Every business needs a landing page.
It can make the difference between your company enjoying explosive growth or ending up in the digital dustbin. Landing page marketing is, therefore, an important and integral part of every business's online strategy.
The goal of a landing page is to convince visitors to take action, usually either to purchase something or to subscribe to your email list.
However, many landing pages fall short of their expected outcome due to poor copywriting.
Well, that's not really surprising.
Writing landing page copy always seems easier said than done, especially if you're not a landing page copywriting expert. There's so much to consider that it can leave you wondering, “What should I actually write?” and “How do I make it sound compelling?”
And if it does, then stress no more because I've come to your rescue! In this article, I'll share my practical tips on how to write landing page copy that converts.
The Anatomy of a High Converting Landing Page
Landing pages are the most popular tool for converting visitors into leads. If you're not using one, you're missing out on a huge opportunity to increase your sales.
But the question remains: what should a high-converting landing page look like?
Here are 7 elements a landing page needs to have to effectively convert your visitors into customers.
Headlines
Your headlines are the most important part of your landing page. Why? Because they grab your visitor's attention!
Make sure that each one of the headlines on your landing page clearly conveys your UVP (unique value proposition) - aka the benefits of your offer, and your USP (unique selling proposition) - aka what makes you different from your competitors.
Copy
When writing copy for your landing page, you need to make sure that it speaks your prospect's language and effectively conveys what you do, who you help, and how they can benefit from your product, service, or freebie.
There's an art and science to copywriting - and learning how to write copy that sells can really help you boost your conversion rates.
Features & Benefits
One of the most important sections of your landing page is the features and benefits section. Here, your product or service takes the center of the stage - and you can share all the amazing things about it!
Use emotionally-charged copy that addresses your prospect's inner thoughts and desires to show them how your product or service can help them get rid of their pain points and achieve their goals.
Social Proof
Don't just tell people how amazing your product or service is - show them!
Social proof is a great tool to build trust with your audience. We tend to trust brands more if we see that they've already helped other people struggling with the same thing.
So, include any social proof you can find on your landing page. It can be your customer testimonials, a counter with the number of followers you have on your social media platforms, or the number of times your product was sold.
If it shows that your product or service has helped people before, it should be displayed on your landing page.
Visuals
Did you know that landing pages with a video convert up to 86% better than landing pages without one? Yes, video marketing is everything these days.
So, if you want to improve your conversion rates, put a video on your landing page. It can be a simple video of you talking about your product or service or something more elaborate.
And if, for some reason, you don't want to do a video, then include some kind of a visual. It can be a photo of you, your product, or your team. Just don't skip the visual!
Opt-In Form
If the goal of your landing page is to get your visitors to subscribe to your email list, then you obviously need an opt-in form.
There's not much to say here. You can use any simple, branded opt-in form that does the job of gathering people's email addresses.
Call to Action
The call to action is probably the most important element of your landing page. It's where you ask people to take a specific action, whether it's signing up for your newsletter, downloading a brochure, or making a purchase.
The best calls to action are short, direct, and commanding. In other words, they should make it super clear what the visitor should do next.
Here are some examples of effective CTA button copy:
Sign up
Download here
Get it now
Try now
What Not to Include on a High Converting Landing Page
Although it may be surprising, high-converting landing pages should have no menu, no social media links, and no external or internal links.
Why? Because the goal of a landing page is to convert its visitors into customers or subscribers.
So, we should remove anything that can possibly distract our landing page visitors from doing what we want them to do: click on the CTA button!
That's why most landing pages you land on don't even have the menu - let alone hyperlinks that take the readers away from the page.
💡 Pro Tip: If it doesn't help you achieve your conversion goal nor adds value for your customers, it has to go!
7 Tips for Writing High-Converting Landing Pages
Landing pages are like mini websites with a single focus: to convert visitors into customers or email list subscribers.
But how can you make sure that your landing page actually does its job and converts? Yes, you guessed it: by optimizing your landing page copy.
The copy on your landing page is THE MOST important thing because it's what will convince people to click on the CTA button. If your copy isn't compelling, your visitors won't even bother reading your page - and they'll click away without batting an eye.
So, here are some practical, copywriter-approved tips to help you write great landing page copy - and make sure your visitors don't leave without clicking on that call to action.
Tip #1: Follow the Rule of One
While this sounds cryptic, it's actually a pretty simple rule: don't try to cover too much ground in one landing page.
See, here's the thing: a landing page is a single page that has been created for a specific offer with a specific goal in mind. So, it should ONLY focus on:
One Offer
If you try to put multiple offers on the same landing page, you'll dilute your efforts and confuse your visitors.
In fact, according to statistics, having multiple offers on your landing page can decrease conversion rates by up to a whopping 266%!
💡 Pro Tip: Remember - one landing page, one offer!
One Promise
Similarly, your landing page should focus on promising only one thing.
This may be counterintuitive because your offer may have several benefits. Plus, your potential customers also have various problems they're looking to solve.
However, it's much more effective to promise ONE thing and deliver on that one thing than to promise multiple things and get your visitor overwhelmed and unsure if you can deliver.
One Customer Avatar
Your landing page copy should only speak to ONE person.
