Did you know that landing pages are one of the most misunderstood components of any sales funnel, and yet they are one of the most important pieces because they are at the top of the sales funnel? If you can’t convert someone on your landing page, you have no hope of moving them up your value ladder and converting them repeatedly.
This means that you need to be extremely intentional when building your landing pages because otherwise all your other efforts will go to waste. Bookmark this checklist of nine must-haves for landing pages and use it every time you build a landing page or sales funnel.
1. Professional sales copy
Many people don’t realize that writing sales copy is two parts science and one part art because there are proven scientific formulas that integrate human psychology and buying behavioral patterns to drive results.
It cannot be stressed enough that if you do not have high-quality professionally written or formulated sales copy on your landing page, you are going to get a fraction of the conversions you would have (if any at all). You have less than two seconds to grab the target and hook them, which comes down to the copy in large part.
Remember, whether you are looking to have someone opt-in to your email list for free or you’re trying to sell a high-ticket real estate coaching program, you’re still trying to spark a conversion event. The goal is still to get users to take a specific action. That action can only be triggered by specific emotions that translate into proven copywriting formulas.
Since learning the ins and outs of copywriting can take years and cost the same as traditional college tuition, it is usually easier to outsource or bring someone on board for all your copywriting and content needs.
2. One clear call-to-action above the fold
In marketing, we have an expression, “above the fold.” It refers to the portion of the website that you can see when you first land on it before scrolling down. Studies show that when there is a singular call to action and button “above the fold” (meaning you wouldn’t have to scroll down at all to see it), the conversion rates skyrocket.
Going back to all your landing pages and even the home page of your website and making this one change can make a huge impact on your bottom line.
3. Unique value proposition
Why you? Why now? Why not your competition? When building out landing pages, you simply can’t get started unless you are crystal-clear on what your unique value proposition is for whatever you’re pushing on that page.
For example, if you’re trying to attract teams to your brokerage with your landing page, you should call out all the reasons why your brokerage is better for the type of team you’re targeting than any other broker right now. If you don’t know why others are choosing you, they won’t either, and they will go to your competitors every time.
4. Easy-to-remember domain
When we are talking about strategic domains for websites, it is always important to place SEO at the top of the priority list. However, landing pages are a bit different because you’re likely to be sending people there verbally and need something memorable.
For example, let’s say you have a landing page, and you want to send podcast listeners there. You’re going to want something you can say over the air plenty of times that listeners will be able to remember and use.
5. Engaging follow-up sequence
Every year, millions if not billions of dollars are lost from small business owners who don’t understand the immense value of a properly segmented email onboarding sequence that warms your audience after they have opted into your landing page.
No matter what the landing page is promoting, there is no excuse for not using a carefully tailored sequence that speaks to the psychology of the target audience, their emotions and their deepest internal struggles. You must validate them and their decision, reassure them and build trust to warm them quickly and convert them into repeat buyers.
6. Social proof
Social proof is one of the most powerful tools in any sales funnel. Why? Because it allows us to overcome the internal fear that the customer has about feeling foolish if they regret their purchase. It also instigates the bandwagon effect and causes the target to feel as though they will be missing out on something if they walk away from what these people said “yes” to.
There are many ways that you can incorporate social proof into your landing pages, and I encourage you to use as much as you can to show a cold audience your raving fans. Perhaps the most powerful is a video testimonial along with a case study that really uses emotion to illustrate the desired result of the target audience.
7. Urgency, scarcity, logic and emotion
Urgency, scarcity, logic and emotion are some of the core building blocks of any sales letter, and a landing page is essentially just a digital sales letter. For example, you can induce urgency with tools like a countdown clock or countdown of the availability.
Logically pointing out benefits like time or money saved by your offer make it easy for people to buy. The more you infuse these building blocks into your landing pages, the better they will perform for you.
8. Social share buttons
The goal of your landing page is to get as many eyes on it as possible. If you can find a way to make it viral — even better. But all of that would be hard to impossible without social share buttons on the page of the opt-in or the confirmation page with a strong call-to-action that incentivizes people to share the funnel on their profiles.
9. An unbeatable offer
One of the biggest mistakes I see made with real estate landing pages is the failure to offer something uniquely valuable. The same old buyer and seller guides don’t cut it anymore. You need to offer something that solves an urgent problem that seriously frustrates your ideal clients, and make sure it is unlike anything else your competitors are offering. In fact, make it 10 times more valuable and you will win every time.
If you’re anything like most real estate brands right now, you know the power of digital sales funnels, but you grow increasingly irritated at the growing cost of running traffic to your landing pages and even more annoyed that you still aren’t seeing the conversion rates you expected when you launched.
Take this guide as a checklist and review your landing pages to see where you may have missed something or where there is room for improvement. Then come back once a day for 10 minutes and improve your page by just 10% percent, and you will see progress.
Sarah Layton is the real estate content marketing expert behind www.bestrealestatewriter.com and owner of Layton Media.
