Landing Page Copywriting

You’ve got a website, so why do you need to bother with landing pages? What a faff, right? 

Well, yes, it is a faff, if you don’t know what you’re doing. But it’s also essential if you want to turn heaps more prospects into paying customers. 

This is the single-minded purpose of a landing page. It takes a prospect on a journey of discovery, giving them everything they want and need to convert and doing it without distraction. It’s easier said than done. 

Thankfully, landing page copywriting services are a thing. And it’s a thing we do day in, day out as part of our copywriting services. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

What are the cold, hard facts backing up the need for landing pages? And what does it take to make landing pages that crush it with conversions?

Let’s dive into those answers right now. 

Why you need a landing page

Because of one giant benefit that bears repeating. Conversions, conversions, conversions. 

The average landing page conversion rate across industries is 12.4%. 

That’s right, more than one in 10 people who visit a landing page convert. This could mean giving over their email address in exchange for a free eBook, signing up for a free trial or making a purchase. 

If you’re in legal or finance, the average landing page conversion rate is even higher at around 15%. As for the lucky devils in the catering and restaurant industry, they enjoy an average conversion rate of over 18%. 

Now think about how many new leads or customers you get in a month and then think about how many you wish you had. Can you really afford to turn away that extra “one in 10”? 

This is exactly what’s happening if you don’t have carefully crafted landing pages. You are losing a significant number of customers. And that’s why investing in the services of a landing page copywriter is a no-brainer when it comes to your return on investment. 

So how does it all work?

Your guide to landing page copywriting

Before we dive into the essentials of landing page writing, it’s time to manage expectations. 

Getting a perfect landing page the first time around, that is, a landing page that converts every single person humanly possible is uncommon. 

A landing page copywriter can craft you a pretty cracking first draft, something you can put out there which will convert. But that’s all it is, a first draft. As with most things in the digital world, you can’t just leave it there and hope for the best. You need to optimise. And this takes time, sometimes weeks, sometimes months. 

Don’t have the time? 

Not a problem. This is precisely why landing page optimisation services are a thing too.

So, expectations managed? Check. Now let’s get onto what your landing page needs to do and how.

What do landing pages need to achieve?

You’ve likely landed on a fair few landing pages yourself. They’re pretty succinct, right? Not that much to them, so surely they couldn’t be that taxing to put together. Unfortunately, no.

With no words to spare, every word counts. Your landing page needs to: 

• Empathise with the reader and show that you really understand their pain points
• Convince the reader that you can be trusted
• Convince the reader that you know what you’re talking about
• Convince the reader that you can provide the solution to their problem, so they really should click now or fill out that form.

It’s a lot.  

To tick all of these boxes in just several hundred words, you need to consider five things before you get started with landing page writing. Let’s be clear, these aren’t optional. You need to carefully consider each and every one of them (no skipping). 

If you’re already feeling overwhelmed by what goes into landing page copywriting, get a landing page copywriter to handle all of this for you. 

Five essential factors for writing landing pages 

1) Language

You may be surprised to see this listed at all. Surely, simple language is the only way to go. It’s uncomplicated, straight to the point and ensures every reader will understand what you’re saying. 

For the large part, this is the way to go. But there are exceptions. Is your business one of them? A landing page copywriting service will have the data and experience to know for sure. 

For example, when it comes to mobile apps or SaaS, simple works like a charm. But for cybersecurity, not so much. Here, simpler language may get in the way of expressing the technical prowess of what you’re offering. 

The nuances of landing page language go beyond readability. It’s also about tone. 

In practically every industry, pain matters, that is, the pain your customers are feeling. You need to labour those pain points to showcase your empathy and drive home the value of your solution. 

But in legal services, healthcare and e-commerce, landing pages that are filled with pain, sadness or fear actually decrease conversions. Here, taking a more benefit-driven approach from the word go is more effective. 

You need to strike the right balance in tone for your industry. What seems to work for everyone else may actually trip you up. This is where a specialist copywriting service is especially useful – they will know your industry and understand the tone that works best with your target audience. 

2) Traffic

There is no one landing page to rule them all. Your quest is to match your landing page to your channel. It’s yet another layer of complexity in landing page copywriting. 

Are you creating your landing page for your Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ad audience or your organic traffic audience (the folks who click on search results that pop up below the ads on a Google search)? Or perhaps you’re targeting followers of your social media platforms.

Why does this matter? Let’s consider a simple example, trainers. 

