6. Think of your website like your handshake.
It’s the first interaction with a visitor and your chance to make a great first impression.
FLICKRUSER JUST.LUC
19. The sole purpose of a call-to-action is to drive
traffic to a landing page.
20. Common CTA issues:
• content-cramming
above the fold
• inappropriate call-to-
action for a visitor
• lacking clear direction
21. Make it action-oriented.
Don’t make your visitors think about what to do next. Just tell them!
Download the Free Dog Training GuideDownload the
Adventure Travel Guide
Action-oriented verb
• Start
• Join
• Learn
• Discove
r
• Begin
• Try
• Save
22. Includes keywords consistent
with the offer and landing page.
Without keywords, would you know what this offer is about?
Download the Free Dog Training GuideDownload the Guide
23. AmbiguousCTAs generate leads at a great cost.
Don’t make more work for your marketing and sales teams.
Download the Free Dog Training Guide
Source: Moz
24. Includes keywords consistent
with the offer and landing page.
Using the same keywords and phrasing for the entire conversion process helps your
visitors understand what they are going to get.
Download the Free Dog Training GuideDownload the Adventure Travel Guide
Keywords
25. CALL-TO-ACTION FORMULA
[Action Verb] + [Offer Type] + [Value Offer]
• What do I need to do?
• What do I get for doing
what you suggest?
• Why do I want what you are
giving me?
26. Text: action-oriented, aligned with landing page.
CALLS-TO-ACTION SHOULD:
Placed on the page appropriately.
Obvious it’s a button and it grabs attention.
33. Remove the navigationmenu andlinks.
Theprimary goal of your landing page is to generateleads, so get rid of any distractions.
34. Explain the
offer and its value,
and keep it short.
Explain the offer in 1-3 sentences,
and how someone would benefit
from the offer in another
1-3 sentences.
37. Are you using asking the right
questions on your forms?
What do you need to know?
DISCUSSION QUESTION.
38. Have an action-oriented headline.
LANDING PAGES SHOULD:
Have a form length mirrors the value of the offer.
Explain the offer clearly and concisely.
Be distraction-free: no navigation menu or links.
49. 0% chance of
a conversion
Without a Thank You Page to
suggest additional direction,
you’ll always miss out on a
potential conversion.
50. Deliver the offer that your lead is expecting.
Include a link for them to access the offer or, in some cases,
set proper expectations on what happens next.
52. Deliver promised content offer or set expectations.
THANK YOU PAGES SHOULD:
Move new leads further into the buyer’s journey.
Display the site’s navigation menu.
55. Provide more than one path to find your
content across your website.
CTA TIPS:
1
2
3
Consider the tone for your buyer persona.
Evaluate the visual elements such as:
placement on page, color, shape, contrast,
imagery.
56.
57. Be distraction-free with no links and an
easy-to-find form.
LANDING PAGE TIPS:
1
2
3
Consider a video to explain complex offers.
Improve your form questions for your lead
first, your company second.
Evaluate the visual elements such as:
layout, reading fatigue, form intimidation,
and imagery.
4
58. Don’t let search engines index your thank you
page for search engine results.
THANK YOU PRO TIP:
User-agent:*
Disallow: /typ/
Search for “no index” to find instructions for your website platform.
Example: www.website.com/typ/whitepaper123
I’d like to introduce myself, my name is Angela Hicks, and I am an Inbound Professor on the Academy team at HubSpot.
For those of you who are big twitter users, you may reach me at angela_9.
Think of your website like your handshake. It’s the first interaction with a visitor and your chance to make a great first impression. A clear, confident and trustworthy website can be a great way to start off a business relationship, just like a firm handshake.
You may wonder what makes a website an inbound website? What’s the difference? An inbound website places the right content, in front of the right person, at the right time. It allows website users to navigate smoothly to find the information they are seeking.
This may be an extreme example, but is it?
Even on your homepage.
55 percent of visitors spend 15 seconds or less on your site. People decide so very quickly if they are going to stay or go, so too many options and details can make it harder for them to make that decision.
The most important thing for your homepage to have is simple, action-oriented content. Explain yourself clearly - What are you offering? What are the benefits? What are the key features?
Simplicity here is key – you don’t want to have paragraphs and paragraphs of text. Website users won’t necessarily read it. Remember the Blink Test - just a few seconds to take it all in.
