I’m going to show you how to create a high converting, eye-catching and lead generating landing page inside ANY WordPress website.
We’re going to cover the exact copy and content that you need. How to write that copy fast and without getting writers block. Also, how to put the page together and what we use to bang out landing pages quickly that we KNOW will generate leads and capture email addresses.
You’re expected to know how to build and design landing pages. Your customers want it, you want it for your business. The problem that we face is that we don’t know what to write to get people to sign up.
It’s tough because no one wants to share their secret of how they capture more leads and email addresses. But when it comes to getting people to give you their email address so you can market to them, you need to know how to write killer copy that helps people and lets them sign up.
Lot’s of websites will tell you that all you need to do is slap up a form, get a clickbait-style headline and offer a PDF download. There’s misinformation and perception, that landing pages are difficult to set up and that they require a lot of testing.
The truth is that if you create one template for a landing page and repeatedly use it, you will naturally find whether something works or not. Ninety-nine percent of landing pages fail because their content isn’t engaging, and we are going to show you how we can go through that.
You need to offer more content, copy and value on a landing page than ever. It’s almost like a blog post. There are at least 6 major things that you need to include on every landing page in order to maximise the results that it gets you.
It’s all f***ed up
Landing pages have been easier to design and build than ever. We’ve got tools like Lead Pages, OptimizePress, Visual Composer and Beaver Builder to name a few. But with that, we forget that the KEY to successful landing pages is killer, compelling copy.
People like your customers are getting smarter. They’re bombarded with ads and landing pages and opt-in boxes all the time. What makes yours stand out and what do you need to do to get people to sign up?
Your time could be spent carefully crafting landing pages from scratch every time. Or you can get someone else to do it, but do they know how to do it properly? What if we had a template and checklist, that we could repeatedly generate epic, high converting landing pages because we know what to write.
On top of that suck salad, let’s sprinkle the bacon bits of “I need to create more than one landing page and I can’t be bothered to do this over and over”. Well we’re going to make making lots of landing pages super easy.
Results
We’re going to solve ALL of this by giving you-
- The 6 must haves for every single landing page
- The secret to powerful and concise bullet points
- The tools we use to create our pages
- The checklist you need to outsource landing pages
About us
I build marketing funnels and marketing automation using WordPress websites. That’s what my business does and we do it well.
We’re very specific with who we work with, but our results work. Our team can produce landing pages in minutes, not days and I want to share all this with you.
I was sick of 100’s of landing page guides that needed you to sign up via and landing page. How’s that for coincidence? I knew I built better pages than those and yet they wanted to give me advice?
Well, that’s why this post is totally open and not protected.
We have got all the templates and a landing page webinar available if you’re serious about creating high converting landing pages. You can get them here.
What we’re going to be looking at is how to create a high-converting landing page. We’re literally going to sit down, look at the components, look at the structure and the layout of a landing page and see what makes it successful. I really want to get into the nuts and bolts.
This guide is very in-depth, there’s a lot of content, there’s a lot of information.
So what does this give us? If we go through a landing page template and we have a repeatable process that we can use, day in and day out, for our customers and for ourselves, we get more leads captured that we can market to so we can send them follow-up emails and email marketing and all that kind of malarkey.
We also have a repeatable template and a set of content that we can use again and again and again. And we can use that with customers, we can use that with our websites, and we can create a process that saves us a lot of time and it means that we can do it again and again and again.
Here’s what I want you to you: I want you to take this content and I want you to rip it up, use it however you want. Take the templates and content, learn from it, record it, show it to your customers. You do whatever you want.
The anatomy of a landing page
Before we kick off, let’s take a look at the overall anatomy of a landing page. Specifically the landing page we’ll be designing and building today.
Right at the top here we typically start with our logo. The logo of the business, maybe the name of the business and we try to remove the menu and the header.
We also have an overview and a title. Again, I’m going to show you how to do this and how to structure your titles and where this should go, and what I mean by “overview,” I’m going to show you what I mean by that.
Then we split it into two columns. We’re going to look at the value statement and the summary point, so this is the real meat of it, this is when people tend to read. On the right-hand side we have the data capture, or “where are we sending the download?”
Underneath, this is something that a lot of people don’t bother doing, underneath all of that we have a testimonial or a photo and a quote, something that shows that real people exist in this landing page.
Finally, right at the bottom, we have another really big call to action, to make sure that people can’t get away from the fact that we want them to download, we might give them a button or something.
What are you giving away?
Before you build your page, what are you offering? Now, this could vary depending on what you are giving away.
Typically, they are things like PDFs, downloads, templates, whatever it is. You need to know what you’re offering and you need to have that built. We’re not going to be talking about workflows and automation and integrations and things like that, this is just the landing page segment.
