You got a landing page, and you got traffic too. But you are just not happy with the results. You feel like your landing page is like a leaky pipeline. Let's fix the leak with simple landing page copy hacks so that you can start to see significantly more leads and sales.
How can I fix a leaky pipeline?
As entrepreneurs and copywriters we wear a secret hat. It's that of a plumber. We lay pipelines with the only exception that these pipelines carry leads as email addresses and phone numbers. And when these pipelines leak, it's our job to fix them.
My earlier post showed you five exercises to create a lead-generation landing page copy from scratch. In that post, I showed you how to create a landing page that speaks and instructs visitors to do just ONE THING – take your offer.
If you haven't read that post, please do now. I'll wait for you.
And when you're back, come right here and continue.
Turn Your Landing Page into an ATM.
Depending on how comfortable you are, implementing the exercises in this post will take you anywhere from at least a couple of hours to a full day. So find a nice and comfortable place to work on the following exercises.
Get yourself oodles of coffee (or whatever else keeps you going) because you're about to turn your website into an ATM (Attention To Money) machine!
17 Website Landing Page Copy Hacks in Under 24 Hours
Okay, I must admit one thing. I did mention under 24 hours, but it's not for everyone. It works in 24 hours only if you are fully committed to doing this with me. Are you?
I know you are. So come on, let's do this!
1. One Goal
Why are you creating this landing page?
You want to collect emails. Great. But why?
Maybe it's an opt-in form for an upcoming webinar. Awesome. What's the goal of your webinar?
Perhaps it's a sales page you're creating. Terrific.
No matter what your goal is, please write it down. Because, without knowing the "goal," you will never be able to measure improvement.
Suppose you want to generate $10,000 in sales with a $100 product. You'll need 100 people to buy it. If your website gets 10,000 visitors every week, the goal of your home page can be to convert 10% (for example) of them to leads.
Well, these numbers are just examples. But you need to think along those lines and have some numbers in place. Some number is better than no number. Your landing page goals will define what tactics you pick and the tests you run.
2. Be Relatable
No one can relate to Shakespeare.
If I cannot relate to you, I will likely not transact with you.
To be able to relate, you need bridges. And you can find bridges in culture, geography, dialect, beliefs, and many other elements.
When it comes to your landing page copy, use relatable words. Common words, niche or industry-specific examples, and analogies are some great ways to be relatable.
End of the day, you want the visitor to feel connected with your narrative.
3. Be Interesting
What's more interesting – a product manual or your favorite novel?
Humans like to feel entertained. It's more true if you ask them for their time or money.
Use exciting words, examples, images, videos, or colors. It's going to be worth it.
4. Be Engaging
A copy is a copy is a copy.
You cannot change the way one has to consume copy. They got to read. But what if you could change the way it makes your readers feel?
Can you write a copy that makes the reader feel inclusive?
Does your landing page copy make your website visitors smile?
Will your copy make me feel like I'm conversing with you?
If so, your copy is engaging! Congrats!
But if it isn't, here are some tips.
Tips for engaging your reader:
- Ask questions (more on this in the next exercise).
- Write like you're speaking to someone 1-1.
- Use 'you' more in your copy.
- Where and when applicable, try and use words that trigger emotion.
These are just a few to get you started.
5. Trigger a YES
You can do precisely what Leonardo DiCaprio does in the movie Inception.
Want to know how?
Would you like to use this (to do the right things) with your website visitors?
Are you sure?
Because once you learn this, you'll be unable to stop yourself from using it all the time!
It will cost you $10 to learn this. Can you Paypal me the cash?
WAIT. What just happened?
Well, you just learned it by experiencing it. And here's the lesson:
Ask questions that trigger a YES response in your copy.
What this does is pretty interesting. It makes readers comfortable saying YES to you.
And guess what happens when you ask for the sale?
YES! That's right. Your readers are now more inclined to say a YES to your offer too!
6. Benefits and Payoffs
Features vs. benefits is a discussion that's probably familiar to you. But what are payoffs?
Let's use a commonly used example of a drill and a hole.
How do you sell an Electric Drill?
You don't sell an Electric Drill by talking about its features. No, wattage, power, and precision will open the wallet.
It can be better to sell a drill by talking about its benefits. Make a hole quickly wherever you want and whenever you want.
But the best way to sell a drill is by discussing the payoffs. What is the promised land?
You'll now be able to hang that picture of your children in our living room. You no longer have to open the computer or search for the album. Because you now have fond and loving memories in your living room all the time. Click this button to buy this drill.
