Welcome to episode 358 of Hit the Mic with The Stacey Harris.
All right, we’re going to shift gears a little bit. I want to talk about landing pages. So often, I get emails or I’m talking to clients and they’re talking about their Facebook ad’s not working. One of the most common things that comes up is it’s really not about the ad. The ad is killer, the targeting is killer. Everything from the ad perspective is on point.
The problem falls into that what’s next category. That is generally a lot of times, not all the times, but a lot of times a landing page. Whether you’re running ads to an opt in or a webinar intro or whatever that landing page is for, maybe it’s even a sales page and you’re running a retargeting ad, whatever it is, a lot of times the problem falls to the landing page. That’s why I want to talk about some landing page best practices today.
First of all, what is a landing page, because sometimes these terms are used to represent different things. For our purposes today, a landing page is a one page on your site, meaning there’s not a menu to all the other pages. There’s not a bunch of links to content and things like that. It serves one purpose and that’s to either get people to opt in or get people to buy or get people to get notifications for or to download something. Whatever that thing is, its job is to do that one thing. There is a singular calls action and a singular action presented as an option. That’s what we’re going to be referring to today when we talk landing pages.
Be your brand.
Let’s jump in on these best practices, and I want to start with something that is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. That is don’t forget to be your brand on your landing page. With tools like Instapage and ClickFunnels and LeadPages and all of these great landing pages tools, we’re able to create really well optimized pages, but here’s the deal. You have to edit them.
I find it really easy to identify a LeadPage or ClickFunnels. Those are the two that I have the easiest times sort of spotting in the wild. The other ones definitely fall into place, and as tempting as it is to you just use that, ranks number one conversion page and dump in your information and be done, you’re doing your brand a big disservice, and for a couple of reasons. Number one, there’s going to be a disconnect between whatever sent me, whether that’s an ad or a organic piece of content or a link someone sent me, and what I’m actually finding. If you have a totally different color scheme and the stock photos that were in there from your landing page tool, it’s going to look like their brand. It’s also going to look like about a million other landing pages I have encountered around the web.
Absolutely there are going to be niches where people don’t realize that. They’re not as familiar with landing pages as I am or a lot of other online marketers are. For any of you, and I know a large section of you are business coaches, providing services to business, you’re using the same tools potentially your clients are using, which means they can tell that it’s really the LeadPages brand, and it’s going to … Really, whether it’s conscious or not, it’s going to cause a rub. It’s going to cause a discomfort. I’m not saying that this is going to be something where it’s like, “Oh, my god, I don’t trust this person anymore. What are they thinking?” Psychologically, that touchpoint doesn’t quite land. That’s why you need to be making sure that these represent your brand.
You can actually still use a basic layout, and there will absolutely still be people like me who have memorized what these pages look like because they’ve built so many of them, and can say, “Oh, yeah, this is definitely a LeadPage” or “yeah, this is definitely built with whatever.”
I know that you did the time, did the work, or someone on your team. It doesn’t have to be you. I feel like I should emphasize that right here. It doesn’t have to be you. You are right upfront, taking the time to present them with what they need in line with your branding, because that’s where the connection is. That’s where the touchpoint lands all the way. That’s where we get comfortable in your space. It’s because you are presenting your brand there.
Remember, when we think of online business, we’re thinking about our website being our storefront. Your landing page is a part of that storefront. Think of it as a display window. When the store has a big sale, they dedicate one big window to this real cool opportunity. This is your display window. I always think of New York at the holidays when the big stores do the big holiday displays in the front windows. This is your big holiday display.
Yeah, we understand that it’s this space and it needs to operate this way and it needs to meet these requirements. It still needs to look and feel like you. I feel like I’ve hammered that home, but make sure, just make sure it’s in alignment with your brand.
From there, and this is going to sound counterproductive, but don’t go so far into your brand that you become cute instead of clear. We still want to make it really clear what we’re getting, why we’re signing up, why we’re downloading, why we’re giving you information, why we’re giving you money. Whatever the case may be, be clear. We talk a lot with sales pages and landing pages, not to worry so much about features, but to talk more about benefits. That’s absolutely true, but you need to make those benefits clear. Give me a reason to give you my time and attention. Give me a reason to then take the next step and give you my email address or give you my credit card number or whatever the case may be. You need to be clear.
