Market, Scale, Grow: Facebook Ad Marketing Strategy for Teacherpreneurs

180 | Five Landing Page Optimization Tips

• Jenzaia • Episode 180

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Could your landing page be sabotaging your conversion rates? This episode of Market Scale Grow uncovers the five most common mistakes that can impact your efforts and leave your conversion rate suffering!  From hidden buttons to too many choices, there are suggestions anyone can implement to unlock the full potential of their landing page!

In this episode of Market Scale Grow, we'll cover...
✨ the difference between long and short landing pages
✨ 5 mistakes that have a huge impact on landing page results
✨ how I suggest you go about fixing these to grow your results!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Market Scale Grow. I'm your host, inzea, and this is a Saturday Strategy Session. Hello, welcome back. I am, as always, so excited to be here and to be recording this episode on landing pages. Honestly, this is probably one of the most talked about things in my world when because landing pages, if they're not converting it, just can be a disaster. So in this episode we're going to talk about exactly what a landing page is and why they're important, and then we're going to go through five mistakes that I see frequently and how you can fix them.

Speaker 1:

So a landing page is any page that's not attached to the website through the menu or like. Basically it's a standalone page. That's the word I'm looking for. So a landing page is a standalone page that isn't attached. It can't be easily navigated to through your website. Often they're used for sales pages or for opt-ins. They can also be used for thank you pages, courses can be hosted on them, and the main reason for this is, again, that they are standalone and they're not easily navigated to, so the only way someone can get to it is if they are given the link. This is great for an ad or for, again, those sales pages, if it's only open for a certain period of time and you don't necessarily want people navigating to that sales page or that opt-in page at any time. Landing pages as standalone pages are important because it gives you the ability to have additional pages and not clutter up your menu On your main website. You want there to be probably three to five things that people can do, and if every single page that you created was directly linked there, it would just get really cluttered really fast, and so it can help with the organization. Landing pages are also important because it kind of separates whatever you're doing from your main website, but that page is still branded. So we're going to specifically talk about landing pages as they relate to opt-ins and freebies. When you're getting people to sign up for your email list in exchange for some sort of freebie whether it's a PDF or a video training doesn't really matter what it is these landing pages are all going to be pretty similar.

Speaker 1:

There's two main styles that I would say I see the most frequent the short form and then the long form. So the short form one is typically really short, sweet, simple. It has an image on one of the two sides, either left or right. Sweet, simple. It has an image on one of the two sides, either left or right, and then on the other side. So let's just say the image is on the left. On the right hand side there's maybe a blurb of text, a couple bullet points and the form, and then that's it. The other one, the long form version, has more information. So typically it will start with that kind of hero banner, if you will, where there's an image behind and then the form, there's a significant amount of information and then it goes into. Often there'll be an about me section so that you can learn more about the person who's created it, and there will often be more information, maybe a video, and then at the bottom you'll find another link to the form, or you'll find the form a second time, because it's just so much longer that you want to have either the form at the top and the bottom or the form at the top and a button at the bottom. That brings people directly back to the form so they're not hunting around for it.

Speaker 1:

So the five mistakes that I see. I'm going to just quickly read through them and then we'll go into explaining a little bit more what I mean and then how to fix them. So the five mistakes are lots of things to do. Mistake number two is too much text. Mistake number three is where the heck is the button. Number four is what do you even want me to do? And then number five is a pop-up. So mistake number one lots of things to do.

Speaker 1:

Commonly, I will see landing pages that have things to do. On them. They might have a sidebar that has an opt-in or a menu of some sort. Sometimes there's archives to the blog. Very, very frequently there is the bar at the top. So the standard menu that you would see on any website. For example, if you go to my website, at the top I have an about me work with Team JD case studies podcast. I have links to my social media and my podcast and then I even have a button that says book a discovery call. So on a landing page I will often see that entire like menu bar at the top. If you want to see what I'm talking about, head to genzadamartelcom and it's on all of my pages that are connected to the website. Yeah, so there's that menu. That's at the top. There might be things to do at the bottom, another menu bar.

Speaker 1:

Now, I'm not saying you have to get rid of, like the menu at the bottom. If I scroll down to the very bottom of mine, I do have a privacy policy terms and conditions contact and then it says pirate by love and chocolate chips in Ontario. I forgot I'd written that that's fine to leave those things there. Most people aren't going to be looking at privacy policy terms and conditions. They might want to contact you. You can leave that bottom thing there, but what you really want to do is get rid of the quote unquote more interesting ones that people might be distracted by.

