Do You Know These 10 Ways To Improve Your Online Marketing Today.
January 11th, 2013 by Wade Schlosser on Online Lead Generation, Online Marketing 
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It’s safe to say that lead generation is one of the most important parts of your online marketing strategy.
I know you’ve read that before, but we’re running into a disturbing, and all too common misconception here at Forward Leap Marketing…just about everyday. It’s like a weird case of deja-vu with some of our new clients. Every time we’ve built a series of landing pages for clients; some just don’t get that landing page are one of the most important aspects of your online marketing efforts. They keep allowing their emotions to take over instead of attempting to make decisions that are better based in science. They want their sites to look like the competitors, complete with all the useless bells and whistles. As marketers…we know WHY this keeps happening, but we stand firm knowing that by putting tools in place to measure past and present data, you can’t rely on aesthetics and what “you think will work.”
You have to rely on results.
It’s sad that their are so many marketers out there who propose launching only one landing page…who don’t rely on A/B testing…who won’t take the time to test all of the elements that increase conversion.
In truth, anyone who does work like that isn‘t a skilled online marketer you should work with.
Through our experience here at Forward Leap Marketing, here’s what we love to do, and what we’ve found make the largest impact in creating great landing pages…
- A/B Testing Radical Versions – Doesn’t matter if it’s long form sales letters, a one page with a form, multiple step widgets, etc. YOU’VE GOT TO BE TESTING!
- World-Class Copywriting – Focusing on eliciting an emotional response is fundamental to getting site visitors to fill out forms. Creating a sense of trust and credibility, and while also appealing to the logic of decision makers while never forgetting they’re emotional beings is crucial to creating dollar developing landing pages.
- Aesthetics and Usability – There’s a lot of science that goes behind great landing pages. If there wasn’t, I wouldn’t be on a soapbox right now. As a matter of fact, we’ve got a running list of over 40+ guidelines that we incorporate every time we build one. These include, but aren’t limited to, Images, Navigation, Links, Buttons, Text and Type Rules, URL naming, Page load times, etc.
Because revenue generated from leads is dependent on your ability to turn traffic into a phone call, your landing page should be working hard to turn that traffic into leads your agents can close.
Below are some obvious and not so obvious ideas for you to start implementing today.
The 7- Step Process To Creating Amazing Landing Pages.
- K.I.S.S. – Yes…keep it simple. Landing pages are present for one purpose, and one purpose only. To convince the site visitor to perform a specified action. Consider why your site visitor has arrived on your website. Are they looking for the best rate on a loan, would they like to refinance? Ensure that your landing page is about one thing and one thing only, the item of interest that brought them there in the first place. Eliminate any superfluous and extraneous material and entice them to follow your call to action so they can satisfy their search query.
- Ask These Questions – When you’re constructing a landing page, be sure to ask these questions. What are your prospects fears? What frustrates them about the? What problems are they trying to solve, and what solutions are they looking for? Landing pages need to answer these questions quickly. If upon arriving to your landing page your prospect isn’t compelled to explore how you can solve a problem they have, or are trying to avoid, they’ll seek out someone who can.
- Show some emotion – High value purchases such as mortgages, real-estate and insurance are never made based purely on logical reasons. There’s a substantial amount of emotion involved. Therefore the copy that is featured on your landing page needs to be constructed in order to produce an emotional response. Consider what trigger words sales reps use when closing and introduce these on your landing page.Actionable tip: Write in the second person using the word you and your frequently.
- Test extensively – Your landing page can always work harder for you. You’ll never know what the capability of your landing page is unless you continuously test. A/B split tests are imperative to approach online marketing with a scientific approach. Using programs like unbounce or optimizelyyou’ll be able to analyze conversion rates as you cycle through new landing pages.
- Provide a clear call to action – A call to action that is weak or uninspired will bring you similar results. Asking someone to do something is going to bring you much different results than telling them to do something. Depending on the length of your copy you’ll need to tell them to perform said action anywhere from 1-5 times. The longer your copy, the more times you need to instruct them to complete follow your call to action. Turn to copywriting experts at copyblogger to receive FREE advice on how to write the perfect call to action.
- Show them WHY they need to business with you – Credibility matters. If you’ve helped a customer save $17,432 dollars, then provide a brief testimonial in quotes illustrating that you’ve got proven systems to save money.Accredited by the BBB? Show your rating. Have video testimonials from satisfied clients, have that video available in your body copy (just don’t have it auto-play when a visitor arrives.) Here’s a great article explaining how track record and credibility need to be used for online marketing purposes.
- Avoid giving them a way out – One of the best things you can do to increase the functionality of your landing page is to prevent them from leaving. Avoid having navigation tools that move them to other areas of your site. If they’d like to go to other parts of your site, then implement a feature where they have to fill out a form for further site navigation.*Note: only do this for your landing pages and not website homepage. Doing this on any other part of your site will frustrate visitors and encourage them to leave.
BONUS: 3 Tips On How To Test Your Landing Page.
Test your headline in A/B Split Tests - Your headline does most of the work for your landing page. When testing headlines, try using a question that will get the prospect to say “YES.” Ask them if they’d like to… “Discover how to save money,” or if they “Would like to save money.”
Priming them to say yes, puts them in a position where they start looking for the solution you provide.
Change the form size and detail - Form tests are extremely important. Are you asking for too much information, or not enough? Is the form color scaring them off? Or, is the form requesting the right info, but could stand to be shrunk down in size? Form testing can increase the effectiveness of your landing page dramatically.
Match you call to action to head headline - If your able to, make the call to action match the tenor of your headline. If you’re telling them in the headline that you can help them “live debt free,” have your call to action correspond by asking them to “click here to be debt free.”
Don’t overlook this important link, or visitors will subconsciously notice the disconnect.
Here’s The Simple Truth.
If you find yourself wondering what the most important element is to increasing profit margins, conversion is key.
Surprisingly, most companies spend very little money on working to increase conversion. It’s estimated that for every $90.00 spent to bring in new leads, only $1.00 is spent working to convert them.
The disparity in spending should encourage you to test out conversion optimization. Because most of your competitors aren’t investing on conversion, the genius that does (you) will benefit extensively in the form of booming profit margins.
Do you have any additional questions on how to construct a high converting landing page?
What experience do you have with lead generation and poor conversion rates.
Leave some comments below so I can give you direction on how to create better landing pages.
