The Ultimate 20-Point Landing Page Checklist
You probably already know that the landing page is the most important part of your website. After all, that page can determine whether a random visitor turns into a lead for your business or a stat in your bounce rate. Maybe you've even read a few landing page checklists already, trying to figure out what strategy to use.
If you're still unsure about how to design your landing page, you're not alone. Lots of marketers and business owners are.
The truth is, even with a ton of articles on landing pages out there, it's hard for business owners to find something that applies to them. The optimal conversion rate is going to be different for a Fortune 500 vs. a small business, for example.
Don't worry -- we've created a comprehensive landing page checklist that covers everything you need. If you follow the steps listed here, you'll create an effective page.
Read on for the ultimate, 20-point landing page checklist.
1. One Primary Call To Action
First things first -- you want to make it as obvious as possible what you'd like your visitors to do once they've found your site.
Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter, or are you more interested in guiding them towards the sale that you're running? This is your call to action. Whatever it is, it should be easy to identify and powerful.
Your call to action should be on a button with contrasting colors so that it stands out from the rest of the page.
2. Lead Capture Form
Once a visitor is on your website, you'll need a way to gather their contact information. This helps you maximize the chance that a visitor will convert into a customer -- or, with any luck, a repeat customer.
To do this, you should include a lead capture form on your landing page.
Be careful, though -- you don't want to ask too much! Having to type in too much information can be a turn-off for potential customers.
Instead, ask the minimum amount of information that you need for a viable lead. If you need to ask several questions, try using a multi-step form. Both asking less and using multi-step forms can improve your opt-ins.
3. Integration
The third item on our landing page checklist is closely linked to the lead capture form. An important best practice is to integrate the opt-in form on your landing page into a system you already have.
Are you using CRM software? Do you have an email newsletter already set up?
Integrate your landing page opt-in form into these systems. Then you can receive notifications when someone signs up, and it will be easier to manage the new leads that your landing page generates.
4. Headline
The copy is important to all areas of your website, but you should take special care in designing the copy for your headline and sub-headline. It could make the difference between a new customer and loss of potential revenue for your business.
Your headline should be punchy and to-the-point. Your goal is to grab the reader's attention and get them to read the sub-headline.
Think of it as a relay team. The headline is the first leg of your relay team passing the baton -- the visitor -- to your sub-headline.
Keep it short. For maximum impact, this should be no more than 10-20 words.
5. Sub-Headline
Your sub-headline can go into a little more depth, but it still shouldn't be too wordy. You're explaining more of what you promised in that eye-catching headline you wrote.
Be clear about what's so great about what you're offering. What will the visitor get out of doing business with you?
This is a great place to be persuasive. Tactics like appealing to the visitor's fear of missing out (FOMO) can be useful.
6. Value Proposition
How is your business different from others? How will the visitor benefit from working with you instead of someone else?
This is your value proposition, which should be included somewhere in your sub-headline if possible.
Ideally, your value proposition should be obvious in multiple places on your site. Including it in this section of your landing page is where you'll see it's most effective.
7. Bullet Points
People don't like reading large blocks of text, especially online. Our eyes jump from one line to another, made easier by lots of white space.
One way to make sure that people are reading -- and processing -- the information on your landing page is to write key information in bullet points. That way, people will know and remember your important points even if they're just scanning the page. It's also way more readable for mobile users.
Shoot for 3-5 bullet points with no more than three hundred words of copy.
8. Content
So far our landing page checklist has focused on different aspects of what you need to have on your page. But what about the actual content? What will be most effective to write?
The best practice is always to focus on the potential benefit to your customers. Let them know the ways that their life will be better after working with you. You want to tempt them into learning more or buying your services.
You can also approach your content by analyzing pain points. What might a potential customer already be unhappy with? What has failed them in the past that your product or service promises to fix?
9. Trust Icons
If you've followed the steps on our landing page checklist well, by this point our hypothetical visitor should start to be convinced. They'll begin looking for a reason to trust you -- or not to trust you.
This is why it's important to have very visible trust icons on your landing page. These can be awards, certifications, or anything that shows that you've been recognized by the industry at large. If you're part of any professional organizations, include that information, too.
Having this information available at a glance will help build trust in your brand.
10. Hero Image
Still with us? We're about halfway done with our ultimate landing page checklist.
Most of what we've discussed so far has been text, but you can never forget the power of an image. Your page, of course, shouldn't be too text-heavy, but there's also a strategy for what type of picture you should use on your landing page.
