Your landing page is often the first impression someone gets of you and your business.

Someone lands on your page from a link on social media, a Facebook ad, or a podcast they heard you on. They were intrigued by something you had. And now they’re here at your doorstep.

The hard part’s over! Now, you just need to convert that person on the internet and encourage them to become an email subscriber.

And you do this with an amazing landing page.

This post is all about creating an amazing landing page: what landing pages need, don’t need, and where to host your own.

Conversion rates for landing pages

First, let’s talk about conversion rates for landing pages. 

What’s a “good” rate? What makes your landing page successful by the numbers?

The industry standard for a landing page conversion rate is 10%. And that’s on a good day. 

Typically it is less than that per industry statistics. We’re talkin’ 2.35%.

I know, I know. It sounds low! But I want to share this with you because it gives you a nice baseline to go off of. Now you know what to expect and what to aim for.

What your landing page needs

Alright, let’s talk about what your landing page needs to do well.

Make your signup form visible

My first piece of advice? Put your signup form above the fold.

Above the fold means that your site visitor can see the form as soon as they land on your page. 

They don’t have to scroll to look for it. It’s right at the top. This helps them make the decision to sign up faster.

Create solid headlines

Next, have a bold, clear headline.

Make it quick and straightforward. It should be clear what your offer, freebie, or download is. Don’t be coy or make your site visitors guess! Keep it obvious and to the point.

Let me stop here and say that if you have nothing else on your landing page, at least have these two things. A signup form above the fold and a bold, clear headline are the most important, without a doubt.

Make it visual

What else can you have on your page? An image is always helpful.

We’re visual creatures, so seeing what your lead magnet looks like can encourage people to sign up. Even if it’s a very simple mockup of the first page of your download! 

What to NOT put on your landing page

Okay, so your landing page needs a signup form, a great headline, and an image of your freebie. 

What should you NOT put on your landing page? Let’s talk about some things to avoid.

Paragraphs

Number one, avoid paragraph text. 

You have mere seconds to grab your site visitor’s attention and get them to take action. They’re not going to read your beautifully written paragraph. I’m sorry, folks, but it’s the truth!

If you want to share more information about your lead magnet, put it in bullets. Bullet lists are easy to skim over. And they won’t scare someone away like a big block of text might.

While I’m on the subject of good design, I highly recommend you design your landing page for mobile first and desktop second.

Most people are landing on your page after doing something else on their phone, like browsing social media or listening to a podcast. Make your mobile design top priority and desktop second, okay?

Large files that slow down your page

Similarly, check your page speed.

People are busy, remember? We don’t want to wait more than a few seconds for a page to load! If your landing page is too slow to load, people will just bounce.

Thank TikTok and the internet in general for lowering our attention spans. It’s awful, I know!

But, check that your page loads quickly. I’m not an expert on this, but you can optimize your images, use smaller image files, and do other things to help boost your page speed.

Where to host your landing pages

We’ve covered what to do and what not to do with your landing pages. So, where should you host your landing page?

You’ve got a few options.

Host on your website

Your first option is to host it directly on your website by creating a new page. This is what I do most of the time, personally.

Host on your email marketing provider

Or, use a template provided by your email marketing provider. That’ll create a shareable link for you to use.

Host with a third party

Your last option is to use a third-party host like LeadPages or Opt-in Monster.

Some people swear by this method because it keeps all the traffic and additional pages separate from your own website, which increases your page load speed like we just talked about.

Measuring the success of your landing page

Now, how can you measure the success of your landing page outside of conversion rates?

I recommend a tool called HotJar Heatmaps. This tool shows you how someone moves around your page, where they might be getting stuck, and where you’re getting the most clicks.

Things are kept anonymous so you don’t know who’s doing what, but it does help you see how you can improve the design and content of your landing page. Plus, it also screen records and honestly it’s really cool to watch.

---

I hope this post helped you learn what makes a great landing page so you can put together one of your own!

Remember, a kickass landing page gives your site visitors that little push they need to become your email subscribers. It’s so important to rock your landing pages.

If you liked the tips I shared in this episode, then you’ll love The Digital Biz Life Membership!

It’s a membership community for entrepreneurs who want to create and/or grow a digital biz of their own. 

You get access to lessons, walkthroughs, templates, worksheets, and more resources that meet you where you are.

Each month, we dive deeper into a different email marketing or business topic. Like, for example, we talked about cart systems last month and are finishing up sales funnels this month!

If this episode inspires you, leave a review and share your biggest takeaway with me! And while you’ve got your phone out, go ahead and do these 3 things:

1. Give this podcast a follow (click here for iTunes or here for Spotify, or look up “The School of Marketing Podcast for Digital Entrepreneurs” wherever you listen to your podcasts). 
2. Head to the Email Template Shop™ and use code PODCAST15 for 15% off your first purchase.
3. Go ahead and open up your Instagram app and come follow me: @themaganward. I’d love to hear from you and I’m known to reply back via DM, sometimes even with a voice message, so make sure you hit me up there especially if you’ve got a topic you’d like me to cover in an upcoming episode.

Want more of where this came from? Check out other show notes here.