The Science Behind Designing a Landing Page: 5 Steps to Success

Many of the analytical thinkers in the advertising field think designers are just there to make things look nice. What they don’t know is that there is a purpose behind everything designers include in their design, from the image to the colors.  When designing a landing page, you should follow these steps for an effective landing page that converts.

1. Define the main purpose

What do you want the visitor to your site to ultimately do?  Do you want to gain followers? Have them fill out the form?  Defining the main purpose of the landing page before you do anything else is essential. Once the main purpose is defined, you can effectively design your landing page.

2. Provide a clear call to action

Not only should your call to action stand out from the rest of your website, but it should also show the benefit of your product/service to the visitor. Use strong verbs like “discover now” or “receive your offer” instead of “submit.”

3. Design to draw user’s attention

Use your design to draw user’s attention to what you want them to do.  Know how your visitors interact with websites. Buttons should be large and contrast with the site, making them stand out and appear clickable. Images should point to what you want the visitor to see, not distract.

 4. Keep them on the page

An ideal landing page should have as few external links as possible. You don’t want to give them a chance to leave your site without converting.

 5. Show hierarchy with headlines

Use headlines to highlight the most important point. We are in the age of scanners so your page should be able to get the point across with as little text as possible. On average, visitors only stay on webpages 10-20 seconds, so make sure they know what your product/service is and its benefit in that timeframe. Here’s an example of an effective landing page from bear css: (http://bearcss.com/)