You need to be able to provide an overview of what your customers are getting. So, are they getting a free video, are they getting the download? What are they getting? We then need to create some kind of headline.
We call these giveaways lead magnets or light bulb moments. If you want more on how create great lead magnets, take a look here.
Using tools to create landing pages
I’m going to show you the template that I use and we’re going to build something step by step. I’m also going to show you what it can look like if you spend a little bit of time on it.
Now, there are 1,001 tools for building landing pages on WordPress. I do not have affiliate links with any of these guys. LeadPages, for example, OptimizePress is another one, Instapage is a good one. This is a plugin, I think it’s free, WordPress Landing Pages, super, super easy.
I OptimizePress in this example, but the webinar recording (which you can access here) uses Visual Composer. We also use Beaver Builder and are relying more on and more on Beaver Builder.
OptimizePress is a one off buy and some people like it, some hate it. I use it because it lets me whip up landing, squeeze, thank you and delivery pages fast.
Lots of my customer sites are built with Visual Composer and it’s pretty cheap to buy.
The truth is that whatever tool you use, is only as good as the copy and layout you use. If you can write epic copy and you know exactly where each paragraph goes, you’ll dominate any tool you use.
Building the page
Architecture
From the top down we have a logo with a menu, an overview of what you get when they click and your headline. We then split into two columns with a value statement and some summary points, and we’ve got a ‘where do we send your download?’
Underneath that we’ve got a testimonial or a photo and a quote, something like that, and then finally right at the bottom we’ve got a big call to action and a download button.
We include a picture of the download. We’ve then got our bullet points and our summary. Underneath here we’ve got a social proof piece. Social proof is really useful because they let people know what someone else would say about it.
Logo and header bar
Use a logo at the top of the header bar. Save the image and reposition it or edit the bar so that it’s aligned to the left. You could, to the right of the logo, enter a bit of text about the business, telling people what the business is for example.
The logo doesn’t have to be too big. It can just be thumbnail. You also need to decide what you’re giving away. Let’s say it’s a cheat sheet, okay. Cheat sheet and video download.
Headline
Now typically we have what’s known as a “yay-boo headline”. Use something that goes “Yay!” and something that goes “Boo!” Think of it as wins and problems, positives and negatives.
For example, “how [target audience] can [yay!] without [boo!]”.
How can they get a result without the kind of problem they typically face? For instance, if you’re a WordPress website business that works with small businesses in Exeter in Devon, it could be How Exeter based small businesses can climb higher on Google with a website without hiring an SEO expert.
When it comes to our headline, we can use “Here is a method that is helping…” let’s say for example accountants “to find more followers“. You need to keep the problem specific to something your customers are interested in.
If you want access to our HUGE library of headlines, you can get those here (there are like…200 of them).
Removing the menu from the header
The reason I like to get rid of the menu is because I don’t want people distracted and looking at other bits and pieces, I don’t want them going up here and clicking around. I want them to stay on this landing page and do what it is that I want them to do.
Try to remove the header bar and the menu at the top. If your theme can do it automatically, brilliant, otherwise it’s just a little bit of CSS.
From a “don’t be a dick” standpoint, you should really have a menu available at all times for people to be able to navigate around. Also, Google and other PPC platforms insist that you allow users to navigate around your site, from your landing page.
Right click on your webpage and select ‘inspect element’. If we go in and inspect the element for that page and select the header, at the top here there is typically going to be a DIV or ID or Class saying “header”.
We want to get rid of our menu. Visual Composer, like a lot of page builders, can have individual CSS rules per page. Open up your custom page CSS and use the same DIV ID or CLASS and use display: none.
If you use “display: none” that’s going to get rid of your header bar controlled by that ID or CLASS.
Loads of people are going to be sending in things about SEO this and SEO that. We’re not bothered about SEO coding on these pages, because most of the traffic being driven here is from paid adverts.
Summary of what they get
Underneath the logo and header we have an overview of what they get when they click and a big interesting headline.
You also want to give an image of the download. It could be something blurred or in context.
To the right-hand side we typically have an image of whatever it is that they’re downloading. It could be a product shot in content, a template view or a blurred out photo. Something that displays that it is a real thing that they’re getting.
We need an interesting headline. You can access our list of headline templates if you want here. Or you could use the below examples.
Here’s the method that’s helping World Class Example to BLANK
X shocking mistakes that you are BLANK, killing your BLANK
Here’s how TARGET AUDIENCE is getting RESULT
You need something nice and big and eye-catching. That’s all we’re trying to do now. The only point of the headline is to get people to read on.
It could be the result, it could be a picture, it could be seeing someone use it, it could be a PDF, there are tons of different options.
Value statement and form fill
For this template we split into two columns underneath the headline. On the left is our value statement and our summary, and the bullet points. On the right, we’ve got our data capture and a little piece saying where do we send your download.