So ask yourself - what is my website is all about? What do I want my visitors to experience immediately? Where are they going to be looking to go next in my site?
The best thing to remember is - One page, one goal. As soon as we start trying to solve for many different things on one page, things get complicated, cluttered and unclear.
WHAT about the homepage? The homepage might need more information.
We’re going to focus primarily on the convert stage of the inbound methodology, where we convert visitors into leads. Let's discuss why the conversion process is so critical.
Put simply, you can’t get leads without a conversion process. And some of those leads will eventually become paying customers.
Well, a conversion process typically begins with a CTA.
When a visitor clicks on it, they’re brought to a landing page where they fill out a form with their contact information – turning them into a lead!
After that, the lead is directed to a Thank-You page where they receive the offered content.
If you’d like to use sub-sections in your slides, to break up your sections/agenda items, use this to denote them.
CTAs can be placed on your website pages, your blog and in your emails.
Since they kick off the conversion process, they’re a critical first step.
Don’t make your visitors think too hard about what they need to do next –just tell them!
Clear, direct action verbs make for a great call-to-action.
In this example, it says “Download the free adventure travel guide”.
The word “download” makes it pretty obvious what will happen next.
Also, keep your message brief.
Your CTA won’t take up too much room on a page or in an email. It’s always going to be secondary to the rest of the content.
When choosing the action-oriented words, consider the offer and your buyer persona and try out different action verbs like request, sign up, download or receive.
Now, without keywords, would you know what this offer is about? This example doesn’t describe the guide at all.
Now, without keywords, would you know what this offer is about? This example doesn’t describe the guide at all.
Using the same keywords and phrasing for the entire conversion process helps your visitors understand what they are going to get as they navigate from CTA to landing page to thank you page.
CTAs are big business assets, so it’s important to follow best practices when creating them. Let's talk about what makes for a successful call-to-action.
When analyzing the effectiveness of a CTA, a good goal to aim for is a 1-to-2 percent click-through rate.
This means that out of all who viewed the CTA, 1 to 2 percent clicked on the button.
So a successful CTA would result in 1 or 2 visitors clicking on the CTA out of 100 people.
When comparing clicks to submissions, ten percent is a great goal.
For those that clicked on the CTA and made it to the landing page, how many of those people submitted the form and became a lead?
If we had 50 people that made it to the landing page from the CTA, and if 5 of them filled out the form on the landing page, we’d have a 10% click-to-submission rate and in turn, a successful CTA.
If you’d like to use sub-sections in your slides, to break up your sections/agenda items, use this to denote them.
Now in order to convert a visitor to a lead we need something of value to provide them.
You’re trying to communicate how your offer will help your website visitors solve a problem or benefit from an opportunity. Tell your visitors what they’re getting and how they are going to access it. Will they need to download it? Use the word “download” in the header. Will they be watching a video? Use the word “watch”. Also be sure to include the type of offer in the header, like Ebook or Template, so that search engines understand the offer, too.
Remember - the primary goal of your landing page is to generate leads, so get rid of any distractions. In the example here, the form is a strong focal point on the page and the next step that the lead should take.
In 1-3 sentences, explain what the offer is. Then, write another 1-3 sentences that detail how someone would benefit from the offer.
Visitors make up their mind about the offer in just a couple of seconds, which is why we performed a blink test earlier. If you have too much information on the landing page, chances are it won’t have a positive effect on the lead.
You may choose to use a form to allow a visitor to describe what they need from you next. Give them everything that they might need.
Perhaps even a map to your location and your business hours. It’s important to make your contact us page feel personal.
Let’s discuss what those are now.
If you’d like to use sub-sections in your slides, to break up your sections/agenda items, use this to denote them.
Time’s up. Do you remember what the landing page was about? I bet you remember that the offer was for a free 10-step guide and maybe some of the benefits that were outlined.
The reason this landing page was easy to understand and digest was because it was built using recommended best practices.
This is a great example of how a high performing landing page doesn't necessarily use all of the best practices. Use the best practices as a guideline. When in doubt, use more not less.
After two weeks, if your landing page isn’t converting at a rate of 20% or higher, take some time to analyze the landing page, and see if there are any best practices you can add.
Ask yourself- How much is my visitor willing to share with me in order to get this offer?
