Landing Page Getting Started Guide: Master the key to success and take your online marketing to the next level

What is a sales page?

Sales Page, which is the Landing page that everyone often hears in e-commerce or marketing situations. In the field of Internet marketing, the sales page plays an important role. Sometimes, it is also called a “landing page” or “list collection page”, which is the web page that is displayed to potential users after they click on an ad or search using a search engine. Generally speaking, this page will display expanded content related to the clicked advertisement or search result link, and this page should be search engine optimized for a certain keyword.

For sales-oriented sales pages, the purpose of writing is nothing more than to grab the attention of the target audience, and then attract them to stop and watch, and take actions such as purchasing, subscribing, downloading or donating.

There is no doubt that the main purpose of designing a sales page is to sell products or services. Therefore, some people mistakenly believe that when designing a sales page, it should be all-inclusive and include all kinds of product information and details to attract the attention of the target audience. But be very careful, as doing so may backfire!

In fact, an effective sales page should not contain excessive information, but must make the target audience notice the core value of the product and highlight information that is beneficial to the audience. Therefore, when designing a sales page, a relatively simple and clear visual design method is usually used to focus the page, and elements such as videos, forms, and call-to-action buttons are used to attract the audience’s attention.

The operation logic of the sales page is very simple, that is, exposure, browsing and conversion. Currently, there are many convenient sales page design tools and services on the market, making it easy for friends without web design foundation to get started! However, once you’ve designed your sales page and delivered it to your target audience, the challenge really begins! The real success or failure of a sales page is conversion in the final stages.

Some friends in the industry have also asked me how to set conversion standards and indicators. But in fact, there is no standard answer to this. It all depends on your company’s products and services, as well as the goals and related plans you have given to this sales page.

As you start thinking about how to use sales pages to meet your company’s business needs, don’t rush to design web pages. Instead, remember one thing, that is, when we design each sales page, we need to set a clear goal and a unique call to action.

For example, most common sales page conversion goals are to sell goods or services to a target audience, or to collect an effective list through email addresses. I would like to point out here that many people may have some misunderstandings and think that in this community era, email has long been outdated, but this is not the case! I think that compared to traditional marketing methods, email marketing is a proactive marketing method. As long as it is paired with an effective list for promotion, it can complement each other.

至于销售页上头所预埋的行动呼吁，其实也相当关键。 The purpose of the so-called call to action is to stimulate the inner desire of the target audience. After reading the copy and video on the sales page, they can actually take action-such as hoping that consumers will buy goods, or donate money, donate blood, or participate in activities, etc.

To design a concise and powerful call to action, you can start by asking yourself the following questions: What do you want your target audience to do? How do you make sure your target audience knows what they should do? And why should the target audience be instructed to do these things? Can they gain anything from it?

In other words, if you want to get the desired conversion results from your sales page, you have to design your call to action well. If you just use general promotional techniques or clichés to promote the product, the effect may not be as expected, or even have the opposite effect!

To give a practical example, you should know Netflix, right? Netflix’s sales page is quite charmingly designed. At the top, there is a simple copy “See what’s next. Watch anywhere. Cancel anytime.”, followed immediately by a big red call-to-action button directly telling you “Join Free for a month.” It means that if you sign up for Netflix now, you will get a month of high-quality video programs for free. Well, this call to action is really powerful!

Key points in designing sales pages

When you start designing your sales page, don’t forget the following three important points:

The first point is to pay attention to the principle of Above the fold. Whether your target audience is browsing the sales page on a computer or a smartphone, we need to focus on the first image that catches their eye. Regardless of whether you use copywriting, pictures or celebrity testimonials, try to put the most eye-catching content in the first picture at the top. Only in this way can we capture the first impression and grab everyone’s attention, so that we can continue to understand further.

Second, according to foreign statistics, 48% of sales pages provide multiple discounts, and marketing techniques such as limited time or limited edition can be used to encourage target readers to take action. Providing various rare and good discounts is also a good way to push the envelope!

The third point is that in addition to the sales task, the sales page also has an important mission, which is to obtain information about the target audience. But I want to remind you, don’t be too greedy, and you don’t need to obtain all users’ net worth information at once. Because when the form fields are reduced from 11 to 4, the conversion rate increases to 120%. In other words, as long as we can obtain the email of the target audience for the first time, we can try to obtain other information through the design of different activity mechanisms in the future.

By the way, because the new personal information law and the European Union’s “[General Data Protection Regulation](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/EU General Data Protection Regulation)” (GDPR) are already on the road, so please be especially careful with this part!

Actual case sharing

Next, let me give you a practical case to share with you: Starting from January 2019, I launched a new service called “Vista Writing Companion Plan”. As the name suggests, this writing companionship program is specially designed for friends who are interested in improving their writing skills or have difficulties or needs in writing.