You should use images like someone using your product, the product itself, or what it would look like after someone has used your product or service. Help your visitor envision what their life would look like after working with you.
Images that drive emotion work the best here.
Humans are social animals. We're a lot more likely to trust something we're unfamiliar with if we see that lots of other people have enjoyed it.
Similar to the trust icons we talked about earlier, you should also try to include proof that other people have been satisfied with what your business offers. Testimonials and reviews are great tools for this.
If you already have testimonials posted on your website, try to have at least one displayed on your landing page, with a link leading to more if people are interested in learning more.
12. Design
So far in our ultimate landing page checklist, we've covered the all-important call-to-action, your headline, and key pieces of content that you should include on this page of your website. But what should it look like?
The answer to this is subjective -- ultimately, your landing page design should be consistent with the brand you've already built. There's no need to suddenly use a wildly different color scheme or break out of your style guide.
No matter what, though, the design should be clean and organized. Don't confuse your visitor to the point where they leave your website without becoming a new lead.
13. Business Contact Information
This might seem like a no-brainer to have on here, but you'd be surprised how many businesses skip this step. If you have a Contact page, you don't need to have the contact information available on your landing page, right?
Nope. It doesn't have to be in the center of the screen -- it can be in a header or footer -- but you absolutely need to have business contact information available on your landing page.
You should include the business, a contact person's name, the street address, email address, and phone number. If you want to and it fits your business, you can also set up a virtual chat.
14. Phone Number
Yep, a phone number is on our landing page checklist twice. That's how important it is.
You might have heard that young people don't like making phone calls, but that shouldn't stop you from including a phone number on your page. You never know if a visitor might only turn into a potential customer if they're able to speak to a real human.
Your phone number should be in the right-hand header of your landing page. Bonus points if you make it a link for smartphone users.
15. Privacy Policy Link
No matter what your business is, most advertising platforms will require you to have a privacy policy and/or terms of service available on your website. That way if people are looking to see how their information will be used, it's easy to find.
You obviously don't need to write out your whole privacy policy on your landing page, and you shouldn't. Just a link to the privacy policy works fine.
16. Google Analytics
This section of our landing page checklist won't discuss what a potential visitor will see. Instead, we'll cover what you should have running behind the scenes to make your website as effective as possible.
One of the most important tools you can use is Google Analytics. It lets you measure the return on investment you're getting from your website, as well as track visitor data. Having this information will help you improve over the years.
Make sure that if you're using a subdomain, you add a domain name exclusion and a separate view for each of your properties. It will help with assessment later.
17. Conversion Tracking
If you have Google AdWords set up, conversion tracking helps you see what happens after a visitor interacts with your ads. It's completely free to use, so you shouldn't pass up on the opportunity to learn this information!
Conversion tracking is an absolutely essential part of any landing page checklist to make sure you're measuring performance. Make sure that you set up and test your AdWords conversions before you publish your page just to see that everything works.
18. Heat Map Tracking
Have you ever wanted to know what happens once people navigate to your landing page? Where do they go first? What are they drawn to?
Heat map tracking can answer those questions for you. It helps you visually identify how visitors are behaving on your page so that you can make improvements later. For example, if you notice that people often click your about page but ignore your services, you might want to improve your marketing copy.
Heat map tracking also generates some easy to read images to show to other people in your business.
19. Remarketing Pixels
Like other items on our landing page checklist, remarketing pixels are completely invisible to the visitor -- but invaluable to business owners.
Remarketing pixels are usually placed in a website's footer since it's the same on all pages. It's really a tiny piece of code that tracks visitor information. Anytime someone visits your landing page, a remarketing pixel will add their cookie information to your 'landing page' list, for example.
You can use this to market to people later even if they don't input their contact information. Tools like Facebook Pixel and Google Remarketing are best for this.
20. Steps
The last tip on our landing page checklist goes back to content you can deliver to your site visitors.
People always want to know what happens next, so help them out by having that information readily available. Include information about what happens when customers contact you and what the next steps will be.
Being open and transparent can also help build trust in your business.
Use Our Landing Page Checklist As A Tool For Success
If you follow the steps in our ultimate landing page checklist, you're on your way to a more effective landing page. But how do you make sure that the rest of your website is optimized, too?
We can help you with that.
Let us create a tailored plan for you based on your marketing budget, your field, and much more. We'll even kick off the experience with a free thirty-minute strategy call.
