A landing page is one of the critical pages to have on your blog. It’s what helps you grow your email list and get your visitors to buy the products and services you’re promoting.
Yet, it may surprise you how many bloggers—and even professional marketers—don’t maximize landing pages. In fact, according to the 2nd edition of Marketing Sherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, 44% of B2B businesses direct their leads to their website’s homepage instead of a dedicated landing page. Another 62% of them have less than 6 landing pages on their website!
Why the disconnect?
As it turns out, the reason even though brands and bloggers don’t utilize landing pages despite recognizing its importance lies in the fact that they find the process of creating a landing page intimidating.
The good news is that those days are long gone. There are now lots of companies that’ll allow you to create a landing page in minutes without even knowing a single string of code. One such company is Spark CMS.
What is Spark CMS?
Spark CMS was created to solve a fundamental problem that many bloggers face: having a blog that’ll wow their readers, give them all the features they need to make money from it, and not have to spend a fortune.
If you’re dead serious about making money from your blog, you got to invest money to make that happen., that amount can set you back as much as $245 in your first three months!
Spark CMS is a self-hosting content management system. That means it doesn’t just help you create landing pages. You can also have a self-hosted blog with a stunning theme and a custom domain and even integrate a host of other features.
Why should bloggers use Spark CMS for their landing pages?
Easy landing page customization
This video below shows you just how easy it is to create a landing page on Spark’s CMS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqKasDIDYT4?feature=oembed
Quick integration
Spark’s landing pages integrates with the most used blogging tools and apps like Google Analytics, Facebook, Drift, and other with just one click.
They are optimized for search engines
In addition to being mobile-friendly, Spark’s user-friendly interface helps you optimize your landing page so that the keywords you want to rank to appear in the right places. That way, your landing page will rank higher than those belonging to other bloggers.
Ultra-fast loading speeds
How fast your landing page loads can affect its ability to convert and your blog’s bounce rate.
You need to make sure that your landing page should load within 2.4 seconds. Otherwise, it’ll decrease its ability to convert your readers by as much as 68.42%!
Steps to create a landing page using Spark CMS
Step #1: Be clear about your goals
Before you create your landing page, you need to have a specific and concrete goal that you want to achieve. Without this, you have no way of knowing whether it’s giving you the results you expect.
Ask yourself why you are creating this landing page. Is it to grow your email list and send them a follow up email to get the balls rolling? Or perhaps you’re doing some affiliate marketing, and you’re looking for a way to make more money? Maybe you’re a freelancer, and you’re trying to get more clients?
Your answer will give you a clearer idea not only of how your landing page should look like but also the different elements you’ll include here.
Step #2: Choose a template
The next step is to choose the right landing page template to help you meet the goals you set.
Most landing page builders and CMS platforms list their templates based on their designs. Spark CMS categorizes its templates based on their functionality.
By doing this, they not only make it easier for you to find a template design that you like, but you’re also sure that it’s got all the elements needed to make it effective.
Step #3: Tweak the template to match your branding
One of the most critical landing page creation best practices to remember is that it should give your visitors the same look and feel that they’d get if they visit any other page of your website.
If the landing page your create looks very different from the rest of your website, your visitors may feel lost and wonder if they perhaps went to a different site altogether.
You can make sure that doesn’t happen by tweaking the landing page template you’ve chosen to use the “Elements” feature in the Spark CMS dashboard.
Here, you can change the colors on the landing page template so it matches your brand colors. This is also where you can add your logo to your landing page and change the font to match the one on your website.
Step #4: Write an eye-catching headline
Your headline’s the most crucial part of your landing page. It’s so vital that legendary David Ogilvy once said that your headline’s worth 80 cents of every dollar you invest in your copy.
The reason’s simple: your headline’s the first thing that your visitors see when they search on Google.
No matter how amazing your landing page looks, if your headline doesn’t catch the attention of your target market as they scroll through the search results page, you won’t convert them into leads, much less into customers.
One practical tip to make your headlines more eye-catching is to use words that trigger your target market’s emotions, those that’ll touch their pain points.
