Landing page when you are a freelancer is the first reflex you have to have. However, if you want results you'll have to follow some basic rules. How many times have I heard people say "my portfolio doesn't bring me anything" or "I don't need a website, a facebook, instagram or Linkedin page is enough".

The problem with social networks is that we don't control anything. They are evolving towards a model that favors paying for advertising to be heard and to do this well you have to be hyper active on a particular social network for it to work.

I'm not here today to go into this topic in depth, but I do want to share with you the fact that it's better to have your own website or a well optimized landing page (or both). This is the only place you can control in the long run and attract real future customers.

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Contents

What is a landing page about?

Let's talk about the 3 elements for creating a landing page:

• No nonsense
• Serious design
• Accuracy at the rendezvous

10 steps to creating a top-notch landing page

• 1. Take care of your Hero
• 2. Clear and precise CTA
• 3. Inserting social proof
• 4. Exhibition of completed projects
• 5. Writing a concise message
• 6. Well thought-out design
• 7. Choice of suitable images
• 8. Blog creation
• 9. Basic SEO work
• 10. Use of additional tools

Conclusion

Video

Landing page : Whatis it?

Let's be clear before we go any further. A landing page is not just a homepage. Its purpose is not just to present your site; on the contrary, it has a more important role: to convert prospects into customers. To do this, you invite them to do something quite specific.

The landing page is different from a service page. So if you think you can sell a service or product directly on this landing page, you need to follow some rules! It is a process that helps prospects convert.

Landing page : 3 Rules of creation

1. Don't do anything stupid

When I say stupidity, I mean lies, exaggeration, excess...

I admit, it's not easy to understand, but this example might give you a clearer idea of what I mean:

"I CREATE A SITE THAT WILL MAKE YOU RANK ON GOOGLE IN ONLY ONE WEEK".

"EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE AT LOW COST".

"GUARANTEED RESULTS".

Do you believe it? I don't.

And if the author had good intentions in writing such a title, it is not the impression he gives. We all know that it is impossible, that being well referenced on Google requires time, patience and perseverance. An exceptional service is not possible at a fixed price and the results are never guaranteed.

2. Don't take design lightly

It's true that content is king, but that's no reason to write a whole block of text, without colors and without media. What I'm getting at is that you have to balance what you put in the landing page. Too much text kills the text, too many images kill the image.

3. Be precise

What if a customer gets to the bottom of your landing page, but doesn't know what to do yet? This is not a good sign at all! It means that you failed in designing your landing page.

You were necessarily abstract in the actions to be taken, the conversion process...

However, on a landing page, your objective must be clear (we'll come back to this later). Besides, it doesn't hurt to tell future customers directly what they have to do (as long as you do it with courtesy). The clearer it is to them, the more likely they are to come on board.

The 10 steps to creating a landing page

1. Take care of the Hero

For those who do not know yet, the hero header is a kind of welcome banner to be placed on the landing page. It occupies a very special place in welcoming your visitors. However, not all elements can be classified as hero. Only the quality elements, which convey a particular message, are qualified to be positioned there.

Some designers decide to put the hero in the background of a whole page, with a parallax effect. Others still leave room for text at the bottom. It is precisely in this last case that you should encourage visitors to scroll down.

I'll show you a trick: make your hero tell a story (yours, if it's your site, or your client's if it belongs to him); this will make users want to go further, to scroll down.

2. Make the Call to Action clear

The call to action is generally presented in the form of a link or button. Its objective? To get visitors to perform a specific action. This doesn't mean that you have to force visitors to perform this action. On the contrary, they must do it of their own free will. That's why it's important to study the CTA of a landing page carefully.

It must have a specific purpose:

• read a blog post
• make a 30 minute appointment
• subscribe to a newsletter
• follow on linkedin
• watch a video
• download a gift
• participate in an event
• and many others...

But the one that concerns us here is the online appointment request. Compared to physical appointments, it takes less time and yet guarantees more benefits. Especially with the covid19 pandemic, it is more convenient.

But a new question arises: how do you convince visitors that requesting an appointment online is the best thing to do?

You should write as much reassuring information as possible on your site, for example:

• the price of your services
• your current clients or projects
• your opening days
• your complete contact information
• etc.

With a little help (and therefore, the presence of the CTA for online appointment booking), you will see that you will get more clicks!