So we’ve got a headline, we need a value statement. All a value statement is, it’s a fancy marketing term, but all it is is a two-sentence summary of what we’re looking at. That’s all it is.
The easiest way to do that is to break it down into a promise, a problem, and a result or a benefit.
For example,
“I promise that this [template/download/whatever resource we’re giving away] will make [a general goal] much easier.
The problem is that too many [whoever your target audience is] struggle to achieve [that general goal] because it is [roadblock].
With this download (or whatever it is), you will be able to…(and then we look at the specific goal and benefit).”
Filling in the blanks gives us something like this…
“I promise that this social media cheat sheet will make finding and generating likes and followers much, much easier.
The problem is that small WordPress-based businesses don’t have a lot of time to find followers and share content.
However, with this free cheat sheet download, you will be able to find content that your customers want to see and share it so that you generate customers super fast.”
If I read that paragraph, that sounds like something I’d want to download. That sounds interesting and useful to me, and I understand what it is that I’m getting. Social media cheat sheet helps WordPress-based businesses like me, it’s totally free to download and it helps me find content.
If I was writing this for your business, aimed at your customers, I’d use something like the following-
“I promise that this social media cheat sheet will make getting your website on the top of Google much easier.
The problem is that too many small businesses in Melbourne don’t have a lot of time to find followers and share content.
With this free cheat sheet download, you will be able to find content that your customers want to see and share it so that you generate customers superfast.”
“I promise that this video and cheat sheet will make social media marketing much easier. The problem is that too many” let’s say, accountants, “struggle to build a social media following that generates leads, because it’s time consuming to create content and complicated to manage social media accounts. With this cheat sheet and video you’ll be able to grow your social following and find more time to work on your business.”
Bullet points
Underneath that we’re going to look at five bullet points.
Overall the five bullet point types that you want to put in are-
- Secret
- Summary
- What you get
- The number of steps to the result
- Who it works for
Just break it down, really, really simple.
The secret could be the one big secret that social media agencies don’t want you to know.
The summary might be just an overarching topic.
“Look, I’m going to show you how to build a social following from scratch without creating more work and content.”
Easy.
What do you get? Well, when you actually click “Download,” what do you get? You get a free cheat sheet for social media follower growth that you can use again and again.
That’s physically what you get.
We’re going to break down the number of steps, so it could just be “five steps to more followers and more time to spend on your business”, so they know that they’re going to get just five steps.
Who is it designed for? This is a really easy way to segment your audience and you can use it for your customers.
Bullet points made easy. Use them.
So, if we were to just turn this around for your customers, we could say it’s still the same one big secret that social media agencies don’t want you to know, but how about if we said this is designed for high street shops that don’t have an e-commerce website?
As soon as you say that, anyone who is a high street shop who doesn’t have an e-commerce website is instantly going to identify with it.
You could create five of these landing pages and just change the target audience but still deliver the same download. That’s a really good way of segmenting your audience, finding five different audiences who have the same interest.
That’s actually what we call niche marketing. A lot of people say they do niche marketing, and then when you ask them who their customers are, they’re like “Oh, everyone.”
Start becoming specific and start saying who your audience is. The best way to do that is by delivering something that any audience can consume, but you say this is designed for people who sell sunglasses, or people who repair mobile phones.
We’ve ended up with…
- The one big social media secret, that social media agencies doesn’t want you to know.
- How to build a social following from scratch without creating more work and content.
- A free cheat sheet for social media follower growth that you can use again and again.
- 5 steps to more followers who visit your site.
Tell me that does’t sound solid AND easy to produce.
Data capture
The most important part, overall really, is how to actually capture that data.
Asking for a name is not so important, but if you want to use it, go for it. My data shows that signups don’t drop if you ask for a name.
But the email address is super important; you need to have the email address obviously.
With regards to the button, you should never say “Submit,” or “enter details”. Keep it conversational and tell them that the button is a reward.
There are loads of other options; you can say “Download Now,” or “Get Instant Access,” loads of things like that.
At the bottom, underneath your submit form and contact form, just put a little note saying, “Look, as an additional gift, you’ll be added to our mailing list.” That way you’re covered and you can say anyone who does go on, goes onto our mailing list.
For our forms and capture, we use Gravity Forms, we’ve got a developer’s license for Gravity Forms.
I’ve got no idea how much Gravity Forms costs anymore, but we use it for absolutely everything, we use it for everything because it integrates with so much stuff.
We also use MailChimp as our main email automation program and list building system.
MailChimp itself is free to capture data and to mail out to people up to a certain extent. If you’re starting out and you just want to capture email addresses and then mail out every week, MailChimp is a fantastic way to do it because they’ll also give you a free embed box that you can just embed in any landing page or web page to capture people’s information.
