Good landing pages are a vital part of an effective lead generation strategy. This is where the rubber meets the road. Will they stick with you long enough to hand over their email information? Or will they bail before they get to your first line of copy? It all depends on how whether you’ve designed a good landing page or a digital trampoline.

That’s why it’s important to make sure each element of your landing page is compelling enough to move your visitor to the next element. Let’s go over each element and how to do them right.

The 8 Elements of a Good Landing Page

Anatomy of a Landing Page Template

1. Headline

First, you’ll need a big, bold headline to grab your visitor’s attention. I like to use CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer for this. I wouldn’t get too wrapped up in your score (it’s just a marketing tool for CoSchedule after all), but it’s a nice tool to help you get started.

2. Unique Selling Proposition

This is a tagline of sorts. I like to use this line to tell them what’s unique about my product or content offer (depending on whether it’s a sales page or something higher up the funnel). A landing page asks the visitor to do something. I like to use this line to give them a good reason to do it.

3. Hero Image

This is just a big image. You’ve seen ’em all over the place. The most important part for the hero image is that it not distract your visitor.

You can also attempt to use a little pre-suasion.

There was a study done on visitors to an online furniture store. In that study, people were sent to a website that put the idea of comfort in their minds before they ever started to search the site for information about the furniture there. That was done by putting fluffy clouds on the background wallpaper of the site. Those people who came to the site and experienced this pre-suasive maneuver of seeing fluffy clouds in the background placed greater importance on comfort when asked what they were looking for in furniture.

Dr. Robert Cialdini

Worth a try, right?

4. Subhead

Here’s where I like to tell them the benefit of what they’re going to get if they do what I’m asking them to do. But remember: benefitsNot features.

A feature is a big screen TV. A benefit is that you feel like you’re at a movie theater without leaving the comfort of your own home.

5. Copy

Just like every other element of your landing page, every single line of your copy needs to persuade them to read the next line. Here’s a four-part copywriting formula to help you nail it.

Basically you want to answer these four questions:

  1. What are you selling?
  2. What’s in it for them?
  3. Why should they care what you think?
  4. How do they get it?

I start my copywriting in Hemingway Editor, because:

  • it helps me avoid passive voice
  • it helps me make sure my writing isn’t too hard to read
  • it looks nice

6. Social Proof

One of Cialdini’s six principles of influence, social proof is crucial. Testimonials are the best form of social proof, but media logos and reviews work too. In fact, there are tons ways to add social proof to your landing page.

7. Call-to-Action

Tell them what you want them to do. Be very clear. Use action verbs. You don’t have to get to fancy with it, but if you’re looking for more advice on the subject, here are some CTA tips.

8. Form

Don’t ask for anymore information than you absolutely need. Every new field a visitor has to fill out is another obstacle in their way. Make it easy on them!

This Might Help

Now you know the essentials. One last thing to remember is to test everything. If you’re getting enough traffic, conduct split tests on all the different elements (one at a time), to optimize your landing page until it’s converting as highly as possible!

To help you get started faster, I’ve created a basic lead generation website template for you to use. You can use it to make landing pages or a full website. Download it here. You don’t have to give me your email address or anything, but I’d appreciate it if you’d let people know where you found it.

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