Tag Archive for: building a website

The Makings of a High Converting Landing Page

There’s a common misconception that landing pages are hard to create and maintain. But we want to dispel that rumour! Many businesses don’t make the most of their landing pages, but – done right – they are one of the easiest and smartest ways to generate more leads for your business.

However, a high converting page does more than simply “look good”. To convert visitors into customers, there are a number of design factors you will need to consider. Here’s how you can make your page as appealing as possible to visitors, to encourage them to stick around.

What is a landing page?

Landing pages are distinct from your homepage, or any other page on your website. They are designed for one purpose and one purpose only – to convert visitors into customers by capturing their information. A good landing page will target a particular audience and convince potential customers to share their personal details in exchange for a deal or special offer.

Why do you need a landing page?

Put simply, landing pages are a great way to improve SEO and drive traffic to your site. They guide customers towards a specific offer or product, and encourage them to take action. This gives you a fantastic opportunity to create conversions and grow your consumer base.

A few rules to consider when designing a high-converting landing page

 

  • Never send traffic from an advert to your homepage

The first rule of thumb is to keep your landing pages separate from the rest of your website. The whole purpose of a landing page is to make sure visitors can’t miss your promotional campaign. Home pages often bombard visitors with images, text and information, which will make it difficult for them to focus on your offer.

  • Keep your landing page clear and relevant

Online you only have a few seconds to convince someone that your business is relevant to their needs. This means you need to make those few seconds count. Entice your visitors by making your offer as big and bold as possible, and removing all surrounding clutter.

  • Keep your copy to the point

If you want to stop traffic on your site, you’ll need to design a killer headline. Keep it short, snappy and engaging, so viewers will be compelled to keep reading. The rest of your text should also follow this format. Match your concise and relevant copy with keywords that you used in you PPC ads, to reassure visitors that they’re on the right track.

  • Focus on the visitor experience

While it’s important to keep the overall look and feel of it similar to your main site, your landing page should be all about the visitor. Their first impression of your landing page really counts, so capture their interests and showcase how your brand can improve their life.

If you need any help developing a high converting landing page, or if you’re running a campaign but questioning the results, let us take a look! Our team at Cloud9 would be happy to evaluate your campaign to learn exactly how to refine your ads to gain maximum response – for less cost.

 

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So You Want To Build A Website? Part One.

Building a website can be an overwhelming task, especially if you don’t know the first thing about web design. Like many people, web design may be a mystery to you- you can appreciate the final product but how the heck did it get there? You aren’t alone in your perplexity. Although building a website is becoming easier today with pre-coded themes, templates and drag and drop sites; these conveniences in some instances actually make it harder to accomplish your online goals in the long run.

So where do you start? It is important to ask yourself the following questions which will help determine your goals and the best direction for your website project.

  • What will be the main purpose of my website? (Convert sales, make advertising revenue, brand awareness)
  • How will people/ customers find it? (Social media, Search Engines, Yellow Pages)
  • Do you have any online competition?

A business without a website is an anomaly these days. However a business with a well-built and properly optimized website is just as rare. That leaves a lot of middle of the road, poorly designed sites that are doing a heck of a lot of nothing out there in cyber space. A website is the first step to a presence on the internet, and an important anchor for the rest of your online efforts. For this reason, it is essential to build a website that will get you where you want to go- as quickly as possible.

Buy a Domain

This is the easiest step. You probably have some idea as to what you want your domain to be. It could be your business name www.mikesplumbing.com , a set of keywords describing your business, www.whistlermaintenanceplumbing.com or another combination of words that relate to your business, brand or product offering.

Once you have an idea of which domains you like, go ahead and register them on sites like www.godaddy.com or www.domain.com. You will need to select your extension (.ca, .com, etc.), and have a list of alternatives to avoid disappointed when your #1 choice is taken.

Domains are pretty cheap these days and you can expect to land one for $10 to $20 a year.

Host your Domain

Next you’ll need to arrange web hosting. This is essentially the server where you will park your domain. Besides providing a place for your website (and all of its contents) to reside, web hosts ensure the website is running smoothly, updated properly and that the bandwidth and data transfer are performing as they should. They will also provide customer support if you are experiencing technical difficulties. A poor web host will neglect your site which can result in it being offline or not operating effectively for periods of time, with no support when you need it.

You can expect to pay between $10 and $100 dollars a month for web-hosting depending on the nature of your site and the level of hosting you require.

The next step, Building Your Website, is the most costly and time consuming part of the process. With your website goals in mind, let’s move along.

Next: So You Want To Build A Website? Part Two.

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