Speaker 1:

You don't want them to be distracted and that's why having a lot of things to do is a mistake, because when they're on this landing page, the only thing you want them to be able to do is sign up for your opt-in. You don't want them to be able to really do anything else, just opt-in and that's it. That's all. So if you have that the menu, or you have a sidebar, then it's giving them things to do and people will get distracted. They'll forget why this tab was open. They might have 30 some odd tabs open and they're like okay, I'll come back to that. They might forget why they're there and they're like oh, there's a podcast I'm gonna go listen to it or whatever it might be. They might also just like not have any memory of what it is. And then they see all these buttons are like I don't know, I need to close these things. Whatever it was, if it's important they'll come back right. So you want there to be one thing for them to do, and that one thing is opt in.

Speaker 1:

The way you fix this really depends on the platform that you're on. Squarespace, I actually had to add code in to remove the header. Other platforms, like Kajabi, actually has a landing page setting or like a sub section, and so if you create a page in the landing page section, it will by default have that set up, where there's nothing else to do. I use Squarespace, so I had to put in the code. So you're just going to need to figure out how to remove the menu bar on your platform. I just Googled it. I either came across it was probably Reddit. I probably found the code that I needed in Reddit. So, yeah, google, get rid of the menu bar or whatever you're trying to get rid of like sidebar, in whichever website builder that you're using.

Speaker 1:

Again, some are going to be easy. Leadpages is really easy. Kajabi is really easy. Some are going to be more challenging, like Squarespace, and then others like WordPress. You're probably going to need to use plugins like Elementor, and I have no idea. Wordpress terrifies me, absolutely terrifies me. The only thing I can do in there is install a pixel. I know how to do it. I get in, I get out. I hope I don't break anything.

Speaker 1:

Okay, mistake number two is too much text. This one's pretty common too, where there are chunks and big, huge paragraphs of text specifically at the top. If you have a longer form landing page, you're probably gonna have more text lower down, but at the very top you want it to be a title or a heading of some sort. Maybe one sentence, two sentence, a couple bullet points. Maybe you want it to be really really easy to read and understand. Not an overwhelming amount of text at all, because again, people are going to get distracted. They're going to have 30 some odd tabs open. Their kid's going to need a glass of water and they're going to like have to leave and come back and you want them to know exactly what it was that they were looking at instantaneously, even if it's two days later. So, keeping it really simple, with a heading, very limited text, and obviously your solution to this. If you currently have a big chunk of text, my two recommendations are use bullet points and if there's a longer piece of text that you're really, really, really set on keeping, then find a way to highlight the most important words, like bolding or underlining or using a different color, so that if someone is in a rush, in a hurry and they're not going to read the entire paragraph chunk, that they'll be able to pull out those keywords.

Speaker 1:

Mistake number three is where the heck is that button? So the button I'm talking about is the submit button, and sometimes the color. It just really really blends into the background. Sometimes it's below the fold, which you've probably heard of this before, but like with a newspaper, because it's below the fold, which you've probably heard of this before but like with a newspaper, because it folds, the most important headline of the day goes above the fold, so that when the newspaper is sitting on the table or the counter or wherever, that's the story you see, and then anything below, where the newspaper actually folds, is hidden. And so in technology world we still use above and below the fold, but what we really mean is above or below the scroll. So when the page opens without scrolling, what can you see? If the form and the button are below the scroll, so someone has to scroll to find it, then you're going to lose people. You are absolutely going to lose people. So even if you have a longer form page where there's more text, I still highly highly recommend that you have the form or, at very, very, very minimum, a very obvious button, so people know exactly what to do immediately and they're not searching for it. Also, this is a really, really great place to use contrasting colors so that the form and the button really, really pop out. You want people to immediately know what to do without having to look, without having to search, and to see it instantaneously.

Speaker 1:

Mistake number four what do you even want me to do? This is kind of like all of the mistakes wrapped up in one. It needs to be so obvious what you want somebody to do and what the page is for, and so that's why my preference is to have that simple, short form landing page about 90% of the time, where there is a picture of something like maybe it's the cover or maybe it's one of the main pages of the resource, that you're giving away some sort of image that pops so that they can immediately see what they're getting, and then a very, very obvious form with, like, maybe even an arrow, sign up for free, grab it today for free. Something like that that immediately reminds people of what you want them to do on that page. There's nothing else, there's no distractions, the amount of text is just right. So, just again and I've reiterated this like so many times, because every single other mistake kind of comes back to this one but just making sure that people know exactly what it is that you want them to do. A really great way to make sure that this is okay is to actually have people give you their feedback, so having people who are outside of your.

