A Landing Page is the holy grail of your Digital Marketing Plan.

So should you not put in efforts in making it the Best version of your business or offering (product or service).

Hell Yes! you should...

A Landing Page is very different from your website and do not confuse the two from each other. 

A Website will be collection of multiple pages, products and services that your business has to offer while on the other hand a Landing Page will be a page you have created around a single service or  product  that will prevent the visitors from getting distracted and stay focussed on a specific campaign, thus increasing your chances of conversions. 

Having said that what will be the different features that you need to keep in mind when creating a landing page or speaking with a Landing Page Design Company to make one for you.  

For making it simple I will be dividing these features in to 4 phases:

Pre Design Stage - when you decide you need a landing page.
Design Stage - When you are designing the page or getting a Landing Page designed.
GoLive Stage - When you have hosted the Landing Page 
Post GoLive Stage - How to ensure that the page you have created is converting. 

So what are we waiting for, let's get started...

Pre-Design Stage

This is the stage where you usually decide or feel the need for a Landing Page to be created. The big question in this stage to ask is....

Why do you need this Landing Page?
Who are you making this Landing Page for?
What is the story behind your Landing Page?
How are you going to make it?
What will form part of your landing page?

If we dig deeper on these questions then...

Why do you need this Landing Page?

Why is usually the most important question that you need to ask. You need to be clear about the need for the landing page and the output that you expect out of it. 

It is not that the expectations will be met on the first go itself but at least you will be aware of the big reason that...

You need this landing page to generate leads for your __________________ and you expect it to generate _________ leads in a month. 

Who are you making this Landing Page for?

Once you know the Why the next question is WHO?

Who is your Target Audience.

A buyer persona at this stage helps you understand how you will be able to get the desired audience for the landing page and how will the traffic flow.

You can define your Audience by...

Age
Location
Language
Spending Power
Interests
Challenges
and Pain Points...

What is the story behind your Landing Page?

Once you know your audience and the product you can now focus on the story that you need to create on the page. I have seen business owners put in a huge list of features or specifications on the page and FAIL...

The reason, no one is interested in the features...

Think what will catch your attention, A Car with horse power of 1,100 kw or a Car that can go 0 to 100 in 3 seconds...

The Story should be about > How are you going to solve their Pain Point?

How are you going to make it?

This is something that plagues many. 

There are so many DIY landing page design softwares that makes it outmost easy for anyone who know how to send email to create a landing page. Does this make your job easier.

No...

So the Question stays, shall I make it myself or shall I ask some agency to do it.

A simple answer to it...

Do you make Landing Pages for a Living...

Do you believe that you will be able to spend time and energy in understanding the learning curve involved with not just designing but ensuring promotion / traffic generation on a landing page.

If your answer is No then you should look for a designer or an agency else you can make it your self.

BTW - you can checkout my list of Landing Page Design Software 

What will form part of your Landing Page?

This is the final question according to me for the Pre-Design Stage for Landing Page Design Process. Since you already have the story in hand and the target audience person is also created you now need to focus on what will help you in terms of showcasing that message to your target audience.  

Different components for a Landing Page include:

Images
Textual Content
Video
Testimonials
Case Study
Problem / Challenge
Solution
and Most Important - THE OFFER 

The Design Stage

This is the stage where you actually start the designing process. 

Whether it is you or a freelancer or an agency making the Landing page I recommend you to focus on the following.

Consistent Branding & Logo 
Negative Space & Limited Navigation
Clear, Compelling headline (and sub headline) 
Enticing Visuals or Videos
Trust Factors
Your USP 
The Offer, CTA and the Deadline 

So what are we waiting for, let's get started...

Consistent Branding & Logo

Your Landing Page does not need to look like web pages on your website. They can have a different look and feel but ensure that they look consistent and follow the same Brand Guidelines.  

The Traffic on your page will come from a channel like Social Media or Paid Ads. Ensure the message in the social media post, ad graphic or ad body is consistent with the message on your Landing Page.   

Negative Space & Limited Navigation

We as humans have a very short attention span. 
If you give us multiple options we will get confused... well most of us.

The same is true when you design a landing page.

It is advised that you keep your navigation to the minimum so that it does not distracts a visitor landing on the page. Also maintain negative space between elements that ensures a clear hierarchical relationship. 

Clear Compelling Headline (and Sub Headline)

Make sure the headline is clear, catchy and explains what the offer is. It is usually the first thing a visitor views which decided whether or not he will like to go below the fold for the page. 

As a complement to the heading the sub-heading should compel the user to read rest of the page and take action. 

Enticing Visuals or Videos

Including images and videos in your content improves engagement and makes your offer more appealing. Your visuals can be cue's that direct the user to your call to action. 

The main types that you can integrate are Images, Videos or Gif's.

Your visuals could talk about features and benefits, cause and action to evoke emotions in your story telling process. 

Trust Factors

Your visitors will not know much about your business. 

So why will they trade with you or share sensitive information like their email or credit card information with you.

It is only because they Trust you.

