In the online marketing world, we tend to get pretty excited about landing pages. After all, where else in life can you change minor details (like a headline, PPC ad, or call to action) and see the amount in your bank account increase overnight?
Of all the things that we obsess about when it comes to landing pages, one of the most critical – and debated – is the proper length. Knowing how long you can and should go on depends a lot on your products and industry, of course, but there is almost always some sort of tug of war involved.
On the one hand, more content is search engine-friendly, and gives you a chance to answer questions that potential buyers might have; on the other hand, shorter pages are easier to scan and digest, and tend to feel less overwhelming to visitors. With that in mind, here are five tips for finding the right length for any landing page:
- Start with the major benefits. Before you write a single word or attempt to lay out any pages, make a quick outline of the biggest benefits you absolutely have to mention to potential buyers. This will keep you from leaving anything out, and will help you arrange your thoughts.
- Give enough of the answers. Next, think of questions that interested buyers might have, and the answers they would need before committing to a purchase.
- Remember what your real conversion goal is. Are you looking for sales, call-in leads, e-mail newsletter subscriptions, or something else? Generally speaking, the bigger and more substantial your goal is, the longer your page needs to be.
- Start making things shorter. Once you have written something that expresses what you need it to, see if you can find a way to trim a third or more of what you have by making it shorter and crisper. The goal is to tell enough of your story to sell, but with a small enough number of words to actually be read.
- Use split testing. Eventually, you should be able to settle on something you think will work. Now it’s time to put it online and test the results. Over time, you can see what percentage of visitors takes the next step, and then work on successive versions of the page to try to improve upon that figure.
When it comes down to it, there isn’t any magical formula for finding the right length for a landing page – you can only follow your best instincts and then work on improving the results from week to week. Starting with these guidelines should help you cut down on the landing page learning curve.
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