4 Must-Follow Landing Page Design Principles To Get More Sales

Updated January 11, 2023

We’re Coming in to Land

All too often we see our clients spend hard-earned money on PPC campaigns but are unhappy with the results. Or worse, they’re happy with the click-through rate but don’t realize they are spending too much on mediocre results. Why? Because they aren’t thinking like a visitor and it shows in their landing page design.

As part of our White Hat SEO audit process, we typically review conversion rates as well as the details in a client’s Google AdWord campaigns. Not only do we look at keyword quality, we also analyze ad wording (customer need) and its related landing page (solution to that need). The disconnect between the two can be astounding not because of laziness, but of poor design.

Here are a four landing page design principles to convert more visitors into customers:

A Great Headline is Everything

You’ve got two seconds or less to capture attention before your potential visitor moves on. You can easily experiment on a headline’s effectiveness by some simple A/B testing, so you can determine which one brings more clicks or which one need to be refined further.  Want to plug and play? Then use this great infographic from HubSpot to fill in your blanks.

Clear The Clutter

A key landing page design principle is the balance between a branded and clean sales focus. While the page should look as if it belongs to your company’s brand, it’s an opportunity to be a clean uncluttered step into your sale funnel. And the page doesn’t have to be part of your main website’s content. By keeping it separate you aren’t constrained with design elements (like sidebars) required for navigational usability.

Remember, a landing page needs to be obvious as to the action you want your visitor to take. Click Here. Start Here. Buy Here. You get the idea. Deliver a page that makes it easy to delivery on your ads promise. If not, you’ve annoyed the visitor and your reputation takes a hit. And, your PPC campaign got the click through but not the sales conversion.

Ask For One Thing

It may be tempting to upsell or cross-sell on your ad’s landing page. Research has proven that when a visitor is given a bunch of choices they tend to not choose at all. Your landing page should ask for one specific action and make it obvious. Rather than words with a hyperlink, design a button for that one action.

Pretty Please?

Just because you’re simplifying the page down to one action doesn’t mean you can ignore aesthetically pleasing design. Multiple fonts, clashing colors and unattractive (or worse, annoying) graphics compete for eye focus are hallmarks of bad landing page design. They also send the non-verbal message that you are disorganized or that your company may be as unpolished as your landing page.

So keep the design clutter to a minimum as well. When used correctly, white space enhances a landing page, helping to put the focus on where you want the visitor’s attention to go to. Otherwise, it’s just another bad example of a hot mess that confuses your visitor. Tailor the page to the offer, including compelling reasons they should take action, and make it easy. Now you’re improving conversion rate without increasing your PPC budget. How cool is that?

Landing Page Design

Got a landing page that’s a cash cow or one you’re particularly proud of? We’d love to see it.