Speaker 1:

And then mistake number five is having a pop-up on the landing page for your free opt-in Especially. Well, actually, I don't know which one's worse If you're popping up for the exact same thing or if you're popping up for something different. Either way, if someone's on a landing page where the goal is to have them sign up for a free thing a pop-up which is there's two main pop-ups, there's a time-based pop-up, which is there's two main pop-ups, there's a time-based pop-up, so after 10 seconds or 30 seconds, whatever it might be, however long it pops up. Or there's exit intent pop-ups. So when you move your mouse towards the X to close the tab, the pop-up that brings you back to the page, either one of those when somebody's on a landing page to get them to sign up for a thing, having a pop-up that basically is asking them to sign up for something, it's just tacky. That is. The biggest problem here is that it's tacky because you're already asking them to sign up for their email list and, yes, maybe this thing that the pop-up is for is really great, but it's just tacky. Either the person has already signed up or they're about to sign up. When a pop-up is for is really great, but it's just tacky. Either the person has already signed up or they're about to sign up.

Speaker 1:

When a pop-up comes in my face, I get annoyed and I definitely will sign up for them, like if I'm on someone's blog or something and then I go to exit and a pop-up comes up, I'm like, oh yeah, that's actually a good idea. I'm glad that that showed up. But when I'm trying to sign up for something and it pops up, or I've decided I don't want to sign up and it pops up as I'm trying to get out. It's just annoying and it's just not kind. So try your best to make sure that the pop-up is turned off for your landing pages. And I'm saying this and I don't even know if it's turned off for mine. I'm going to have to go look because I don't want to be annoying people. And, like I said, I'm not even sure which one's worse.

Speaker 1:

If you have a thing that people are going to sign up for and then it's a pop-up for the exact same thing, or if it's for something different. I'm really trying to decide which one. I feel like an exit pop-up for the same thing is the worst, because you've already, if you're exiting, you probably have either already signed up or decided you don't want it, and then this pop-up for the exact same thing shows up and you're like, no, I already said I didn't want it. And then you're just even more frustrated. At least if it's an exit intent pop-up for something different, you can be like oh, you know, I wasn't interested in that first thing, but I'm interested in this other thing, I don't know. Anyway, get rid of that pop up, especially if it's an ad. You really just don't want to seem too salesy, too tacky in someone's face when they've never heard of you before and they just found you through an ad. So try your best to not have that there Again. It might be hard, depending on your setup. The program that you're using I have to use like an extension and I'm not even sure I can do it. So we're going to go look right as soon as I hit.

Speaker 1:

End recording on this podcast, but I always like to recap. So we talked about what a landing page is, that standalone page from your website often used for a sales page or a free opt-in For most of this podcast. We talked about the freebie opt-in and talked about why they're important, how to use them, and then the five mistakes were that there's lots of things to do on the page and that you need to get rid of anything on the sidebar, any menu, that you have, anything that could distract people from getting them onto your email list. Mistake number two is having too much text. People want to scan, they want to easily readable, so highlight the important words, use different colors, use bullet points, get rid of any non-essential text, especially at that very top part above the fold. Mistake number three is where the heck is the button? If people can't find your form, the button blends in. Then they're not going to be able to sign up. So use contrasting colors and make sure that the form and the button are above the scroll so that people see them immediately as soon as the page opens. Number four is what do you even want me to do If people don't know what they're supposed to do? They don't know where the form is, they don't know the information that you want. They're not going to do it, they're going to frustrate it and shut the page. So make it easy and make it obvious. And then number five is having a pop-up on a page that someone is trying to sign up for a freebie anyway. So get rid of those pop-ups. Make it as simple and obvious Again, just one thing that you want them to do on that page.

Speaker 1:

I hope that you found this helpful and I am excited to be back with you for another strategy session next Saturday. Thank you for listening to this episode of Market Scale Grow. Every week on Saturdays, we release a new Saturday strategy session, sometimes with amazing guests, and I'm so thankful that you've taken some time out of your busy schedule to make me part of your journey. If you love this podcast, don't forget to share it with your friends and then head to your favorite podcast app to subscribe, so that you won't miss next week's episode or any of the upcoming ones. And if you loved it, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts so that other people can find this podcast and we can impact teachers and teacher business owners around the world. Thank you so much for listening and I'll be back in your ears next week with another Saturday Strategy Session.