Here is some information also important to know:

• The design of the button should be well thought out. Choose for example contrasting colors, so as to attract attention. I even advise you to do some A/B testing to know which color and shape are the most attractive.
• The contents of your CTA should not be all the same. Different phrases or verbs for a little diversity. But still, this technique allows you to see which verbs or phrases attracted your prospects the most (by the number of clicks).
• Finally, be sure to choose the location of the CTA. You obviously need strategic places, for example, at the end of relevant texts or upper right corner.

3. Don't forget the social proof

Trusting someone you don't know yet is very difficult, especially if that person is a service provider. So I advise you to give a little help to your prospects, by inserting on your site some customer testimonials.

Not only do you gain credibility, but here are some other benefits:

• You are more likely to attract new customers and prospects
• You will then have a higher conversion rate
• You show that you are really an expert in what you do

Obviously, all of this affects your clients' decision.

This evidence is considered social proof. Here is the concept: people are rather conformist, they are more likely to adopt the same behavior as his peers.

I bet you've had this attitude before. Let's say you are about to choose a restaurant; one is empty while the other is full of people. Subconsciously, if there is no particular reason, you will go to the second restaurant. You base your decision on the theory that if several people are interested in a particular thing, it must be because it is the right thing!

Where to put these testimonials, precisely? On the landing page, yes, but where?

Just like CTAs, they are best placed in strategic locations, where visitors are most likely to click. I'm thinking particularly of a place after the presentation of your recent projects. At these places, people have more hesitation. So you have to push them a bit.

4. Showcase yourcompleted projects

Besides testimonials, another best way to gain the trust of clients is to showcase recent work you have already done. This can include images or links to websites you have designed.

There are no rules here; you can put projects you have done for your clients (of course, as long as they accept it), but also your personal projects.

But here's the thing: how will users know what this objective is if you don't write it down in black and white? Indeed, throughout the landing page, you must make sure that "this objective" is clear. This is a surprise.

Who knows, maybe luck will smile on you one day, and a client will come across a project of yours that looks exactly like what they are looking for.

5. Be as concise as possible

As I stated at the beginning of this guide:

a landing page = a clear objective

But here's the thing: how will users know what this objective is if you don't write it down in black and white? Indeed, throughout the landing page, you must make sure that "this objective" is clear. This avoids possible misunderstandings!

Let me give you an example. In our case, our goal is to acquire new customers through online appointments. If you were not clear enough, they might believe in a physical appointment. If they don't like it, you will have lost several opportunities.

Headlines, subheads and other content are obviously the main tools you're going to use to make this clear. My first piece of advice is to create a striking title. As it attracts the first glance of all Internet users, it must obviously be clear and concise right away. As they say, "the first impression is always the right one!" If at first glance, they deem it irrelevant, all is lost in advance.

Then, if you want to enter more details about your activity, your offer, etc., you do it in the body of the text, and especially not in the title. Be careful not to lose the main idea throughout the text. To avoid this, keep in mind that the purpose of this content is to guide the readers towards your main objective (that of requesting an appointment online, among others). Maybe you can start by talking about the problems your potential customers are facing, and then you propose the ultimate solution: an online conversation.

6. Design: a very IMPORTANT point

How can you recognize the right design for your target if you don't even know your target yet? I invite you, before anything else, to think about your ideal client. If necessary, even take a draft on which you will write the necessary information about him: age, gender, career, goals, dreams, etc . Most importantly, try to identify his problem. Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what they fear most.

Only then can you offer them a suitable design, a design that perfectly meets their expectations. A design that makes them feel like their problem has been solved. As you can probably imagine, each persona should have its own unique landing page design . If you're not sure of your choice, how about a test? In the context of landing pages, this is called A/B testing.

Don't forget that everybody (or almost) is currently addicted to their mobile (especially the young population). It would be a shame to lose visitors because of non-mobile friendly pages. So, whatever design you choose, make sure it's mobile friendly. This is called responsive design.

7. Insert suitable images

Now, enough about titles, contents and designs. Let's also talk about images (or videos), because landing pages are also composed of them. These media make a page more human, provided they are well chosen.

Let's take an example from Airbnb. Their landing page aims to get their prospects to become a host. To do this, they use an image that helps them imagine themselves as a host. All the images that are present on the landing page all have this objective by the way.