Even if you're targeting multiple groups of people, the goal of a landing page is to promote one offer to one specific customer avatar.
One of the golden rules of copywriting is that when you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one (because no one can resonate with what you're saying).
So, if you want your landing page copy to convert, make sure you speak to ONE single person.
One Goal
Your landing page should focus on ONE goal. And have ONE call to action placed in several strategic places on your landing page.
A call to action is an invitation for people to take a specific action. For example, sign up for an email list or buy something.
If you place many different calls to action on your landing page, you'll only confuse your visitors. They won't know what to do next and will likely abandon the page without doing anything at all.
Tip #2: Use copywriting formulas
Proven copywriting formulas are one of the best tools to help you write copy that converts.
Because here's the thing: your copy should guide the reader through a thought process that takes them from where they are now (looking for a solution) to where you want them to be (purchasing the solution).
And copywriting formulas are designed to do just that.
This is a topic for another blog post, so I won't get into details. But here are a few copywriting formulas you might want to explore before sitting down to write your copy:
AIDA = Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
PAS = Problem, Agitate, Solution
BAB = Before, After, Bridge
Tip #3: Focus on the benefits, not on the features
The most common mistake I see many business owners making with their website or landing page copy is focusing on the features of their product or service rather than the benefits.
This is one of the biggest conversion killers.
Let me explain.
Let's assume you're selling cars. You might think that what your potential customers want is high horsepower, a good navigation system, and a powerful sound system.
But here’s the thing: that's not what they care about. They care about what these things can do for them - and how these things make them feel.
If you write landing page copy that focuses on how great your product or service is, instead of how it will make someone’s life easier, better, or more fun, then there is nothing for the reader to connect with - and, therefore, there's no reason for them to buy from you.
Tip #4: Address objections in your copy
There are objections to almost every sale. And your landing page copy should address any potential objections your visitors might have about purchasing from you.
Make sure to think about all the things that may stop your customer from buying your product or service on the spot or subscribing to your email list:
Do they think it's too expensive or that it'll take them too much time to implement?
Is the checkout process easy, quick, and straightforward?
Are you asking them to take too many steps to get their free ebook?
It's your job to analyze potential objections and address them in your landing page copy and structure.
Tip #5: Use words that create an emotional reaction
People don't buy based on logic.
People buy based on emotions and then justify their buying decisions with logic.
So, if you want your copy to convert, it must appeal to your potential customer's emotions. To do that, use powerful words and phrases that evoke specific emotions, such as fear, shame, or frustration.
And yes, negative emotions always work better because we're psychologically wired to do everything we can to avoid pain.
Here are some examples of how that may look on your landing page copy:
Fear: "Are you afraid to miss out on all the fun?"
Anger: "Are you annoyed at yourself for never sticking to your diet?"
Shame: "Embarrassed by the way you look naked? This can end today!"
Yes, these may sound harsh and won't work for any brand. But they do evoke a strong emotional reaction, don't they?
Tip #6: Write powerful headlines
Headlines grab your reader's attention. Unless your headline can compel someone to keep reading, they won't.
In fact, some landing page statistics say that 80% of your landing page visitors will read the headline for only 20% will read the rest. That's why it's so important to write powerful headlines that get people to read your copy.
Writing headlines that convert is a science in itself, and there are many things you can do to make your headlines as catchy and emotion-provoking as possible.
If you need some help writing your headlines, you can use AI tools, such as Headline Studio by CoSchedule, to help you improve your landing page headline with power words.
Tip #7: Use simple, everyday language
How many times have you landed on a website written in a complex, corporate language full of industry jargon?
This is another huge conversion killer.
Your landing page copy should sound like it was written by a real person who cares about their customers — not just another sales pitch trying to sell them something.
You want people to understand exactly what your offer is and why they should care about it without having to read through lots of complicated sentences and jargon.
If you use simple, everyday words and sentences, people will understand what you mean more easily. Yes, it'll make you sound less "business-y", but it'll make your customers more likely to stay on your landing page and actually read it.
💡 Pro Tip: A good method to make sure everything sounds natural and flows well is to read your landing page copy out loud before you hit publish.
Bonus Tip: Turn to AI for help
Unless you're a professional copywriter or have copywriting experience, writing your own landing page copy can be challenging for you.
Although I don't recommend using AI writing tools to replace your entire writing, they're a great tool to help you get unstuck.
You can use tools such as Copy AI to help you come up with a better way to say things or Grammarly to check your writing for grammar and spelling mistakes.
✍🏻 Here's a list of useful content writing tools to help you write better copy and content: 7 Must-Have Content Writing Tools to Ignite Your Writing.
Time to Slay Your Landing Page Copy... or Hire a Copywriter
Landing page copywriting isn't easy. But with these tips, you'll be able to write landing pages with better conversion rates. Well, at least a little bit.
And if you're still struggling and not getting enough conversions from your landing pages, then it may be a sign that you need to look into hiring a professional copywriter.
And yes, you guessed it - I can help! Check out how you can work with me, and let's chat whenever you're ready.
*This blog post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through my link, I get a commission from the sale at no additional cost to you. You're just helping me keep the blog alive!
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