When a prospect comes to your website and scans your landing page, they decide in just a few seconds whether to bail or stick around. When making this decision, they consider two things:

• Does this page look hard or complicated?
• Is this page relevant to my search query?

Design, copy, font size, and form length all influence the former. To influence the latter, make sure your page (especially the headline) directly connects to the search term. Also, keep in mind that this isn’t your home page, so remove your main navigation. Simpler pages almost always work better for lead generation. The navigation draws attention away from your offer and conversion action. Worse, each link is an invitation for the visitor (which you paid for) to click away instead of converting.

Lastly, don’t try and collect too much information at once. If you met someone interesting at a bar, you wouldn’t ask for a ton of information like their annual income – you’d simply get his or her contact information so you could build the relationship over time. The same is true for landing pages. Every field you ask reduces your conversion rate, so collect as little information as you really need to route the lead and stay in touch. You can always collect more during your nurturing process.

I will be the first to admit that if I am directed to a site that does not immediately impress me I won’t even give it a second chance. Most visitors react this way, which should provide everyone with the motivation to create a good landing page, or else what is the point of pay-per-click advertising if your landing page ends up driving potential clients away!

Share This