5 Ways to Improve Your Landing Pages for Better Conversions

As a content marketer, you put a lot of effort into getting your target audience to visit your website and opt in for your white papers, videos and reports. However, if your landing pages don’t entice people to request your content, a lot of your hard work will be lost.
That’s why I wanted to provide advice on how to improve your landing pages. For this article, I’m focusing on tips that will get people to download your free content, as the techniques for selling premium content can be different.
Here are 5 ways to increase your landing pages’ conversion rates:

• Keep your most important content above the fold. You want to make it as easy as possible for your website visitors to say “yes” to your offer. Place your opt-in box above the fold — the point on your web page where visitors would have to scroll to see more information. Your conversion rates will increase if visitors don’t have to scroll to complete your form.

• Limit your visitors’ options. Your landing page will perform better if your visitors’ only option is to complete your form. That means that you should remove any outside links or navigation from your landing page.

• Show the benefits. You need to entice visitors to opt in for your content. Just stating the title of your video or white paper is not enough to do this. Add some copy that explains the benefits of requesting your material. For example, I like to include short bullet points that highlight what visitors will learn when they check out the content. 

• Create a sense of urgency. Try to give your readers a compelling reason why they must request your content now. For example, you can offer a report or video series for a limited time. You can also stress that limited spots are available for an upcoming free webinar.

• Appeal to skimmers. Most people won’t read your web content word-for-word, so you want to ensure your landing page is structured for skimmers. Make use of headers, sub-headers, bold text, bullets, and white space. You should also consider red graphics, such as arrows or buttons, to draw a reader’s eye towards your call to action.

Also, be sure to test your landing pages to determine which copy and graphics give you the best results.
For instance:

• Try running an A/B split test where you create two versions of your landing page and split your traffic between both pages.
• Experiment with different headlines, calls to action and other elements until you learn which page brings you the highest conversion rate.

What about you? What techniques do you use to make your landing pages more effective? Feel free to share your thoughts below.
(soruce mashable)