If you have a website, then chances are that you have heard that landing pages can do wonders for your business. They are designed to draw attention, engage users and direct them towards what they need to do next. However, many landing pages make the critical error of not thinking their design through. Since the landing page is the first point of reference for online traffic with your business, they may easily bounce off if the loading time is too long, the design too confusing or if the purpose of the business is not immediately understood.

A good landing page is one that both attracts a potential visitor and gives them crucial information about the website. There is no single aspect of landing page design that can be sacrificed for another. It is a cohesive and structured design that highlights the best in the business and retains website traffic.

What Goes Into a Good Landing Page?

A badly designed landing page is one that may rarely see the light of day. Just putting the landing page up does not guarantee that that is the first place a visitor to your website is taken to. Oftentimes, it is the homepage that people first see and not the landing page. The issue here is that the landing page is better optimized to secure customer attention when compared to the homepage. Always test your website to ensure that the links are working fine and you are showing people what you want them to see.

Once you know that your landing page is up and ready, check to make sure that it does not suffer from any of the following five problems before you go live.

• Loading time too slow: The most effective way of ensuring that website traffic bounces off your landing page is when it takes too long to load. Even five seconds can feel too long for someone who is used to flipping past multiple websites at once. It is not enough to just create engaging content that can attract visitors, the loading speed must be fast enough for people to see your content before they decide to move on. An effective way to make sure your landing page speed is decent is by testing it yourself. Ensure that you are not using overly heavy images since the high quality image resolution will not justify the lack of attention to your content. Instead, go with a simpler and to the point design for your landing page.

• Do not have a cluttered design: Aesthetically pleasing designs always perform better with audiences. Symmetry, structure and proportion have always been important to design, and there is a reason that they endured. A clutter free design not only helps visitors hone in on what you have to offer, it provides clarity and ease of readability as well. Too many elements can make the visitor feel confused and turn them away from your website. Having a similar theme throughout your website is a great idea, and a landing page that follows the same theme can create consistency in design for your visitors.
• Effective Copy: There is no underestimating the importance of the copy that goes on your landing page. While you will most likely be using a tagline, that one line should effectively tell your visitor exactly what they can expect from you. While some tag lines are creative word plays on the businesses themselves, others portray company philosophies, mottos and vision statements. As long as the tagline makes your business stand out, it is a good line. To that end, copy errors are an absolute no-no. Similarly, try to use upbeat and evocative words that inspire a call to action instead of a standard phrase.

• Call to Action: The ultimate purpose behind creating a landing page is to create enough interest in a visitor so that they feel like navigating your website and create business. A call to action is imperative on your landing page as it tells the visitor what they should do next. Good copy is one way of achieving this as is adding navigation buttons.

• Pictures speak volumes: There is nothing more obvious than using a stock image. While many websites prefer to pay for and use stock images to make their websites look polished, it is those landing pages that add a personal touch that get more attention. The difference is because the latter is not impersonal. Every business has its own unique story, and finding a way to make that a part of your landing page through visuals taken in-house can add a relevant touch to your landing page.

Your landing page should ideally be the best designed page on your website. Most importantly, it should be optimized for mobile use. More and more people use mobile phones to browse the internet today and a good and responsive landing page is the perfect way to get increased traffic for your website.