Landing Page Tips: Ten Things You Must Do If You Want To Convert [LNIM245]

Your landing page conversion rate can literally double the revenue of your business. A few percentage points of improvement in your opt-in rate changes everything downstream — more subscribers, more sales, more profit from the same traffic. In this episode, Mark shares ten essential landing page tips that he has tested and refined over years of building pages that convert.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• The ten most important elements every high-converting landing page needs
• Why testing is non-negotiable and how to set up proper A/B tests
• How white space, bullet points, and mobile-first design affect conversions
• Why social proof and risk reduction overcome the objections that kill conversions
• How policy pages impact both visitor trust and ad platform quality scores

Episode Summary

Mark defines a landing page simply: it is any page where traffic arrives with the goal of getting visitors to take an action. That action might be opting in, buying, or clicking through. The conversion rate on that page can be the difference between a profitable business and a money pit.

Before diving into the tips, Mark emphasizes one overarching principle: everything is up for debate, so you must test. These tips are starting points based on what works broadly, but your specific market might respond differently. Use A/B testing tools to validate what works for your audience.

Here are the ten tips:

1. Clear and compelling headline. You have seconds to grab attention. Make the benefit obvious. Numbers in headlines boost conversions. Test two or three headline variations.
2. Clear call to action. Tell visitors exactly what you want them to do. One obvious choice, not a menu of options. A clear CTA with a clear benefit.
3. Plenty of white space. Do not hit visitors with a wall of text. Proper spacing makes content scannable and reduces fatigue.
4. Bullet points and lists. Combined with white space, these let visitors scan and understand your offer in seconds.
5. Mobile-first design. Most traffic comes from mobile. Design for mobile first and ensure everything looks great on small screens.
6. Smart use of color. Mostly white pages tend to convert well. Use high-contrast, easy-to-read color combinations. Look up color palette best practices for web design.
7. Social proof. Testimonials, reviews, or trust indicators below the fold. Your CTA stays above the fold; social proof supports it below.
8. Images and video. Video can be powerful if it summarizes the page content, but always add captions since many visitors cannot play audio. Test whether video helps or hurts your specific page.
9. Risk reduction. Address objections directly. If you are collecting emails, state that you will not sell their address or send spam. Add trust badges where appropriate.
10. Privacy and cookie policies. Real websites have legal pages in the footer. This legitimizes your site to visitors and to ad platforms. Google and Facebook check for policy pages and will de-rate or ban pages that lack them.

Mark adds one bonus tip: use HTTPS. Make sure your website is hosted with a reasonable domain name and looks trustworthy. And when you test, make sure you have enough traffic to get statistically meaningful results before making changes.

Key Takeaways

• A few percent improvement in landing page conversion can double your business revenue
• Test everything. What works broadly may not work for your specific market.
• Design for mobile first. Most of your traffic is on phones.
• Above the fold: headline and CTA. Below the fold: social proof and risk reduction.
• Policy pages are not optional. They affect visitor trust and ad platform quality scores.

What's Changed Since This Episode

Mark recorded this in early 2023. Since then, Google Optimize (the free A/B testing tool Mark referenced) was shut down in September 2023. Current alternatives for A/B testing include VWO, Optimizely, and free options within many landing page builders like Unbounce, Leadpages, and Carrd.

The mobile-first advice has become even more critical. Mobile traffic continues to grow, and Core Web Vitals (Google's page performance metrics) now directly affect search rankings. Pages that load slowly or shift layout on mobile get penalized in search results.

AI-powered landing page builders have also emerged, making it faster to generate and test multiple page variations. Tools like Unbounce Smart Builder can suggest layouts and copy based on your industry and goals.

Resources Mentioned

• Send Mark feedback
• LNIM Podcast

Related Episodes

For more on building effective online business assets:

• LNIM244 — Why Your Website Needs Policy Pages and How To Create Them
• LNIM247 — Email Marketing Mindset: Getting Your Head Right Around Email

Listen and Subscribe

Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Have a question for Mark? Email [email protected] or call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655.