to have to use a web designer for your landing pages, there are options for creating great pages without any technical knowledge.
Unbounce is one of the easiest to use and lets you create landing pages without any IT experience. They have best-practices templates available that you can customize (or design your own page entirely from scratch), and flexible pricing (including a free plan for sites with limited traffic). Unbounce also integrates with Google Analytics for tracking your traffic, and Qualaroo for gathering user input.
Don’t Forget To Test Your Landing Page
Creating effective landing pages isn’t a one-size-fits-all project. What works for one site might not work so well for another. Finding the most effective page design is a matter of trial and error.
It’s important to test the different versions of your landing page (called A/B testing)to find the one that works the best for your particular situation. Without doing so, you might be leaving a lot of potential conversions on the table.
A few features to consider testing include:
headline
CTA
button size and placement
number of form fields
images
right, left, or center column design
colors
Just remember to test each variant one at a time — if you change five different elements, you won’t know which impacted conversions.
Landing Page Guide
A well-designed landing page can greatly increase conversions for your PPC or email marketing campaigns. Here’s how to do it.
Set a Goal For Your Landing Page
Without concrete, specific goals, there’s no way to create an effective page. Your goal should be clear before you begin designing your page.
A Clear Call to Action is Vital
Your call to action should be specifically tied to your goal, and should be supported by everything else on your landing page, from headline and body copy to images and overall layout.
Keep Copy Clear and Concise
Landing pages are not the place to show off your creativity, unless that creativity is clear, concise, and persuasive. Leave the creative turns-of-phrase for your blog.
Keep Your Landing Page Form Simple
If your landing page includes a form, make sure it’s only asking for the most vital information.
Remove Navigation Elements
Your landing pages shouldn’t have your usual site navigation. Instead, the only clickable links should be your call to action, and possibly a link to more information for those who are undecided.
Simplify Your Normal Site Design
Your landing page should still echo the design of your regular website, though, to reinforce your branding.
Pay Attention To The Fold
Make sure that your call to action is located near the top of the page, where someone can click it without having to scroll.
Use Minimal Images and Larger Fonts
Your landing pages should use only one or, at most, two images. You want to avoid visual clutter on the page, or anything that detracts from the message and call to action.
Start With a Centered, Single-Column Design
Studies show centered, single-column landing pages convert best, so test that version first.
Match the Look and Feel of Your Campaign
If your landing page is tied to an email campaign, make sure that the landing page echoes the look and feel of the email.
Use the Landing Page Tools to Get it Right
You don’t need a masters in computer science to design a landing page. Instead, use tools like Unbounce to create great looking landing pages.
Don’t Forget To Test Your Landing Page
Creating effective landing pages isn’t a one-size-fits-all project. What works for one site might not work so well for another. Finding the most effective page design is a matter of trial and error.
Conclusion
Landing pages are website pages designed with one goal in mind — conversions. Following the tips above will help you create a powerful page that drives users towards your business.
Just make sure to keep it simple. This is because landing pages have very specific goals and shouldn’t include any extraneous information that might distract your visitors and prevent them from converting.
Are you considering creating a landing page? What is your landing page goal?
Willie Mays rode into Oracle Park in a white and turquoise 1956 Oldsmobile convertible, waving his cap to a cheering crowd as the San Francisco Giants celebrated his 90th birthday.
Location: New York Remote: Yes (only) Willing to relocate: No Technologies: C#, VB, HTML, Javascript, Angular, CSS, PHP (but willing to learn anything, fast learner and love the challenge of learning a new tech or language) Resume: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZsFsgLNjZxeLoQhzlzy_BYPWG9C… Email: lindsey.tibbitts@gmail.com
SEEKING WORK | Remote | Full-Stack Web Designer and Developer Hi, I am Muhammad CTO of Softaims (https://thesoftaims.com) a complete software agency in Pakistan. We have worked on almost every stack of development (Backend + frontend + DevOps) Our Recent work – http://stads.io/about – https://www.gogenuity.com – https://greenpal-staging.herokuapp.com/ Proptotype: https://marvelapp.com/3fdf81d/screen/50401354 – https://runnersconnect.net/ Proptotype: https://marvelapp.com/4f2ie15/screen/61589621 My Resume … Continue reading New comment by muhammad482 in "Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (July 2020)"
In inbound marketing, the philosophy is letting potential customers come to you. Instead of vice versa. But when they land, how can you make them stay? Now, that’s the million-dollar question. To guide visitors from the top of the funnel to the middle of it, you need to create an awesome lead generating homepage. What …
The screenshot above is my Google traffic over the last 12
months.
