Elements of landing pages
Like explained above, the purpose of a landing page is to get the site visitor to complete an action: fill out a form, sign up for a campus tour, apply for financial aid, etc. For this reason, you'll want to make sure your page has the following:
- A clear message: be clear on what you want your site visitors to know about you and what content they should take away from the page.
- Short text: On that same note, be concise so the page is short and straight to the point. Landing pages aren't intended to have a great deal of content.
- An action: ensure that the site visitor know exactly what action to take when coming to your page. This could be displayed as a button, form, etc.
- Visual interest: use visuals and widgets to create an engaging experience. If you're not sure where to start, come to open lab for a consultation.
- A responsive design: Be sure to check out your work to make sure it's mobile friendly. Many people use their mobile devices to browse the web.
Because landing pages should be designed with a specific action in mind for site visitors, it excludes many elements from a standard website. These elements include:
- Full site navigation: this could deter users from completing your desired action by allowing them to go to other pages.
- Standard footer navigation: much like the previous point, extensive navigation deter site visitors from staying on the page and completing the desired action.
- Website name and parent/approved partner names: pairing down the content on a landing page to only show what is necessary is recommended. In this case, the website name isn't needed and it potentially gives the user another avenue to go to another webpage.
- Global links: again, this gives the user a way to go to another site when the goal is to keep them on the page.