Marketing studies have shown that 93% of B2B buyers begin their buying process using the Internet. When examining your website’s effectiveness, take into consideration the all-important landing page. A high quality page not only ranks higher in the search engines but it also can earn more exposure in your pay-per-click campaigns and reduce your cost per click. Follow these six ways for increasing conversion rates and improving lead generation
1. Focus on a call to action:
Don’t worry about including navigation on your landing page, as this is not your homepage. Use an arrow graphic to show users how and where to get what they came for and build your content around fulfillment such as free downloads, reports or demos. Keep the copy short and sweet focusing on the benefits and the call to action.
2. Think Branding:
This is your first opportunity to introduce users to your business. Include a logo that reinforces brand recognition. Include a mock-up of the white paper or photo of the webinar presenter. Be sure to make your graphics click-able as a recent internet study by Eyeblaster showed that viewers who interact with web pages have higher retention rates than those that don’t.
3. Reassure your Prospect:
Create an atmosphere that encourages users to part with their information without feeling like they are risking their privacy. Privacy statements, customer testimonials, Better Business Bureau logos and guarantees are a great way to do this. Give them a reason to give you their information. Set up the problem, talk about your solution and deliver the goods (content) in a professional manner, with biographical information on your author or web presenter when appropriate.
4. Say Thank You:
You can never make a first impression twice. Thank your prospect for sharing his time and information with you. Have a page that confirms their submission and tells them you appreciate their visit. Don’t neglect to show them another offer as well. Also make sure the email they receive in response is well written, short and easy to understand and includes your logo and contact info.
5. Be Search Engine Friendly:
Another important part of landing pages is the URL. The title of the page along with the URL path is weighed heavily. Make the best use of the 1024 characters available to you. Optimize your URL with things a search engine likes, such as dashes rather than underscores and include keywords whenever possible.
6. Test:
Testing is an essential tool for lead generation. Landing pages are one of the most valuable things to test and the best B2B marketers are test fanatics. Your landing page has plenty of elements to test, including headlines, copy, forms, offers, designs, colors and more. Testing the landing page can lead to increased conversion rates of up to 115% or more.
Follow this equation: Take the number of conversions per day and divide it by ten. Next, take your testing period in weeks and divide by two. Multiply the two results to determine the number of versions you can comfortably test in your testing period.
Optimizing landing pages doesn’t have to be complicated. Taking into consideration how you like to be treated as a user who visits a web site can be valuable when creating user-friendly elements. Use these tips to build the most efficient landing page for lead generation and fueling the sales funnel.