As you can see, my traffic is growing. And there are many reasons for that, but there is one trend that’s really caused the majority of my SEO growth.
You might be thinking it is Ubersuggest because it makes up 22.4% of my traffic now. But Ubersuggest has been integrated into NeilPatel.com for years, so that’s not it.
Sure, that is responsible for some of my growth, but it’s not responsible for it skyrocketing like it has been.
So, what do you think it is?
Well, I’ll give you a hint…
My traffic per region
Let’s look at my SEO traffic in a few different regions.
Here’s my traffic in the United States over the last 12
months:
Now here’s my traffic in the United Kingdom:
And here are the stats for Canada:
And Australia:
You can see that they have all increased, but not enough to
cause the big spikes.
Now let’s look at some of the international markets we have been focusing on over the last few years.
Here’s Spain:
Here’s India:
And here is the first international market we expanded to,
Brazil.
As you can see, the international markets are growing at a much faster pace, especially Brazil. But that is because we have been focusing on our SEO in Brazil more than any other country (outside of our main English markets).
They told me that the majority of the searches on the web aren’t done in English, they are done in other languages.
And in the English markets, everyone is competing, which
means tons of sites and content from Google to choose from when it comes to determining
which site should rank number 1 for any given keyword.
But the international markets are the opposite. There is a lot of demand but not enough sites for Google to choose from when it comes to rankings.
So even though there are tons of algorithm
updates and SEO is becoming more difficult, it isn’t always the case with
many international markets.
And the graphs above show it. As you can see, I’m getting huge traffic growth in those regions.
So, what should you do? Especially if you are starting
off and don’t have a big budget or any budget for that matter…
Follow Amazon
Wherever you see big corporations like Amazon investing, it
means there is money to be made in those regions.
Amazon has invested billions into regions like India:
As you can see from the graph, Germany is its second-biggest market and Japan is also up there. But what’s interesting is the green bar as that represents the “rest of the world” and that green bar has been growing at a fast pace.
Now, I get that none of us are Amazon and we don’t have huge
budgets, so I wanted to take a minute and break down how you can do this on a
global scale without breaking the bank.
International SEO on a budget
When I first started to expand internationally, my business
was much smaller and we didn’t have much money, if any, to spend on
international SEO.
Yes, I am an SEO, so you would think that it makes it easier, but not really because the only language I am fluent in is English.
And if you fast forward to today, I’m still only fluent in
English, but we have 7 offices around the world.
And we did it without laying out any of our own money. Yes, it did take time and it will for you too, but that’s the only way to do it when you are starting off and are small.
So how did we expand internationally without spending upfront?
We partnered with locals.
Why not find people in these regions who speak English as well as the local language of the country you are trying to expand to?
There are so many people without jobs, you’ll be shocked by how many people will be open to a partnership. All you have to do is look at Facebook groups and forums to find people in your space who live overseas.
Here’s how I structure each partnership:
I have the person, or a group of people, translate my content to that region’s language.
I have them read my English blog posts so they can learn SEO (if they don’t already know it… nowadays I look for people who already know SEO as I have been doing this long enough and can spend some money).
In exchange for them growing my traffic in that region, I give them a portion of the profits I make within that region. You can structure where you give them anywhere from 10% to 30%. You don’t want to go too low on the profit-sharing as you want them to work hard, but you also don’t want to go too high where you are giving away everything.
They put in the work each day, and they have 3 months to show some traction, and within 6 months they should have significant growth. Keep in mind it is less competitive, so it is easier to get results. You can also work with them on creating goals and milestones.
If they don’t show results, the partnership ends, and I don’t have to give them anything. If they show results, we keep pushing forward.
Now that we’ve covered structuring your international SEO expansion, let’s go over how you do it.