The students in this writing companionship program come from home and abroad, and their learning needs are also very diverse. For example, some people want to publish a book, some want to participate in an essay contest, some want to build a personal brand, and some even want to design a powerful sales page for their own products…

In order to promote the “Vista Writing Companion Program” that I host, in addition to promoting it on the Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/vista.writing.program) or my own blog, of course I also designed a sales page.

If you open this sales page specially designed for the “Vista Writing Companion Program”, the first thing you will see is the word-of-mouth testimonials of the partners in the first two phases. Then scroll down the page and you will see related course information such as: program features, program introduction, instructor introduction, price and discounts, etc.

Well, why should I put customer testimonials in the most important prime position instead of course information or price information that is directly related to sales? Well, this is naturally to increase the professionalism and credibility of the “Vista Writing Companion Program” and thereby increase the conversion rate of this consulting service. In other words, I hope to sell my consulting services to potential customers through the power of word-of-mouth.

Rather than boasting or bragging, it would be better for everyone to see the personal testimonies of previous students, so as to increase their goodwill and trust in the “Vista Writing Companion Program”.

After seeing this, I think you must be very excited and want to create a sales page that is both eye-catching and can bring conversions!

So, how do we go about designing a sales page? In addition to setting clear goals and a unique call to action first, I recommend establishing a proper understanding of your sales page.

First of all, don’t rush to turn on your computer and start collecting information. You need to first create a blueprint for the imaginary sales page: design a convenient path and excellent experience so that the target audience can enter the sales page through social links, search or online advertising, and then follow the previously formulated content strategy to accomplish the actions you want the audience to take, such as purchasing goods, subscribing to services, registering as a member, or requesting information, etc. When the target audience takes these actions, conversion is successfully achieved.

As for the design of the sales page, as the saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words”, vivid images and audio-visual information are essential materials. In addition to writing persuasive copy, it is also very important to provide clear product display pictures; of course, clear and easily identifiable purchase buttons are also indispensable, coupled with exciting copy and preferential prices, in order to achieve the effect of “persuading”.

Overall, sales pages are really effective and widely used by the corporate world. It is not that mysterious. As long as we fully grasp product information and consumer psychology, and then formulate a reasonable content strategy, it will naturally help us effectively convert the target audience into actual customers.

The operating logic of a sales page does not sound difficult, but when you start to design it, you may find that there are many details. In addition to copywriting, you must also pay attention to the configuration of pictures, videos, forms, call-to-action buttons and other elements. Moreover, after designing the sales page, you usually have to go through the A/B Testing process to test market preference and acceptance before you can find the best presentation solution.

Here, I also want to remind you of an important concept, that is, the sales page exists to achieve conversion. So, even if you can’t convert immediately, you should at least make people feel good or leave a good impression, and be willing to fill in valuable personal information such as name, email or mobile phone number.

Sales page design principles

Let me simply share with you a few design principles for sales pages. I hope it will be helpful to you:

The first point is, let people understand at a glance what you are selling? Some businesses are accustomed to including a bunch of information in their sales pages. If people cannot quickly understand the products you want to sell, the results may not be ideal. In addition, your company’s brand should also be placed in the most conspicuous place so that it can be seen at a glance.

The second point is to have an eye-catching title on the sales page. This will keep users on the page and encourage them to take action. Of course, the discounts and benefits you provide should also be clearly marked, so that people can “act immediately” if you are interested!

The third point is to include wonderful audio and video introduction content. According to a survey by the SEJ website, if you can insert some exciting audio and video content on the sales page, it is expected to increase the conversion rate by 80%. Therefore, you can also consider placing some exciting videos on your sales page.

The fourth point is, of course, don’t forget to put a [call to action] (https://www.vistacheng.com/2022/01/how-to-write-an-effective-call-to-action.html) on the sales page. A call to action is a model that inspires the target audience to actually take action. We can use banners, pictures or copy to awaken the public’s attention and then drive this group of people to take specific actions.

In addition, here I will also share with you a few check points that can be used as a reference when designing a sales page:

First point, does the sales page match the needs of the target audience? Second point, is the copy written using the common vocabulary of the target audience? Third point, is there enough unique value to attract the target audience? The fourth point is, is it simple and clear, allowing the target audience to place an order without thinking?

Looking at the above four points, it is not difficult to find that the common keyword is the target audience. When we start designing a sales page, we should put the target audience first, not the ideas of the company boss or product sales as the starting point. In other words, we not only use the sales page to display your company’s product and service information, but also let the public understand - what actual benefits and benefits can it bring to consumers? To sum up briefly, when you start designing a sales page, please remember that you don’t just need to make the page beautiful! We need to consider more whether this sales page is persuasive? Can the mission be achieved? In other words, it is to gain the understanding and trust of the target audience through the sales page, and to achieve the most critical call to action.

There is no doubt that the sales page is a marketing tool that can smoothly convert traffic into orders.

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