If your landing page isn’t performing as well as you’d like, consider making changes based on the best practices that are recommended for landing pages. How is your persona interpreting the offer? Does the language resonate with them or is it confusing or unappealing? Is the form asking the right questions of your persona or are the form questions and length preventing the visitor from converting? Make small changes so that you can evaluate the effectiveness. For example, if you change the layout, leave the copy as is to see how the layout impacts the conversion rate.
In terms of a conversion rate, a good goal to aim for is 20%. That means that 20% of the total people who get to the landing page eventually fill out the corresponding form.
If you’d like to use sub-sections in your slides, to break up your sections/agenda items, use this to denote them.
A thank you page, as the name implies, allows you to thank the new lead for signing up to get the offer, but also provides some additional direction on what the new lead might want to look at next.
A thank you page is important because it gives the lead the information they hoped for.
While this is the end of the conversion process, the thank you page can be used to help someone continue through the buyer's journey.
http://offers.hubspot.com/thank-you/mobile-marketing-kit
In terms of a conversion rate, a good goal to aim for is 20%. That means that 20% of the total people who get to the landing page eventually fill out the corresponding form.
Your lead gave you their information in exchange for that offer, so now you’ll need to hold up your end of the bargain.
Make sure it's easy to get the offer they’re expecting.
What was your offer?
Was it an eBook, whitepaper, free trial or a demo?
Your Thank You page should either include a link for them to access the offer or, in some cases, set proper expectations on what happens next.
Unlike the landing page, where you kept the focus on the offer and minimized navigational options, you’ll want to give your leads every opportunity to look around after they’ve converted and reached your thank you page.
If they want to read more about your company and explore your website after converting, make it easy for them to do so!
Let’s discuss Thank You page best practices now. The first one is pretty straightforward.
You’ll want to analyze your CTA, LP, TYP and figure out what the weakest link is in that chain of events.
We’re looking for a 1-2% click through rate on the CTA
A 20% submission rate on the landing page and
1-2% click through rate on the cta.
If your CTA isn’t working, well, try these things. Again this will apply to your CTAs on your TYP as well.
-Look in the CTA tool or just try to visualize the CTA on its own. Your visitors should understand exactly what the offer is and what will happen next.
-Consider your tone. What kinds of language resonates with your buyer persona? Does this use jargon? Should it? Is this language too aggressive?
-You’ll also evaluate the visual elements. Is it placed well? Is the color, shape and contrast drawing attention?
If you have a lot of competition, this is where you can challenge the status quo and stand up against your competition. On the other hand, your landing pages can also have a bandwagon effect. A video that shows some happy customers, and people using your products and services can convince your visitors to work with you too.
When you put video on your landing pages, you don’t have to necessarily record a step-by-step tutorial. Instead, tell a story to your visitors. I want to talk about what kinds of emotions we’re aiming for with our video creations. Buzzsumo did some research and found out that people click and in our case will watch a video in order to experience a certain emotion. 25% want to have a feeling of awe, 17% want to laugh, 15% simply want to be amused.
If you’re able to generate this emotional response in your video, you’ll have a higher conversion rate on your landing page.
If your CTA isn’t working, well, try these things. Again this will apply to your CTAs on your TYP as well.
-Look in the CTA tool or just try to visualize the CTA on its own. Your visitors should understand exactly what the offer is and what will happen next.
-Consider your tone. What kinds of language resonates with your buyer persona? Does this use jargon? Should it? Is this language too aggressive?
-You’ll also evaluate the visual elements. Is it placed well? Is the color, shape and contrast drawing attention?
If your CTA isn’t working, well, try these things. Again this will apply to your CTAs on your TYP as well.
-Look in the CTA tool or just try to visualize the CTA on its own. Your visitors should understand exactly what the offer is and what will happen next.
-Consider your tone. What kinds of language resonates with your buyer persona? Does this use jargon? Should it? Is this language too aggressive?
-You’ll also evaluate the visual elements. Is it placed well? Is the color, shape and contrast drawing attention?
Only 1% of the people actually click on a slide, which almost always was the first slide;
Only 1% of the people actually click on a slide, which almost always was the first slide;
Only 1% of the people actually click on a slide, which almost always was the first slide;
You’ll want to analyze your CTA, LP, TYP and figure out what the weakest link is in that chain of events.
We’re looking for a 1-2% click through rate on the CTA
A 20% submission rate on the landing page and
1-2% click through rate on the cta.