Get more leads with distraction-free design

Web design, like many things in this world, goes through different phases or "fashions" over time. When the internet was new, websites were limited in their design, relying on text-only layouts with limited fonts and tables to separate out the content. Frames were used to display different areas of a website such as the header, footer, menu and main content. (If you're old enough to remember framed websites, you'll remember the frustration of printing out a page and each section of the page printing on a separate piece of paper!)

Many websites of this era served to provide information to users. They were very much functional and not entirely pretty!

As the internet has evolved and coding has advanced, we have limitless options when it comes to designing our websites. But just because we can design our sites in many ways, doesn't mean we should.

Keep it simple

The design of your website can impact the user experience and inevitably affect your conversion rates, so keeping your design and layout simple and easy to use makes for good business sense.

When you're creating landing pages for your lead magnets (unlike other pages of your website), your goal will be to capture the visitors details, so in order for them to complete their details, the page must be easy to use with ample information for them to take the next step.

For this to happen, we need to remove as many distractions as possible. Every piece of content on the page should be pushing the user towards the end goal. If it's not, it could be moving them further away.

Removing distractions

When you're designing your landing pages, consider removing (or deprioritising) the following:

#1: Social media feeds

Content feeds from your social media profiles might add fresh content (assuming you keep them updated!), but they also create a reason for someone to get distracted and leave your website. We'd recommend leaving them off of your landing pages to avoid users getting sucked into Facebook, or similar, forgetting how they got there in the first place and never coming back to your website!

#2: Social media links

As with social media feeds, links to your profiles that encourage users to follow you, create yet another distraction. Whilst having social media links on your websites isn't all bad, when it comes to a landing page where the goal is to capture a user's details, removing these distractions will keep more people on your page.

#3: External links

Linking to other resources or websites should be reserved for your main website or blog. Landing pages need to hold the user's attention. If there's information you think will help push the user to the next stage in their journey and that information is on an external site, consider recreating that content on your own landing page. Ensure you don't copy and paste unless quoting and crediting the source.

#4: Links to testimonials pages

Social proof is important. Even more so on a landing page where we want users to make a quick decision based on the content of one page. But testimonial pages are, in our opinion, a waste of time. Testimonials should be woven into your main pages and sit next to your content. This way, they can be strategically positioned to back up the claims you are making about your product or service.

#5: Links to 'About' pages

The debate about the usefulness of About pages continues and whilst we think they still have a purpose, you don't need to link to one from a landing page. Key information from your About page can be repeated on your landing page. This type of content is likely to be your credentials, company history, etc and although it may sway the odd user into taking action, it's not going to be top priority content, so should definitely be below the fold.

#6: Pop-ups

Pop-ups can serve the purpose of generating leads or building your email database on your main website, but for landing pages, you shouldn't need to implement them, so see if you can switch them off to avoid annoying your potential new leads.

Conclusion

Creating effective landing pages is a skill you'll develop over trial and error (and improvement). You can read as many articles as you want about crafting the perfect landing page, but nothing substitutes running your own experiments. Remember to put yourself in the shoes of your typical customer. What information will they need? What information do they not need? And when deciding on what content to include on your landing page, ask yourself, 'will this bit of content help my users move closer to the next stage in their journey, or will it distract them?'.