The whole point of having a website is to convert traffic into sales. You could be getting a million visitors a day but unless those visitors are compelled to take some sort of action like subscribing, signing up for an account, clicking an advert or making a purchase, you are wasting your time and money. In this post I am going to show you the best landing pages on the internet and talk about why they are so good. Hopefully you will then be able to apply them to your own landing pages.

ISSUES WITH CREATING A SUCCESSFUL LANDING PAGE

Before we take a look at the best landing pages on the net I want to talk about a few issues that inevitably arise when creating these things. Unless you address these issues at the onset you are likely to run into many conversion problems down the track that will cost you a lot of time and potentially cash. The lessons learned from the top pages are only useful if you are all over these issues.

• Each goal requires a different landing page
  What is your goal for this landing page you are creating? Are you trying to get more subscribers or are you trying to get someone to buy a product? Do you want the person to visit your site again and again or are you looking to just get them to click an advert and leave? Each one of these goals requires a very different landing page design. It would be foolish to think that a successful landing page in one group could always translate to being successful in another. Make sure you are well aware of your goal before you start.
• The landing page must address different types of visitors
  Who is coming to this landing page? Is it men or is it women? How old are these men or women? Do they have a college education? Have they got children? How well do they know how to use the internet? All of these considerations are vital when creating a successful landing page. For example, if you fail to consider how ‘net savvy’ your visitors are you can miss out on a lot of earnings. Darren Rowse from Problogger.net often says that Adsense ads on his site earned next to nothing because his visitors are so experienced that they know what the ads look like and purposely avoid them. This doesn’t mean Adsense ads are useless, it just means that they don’t work as well with an experienced demographic. All of these considerations need to be made in advance.
• Making the landing page more successful
  Let’s say you have a landing page that is converting about 20% of your traffic into sales. That’s pretty good. You are making some money and are thinking about scaling it up. But hold on a second! How do you know that 20% is the best this page and product combination could be making? What if you changed the links from black to blue? What if you added a picture of a pretty lady? Could the conversion rate go up to 40%, 50%, more? It is important to do what internet marketers call split testing where you run several different versions on the same ad and see what converts better. The best way to manage that is with Google Website Optimizer. This amazing and robust free tool lets you run different versions of your ads and see what elements of each one is helping/harming your campaign. Learn how to use it now.

THE NET’S BEST LANDING PAGES

Now that we have looked at a few basic issues that arise when creating landing pages we can move on to learning from the best ones. I have selected these landing pages to show you what the big guys are doing and why they are doing it. Hopefully it helps some people out there with their own campaigns.

1. Facebook – Low barriers to entry

We all know the Facebook landing page. We have seen it a thousand times when we log into our accounts. But stop looking at it like an existing member and start looking at it like someone who is approaching the site for the first time. Does it make you want to join? Is the layout important? I have heard a lot of experts say that the Facebook landing page is almost obsolete because people would join it no matter what because the reputation of the site is so established. That is an interesting point. I’m not sure I agree.

The Facebook landing page has three important elements: an image that illustrates the concept of the service, the word “free” above the sign up area and the full sign up area on the front page. These elements all come together in a very effective way by saying, “Facebook lets you talk to your friends for free and its fast to sign up”. This page is different a lot of landing pages that tell you to “click here” before you can sign up. The ease of access is a big factor in Facebook’s success; even your grandma can do it.

Summary – Landing pages that require a sign up need to appear simple, even if they are not. They also need to provide some sort of incentive or benefit in order to coax the user into spending their time filling out a form. An image can act as an enticement as well as illuminating the benefits.

2. Twitter – dynamic and social

Twitter’s landing page is extremely interesting because it is actually a lot busier than your typical landing page. More than just a “speech” to get you to join, Twitter has made their landing page quite interactive. Sure, it has the little slogan, “Share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.” but it also has a search button right under that so you can see what is going on in your chosen area. This is a very clever idea because it acts like a free trial or incentive. The landing page is getting potential members interesting by showing them how well this thing works at spreading gossip and news.

The main thing this landing page seems to be doing is trying to get you involved. It is a very dynamic page. It lists the most popular trending topics of the day, week and month, it asks you to do a quick little search to see whats going on and it also uses phrases like, “Join the conversation” to get you feeling like you are missing out on something by not signing up. They have done this interactive landing page extremely well.

Summary – Twitter gives you a live “preview” of what’s going on in the site. I remember visiting it for the first time thinking that I was standing outside a house party looking in through a window. There is a lot going on. Show people what they are missing out on by highlighting the features and benefits of joining up. Don’t just describe them, show them. This is how free trials work.

