The Art and Science Behind Landing Pages That Convert
Explore the steps suggested by a content marketing agency that is essential to building an aesthetically pleasing landing page full of conversions. If you were running a brick and mortar business, you wouldn’t put extremely uncomfortable chairs in the lobby, or decorate in a manner that recalls the local DMV. Customers would quickly tire of their surroundings and depart. Yet many businesses are, in effect, doing the very same thing with their websites and landing pages — making the services of a smart content marketing agency all the more important. The art of great landing page design Websites and landing pages are the public face of a business and reflect both the competencies and priorities of that enterprise. If your web pages are riddled with spelling or grammar issues, for example, it sends a terrible signal to prospective customers. If the site is cumbersome to use and not intuitive, customers will give up in frustration and fail to convert. Or, even worse, depart for a competitor’s page. So why use a content marketing agency? And what makes an appealing landing page? For the most part, it can be distilled to a few simple steps: 1. Simplicity and clean design Aesthetics are a key consideration when creating a landing page. A cluttered presentation is not only displeasing to the eye, but it also reduces functionality. Worse, it simply looks unprofessional. Good landing page design is clean, sleek, and simple. A landing page should always be designed around one key objective: A conversion. 2. Consistency in branding All landing pages should display good continuity with the website as a whole. Logos and other branded elements should remain consistent as should brand voice. 3. Effortless navigation Businesses can’t afford to lose customers because of poor design or UX. A great landing page needs to close the deal. Landing page navigation should be intuitive and effortless, but also limited. You want the visitor to remain focused on converting, and too many navigational options may send them off in another direction, never to return. 4. A clear and compelling CTA A great landing page has a succinct and persuasive pitch. Your call to action should also be prominently placed. Use appropriate color, design, and text elements to make your CTA stand out. 5. Refined, concise sales copy A good landing page doesn’t waste a single word. All copy should be calibrated to convert. Be direct, be compelling and explain the value proposition as simply as possible. Other key tips In addition to mastering design, tone, and voice, businesses should ensure that landing page functionality is a priority. Forms for collecting leads and social sharing options should be simple to use and work flawlessly. Because businesses are asking visitors to take an extra step when they fill out boxes or click to share, these processes need to be as frictionless as possible. Testing is another key part of an effective landing page design. Running some simple A/B tests can help you determine which design elements are the most engaging, and help you make the choices that lead to maximizing conversions. While there are many options for template-based do-it-yourself options for landing page design, businesses seeking to build the most professional and engaging pages possible should consider partnering with a content marketing agency that specializes in design and website development. The takeaway At BIGEYE, we believe that great landing pages are the result of stellar design, creative copy, and rigorous testing. If you’d like to maximize your conversions, please don’t hesitate to reach out today to learn what a great landing page can do for your business.
Why Great Website Design is Crucial to Your Business’ Success
Meet Johnny. Johnny is a typical guy, and like most typical guys, he loves Chinese food. Johnny goes on Google to find a new place to order his favorite dish, Kung Pao chicken, and finds two Chinese restaurants with similar menus and prices. He clicks on the website for the first, and finds pixelated photos scanned in from the 1990s, alongside a nonfunctional design and numerous typos. He then clicks on the website for the second, and finds an easy to view menu, delectable photos of food that make his mouth water, and even an automated ordering feature. Which one do you think Johnny’s going to choose? If Johnny doesn’t choose the second, then it’s because he’s nuts, and you probably shouldn’t take Johnny’s advice for anything, ever. Most people would choose the second, because a well-designed website speaks to a business’s credibility, attention to detail and emphasis on creating a superior customer experience. Website one offers none of that, and while the restaurant may still stay in business, it’s losing substantial potential income and new customers based on its owner’s refusal to put a few dollars into a rebranding and redesign of its website. The team at our Orlando advertising agency can attest to the fact that companies that invest in engaging and interactive websites see a high return on investment relative to their competitors. A website says a lot about a company. It’s an online residence, so to say, where you house everything you believe in about your company. And, like any residence, you can choose to live in a run-down shack, or you can choose to live in an ultra-modern smart home with sleek design and all the fixings. Of course, one might cost you a bit more–but the team at our Florida marketing agency promises you that more people are going to want to visit you at your state-of-the art residence than in a virtual shantytown. [quote]BIGEYE redesigned Arsenal Venture Partners’ website to serve as an informative and interactive platform for consumers. Check out how their business benefited from the new website design![/quote] This analogy goes far in explaining why functional website design is essential for the success of your business. It’s your online identity, and for many people who find your business through search engines, it’s their first introduction to your business. And you only have one chance to make a first impression. If that’s not enough reason to reconsider your website design, then also think about the role that SEO plays. Search engines send “spiders” out into the Internet to track down new websites. These spiders electronically pick up on keywords and phrases to help direct people to sites like yours when they key in words such as Johnny’s search terms: “Best Chinese food Orlando.” Optimizing your website to focus on these words is a good first step, but the spiders also rely on algorithms that look at headings, page location, abuse of keywords and lots of other things in order to make sure that your site is a valid match. The algorithms are constantly in flux, but the best-designed sites hone in on the key drivers to help search engines find their sites. Does your online residence need some remodeling? Then let our Orlando advertising agency help you build and rebrand your website to help you drive people through SEO and ensure higher click-through rates once they find you. Contact our team of website design experts today!
