5 Steps to a Better Landing Page

[vangogh]

Found a post on creating landing pages that seemed to cover the basics and thought I'd share. The post, 5 Crucial Steps to a Powerful Landing Page, lists, you guessed it, 5 steps.

1. Start with a strategic goal
2. Custom URL
3. Linear design
4. Strong call to action
5. Minimal obligation

The post is talking about the single landing page not connected to the rest of your site (though I suppose the page could be connected) as opposed to the any page of your site can be a landing page.

All 5 steps are good, but I think the idea of having a strategic goal is the most important, since all the other decisions you make will come from your overall goals for the page.

The post talks about not only having a strategic goal, but also a measurable goal to determine your success

Goal: Capture leads
Measurable Goal: Capture 20 leads

Have a favorite step among the 5 or maybe something missing from the post you think is just as or more important?

[Dan Furman]

I'll answer from the "copy" side... gee, there's a surprise

I guess this depends on the type of landing page it is. If it's a quick signup thing, and the visitors are already expecting that, this is good info (I'm guessing this is what they are talking about.)

But the more you need to tell visitors, the more important copy becomes. In general terms, if the page needs to explain anything much beyond "fill in your info and we'll send you the wonderful PDF you came here for", the copy totally trumps everything else in a big, big way.

[vangogh]

You talking about the copy side of things? Nah, that couldn't be.

I agree. The post does skip over the content part of the landing page, but I think it was trying to give some tips beyond the copy itself. Still, even the fill in your info for this free PDF needs good copy.

[Dan Furman]

You talking about the copy side of things? Nah, that couldn't be.

I agree. The post does skip over the content part of the landing page, but I think it was trying to give some tips beyond the copy itself. Still, even the fill in your info for this free PDF needs good copy.

well, less so - even I can admit that

Yea, I kinda giured it was a "other than the copy" part. I do like starting with a goal - I always ask people that "what is the goal of your site / this page / etc?"... most say "I dunno".

[vangogh]

The goal thing is important to me to, because I think people forget to think about it. I see people often too concerned with how their going to drive traffic to the site and overlook the whole point of the page. Your goal for the page is going to help shape how the page looks, what the copy is going to be like, and where you're going to try to get traffic from.

I get the "I dunno" answer too a lot when I ask. If the page has no goal then it doesn't really need to exist.

[KristineS]

I'm not so sure I agree with all the advice in the linear design section.

I do agree that you want to keep everything oriented toward the goal of the page and that you don't want distractions, but I'm not so sure I agree that you shouldn't use your standard navigation.

I know this is a stand alone landing page and not part of a bigger site, but couldn't a secondary goal be getting people to look at other pages. Wouldn't you want your navigation to be the same?

Keep in mind I'm a writer, and leave the design mostly to other people, but I'm not sure that bit of advice makes total sense. Maybe one of you designers can explain the theory behind it to me.

[Dan Furman]

I'm not so sure I agree with all the advice in the linear design section.

I do agree that you want to keep everything oriented toward the goal of the page and that you don't want distractions, but I'm not so sure I agree that you shouldn't use your standard navigation.

I know this is a stand alone landing page and not part of a bigger site, but couldn't a secondary goal be getting people to look at other pages. Wouldn't you want your navigation to be the same?

Keep in mind I'm a writer, and leave the design mostly to other people, but I'm not sure that bit of advice makes total sense. Maybe one of you designers can explain the theory behind it to me.

No distractions.

If it's a landing page with a purpose (for example, sign up for a newsletter... and the leads came from e-mails sent to a list), there should be no distractions. There is no secondary goal, or other pages to look at.

[vangogh]

The navigation just gives people options you don't want them to take. Again we're talking about a landing page with a clear goal and not "any page of your site is a landing page."

If you have one link on the page, which is to sign up then people have 2 choices. Sign up or leave. It's 50/50. Add a home page link and it's now 1 in 3. Add the other 5 links in your navigation and it's 1 in 8. The more choices you give someone the less likely they'll choose the one you want them to.

[KristineS]

O.k., that does make sense. If we're talking a standalone page with a specific goal it makes perfect sense.

Thanks guys.

[GBlack]

No distractions.

If it's a landing page with a purpose (for example, sign up for a newsletter... and the leads came from e-mails sent to a list), there should be no distractions. There is no secondary goal, or other pages to look at.

Agree. Think one of the biggest mistakes many marketers make is creating an ad and sending readers to a home page instead of a specifically developed landing page. There's no sign of what the reader was responding to in the ad. Marketers who do this will waste a lot of time , money and eergy creating ineffective campaigns. Reader will not spend much time trying to figure out what you want him'her to do.