3. Flickr – socially proofed

Flickr’s landing page is, again, another busy one. It has quite a few elements in its design that take it away from simplicity and towards a more incentive approach. The first thing you see on this landing page is the photo which gives you an example of the kind of thing you will see in the site. You then get the slogan, “Share Your Photos. Watch the World.” This is quite a voyeuristic idea as it is enticing you to look at what other people are doing with their photography and, indeed, their lives. The most interesting part of this landing page, however, has to do with social proof. Right under the photograph you have a line of text that tells you how many photos are being uploaded. At the time of writing this article there were 5,385 uploads in the last minute. This provides a massive sense of security to potential users as it convinces them that other people are using this service. Almost 99% of the time you need to show some social proof. People need to see that they aren’t the first to try something out.

The one weird thing on this landing page is the advertisement. It takes up about 1/5th of the landing page. This is a strange move to me because you are using your landing page to send visitors away from your landing page! It would seem more sensible to me to get people to sign up first and then hit them with the adverts. Perhaps Flickr now have so many users that the landing page can be used to make money via a secondary stream?

Summary – Always remember that people hate being first. Show them how many other people are using your service. Flickr’s landing page is an exercise in mass testimonials.

4. Lava Life – seductive and simple

In case you’re not aware, Lava Life is one of the biggest dating sites in the world. I remember them as being one of the first to pop up in a market that is now saturated with thousands of different options. Whatever your race, religion, hobby or fantasy, there is a dating site for you. Lava Life was also one of the first to advertise on TV and radio and as such made big waves with people who would not normally try online dating. But when you spend the money to advertise on TV you need to make sure your landing page is as tight as can be. In only a few seconds you need to turn a curious advert watcher into a signed up member. And Lava Life do a pretty good job.

The first thing your eye sees on this landing page is the pictures. Don’t be fooled into thinking that these are any ordinary pictures either; these are carefully selected based on what Lava Life knows its potential members want. Note the ratio of male photos to women photos; twice as many women. Notice how good looking they all are, each one representing a “perfect” woman in one way or another. These photos are designed to get your eye in the general area of the sign up form which is, like Facebook, all on the front page. It is interesting to note the language used on this site such as “where singles click” and the join button that says “begin” instead of “sign up”. All of these are very active words. It is also interesting to note that this is only the second landing page to use photos of real people.

Summary – Images have a powerful effect on where people’s eyes land and where they look next. Humans are naturally empathetic creatures so they will attempt to think and feel what the person in the image is thinking and feeling. Use images to direct attention towards a call to action or to act as a preview of what you might find by signing up.

5. Amazon – ultimate personalization

Of all the landing pages in the world it is Amazon’s that makes the biggest impression. I struggle to visit this site without making a purchase. Literally. Over the years I have bought tens of different items from Amazon, referred hundreds of people (through affiliate programs) and told many friends about how easy it is to use. Visiting the landing page of Amazon is like visiting your own little personalized shopping centre. Everything that you want (and probably didn’t even realise that you wanted!) is right there challenging you. Amazon succeeds in getting you to purchase, revisit, share your experience and discover items that you would never normally have thought about.

So let’s look at the design. The first thing you will notice (at the time of writing) is that the Kindle is taking up almost half of the promotional space above the fold. This is an Amazon made product and so they are pushing it hard, especially now that the iPad is out and competing. Once your eye is finished with the Kindle you move on to the area below where your personal recommendations are made. This is always quite shocking to me as there is, 99% of the time, something in that row of books or products that I am thinking about buying. Their personal recommendations work extremely well.

The interesting thing about the Amazon homepage is that they are not afraid to promote every service that they offer. You can get virtually anywhere on the site from the homepage. You have categories on the left, financial information and account across the top, popular items down the right hand side and so on. The approach to this landing page is almost one of “get them clicking and they will buy”. And it works. The longer you spend looking at items on Amazon the more likely you are to buy something. And they are well aware of it.

Summary – Landing pages need to be personal. We don’t all have the technology to seep through someone’s purchasing history like Amazon does, but we do have the ability to write our copy so that it is directed towards an individual. Landing pages should be conversational and speak to people’s emotions and desires. You might even need to help them discover why they actually need your product.

Conclusion

By looking at the most successful landing pages we can learn how to structure our own. Define at your goals, know your target audience and design the page with their interests in mind. Remember to always run split tests and continue to optimise the landing page as much as possible. It doesn’t matter whether your landing page is a website, a store or a long list of copy, you can always learn by looking at what others are doing.