To look Trustworthy integrate Trust indicators in your landing pages.

Indicators like: Statistical evidence, Trust Badges, Client Testimonials, Privacy Policies, Free Trials, Social Media Posts or Money Back Guarantee are great ways to gain Trust of your visitors. 

Your USP

What is it that you do that sets you apart from your competitor. 

A USP is not a feature of using your product or service but a Benefit that comes to the end consumer as they choose to go ahead.

Your USP identifies your Offer as the Offer they want 

Your Offer, CTA & the Deadline

Conversion of a visitor to a lead or to a sale is entirely dependent on the Offer you make. 

Everything on the page revolves around the offer and its subscription. You need to make a fantastic offer and create scarcity of the user to take an action.

You may offer:

A Free Trial
A Complementary Audit
A Free one-to-one session
A Discount 
A Free Download 
or an Offer of your choice. 

Go-Live Stage

You have made the page, design, story, cta and offer. Now you need to take the page live. Now as it goes live ensure that the following are working.  

Page is Fast Loading 
Page is integrated with Google Analytics
Page is integrated with Google Console
You have a live chat integrated
Lead Generation Form is working fine

So what are we waiting for, let's get started...

Page is Fast Loading

According to Google, the likelihood of a user abandoning your website increases by 32% if its load time increases from 1 sec to 3 sec. Sluggishness in loading a page is the first reason why the users will abandon your website and why they will not want to come back again. 

This is the reason why you need to ensure that the page created is simple, aesthetically pleasing and loads fast.

There are different factors that contribute to Load Time of the website. 

How fast is your Hosting?
How Heavy is your Page?
What size of images you are using on the page?
Are the images optimised for different resolutions?

Google Lighthouse Score is a great way to check the optimisation score of your website. Checkout my Step By Step Guide for Faster Loading Landing Pages for the same. 

Page is integrated with Google Analytics

As you driving Traffic to the page you will need to know more about the visitors, their demography, age, channel, interests and many more things. 

Google Analytics is totally free and considered to be the Gold Standard in web analytics. 

Page is integrated with Google Console

Google Analytics couples with Google Search Console works as a power tool for you to analyse your campaign, traffic and actions required. Though to tool is very SEO centric in my approach but does offer many insights when doing a paid or email campaign too. 

It will tell you about your site / page health, rich snippets, broken links or actions required by you to keep your page in tune with latest Google Search Policies.

You have Live Chat Integrated

Your visitors will not know much about your business. 

So why will they trade with you or share sensitive information like their email or credit card information with you.

It is only because they Trust you.

To look Trustworthy integrate Trust indicators in your landing pages.

Indicators like: Statistical evidence, Trust Badges, Client Testimonials, Privacy Policies, Free Trials, Social Media Posts or Money Back Guarantee are great ways to gain Trust of your visitors. 

Lead Generation Form is working fine

What is it that you do that sets you apart from your competitor. 

A USP is not a feature of using your product or service but a Benefit that comes to the end consumer as they choose to go ahead.

Your USP identifies your Offer as the Offer they want 

Post Go-Live Stage

You have made the page, design, story, cta and offer. Now you need to take the page live. Now as it goes live ensure that the following are working.  

Heat maps
Screen Recording
A/B Testing
Email Automation
Conversion Code Tracking 
Google Re-marketing

So what are we waiting for, let's get started...

Heat Maps

Your Landing Page does not need to look like web pages on your website. They can have a different look and feel but ensure that they look consistent and follow the same Brand Guidelines.  

The Traffic on your page will come from a channel like Social Media or Paid Ads. Ensure the message in the social media post, ad graphic or ad body is consistent with the message on your Landing Page.   

Screen Recording

Make sure the headline is clear, catchy and explains what the offer is. It is usually the first thing a visitor views which decided whether or not he will like to go below the fold for the page. 

As a complement to the heading the sub-heading should compel the user to read rest of the page and take action. 

A/B Testing

Including images and videos in your content improves engagement and makes your offer more appealing. Your visuals can be cue's that direct the user to your call to action. 

The main types that you can integrate are Images, Videos or Gif's.

Your visuals could talk about features and benefits, cause and action to evoke emotions in your story telling process. 

Email Automation

Your visitors will not know much about your business. 

So why will they trade with you or share sensitive information like their email or credit card information with you.

It is only because they Trust you.

To look Trustworthy integrate Trust indicators in your landing pages.

Indicators like: Statistical evidence, Trust Badges, Client Testimonials, Privacy Policies, Free Trials, Social Media Posts or Money Back Guarantee are great ways to gain Trust of your visitors. 

Conversion Code Tracking

What is it that you do that sets you apart from your competitor. 

A USP is not a feature of using your product or service but a Benefit that comes to the end consumer as they choose to go ahead.

Your USP identifies your Offer as the Offer they want 

Google Re-Marketing

What is it that you do that sets you apart from your competitor. 

A USP is not a feature of using your product or service but a Benefit that comes to the end consumer as they choose to go ahead.

Your USP identifies your Offer as the Offer they want 

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