How to Create SEO Landing Pages That Convert Leads

What is a landing page?

First thing’s first, let’s go back to the beginning and remind ourselves what a landing page is. Many people think every page on a website is a landing page, but it’s not (even though users can and often do land on various types of pages). A landing page is a page on your website that has a specific purpose, e.g. to generate leads.

Landing pages come in all shapes and sizes, with the most common ones being pages that have forms. The difference between a landing page and any other page is that landing pages are deliberately crafted with conversions in mind. This means they tend to be free of distractions and contain highly targeted yet minimal content, structured in a way that guides the user into taking the action you want.

Essentially, a landing page is a bit like the sweet rack at the checkout at the supermarket; it’s there for one reason and one reason only. If it’s well stocked with Cadbury and Nestle favourites, people will be swayed to buy something, but if there’s only Turkish Delight left, people will leave it well alone.

SEO landing page optimisation: why is it important

So, we know what a landing page is, but why does it need optimising? If there’s one sole purpose to it, surely people will take the steps you want them to take without further persuading? Well, not quite. Whilst a lot of internet behaviour is predictable, not all of it is, and people are changing.

Attention spans aren’t what they once were, meaning that people won’t consume as much wordage as they used to. Back in the early days of the internet, websites were text heavy and image light, mostly because there wasn’t the capacity to add much else, so people had no choice but to read. Nowadays, you can do almost anything with a web page, and that means reducing words and using other, more visual techniques.

With fewer words to play with, you need to make sure that what you’re producing is convincing enough to make the user perform the action you want them to take. This is where conversion rate optimisation comes in. Using punchy, keyword-rich text that is persuasive yet not pushy is key, as is a navigational user journey that looks nice and works well. It’s unlikely you’ll perfect your landing pages on the first try (as we know, marketing is all about trial and error), but through regular optimisation, you can get pretty close.

The main point to this is that, if your landing pages are primed for action and tailored to your audience’s direct needs, they’ll do what you want them to do, which is, ultimately, convert.

How to create SEO landing pages that work

Like everything in the digital marketing realm, creating conversion optimised landing pages is easier said than done. There are a few reasons for this:

• Changing user behaviour 
• New trends and best practices 
• Updated SEO guidance from search engines 

With this in mind, knowing how to craft landing pages that convert leads might seem somewhat tricky, but it’s not as complicated as it looks. As a leading SEO agency, we specialise in creating landing pages that are highly optimised and targeted towards generating conversions, making us best placed to relay the steps you can take to create your own successful landing pages, and that’s exactly what we’ve done below. 

Revise your page design 

The first step to creating a successful landing page is to look at your design. Because landing pages have a specific intent, it’s important that your page is uncluttered and free of all distractions that could pull users away from the action you want them to take. For example, if you want them to fill in a form, the form should take centre stage on the page. If it’s buried under lengthy chunks of text and battling for recognition alongside endless product recommendations elsewhere on the page, users likely won’t fill in the form because there are too many distractions. 

In essence, if users feel overwhelmed, they’ll leave, so it’s important to keep your landing pages organised and concise. The biggest thing you want to draw attention to is your call to action (CTA), so this needs to be different from the rest of the page. Whether it’s a big, colourful button or a form that is crafted in a box that separates it from the rest of the page, you need to make sure that the user’s attention is immediately directed to the CTA. This gives them a clear indication of where they need to go and what they need to do. With few distractions, they’re more likely to take the bait, as it were. 

Make your landing pages responsive 

More and more users are visiting websites via mobile devices, and yet, many businesses are still running websites that aren’t responsive. If someone goes on to your site and has to start zooming in or out to read the information, or if there are distracting elements that mean they have to scroll to take action, there’s a good chance they’ll bounce off your site. 

When considering your website design, make sure you adapt every page to be mobile friendly in order to capture the highest amount of traffic possible. 

Add engaging elements

Now, we know we’ve just said to make sure you remove all distractions from your landing pages, but there is one exception: video content. The reason why videos are ideally placed on landing pages is because they give you the opportunity to explain to the user exactly what you want them to do and the benefits of doing so. For example, you might have an illustrated video that details what the process of your service is and what the next steps are. 

This is a more interactive way of engaging users and providing them with the information they need without bombarding them with lots of text. Videos also take up relatively little space on a landing page compared to text and other elements, and they have been shown to increase conversion rates by as much as 80% (Web FX). If you’ve got a landing page that’s struggling to perform, add a video. 

Be concise 

Landing pages aren’t product pages; they’re not there to try and promote umpteen things at once, so don’t fall into the trap of having lots of unnecessary elements on the page. You need your landing page to contain only the most relevant information if you’re to stand a chance of getting conversions, so remember the golden rule of user behaviour: people are interested only in what you can do for them. 

Reiterate what your product or service can do to benefit the user in a punchy and convincing way. Don’t use long, convoluted sentences – keep it simple. It’s also important to remember to use keywords where possible to help with organic search rankings, but make sure the text flows naturally and isn’t keyword stuffed. 

If you need help with this, speak to us today about our SEO copywriting services.

Make sure that your precision flows through to your forms. Only include relevant and essential fields – no one wants to spend 10 minutes filling out a form with unnecessary information.

Built trust through testimonials 

When you want users to convert, you need to make sure they trust your brand. To do this, they need reassurance from other customers, so including testimonials, reviews and star ratings on your landing pages in a banner is a good way to do this. This signals to users that your brand is authentic and reliable, and they can make a decision based on word of mouth without having to leave your site. 

You can also add logos for awards and professional accreditations that you’ve received to further reinforce the professionalism of your business. 

Add CTAs throughout 

Finally, we’d recommend adding CTAs throughout your landing pages. This includes in the header, midway through the text, and at the bottom, too. These can be in the form of buttons, links, and other CTAs that you think might sway your users. Doing so shows your users what you want them to do and what the next steps are, therefore refining the user journey and providing a smoother experience all round.

Final thoughts

Landing pages aren’t always the easiest of things to nail down, but the tips above should help with generating more high quality conversions at the very least. However, if you need help kickstarting your conversion rate in the right direction, our expert SEO services can help. Contact us to find out more.