BIGEYE’s highlights from the 2012 Design Conference
On June 8th and 9th, I attended the Front End Design Conference in St. Petersberg, Florida. It was a two-day event for web designers and programmers covering the front-end side of web development and design. The first day featured a line-up of seven speakers, who discussed various topics including the future of shapes, fonts, and colors, to more technical topics like CSS preprocessors and CSS/JS tricks and techniques. My favorite had to be Dave Rupert’s hilarious “Getting’ Flexy with Uncle Dave” talk. One of the great things about this conference is the community. The conference is a small one, which makes it much more personal and intimate. It also gives you many chances to talk to the speakers and the community in general. It was great to be able to meet so many new people as there are a lot of passionate and smart people in the community. Not all of it was serious though. The Github After Party was a lot of fun and I got my first taste of chocolate covered bacon (which I later successfully recreated). This was my first conference I’ve attended, and I had a blast! Written by Michael Hurwitz, BIGEYE Web Developer Curious about other conferences we have attended? Find out here!
The best response for your web design money can buy
Responsive web design – a term related to the concept of creating a website in a way that helps the design respond to different devices that access it, changing with the users screen resolution. Put simply – the layout of a website changes according to the size of the screen it’s being viewed on. Think fluid, content being automatically adjusted. So, rather than designing multiple sites for different-sized devices, the design is desktop-compatible but is also optimized for Smartphones and tablets. The reason for using this web design technique is to make sure that it works with the different screen resolutions while still looking crisp and clear – It designs one site but specifies how it should appear on varied devices. The importance of this technique is emerging fast – The future of the Internet will rely, primarily, on mobile devices (tablets, Smartphones, portable consoles) rather than basic desktops and laptops. The Basics: There are three essential elements involved in this method – flexible grid, HTML structure and media queries. The main element, flexible grid, is supposed to get you to stop thinking in “fixed” pixels. Now, screen resolutions need to have a liquid layout for the best solution, compared to the old fixed width style. Having a liquid layout means that the elements of the page are resized and somewhat rearrange. What flexible grid does for this is make the elements of the site proportioned in relation to one another when either stretched or contracted. Next is the HTML structure, which is basically how you’re design is set up and if it’s done in a logical manner. Last is the trick for responsive design – media queries. This element supports all the same media but has many new media feature including max-width, device-width, orientation and color. You also specify media type – screen, for example. There are three aspects to consider using this method of web design. Regardless of the screen size, you need to always make sure that the key information remains visible. The text must be easy to read whether you have one column or three. Other than the resize, the site must have thoughtful organization and is easy to navigate. Is this the best option for you? Three things to consider when deciding: context, content and your current situation. If your website is responsive, it will display the same content to both small and large screens, the only thing that will change is the formatting. So, consider what your goal is for mobile users and whether or not to show different content to them. A big consideration when developing mobile websites is speed. Mobile users are often using slow or weak Internet signals compared to desktops, and are a little slower in general. So, it’s necessary to avoid using any unnecessary content and stick to including just the key content. The last thing to consider is your current situation. For example, ask yourself how satisfied you are with your current website, how’s your budget and how valuable your mobile visitors are. Re-designing an existing website will be much more expensive than creating one from scratch. So now it’s time to ask yourself: “To go responsive, or not?” Our web design is pretty stinkin’ impressive. Head over to our Website & App Development page to see what else we offer.