Frankly, any form capture plugin or any data capture form will work as long as you do the integrations.
Testimonial and social proof
For our social proof, you need an image and a quote. Don’t worry if you don’t have a testimonial from a customer. I just use a photo of me and a little quote. The idea is to give people an idea of what people say about your download.
For my quote I’m going to say “I use this template whenever I need to create a social media campaign for my accountant customers, creating content is time consuming. This method lets me share stuff easily and doesn’t add to my workload.”
You could put anything. Now you could put a testimonial from a customer if you manage to get this out there. You could put something from yourself, maybe there’s another member of your team.
This is really important. Get a photo, it can even be you, it doesn’t matter. And then we say, “I use this social media cheat sheet because I want to get more followers and more likes, but I don’t want to spend more time doing it”.
All we’re doing is repeating back the copy we’ve created in the landing page.
CTA bar
Finally right at the bottom we’ve got another call to action bar that says look I want to give you instant access plus you’ll get access, bonus access to whatever the bonus content is.
If you’ve got your offering and it’s a PDF download, maybe do a quick audio recording as well. So it could be bonus access to the recording of the PDF. Add a little bit of value, don’t go nuts, come up with some other piece of content to give away. Have that on the thank you page or delivery page as an added extra.
We’ve got our logo and no menu. If we go to the regular Sell Your Service website, there is this menu, like every other web page, there is this menu on every single page, but not on our landing pages. How do we do that? Really, really easy.
Full disclosure, since capturing these images, we’ve rebuilt the Sell Your Service website. However, Visual Composer is the same no matter where you use it. If you use something like this, OptimizePress, or LeadPages, or whatever, the method is exactly the same. What you need is relevant, informative content. That’s what you need, you need decent content that people are going to be able to view and watch.
Structuring page URLs
Here’s a little tip, under parents, I like to have a specific parent for landing pages. I use “lp” you’ll see here it’s /lp/landing-page-template.
This is something I like to do just to keep everything organised. The URL typically is going to be something for me, but it’s also used in SEO and helping people understand, so this could be Social Media Cheat Sheet,
I’ve saved this template here, it’s all really generic, boring information. It uses blanks, it uses brackets, there’s nothing specific in it at all that would provide an enormous amount of value. So we’re going to build this live now.
Example
Now, I’m going to show you a final version of a landing page that we’ve got comfortable with and we use and it converts really well. It uses the exact same structure that I’ve looked at here, the exact same list of content, it’s for a business that we’ve managed, we do the marketing for them, it’s called TREPology.
This literally is built with the exact same pieces here, we’ve just spent more time refining it. So, right at the top, logo, okay. Nothing spectacular, we’ve just got the logo, that’s it.
We’ve got an overview of what they’re getting, it’s a free template download and video. The headline is “How any child can come up with their Big Idea.”
With our summary, we’ve even gone shorter than that, “How do you come up with your big business idea? Use our video and business template guide designed JUST for children and parents, to come up with an exciting and powerful business idea FAST.” That’s the promise that we make.
On the right-hand side here, “Where do we send your video and download?” we ask their first name, their last name, and their email. “As an additional gift, you’ll receive a subscription to our newsletter,” that’s just a little thing that we add in there.
Jake, he’s the co-founder of TREP-ology, him and his sister, Lachlan. “The big idea video and template is exactly what I use whenever I need a new and exciting idea that could start business. I use it because it just works”.
It’s not a long piece, it’s just nice and short. Finally, get instant access to our big idea videos and template.
Right at the bottom here, we’ve got their footer. Here’s an interesting point as well. The colours, you’ll notice we’ve got three colors, they’re primary colours for TREP-ology. We’ve got the orange and we’ve got the blue and red.
Colour schemes are a really important part in running a proper landing page. We tend to again have a nice big full-width, responsive page.
How do I follow up with them?
So, the first thing you need to do is make sure that you have an autoresponder that delivers their product. When someone clicks “Download Now,” we don’t give a thank you message. We also don’t take them straight to their download.
We actually take them to what’s known as a Splinter Product page, but we’ll go into that in more time. Splinter Product is basically a really low-cost product, like $9 or something. But if you click “Download Now,” maybe it would just go straight through. If you want to make it easy, it goes straight through to the download page. Make sure you keep it on your mailing list, MailChimp or InfusionSoft, whatever it is that you’re using. But that seems to be about it.
Do you use MailChimp?
Yeah, we do use MailChimp for most of what we use. We’ve looked at things like Active Campaign, sure and we are moving over to other bits and pieces, particularly for customers, but MailChimp is just… I’m sorry, I can’t get over how easy MailChimp is to use, particularly with Opt-In Monster and Gravity Forms and Visual Composer.
Right, now what?
Get access to the entire landing page course. If you want to build fast, high converting landing pages – you need this course.
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