There are two reasons that a person will take action: loss aversion and gaining pleasure. Of the two, the desire not to lose something is stronger. One study shows that feelings of loss are 2x stronger than feelings of happiness. As a result, when you give your target audience a solution for this, they’re more likely to click and visit your landing page.
Step #5: Focus your ad copy on your target readers
One of the biggest mistakes bloggers and marketers make when writing the copy of their landing page is that they focus too much on them and their offer.
The problem here is that’ll be visiting your landing page don’t care about any of that. They only care about answering one thing: “What’s in it for me?”
It’s true!
Visitors to your landing page are searching for a solution to their problem. So if you want to get them to convert, you got to answer this question right at the beginning of your landing page’s copy. An effective copywriting technique to use is to follow the Inverted Pyramid model.
Initially used by journalists and reporters, the Inverted Pyramid model immediately lays out to your landing page’s visitor the answer to their question. This is then followed by details to support and justify your answer.
The reason this works is that the attention span of people is short when they’re online. By giving the essential information at the beginning, they’ll be compelled to either read the rest of your copy or make a beeline for your landing page’s call-to-action button.
Professional Wingman’s landing page is an excellent example.
Notice how everything you need to know about the service and the CTA button is right in front of their visitors the moment the landing page loads. Even if they don’t read the whole thing, they’ve read enough to convince them to click the CTA button conveniently provided.
Step #6: Create your opt-in form
This is a relatively easy step to do because all of Spark’s landing page templates come with a pre-designed opt-in form that you can quickly customize.
The challenge is knowing how much of your visitors’ personal information will you ask on the form.
On the one hand, your visitors should find the amount of information you’re asking is justified by what you’re offering. If you’re asking too much, they’ll not fill out the form altogether.
At the same time, you need to get the information you must help you convert them into paying customers.
To find that balance, you must understand what buyer’s journey stage your landing page belongs. As a rule of thumb, the further into your buyer’s journey, the more justifiable it is to ask for more information.
For example, if you’re creating a landing page that falls in the Awareness stage, a simple opt-in form asking for your visitor’s name and email address would be enough. There’s also this need to use an email verification tool for confirming the emails.
On the other hand, asking for your visitor’s phone number is understandable to them if your landing page offering is a scheduled demo or consultation, which usually happens in the Decision stage.
Step #6: Add a compelling CTA
Next to your headline, your call-to-action is the most vital element of your landing page. It’s that final step that’ll turn your visitors into either a lead or a customer.
Two critical elements go into a compelling CTA:
The first is the text. A compelling CTA should include action words so it prompts your visitors to take the right action. Your CTA’s text should tell your visitors what they’ll be getting when they click it.
The second is its location. Most bloggers and marketers would only add the CTA on the bottom of their landing page’s copy. While that will convert some visitors, not all of them will have the time nor the patience to read everything.
That’s why it’s essential to include a CTA on the upper third of your landing page. This is what they call “above the fold.” This is the first thing that loads on your visitor’s screen the moment they arrive on your landing page.
Combined with the right copy, your visitors won’t feel the need to scroll to the bottom to learn more or to sign up.
Step #7: Test your landing page before publishing
Although you may be excited about launching your landing page, there’s just one last step you must do, and that’s to test its effectiveness.
Most bloggers skip this part because they don’t know how to do it. Marketers do the same because it’s downright tedious.
Spark CMS’ dashboard has an A/B testing tool that’ll allow you to test each section of your landing page to get the most from it the moment it goes live.
Also, as you can see in the short clip below, it’s straightforward. Just click on the section you want to test, fill in the details, and Spark will do the rest for you.
Spark CMS makes it easy to create a landing page that converts
Landing pages have now become an integral part of any blog or website. Spark CMS’ platform is a cost-effective and convenient way for professional bloggers and online business owners create a landing page that looks professional and reflects your brand.
However, it’s not enough to have a professional-looking landing page. You also must hone your copywriting skills so you can capture the attention of your target audience and get them to keep reading. Only then can you get them to take action and convert.
Related blog posts and resources: