MH1 Web Design Blog

by Mike Hallaron, MH1 Web Design

Businesses build Web sites to sell products and services, generate new leads, offer customer support and several other marketing-related functions; all fine, necessary pursuits. But how you achieve these specific goals is determined by your site’s ability to make a visitor respond to your call to action. Many Web sites we see are nothing more than vague, online brochures with poorly written content and few calls to action.

The call to action is the heart of a business site. It is what gets your prospect to buy your product, register for your newsletter, fill out your customer service form. These ‘conversions’ are the action we desire and they are the best way to measure ROI on your Web site.

Call to action: text and graphics targeted to your prospect to lead them into taking a specific action. Buy a product, fill out a form, click a link, request your newsletter or RSS feed, etc.. The call must be direct, attention grabbing and compelling.

Landing Page: Your landing page is the page visitors arrive at after clicking on your promotional link or advertisement on another Web site or email. The purpose of the landing page is to convince your visitor to stay and answer your call to action. Your landing page is not your home page.

Conversion: when a potential customer visiting your site takes the desired action proposed in your call to action. More conversions mean higher sales and ROI.

Landing page design

1.) Know your target audience. Create an ideal customer profile and design your site and landing page with this person in mind.

2.) Define the specific conversion action you desire, e.g. prospect fills out and submits a form.

3.) Strip down the page design of any unnecessary elements. This is NOT your home page. Focus on a specific call to action and make your message straightforward and direct.

4.) Make sure your color scheme and imagery of your landing page matches your advertisement or promotion that generated the prospect.

5.) Keep key elements above the fold so they are seen immediately. However, remove standard site navigation and any superfluous elements that might distract the prospect’s attention.

6.) Create clear page exits and an easy to follow navigation path as your prospect converts through your purchase process or fills out your form fields.

7.) Test the page repeatedly and ask others to test it as well.

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