Someone flicking through Instagram may be more focused on the aesthetics and style credentials of the trainers you’re selling, while someone Googling “best running trainers” may be more interested in their performance and design. Your landing pages should be tailored accordingly. 

3) Call to Action (CTA)

Landing pages are all about encouraging a reader to take action – usually a clickthrough or a form to fill out. Which works better? 

If we’re talking exclusively about landing page conversions i.e. the number of people who arrive on your landing page and do the thing you want them to, it’s clickthroughs. After all, it’s just a click. Forms take effort, and fewer people are up for that. 

But on the flip side, forms can help filter your prospects down to the ones who are most interested and therefore most likely to keep on moving down your marketing funnel and make a purchase. 

If you need to use a form, consider how many fields (boxes that a person fills in) to use. As a general rule of thumb, the more fields, the fewer conversions. So keep it simple. Only ask for the information you really need right now. 

Whether you’re hoping for a click or a form-fill, you need to perfect your CTA. 

Your CTA should be manageable, which means you shouldn’t ask too much of your reader, but it should also be exciting. It’s the difference between ‘Sign up to our newsletter’ (boring) and ‘Get FREE <insert interesting thing you’ll share in your newsletter> tips’ (enticing). 

It should also perfectly follow on from the rest of your landing copy and make intuitive sense as the next step. If it’s too far removed from what you’ve just been chatting about, it won’t be the next step a prospect takes but a misstep that will turn them off.

Arguably, most important of all, have just one CTA.

As the final hurdle standing between a prospect converting or not, your CTA is definitely something you should be A/B testing. A landing page optimisation service will certainly have this at the top of their to-do list.

4) Testimonials

If you’ve got ‘em, flaunt ‘em. 

Around 88% of consumers consider reviews or testimonials when weighing up a local business. Most of them (83%) want these reviews to be recent and relevant. 

Place a few positive, recent and relevant reviews front-and-centre on your landing page, and you can quickly build trust. Don’t shove them down at the bottom of your landing page. Testimonials are powerful persuaders so place them in the prime real estate above the fold. 

5) SEO

You can’t get away from this bad boy in digital marketing. SEO will help your landing page rank in Google’s organic search results and will help lower the cost of your PPC keywords for your Google ads campaigns – the closer your landing page copy matches your ad copy, the better Google rates your ad.

Make sure you stick to the basics of good SEO copywriting. 

Include your keywords in your headers and subheadings, which should, of course, use the appropriate HTML tags (H1, H2 etc). The same goes for the alt tags for your images and your meta description (the snippet of text for your landing page that is displayed on a Google search results page). 

And don’t forget your landing page URL. Make sure it includes your primary keyword and if appropriate, give it some structure with a category before your primary keyword. Google bots like this. 

For example: ‘…/copywriting/free-landing-page-guide’.

Getting started with landing page writing

With language, traffic, CTAs, testimonials and SEO considered, it’s time to pull your landing page together. 

The first thing readers will see and therefore, arguably, the most important part of your landing page is your headline. It should: 

• Match the message in the ad your reader clicked to reach your landing page – if it doesn’t, they may think they’re in the wrong place and leave
• Be clear, not clever – your headline is no place for witty repartee; it needs to clearly tell your reader what to expect from your landing page
• Agitate a pain point, solve a problem, promote a benefit or all three if you can manage it

Your subheading can then include a smattering of extra helpful information that reinforces your headline. 

The main body of your landing page needs to do more of what your headline and subheading do but with greater detail that really pushes the benefits of your product or service. You also need to build trust and show authority, which is where your testimonials come in.

Finally, there is your CTA. Although truth be told, your CTA shouldn’t just appear at the end of your landing page. 

Depending on the length of your landing page, you can strategically place your CTA in up to three different places: 

• Up top immediately after you’ve tackled your reader’s main pain point – for some eager beavers this may be enough to convert
• After your testimonials – social proof is an incredibly powerful way to sway your readers, which is why a well-placed CTA here can tip them over into conversion
• At the end – your readers have, hopefully, enjoyed your complete landing page experience and are now convinced, so its time to convert

Ready to land those conversions?

Are you ready to create some conversion-crushing landing pages for your different target audiences and channels? Ready to hone your landing page language, perfect your CTA and supercharge your landing page SEO? Or has just reading these questions left you feeling daunted and time-poor? 

If it’s the latter, we’ve got you covered with our landing page copywriting services. Just get in touch today.