The Landing Page is your Home Page

The Landing Page

People who have heard of a ‘Landing Page’, generally think of it as a page specifically designed with the purpose of converting visitors to a website into customers by persuading them to perform some ‘desired’ action like buying a product … and they would be right. They may also think that most websites don’t have or need to worry about a landing page because it is only required for visitors who come specifically from advertising like Google Adwords … and they would be wrong.

The majority of visitors to your website will arrive at your home page and they will be directed there from search engines, advertising, directories and backlinks that you have probably set up yourself. Without doubt, your Home Page is THE most important page of your website and it is there for one purpose only, to get that visitor to perform some desired action. You have less than a second before your visitor has decided they are either going to leave, or hopefully, have glanced at something that has caught their interest. It’s as quick as that. View your home page as a landing page now. Close your eyes, clear your mind and open them again to look at your homepage. Without thinking, what does it tell you? Does it tell you what you want it to tell you?

Call to Action

Think of why you have built your website. What is its goal. Is it to sell? Is it to offer a service? What is its primary goal? These are important questions to ask yourself and the basis of Converting Visitors into Customers. For my website, my primary goal is to get subscribers, therefore my Call to Action is to get a visitor to subscribe. But of course, the only people who will follow my Call to Action are visitors interested in SEO. Therefore, within that second I have to tell them they have come to the right place, which is why my page just talks SEO … in its logo, headings, links, bullet points, etc. It doesn’t shout, it doesn’t whisper, it talks. A good home page focuses the entire page on a single, particular theme. Keep the language simple, uncluttered and easy to scan with headers and bullet points. Highlight benefits rather than features. Tell them your Unique Value Position which is what separates your product or service from your competitors.

Golden Triangle

Keep the Golden Triangle in mind. When a visitor comes to your website they will view it from top-left to top-right and then down to bottom-left. This triangle should say exactly what your business is all about and what they need to do next to get more information, without having to scroll the page downwards, or heaven forbid, sideways! If you are selling, place assurances, testimonials and guarantees to show you are a creditable company. If you have a service, list all the benefits that sets your business apart from your competitors.

It takes a lot of hard work to get visitors to your website. By performing some simple Conversion Rate Optimisation techniques on your home page you can turn more of these visitors into customers.

SEO Expert Tip

Don’t give your visitor a reason to leave. Give them a reason to stay.