Absolutely, when you’re writing copy, you want to tell a story. You want to engage them. You want to get them saying yes to questions, and all of those sort of amazing copy things and tactics and tools. Headlines need to be on point and be guiding us down the page. It also just needs to be stupid clear. Stupid clear. Tell me what I’m signing up for, what I’m going to get, what I’m not going to get, if this is for me. Be ridiculously clear. Make it an easy yes. On the flip side of that, if it’s not for me, make it an easy no. Because that’s how I know when it is easy yes. That it’s an easy yes, because I know exactly who it’s not for, because I know exactly who it is for. Because I know that’s me.
Be clear.
You have to, have to, have to, have to, have to, have to be stupid clear. I use that word very intentionally here. Make this idiot-proof. It’s not because your audience is dumb. It’s not because the people who are going to see this are dumb. It’s because the people who are going to see this and the people who you want to engage with it and who you want responding to it don’t know as much about whatever you’re showing them as you do.
As silly as it can feel to detail out these things, we sometimes forget we know a lot about what we’re offering and we know a lot about what we’re trying to share with somebody, but they’re not in our heads. They don’t understand that we have spent weeks or months or whatever putting together this whatever it is, webinar training, opt in program, membership, insert thing here. They don’t know all the details. Make it clear to them. To us, it will feel like we are talking to somebody who’s an imbecile. We’re simply talking to somebody who does not yet know what amazing thing this is, because they haven’t been in our head for again days, weeks, months, years we’ve been working on whatever it is. Stupid simple, guys. Stupid simple and aligned with your brand.
Be legal.
Third, and this is especially important if you are running this with Facebook ads. You need to have your legal bases covered. Speaking of legal bases, I’m not just talking about your little terms and conditions at the bottom of the page, although, especially when you’re running Facebook ads and paid advertising to it, you need to have terms and conditions or a legal disclaimer or a link to your legal disclaimer at the bottom of your page. It’s a requirement. On Facebook ads, it’s in their T&C for ads. T&C, terms and conditions, by the way.
Also make sure you’re legal in the sense that make sure the photos you’re using belong to you. Make sure the copy you’re using belongs to you. Don’t just pull copy from somebody’s whatever. Use your copy. Whether you hire a copywriter or you write it yourself, use your copy. Use your graphics. I’m not saying you have to take the picture, but if you’re going to use stock photos, make sure you buy them or you’re pulling them from a resource that allows you to be using them for this purpose. Remember, not all stock photos are created equal. A lot of the free stock photos available out there are allowed to be used for certain purposes. Make sure whatever your requirements and privileges and permissions are for the stock photos you’re using are in line with what you’re using them for. You got to make sure you’re on the up and up. You got to make sure you’re keeping it legal.
Okeydoke. That’s it. Be your brand. Be clear. Be legal. It’s simple. These are the best practices for landing pages that make sense, that work, that get results, and that will help your Facebook ads campaign succeed a little more, because again, a lot of times, it’s not about what’s in the ad. It’s not about your targeting. It’s not about choosing a different photo. It’s about, “Hey, we’re sending them here, but they don’t actually know what do, because maybe we’re not super clear on what they’re supposed to do.” A lot of that Facebook ad revenue could be lost in the what’s next. Take some time to think about that.
With that, be sure to join us actually today, July 18th, which is the day this went live, if you’re listening to this later. We’re doing an ask me anything inside of Hit the Mic Backstage. The cool part is, is in addition to doing the AMA, I’m giving you a little preview to next month’s training which is all around Facebook Messengers and using it and bots and all of that. That full training will be available August 1st, not April, August 1st, but we’re doing a little preview during AMA today. If, by some chance, you’re listening to this later, that’s cool. All the ask me anythings that we’ve ever done, along with every other training, are inside the library, hitthemicbackstage.com. Be sure to join us now and get your access to that training library. Again, in addition to today’s AMA, we’ve got August training’s coming up which will include another AMA, but also the full Messenger bot training which is going to be absolutely a killer. I’m so stoked to bring this to you guys. It’s going to be a game changer. Other than that, I’ll see you next week.