Fancy designs and flash animated sites with lots of flying banners and stunning graphics may look visually appealing but they only entertain you and only serve as a distraction. Having all this on a landing page is a really bad idea simply because with all the fancy fluff going on in the background, your visitors may just simply lose sight of what she/he intended to do in the beginning.
After managing a couple of sites, I’ve realized that almost 90% of the time people appreciate sites with simple designs much more than sites which look appealing visually. This is even more important when it comes to landing pages since visitors drop by with a single objective which I believe is true across the board. That objective is to “search for a solution to a problem”.
Therefore all landing pages should be tailored towards meeting that objective. This is what I think should be done. Let’s assume we are designing a theoretical pregnancy nutrition landing page.
- Define your objective (singular) – Every landing page must have a single objective in mind and your theoretical landing page must ONLY provide info related to that. Anything more than that will throw your readers off. Provide specific information that will help them with their problem. Drive every single aspect of your landing page towards meeting that objective! I can’t emphasize enough how important this part is. If you put too much on the plate, your visitors will be given too many choices leaving them frustrated and they’ll be leaving your landing page in no time.
- Don’t distract visitors with flashy design elements – Eliminate all non-related graphics or banners that don’t relate to nutrition and pregnancy. Add pictures or photos related to this topic. Anything that will not compel your visitors to take action should be eliminated and removed. My advice would be to show photos of pregnant women, stats of pregnant women who are having nutritional issues i.e gestational diabetes. Every design element should be geared towards helping your visitors with that particular problem.
- Videos – Having too many pictures on a single landing page can be a bit of a distraction. There’s always a fine balance between having the right amount and having too many. The alternative is to create a custom-made video specifically tailored to nutrition in pregnancy. Every part of this video must be specific towards meeting the objective and that is to “give the solution to a problem”. In this case it is to provide the best nutrition for pregnant mums. If you can make videos, I would highly recommend this compared to the previous method.
- Landing Page Layout – I personally prefer a max of landing pages with two columns. Your landing page is not a blog or a main site. Think of it as an information portal. Your information portal should have all the information your visitors need before they enter. Opt-ins forms should be on your second column. Testimonials are great and they do have a certain amount of impact towards buying influence. If you want to add testimonials, add it into your second column. Your main column should address “problem issues” that will address your visitors concerns.
- “Action” Graphics / Visual Elements – This is pretty straightforward. Action graphics like arrows, bonus graphics, instant access graphics. All this might sound cliché but people are still attracted towards graphics that will compel them to take action. Experiment with colours, sizes, location, graphic density, graphic types etc.
- Less Clicks – People are generally lazy and almost everyone who comes online wants a quick solution to a problem. Noticed that I mentioned “quick”. Ever noticed that you get really frustrated when a page loads just too slow or you just can’t seem to get an answer no matter how many websites you’ve read. Your landing page must eliminate all unnecessary external clicks. Typically a landing page should have all the necessary information in that one single page and an opt-in box to push people towards getting the product from you.
A draft landing page would look like this. As always experimenting between designs is the best way to find out what works.
An alternative would be to consider services like Premium Squeeze Templates to help you with landing pages if you wanna take the headache off landing page designs. Read my review on Premium Squeeze Page Templates here.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: danalingga
April 14, 2011 at 3:16 pm
As additional. It should be that the only link available is to opt-in or to buy page.
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Hey Dana,
That’s right. Didn’t add that but thought that was obvious enough
Great article…but I still struggle with my landing page. Ok, I know i have to fix some things and the landing page should not look like a blog (i will move the dates) but how do you get the customer to read WHO AND WHAT I DO?
I still get calls and emails after the client viewed the site. They ask me questions that are fully displayed on the landing page.
However, my second concern is design. How do you know what color or design to use for clients?
Thanks Bryan! I love and enjoy your articles!
Hey Jackie,
Saw your email. You must have read my newsletter
Hmm, I think you are asking quite a broad question. Sorry I didn’t cover that in this post.