So, when you choose the images you put on your landing page, be careful to select only those that fit the theme . You're certainly never going to take an image of a kitchen if your site is aimed at construction contractors, right?

8. Keep a blog and feed it

A landing page pays off. So it's a great idea, but if you add a blog it's even better. However, blogging means "blog posts" or "guides". And these must deal with topics related to your theme.

If you offer web design services for example, you'd better talk about things that really interest your readers. Maybe, tips about how to create a website, how to choose a hosting, which CMS is the best... ? This, in order to reassure your customers that you really master your domain!

9. Work on the SEO of your landing page and the site in general

No matter how successful a landing page is, if it's not well referenced to drive traffic, it's useless. That's why you need to think about the page's SEO.

Fortunately,with Webflow, it's a breeze. All the tags to fill in are easily accessible. All you have to do is fill in the ones linked to the landing page.

On the other hand, if you are not too comfortable with Webflow (perhaps you use other CMS), make sure that the structure of the codes is clean. This is an important factor for Google!

Finally, regardless of the CMS you choose, don't forget the basic SEO work for a :

• One, the page must contain optimized H1 titles
• Second, the landing page URL must be clean and logical
• Then, all the images are optimized, so you fill their ALT tags with a description containing the keyword
• The landing page must be animated regularly. One way to do this is to publish regular blog posts (at least once a week). Google sees this as a positive signal from you; it will notice that your site has not been forgotten, that you are still taking care of it. Therefore, it will not mind showing it in the search engine results.
• However, each article must be referenced on a specific keyword . It must then respect all the related SEO rules: presence of keyword in strategic places (titles, subtitles, bullet list), meta description, etc.
• We talked about testimonials earlier. Did you know that they contribute in large part to better referencing your site? Indeed, they work like blog posts. The more new content there is, the more regularly Google updates it. Naturally, these testimonials contain long tail keywords, related to the services you offer.
• I told you earlier that the design of a site must be adapted to mobile. Well, this criterion has an impact on the SEO of the site.

10. Some additional, and especially effective, tools

With the major steps of creating a landing page completed, all that's left is to fine-tune it.

This is where you will integrate different tools, but personally, I chose :

• The Facebook Pixel
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console

Facebook Pixel

The landing page aims to convert your prospects into customers. Now, Facebook Pixel is usually used for these purposes. In fact, it has a code that allows you to track the actions of visitors on the landing page. So you will collect all the data you need to improve your ads on Facebook.

TIPS Ninja
That's not why you have to advertise right away. You can do that in the following months, but at least you will have collected all the data. Because the particularity of the Facebook Pixel is that it collects data from several months. So if you advertise 3 months later, you will be able to reach all the people who visited your site in the last 3 months.

All that's left is to know how to install this code on your landing page. It's simple:

• You must go to the Facebook Event Manager page and click start (in the Facebook Pixel : follow website activities)
• Then, you choose whether or not to enter the URL of your site. Continue.
• Tu as ton code pixel. Pour l’ajouter sur ton site, tu vas devoir passer par le codes sources, plus précisément, dans la partie <head>. Sur Webflow ça ce passe des les paramètre. C’est installé en 1 clic!

Google Analytics

To put it simply, Google Analytics allows for a complete analysis of visitor behavior, traffic source as well as outbound traffic. This data, in turn, will help you see if the landing page is successful or not. You will also have access to the bounce rate (percentage of visitors who did nothing on your landing page, but left the site right away).

If you analyze all this, it's for the same purpose as before: to improve the landing page, again and again, based on what works and what doesn't.

Google Search Console

If you have a Google account, you must have a Google Search Console (GSC) account. However, an additional step is required for your site's data to appear in the dashboard. You must confirm that the site in question belongs to you. You can choose between :

• Create an HTML tag for the page.
• Insert a new DNS entry in the domain name
• Rely on Google Analytics account

Once this is done, you have all the data you need to perfect your landing page. GSC focuses particularly on finding relevant keywords, related to your business, and following searches conducted by Internet users. Very interesting data!

Conclusion

In short, the list of things to do to have a quality landing page is quite long. You will obviously need more time. But I promise you that by following these steps to the letter, you are sure to convert many more leads into customers. But be careful! Your landing page will have to evolve regularly. If you want to bring recurring activity to it, think about maintaining a blog.

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