Homepage, product page for e-commerce websites, contact page… A website structure is usually pretty common, and there are many good practices that explain how to design them successfully.
But you may not yet be familiar with a very specific type of web page: Landing pages.
Because they are crucial in most websites, I will introduce them to you today, and give you concrete advice on how to create landing pages in WordPress.
Because they can turn your anonymous visitors into contacts (leads) interested in your offers.
Summary
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What is a landing page?
In order to start building an efficient landing page, let's quickly review its objectives and key features.
Landing page: the key element for conversion on your website
A page that promotes one of your offers on your websiteis commonly referred to as a landing page.
It is a page to which you send traffic, via a newsletter, advertising or social networks: hence the notion of landing. In this respect, a landing page is different from a simple product page.
On a landing page, you can promote:
- Your products or services;
- Downloadable content, such as an ebook, if you have a content marketing strategy;
- How to subscribe to your newsletter.
In fact, the purpose of your landing page is to convert your visitors, providing them with proof that your offer has value to them.
If your system is effective, your visitors will leave you information about them by filling out the form on your website.
Usually, once this form is complete, your contacts enter a funnel, through which you guide them, through emails that talk to them, into the world of your company.
As you can see, landing pages are very important for your website. So you must pay special attention to them!
The fundamentals of a landing page that converts
Even if all landing pages are different, we can still notice some “compulsory” elements.
A landing page has no navigation bar or footer. The purpose of this page is to keep your visitors on it, without distracting them from the rest of the website, to encourage them to fill out your form or click on your call to action.
A landing page also highlights a clearly stated value proposition. In the form of text blocks, and possibly tables showing your prices, you explain to your visitors what is at stake if they fill in your form or buy the product offered.
Another key element of a homepage is the presence of a form or call to action, depending on the format of the promoted offer:
- If you choose to display a form directly on it, it will ask you for the information you need to provide a good user experience for your visitors.
- If you prefer to insert a call to action on your landing page, make it attractive and make the reader want to click. A button, which differs from the rest of the page in terms of design, containing an action verb (such as “Register”), is fine.
Since an image is worth a thousand words, a powerful landing page also includes photos, illustrations or videos. Do not abuse them and consider them as elements that support the message delivered by your text.
Finally, it is pretty common to find landing pages highlighting testimonials from happy customers, which will reassure the visitor and make them want to take action.
Here you are with all the elements in mind to create your own custom landing page.
So start by creating wireframes; very simplistic schemas that let you know where each element of your page will be placed.
Once you have designed your wireframes, you will need to choose the method to create your landing page on WordPress.
I will give you an overview of the different options available to you: plugins, themes, and page builders.
Let's talk about it at the end of the post, to see what you've chosen?
Create your landing pages in WordPress with a plugin
Usually, if there is a need on WordPress, you can be sure that there is also a plugin that solves your problem.
This is the case with landing pages: there are many plugins that are proud to help you design them.
Plugin advantages to build landing pages in WordPress
- It's a simple method. You simply let the plugin take care of the different characteristics of the page, by offering you more or less interesting models, already optimized for conversion.
- Some plugins have advanced features. This is the case for those who offer sales funnels and integrated e-mailing solutions. This way, you manage everything from the same plugin, which makes your task easier and allows you to focus on your page performance.
Drawback of this method
- Depending on the plugin you choose, you will have more or less flexibility in designing your page. Hence the reason to choose your Landing Page plugin carefully, protecting you from those who will lock you in a graphic charter that does not fulfill your needs.
3 plugins that generate good landing pages
WordPress Landing Pages by Inbound Now is a free plugin… and deserves to be known! It provides you with several templates on which you can start designing your WordPress landing page.
In addition to advanced usability, the plugin interface allows you to track the conversion statistics of your page.
Another interesting point: the fact that you can do A/B testing on your landing page. In other words: you can create two different versions of your page, and test them both on part of your traffic, to discover which practices will generate the most conversion.
Download WordPress Landing Pages
InstaBuilder is a paid plugin to create your landing pages. For $77 (3-site license), you get 100 landing page templates, and you can easily customize them thanks to a drag and drop interface.
Convenient for those of you who don't like to code!
This plugin also provides you with a dashboard to track statistics related to your page and A/B testing.
OptimizePress is THE WordPress Landing Pages paid plugin. For $97, you will have access to more than 300 pre-designed page templates.
Here too, the drag-and-drop interface is easy to use, for a fairly advanced customization of the page design.
The data you will have access to with OptimizePress is also very complete and the A/B testing functionality is easy to implement.
Note that there are other types of services, external to WordPress, that have created their own WordPress plugin to provide you with all the tools necessary to create landing pages. Leadpages is a good example. Their advantage: they are truly designed for lead generation and landing page optimization.