International SEO
I’ve written a handful of blog posts that break down the
steps on growing your traffic in new languages and countries, but before I
share them, I wanted to break down the 2 biggest lessons I learned:
Transcribe the content, not translate – when you work with a partner overseas, they may think you want your content translated or that you want content written in their language just like how people would write the content in the US. That won’t work because cultures are different and keywords are different, so transcribe the content and adjust it to each country.
You want a partner that lives in that country – if you expand into a country where you don’t have a partner on the ground you won’t see great results. By having people on the ground, you can more easily build up your brand, which has a big impact on rankings.
Here are some resources that will show you how to do
international SEO:
This post will break down how to create a global SEO strategy.
And follow this to setup SEO correctly for different languages and countries. Keep in mind that Google doesn’t penalize for duplicate content, so don’t worry about having similar content or the same content for different regions.
Funny enough, one of the reasons I created Ubersuggest was
to build a tool that would help my team and I expand internationally.
Here’s a feature in Ubersuggest that will help you, that
most people don’t know about.
So head over to Ubersuggest
and type in a competitor that you know is big and has a global presence.
I want you to click on the “Top Pages” navigational option
in the sidebar.
This shows you all of the top pages that your competitors
have.
But don’t focus on those results. I want you to look at the regions that make up some of your competitions’ traffic… you’ll see that number next to each flag.
Click on one of the regions that you are considering
expanding into. You’ll now see the results adjusted.
As you can see from the screenshot above, those are all of the pages on my site that are really popular in Brazil.
Now, I want you to click on “view all” under “Est. Visits”
as that will show you all of the keywords that drive traffic to that page.
This will provide you with a laundry list of international keywords that you can give to your team so they can start creating content to go after them.
I also want you to click on “view all” under “Backlinks” as
this will show you who links to your competition. You can then create a list of
sites to reach out to so you can get them to link to you.
That’s the simple strategy we used to hit it hard in regions like Brazil and what we are also doing in countries like India, Spain, Mexico, France, Germany, and countless other countries.
Conclusion
English is a great language. And I love the United States as
well as other English-speaking countries.
But that’s not where the opportunity is. There is more opportunity in global markets, which is why you need to follow the trend of international SEO.
Even if some of these countries don’t have as high of a GDP compared to the United States, it’s fine. Remember there aren’t as many competitors, which means you will have a lot of opportunities to still do really well.
When obtaining cash for a home mortgage, buyers are mostly interested in just certifying. Still, taking note of the size of the lending is a loaning pointer that can conserve you a lots of cash.
House Loans
In the home loan market, the size of your lending made use of to be the only significant problem you had to deal with. Of training course, the substantial boost in financing choices has actually unavoidably led to substantial complication.
Loaning Tip
Despite the kind of financing you select, you need to constantly attempt to maintain your car loan term as brief as feasible. The much shorter the funding duration, the much less you will certainly pay in passion. Below an instance making use of 15 and also 30 year fundings.
Think our very first buyer obtains a $100,000 financing at 8 percent passion. He size of the finance is 30 years with a regular monthly settlement of $733.76. For this home loan, our property buyer is mosting likely to pay $164,155.25 in rate of interest over the life of the financing.
Currently, take the exact same situation, yet decrease the term of the lending to 15 years. Over the size of the funding, our buyer is going to pay $90,000 much less in passion settlements over the life of the lending.
When obtaining cash for a house acquisition, you need to thoroughly spending plan your funds. If you can manage enhanced month-to-month repayments, nonetheless, a much shorter lending size is mosting likely to conserve you a great deal of cash with time.
In the home mortgage market, the size of your financing made use of to be the only significant concern you had to deal with. No matter of the kind of finance you go with, you need to constantly attempt to maintain your funding term as brief as feasible. He size of the financing is 30 years with a month-to-month repayment of $733.76. Over the size of the car loan, our property buyer is going to pay $90,000 much less in rate of interest settlements over the life of the lending.
Scott’s Cheap Flights | Senior Backend Engineer + Senior Frontend Engineer | 100% Remote | Full-Time Since 2015, we’ve been helping people explore the world, one flight deal at a time. We are bootstrapped, profitable, and growing quickly. Our engineering team of 4 is looking to double in size to help us scale more quickly …
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