So you’ve decided on a side hustle, you’ve uncovered your ideal market, you’ve bought a domain name, opened a few social media accounts…
…and you’ve even built a landing page to start building your audience.
There’s just one problem.
It ain’t converting.
Uh-oh.
For those who don’t know, a landing page is a standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign.
It’s where a visitor “lands” after they click on a link in an email, or ads from Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or similar places on the world wide web.
Unlike your website pages, which typically have many goals and encourage exploration, landing pages are designed with a single focus or goal, known as a call to action (or CTA, for short).
It’s this singular focus that makes landing pages the best option for increasing the conversion rates of your marketing campaigns.
But if you’re driving internet traffic to your landing page and it’s not doing it’s job, ie: collecting names or sales – odds are it needs optimizing.
Heck, even if you are getting a decent conversion rate, you should still split-test different elements of your page to get the best conversion rate possible!
In this newsletter, we’ll be showing you how to optimize your landing page to skyrocket your conversion rates.
Now let’s get to it.
What can you expect this week?
- Trends: What’s a good conversion rate anyway? We break down the data based on the category.
- Strategies: Learn simple ways to optimize your landing page to convert leads into sales!
- Tool of the Week: Leadpages can help you optimize your landing page, and don’t worry, you don’t need to know a thing about html code.
Trends
This week, we’ve done some research into the average conversion rates for landing pages based on industry. Take a look and see how your numbers stack up!
We’ve also found some interesting data on what kinds of CTA’s get the highest conversion rates. Enjoy!
Conversion Rates by Industry
These are the average conversion rates you can expect on your landing page, based on the industry your side hustle is in. These are the numbers you’re looking to hit, so if you’re landing page isn’t hitting the average percentage it’s time to start optimizing!
Conversion Rates by Form Type
Thinking about running a contest for your side hustle? Expect to get a tonne of conversions on your landing page! Most people love a good contest, especially if the prize is really good. This can be a great way to build your mailing list quickly.
If you’re just asking people to sign up for your newsletter without offering them any kind of freebie in return, you can expect a lower conversion rate.
Conversion Rates: Single Vs Multi-Page Form Submission
Conversion rates more than triple when fields are spread over multiple pages. Here’s why:
- Longer forms often use page breaks to separate fields into different sections. This makes them easier to digest compared with forms that squeeze all fields onto one page.
- Multi-page forms tend to include progress bars to let users know exactly how far along they are, making them more convenient and easier to complete.
- Bigger fonts, longer fields, larger header images, and extra spacing all make forms less intimidating and easier to digest—and often cause them to extend beyond a single screen.
Strategies
Alrighty, now that you know what conversion rate you’re aiming to hit, it’s time to take a magnifying glass to your landing page and look at how it can be improved.
Landing pages have no navigation links and are not part of your main website. Since they are intended for a single campaign, most of their traffic comes from ads, email marketing campaigns, and other marketing efforts.
Let’s start by looking at the different elements of your landing page so you can figure out where there’s room for improvement.
Crystal-Clear Landing Page Copy
When creating copy for your landing page, it’s important to be clear, concise, and to the point. Your web visitor should understand exactly why they need what you’re offering and what they need to do next.
Pro-tip: Make sure your audience knows what’s in store for them through your copy. This landing page copy from GreatJones makes it clear what they’re selling.
Attractive Graphics
Compelling visual imagery attracts an audience’s attention. Your page visitors expect images that can help them visualize your services and products or evoke a feeling.
However, be sure that your images add value and that you’re not just putting nice-looking images to tick off the box.
Pro-tip: Use an animation roll to make your landing page dynamic.
A Clear Call to Action (CTA)
Your call to action (CTA) is crucial. It should be easy to identify and simple to follow.
Don’t make your leads jump through hoops to take the next step. Steer clear of clever wordplay too. If your CTA button says ‘Show me the clams!’, it’s unclear what the next step is.
However, words like ‘Buy now’ or ‘Enter your email’, may be a little boring but they certainly won’t confuse anyone!
In the example above, Hulu is offering students a very attractive deal. Their CTA is ‘Sign Up Now’ – keep it simple, it works!
Add Testimonials
Consumers tend to trust feedback and reviews from fellow consumers. So, adding testimonials, positive comments, and reviews to your landing page is a really great way to increase conversions.
Add a Trust Banner
If you’ve worked with notable businesses in the past, consider adding a trust banner with their logos to your landing page. This helps to build instant credibility with your web visitors and may influence their decision to take action on your page.
Create a Killer Headline
The landing page headline should cut to the chase about what the business offers and what visitors can hope to gain from the page.
Make your headline clear, concise, and interesting so your audience will engage with your content. If your landing page has several points, add sub-headings so your audience will receive the information in smaller portions.
Ensure your page is mobile-friendly
Before you hit publish on your landing page, make sure you check out how it looks on multiple devices, including your phone. If your page is slow to load on your mobile, odds are your web visitor will click away without looking at what you have to offer.
These days, most of us are browsing on our phones and most of us have the attention span of goldfish. So make sure your page is loading quickly to avoid potential leads dropping off!
Examples of High-performing Landing Pages
For some extra inspiration, here are some good landing page examples that combine the best of the elements discussed above.
Nigella Lawson’s Book Tour
The design is simple and focused on one goal: to promote her book tour. It uses a simple headline, promoting her brand “Nigella,” and combines two strong CTAs.
The first one encourages the user to read her book and buy a ticket for her tour, while the second one urges people to look for recipes.
Shopify
Shopify keeps it simple, with a clean interface and a headline that will attract side hustlers from all over the world. It’s user-oriented and uses clear and concise copy to communicate with its audience.
Create a landing page for your side hustle that focuses on your audience and clearly communicates what you’re offering.
DoorDash
DoorDash’s landing page has been praised by graphic designers, business owners, and customers. Their use of simple graphics combined with images of smiling people gives the brand a casual, light, and very positive image. And their copy is brief and to the point.
Use a similar approach when developing your side hustle’s landing page. If you are selling handicrafts or artwork, use those images to attract your audience. If you have an upcoming show or sale, use a landing page to get the word out.
Wag!
Wag! is a good example of a side hustle that became a serious business. Their landing page uses the right image and their CTA is clear.
Tool of the Week
While there are several tools you could use to optimize your landing pages, one you should definitely check out is Leadpages.
Even if you don’t know how to code, Leadpages can help you create a landing page or web page that is optimized, well-designed, and targeted.
Leadpages allows you to test your landing page and add elements such as meta titles, SSL encryption, and landing page previews by platform (mobile, PC, or tablet).
Leadpages can also capture email addresses and create polls and surveys for visitors to complete.
The software can also be easily integrated with other apps, which helps side hustlers create a streamlined marketing campaign that finds leads and funnels them to your landing page for conversion.