This first method is very easy, isn't it?
Create your landing pages in WordPress with a specific theme
Come on, let's move on to the second option at your disposal: choose a WordPress theme that includes a landing page template that will kick ass.
The advantages of landing pages specific themes
- The theme you choose is ready to use, which considerably speeds up the creation of your page.
- The pages generated by the theme are designed for conversion and directly implement best practices for a well-designed page.
Drawbacks of this method
- Your theme will “govern” the entire site. Keep in mind that from the moment you change the theme, your landing pages will skip over! This solution can nevertheless be interesting if you launch your website at the same time as your Landing Page, or if you want to make a complete redesign.
- To get a personalized result, you will need to know how to modify your theme a little.
3 WordPress themes that offer good landing pages
Pillar a $59 theme. With more than 110 pre-designed landing page templates, you will undoubtedly find what you are looking for.
Its modern and refined design is easily customizable, since it includes Visual Composer page builder.
Adapted to WooCommerceas well as MailChimp and Campaign Monitor, it is really suitable for conversion and gives satisfactory results.
Leadinjection is a $39 theme specifically created for websites that want to generate leads via Landing Pages.
We are not disappointed by the many different types of pages, adapted to all needs.
It also includes Visual Composer, and is WooCommerce compatible. Its little bonus? The Lead Modal plugin, which allows you to integrate a pop-up form into your landing page.
Not too bad, for attracting the attention of your visitors, and making them want to be converted.
Let's take a look at what the third method gives us to create your landing page, and then let's start?
Create your landing page with a page builder
Finally, a landing page is nothing more than a particular type of page.
Nothing that a page builder can prevent you from reaching, more or less efficiently, and with more or less ease.
With a visual interface and drag and drop options, you can arrange the elements of your page as you wish.
The advantages of using a page builder to create your WordPress landing page
- It is also a simple method, especially for beginners who do not have a particular appetite for HTML or CSS.
With a page builder, you control the design of your page from top to bottom. - You can activate a page builder on any theme, without impacting the design, unlike the previous method.
Drawback of this method
- To be more efficient, you need to choose a page builder that already offers the elements you want to see on your landing page. So do not hesitate to check carefully, according to your expectations.
4 page builders to create good Landing Pages in WordPress
Elementor ($49 pro version for 1 site). With more than 3 million active installations, it is one of the leading page builders.
This is an ideal page builder to create your landing pages. Its developers regularly update a large library of free or paid templates, where you can easily find the landing pages you like.
Thanks to its great ease of use, Elementor will then allow you to easily customize them to your taste. We also particularly appreciate the feature that allows you to save a page as a reusable template.
Enough to satisfy those who have several landing pages to create on the same website.
Thrive Architect ($67 for 1 site). With its 200 landing page templates, there's no doubt about it: this page generator has everything you need to help you design these key pages.
The Thrive Themes' team page builder also connects to all the services you can use to convert your visitors: Mailpoet, Active Campaign, MailChimp, SendinBlue…
We also note the A/B testing functionality, which is managed directly in the plugin interface.
Divi Builder ($89 per year). We no longer present this page builder, which has attracted more than one WordPress user.
Its advantage for creating your landing pages, in addition to its simplicity and intuitiveness? The “Divi Landing Page Layout Kit”, which can be downloaded for free, adds to the basic modules; everything you need to create a high-performance landing page.
If you take a look at Divi's library, you will also find a wide choice of models to consult, to save you time.
Beaver Builder ($99 for the standard package). You may know the most famous little beaver in the WordPress universe?
Among the templates that the page generator makes available to you, you will find some to start creating your landing pages. It also allows you to save custom page templates, to be duplicated wherever you want on your site.
It integrates perfectly with all the plugins needed to create and optimize your landing pages, such as creating your download forms or managing the emails you send to your prospects.
So, which method to choose?
And here you are. You now know the 3 possibilities at your disposal to start designing landing pages in WordPress, and to convert your visitors into subscribers or customers.
But how do you choose between these 3 options?
- Those who need to quickly create a landing page on a website that is already online will prefer to use a plugin dedicated to it. A turnkey solution that will be perfect for beginners on WordPress as well as for developers who want to quickly deliver their project.
- Those who want to redesign their current site, to transform it into a real visitor conversion machine, will choose a specific WordPress theme. Inbound marketing or content enthusiasts: this is a solution for you!
- Those who wish to stay in control, in total autonomy, over the design of their landing page will go to a page builder instead. A simple and very visual method, to finely customize the appearance of your landing pages without coding.
And you, have you set up landing pages on your WordPress website? How do you promote your offers there?
Show us your examples in the comments below.
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