For your first question: who and what you do. I think for this one, you can address it in a video telling what you do and who you are. That should be the first thing you need to talk about in that video. Alternatively, you can talk about that on your first few sentences. I personally don’t encourage talking too much about yourself. Tell people what they need to know and after that tell what they want to look for. And hit it all on the sweet spots. Your landing page must not be too complicated.
For the next question: Design is a very subjective thing. I personally recommend that you read this book called “Non Verbal Website Intelligence” by Derek Harper. You should read that book about design. Basically, your design must not be too messy. When there is a need to call for action, make it clear with action words, graphics and colours. As with colours, different colours work differently for different websites. It’s really not a standard thing.
If you can’t find the ebook, I’ll be sending the PDF on another newsletter for everyone to read
Good Luck!
Thanks a million Bryan!
I will check Amazon for that book. I know I heard of it before! Ummm!
You should always have a clear understanding of why a person visits a web page. Then, you can build the page around that one objective. Provide a visitor with the information that they are looking for immediately, don’t make them go looking for it.
Twitter: alexanderthegry
April 16, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Hello Bryan,
I think that the concept of a landing page is to be clean and don’t confuse the reader/potential client. You need to have them pick, actually not pick, because that involves a choice, they only need to have one objective, that is to do your action. Being entering their email or buying your product.
Also, in a landing page you need to have your sales pitch, that needs to be compelling, you need to convince them they need the product and that if they buy it the benefits will outweigh the money they spend.
Alex recently posted..Lupte Gladiatori
Hey Alex,
I think the other thing that you mentioned here about a compelling sales page is really important. That is a topic for another day, just way beyond the scope of this blog post. Keeping things simple and clean and with very few choices is the best way to design a landing page. Even if choices are given, the aim should be lead them closer towards the product if not getting it straightaway.
Twitter: Alexwhalley23
April 18, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Could not agree more Bryan!
My philosophy when it comes to this (and something I teach in my Build Rank Profit course) is that your landing page should be built with the customers needs and simplicity in mind.
Pretend it was you that was going to buy or sign up.
Chances are you probably wouldnt on the site you have designed now.
Take a step back and -do what Bryan says!!!
Again, great post mate
Alex recently posted..Use Buffer and Increase Your Impact on Social Media- Tweriod
Twitter: Alexwhalley23
April 18, 2011 at 12:45 pm
oh btw – LOVED the image
Nothing clean about that landing LOL
Alex recently posted..Use Buffer and Increase Your Impact on Social Media- Tweriod
LOL Alex,
I thought I should find something related to landing and didnt know what hit me while thinking…. Just thought of a plane landing
Yeah if you are trying to sell something, leaving too many options on the table just confuses them further. Never thought of that till I start building my own niche sites. Makes a difference not much but visible. Ooh and btw I am subscribed to your BRP course. Awesome stuff I must say! Love that awesome free Amazon list link you sent a few days ago.
According to me right person or customer looking for the right information not for good design. Content of posts creates its value and simple design can also influence the popularity of website or web page. I like also simplicity with modernization theme.
100% agreed! Visitors really are looking for solutions – as soon as possible! (That includes me). So if they are to go through a winding road with full of distractions, definitely they’ll lose their interest and then leave. I do love the draft landing page – like you’ve said, simple, clean and straight to the point! Thanks for the info Bryan!
charlene @ Michigan web design recently posted..Staying Alive and Relevant on the Web!
You’re welcome Charlene. Most people have short attention spans online which is aggravated by Google’s quick search and instant searches. Websites have to capture your attention within the first couple of seconds, otherwise it is difficult to maintaint your visitor’s interest.
Good to see you here too.
I agree the costumer is looking for the right information. But informative article and good design can work together to get more visitors. If you have a pleasant but simple design to your site and a nice content for sure the visitors keep coming back to your site..
Great review!
Hey John,
That’s certainly correct. A clean and simple design is one of the most accepted ways to go. Some people like nice colourful designs and fancy interfaces but really, sometimes they aren’t aware that distractions can get them lost while navigating around a site. The principles I lay out here is pretty simple. It’s just a general idea but I think it can be used across the board.
Ooh btw, welcome! Hope to see you soon