Have you ever wondered how to write an effective landing page? Or perhaps how you can make your landing pages even more effective? I know, I have too. I did some research and found some tips that were very helpful for me, and hopefully this post will help you too.

A great landing page can make the difference between a campaign that converts and a campaign that doesn’t, so it is important to get them right. Thus the three tips that I’ve learned for writing an effective landing page are as follows: you will want to make sure that your landing page is ad specific, that it uses conversion coupling, and that it has a good attention ratio. Let’s look deeper into what each of these means and how to apply them into your landing pages.

Tip #1) Ad Specific

According to this great article on Quicksprout called the Complete Guide to Landing Pages, “The problem with most landing pages is that they’re created around broad categories instead of being more focused”.

When people type a query on a search engine, they are seeking an answer to a question or a solution to a problem they are facing. “People intuitively know when they search the web, the site that most closely matches their search is likely the winner”. That’s why when you are paying for search ads, the goal is to match your ad text as closely to your targeted keyword as possible – to make it more relevant to people’s searches. This same principle also applies to landing pages. The more specific you can make your landing page to your traffic’s interests and problems, the more effective your landing page will become because you are giving them more value and showing them that they made the right choice by clicking on your ad.

This leads to the second tip.

Tip #2) Conversion Coupling

What is conversion coupling? According to another great article by Moz.com called The Most Entertaining Guide to Landing Page Optimization You’ll Ever Read, “conversion coupling is the bond that exists between the source of a click and the ensuing landing experience.” It further breaks conversion coupling down into two main elements: message match and design match (for display ads).

This makes sense, because if someone clicked on your ad, then you know that they are already intrigued by what you can offer. So this gives you a great foundation to work from for designing your landing page. You don’t have to promise the world, you just have to make sure that the message on your landing page matches the message in your ad and expand upon that message. Doing this reinforces their decision for clicking on your ad and gives them a sense that they made a “good click”.

And speaking of clicks, this leads into the third tip.

Tip #3) Attention Ratio

What is attention ratio? According to this article on Unbounce.com about Conversion-Centered Design, “attention ratio is the ratio of the number of things you can do on a given page to the number of things you should do on the page.” A good landing page should have an Attention Ratio of 1:1.

In terms of landing pages for marketing campaigns, they should be designed around one specific client goal like generating leads. That said, the number of things people “should do” on that page is one because there is one goal. So in order to give your landing page a good attention ratio you need to match the ratio of your one goal to the number of things people “can do” on your landing page. Meaning, you should only allow them to do one thing on the landing page.

How you can do this is by removing all clickable links that will take people off of your landing page and onto a different page of the website. Extra links add more distractions for users to possibly get side tracked and thus lead to less conversions. However, if you only include one clickable button or link that aligns with your goal (i.e. a button to Schedule a Free Tour, on a landing page for 2 Bedroom Apartments), then you will help keep people focused on taking the actions you want them to take and this will lead to much better conversions on your page. The Unbounce article linked above also gives a lot of great case study examples, that A/B tested different landing pages that have a 1:1 Attention Ratio against landing pages that don’t, and the results are impressive.

Conclusion

To recap, the three tips for how to write an effective landing page are: to make sure that your landing page is ad specific, to make sure that it uses conversion coupling, and to make sure that it has a good attention ratio. And if you apply these three tips to your landing pages, I’m sure you will also start seeing much better results.

But let me know in the comments below: were these tips helpful for you? And which tip was your favorite?