7. Use Trust Signals
If you've done all of what we discussed so far, here's what your reader is thinking:
You got my attention. I'm now interested because you have something that will help me fulfill my desire. But I'm not sure if I can trust you.
How can you let your readers trust you?
Use one or more of these, for instance, and you'll see your readers at ease:
- Testimonials from past customers.
- Photos – yours, customers, students, etc.
- Symbols of trust – logos like Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, Satisfaction guarantee, etc.
- An unconditional guarantee – 7-day, 30-day, 1-year, lifetime.
- Good website layout and design.
8. Always Focus on the Fold
The word fold comes from newspapers. That's right.
Because copywriting has been there way before the internet.
And when it comes to computers and phones, the fold refers to the bottom of your screen.
So what about the fold?
Your goal should always be to maximize the impact of everything above the fold because people make decisions in a fraction of a second.
You missed a significant opportunity if the most crucial part of your copy is not visible on page load. Show that above the fold if you want the reader to take action.
9. Pains, Desires, Needs, and Fears
Got headache? Here's a pain balm.
That always works. People respond almost always when you speak to their limbic brain.
If you read the previous post, you must've done the customer avatar exercise. If you didn't do it then, do it now. Note your customer avatar's pains, desires, needs, and fears. Also, note down how they address them today.
Once you know them, use them consistently in your copies.
10. Follow through
You grabbed attention, piqued your reader's interests and desires, and got them to take action.
They took action.
They gave their email addresses and phone numbers or even swiped their credit cards!
And then what?
Most entrepreneurs celebrate the victory. But they miss this one crucial opportunity.
And this opportunity never comes back!
Well, that's because you didn't follow through.
But how do you do that? Here are just two:
- Use the Thank You page to upsell another product or an in-person experience.
- Offer a unique experience with your brand.
11. Use Data
Words are powerful. But empty words make your copy weak.
So how to avoid that? Simply by looking for opportunities to turn words into numbers.
Instead of saying "the sales numbers skyrocketed," say "the sales went up by 125%".
And instead of saying "a massive untapped market," use something like "a $3 billion market with hardly a handful of players."
12. Scurgency
Scarcity + urgency = scurgency.
Yeah, it's a word that is a lot overused these days.
Use both of them to get your landing page visitors to take action.
Use things like "limited time offer," countdown timers, "only 50 seats remaining, " etc. These psychological triggers are always helpful if you've followed and implemented the rest of the tips.
13. Use Storytelling
We all love stories, don't we?
But I don't have a story to tell. I'm just selling an Ebook.
I'm not a storyteller. I need to generate leads for my online course.
You don't have to tell stories like "Once upon a time, there lived a handsome prince…."
But you can use storytelling to talk about your product, lead magnet. Tell your listeners how it came to life, how you learned some of what you share in that product, what the product did to you, and how it can impact the reader. That's storytelling too.
People love to listen to a sequence of events unfold and replay that transformation inside their heads. Storytelling helps build trust with your audience, amongst many other things.
14. Do the Scan Test
What do you do when you sit with a newspaper?
You open the paper and scan through the headlines. Isn't it?
Do that with your landing page copy. See if you like it. But specifically, look for the following:
- Do the most critical parts pop out?
- Does it give you a sense of what this landing page is about?
- Is your landing page looking cluttered?
- Is too much of something (images, underlines, bold, etc.) going on?
Just make sure you feel good scanning through your landing page.
15. Use Video When Needed
Some things are best with pictures and voice--like a Video Sales Letter (VSL). It sometimes works better than written copy. So please consider using video when needed.
16. Speed, Speed, and Speed
Who likes a website that takes ages to load?
No one!
So please make sure you focus on page speed. Reduce image sizes, avoid using heave design elements, and stay away from themes and templates that use too much javascript.
17. Mobile-friendly
This hack is last on this list, but it's the first on Google's index.
Google has gone mobile-first with its search crawling and ranking. While the last two points are more technical and tend to fall under the SEO umbrella, you mustn't lose focus on them. And that's why I included them here.
No matter who you are, an entrepreneur or copywriter, your goal always has to strike the right balance between design and copy. Both are essential and have to coexist.
But your copy has to do the selling.
PS: If you found this post helpful, please share this with a friend or colleague. Before you go clickety-clicking, I'd like to share something with you. It's my 90-Day Marketing Plan. Based on my 6+ years in online marketing, selling courses, and ebooks, I've created this plan that you can download. But I went one step further and made it a customizable plan. All you need to do is take a quiz, and based on your answers; you will receive a customized 90-Day plan for marketing your business. Sounds cool? It works too. Here's the link.
