The landing page is arguably one of the most important elements in your sales process. Just by entering your landing page, a potential customer has indicated that they are at least a little interested in your training program. However, whether they continue through the funnel and answer your call to action depends on the quality of that landing page.

Most high converting landing pages have several things in common. This is because they were designed using time-tested practices that are known to create conversions.

Message Consistency is Key

There’s a reason why people are arriving at your landing page. Whether they have come from a link in one of your blog posts, a sponsored post, or an advertisement, something has gotten their attention – now is not the time to switch things up.

By maintaining message consistency, you accomplish a couple of different things. First, you reduce the risk of confusion: if your landing page continues your message, you reduce the risk of customers bouncing due to confusion. You also build trust. If you were to alter your message, it could make people feel a bit duped.

How do you achieve this? Firstly, make sure that every campaign you launch for each training program is unique. Don’t rely on ‘one size fits all’ landing pages. Next, focus on keywords. These should remain consistent between pages. So should stylistic images, such as font and color schemes.

Let Them Know The Value of What They Are Getting

‘Sign up for a free Ecourse that will help you build a profitable, direct marketing business!’, ‘Get 25% off our usual rates, if you book our top instructor today!’, ‘We have an amazing opportunity for you!’...

You have provided an offer that has made customers interested in your offer. If they take the bait, it is your job to detail what they can expect. If you don’t do that, then they have no way to quantify the value of your offer. If your ad promised a free Ecourse, that’s great. Your landing page just needs to let people know what that means, e.g., Free Ecourse! Valued at $399!

The same principle should apply when creating discounts. Take a look at how the Knowledge Academy does that for their PRINCE2 training programme. They are showing the new prices above the old ones, clearly indicating the discount. They are also able to create a sense of urgency and make it clear that their courses are in high demand by mentioning just how many seats are left per each session at a certain location.

If you have put together a truly compelling offer, detailing it in your landing page should only serve to sweeten the deal. Remember that it’s not just monetary value you can share either. You can also demonstrate value by indicating the number of people who have praised your training program. For example, ‘Ten thousand customers have used our course to successfully master online marketing’.

Share The Benefits

Your landing page should detail the benefits of signing up for your training program. Provide a brief, concise, yet compelling listing of these benefits, and then make sure they stand out. Use a bulleted list or a text box to make that list pop.

Keep in mind that a list of benefits is not a list of what they will learn on the course; instead, it’s what they can do with it. For example, if your program teaches industrial safety, one of the benefits may be that your company sees a decrease in the number of workplace accidents that result in hospitalization.

Educate

In order to get people to your landing page, you’ve probably enticed them, and done other things to pique their curiosity. Now, one of the things that you need to do on your landing page is provide more details. You have to educate your target audience. This means giving the nitty gritty details of what they will be getting when they answer your call to action.

Start by answering the basic questions: What does this training program have to offer? Who will be conducting the training? Where is the training located? When is the training program available? Why are you making this great offer? Here’s an example:

• You’ll Learn Everything You Need to Launch Your Company Website!
• Learn From a Trainer Who is a Certified Webmaster!
• Come to Our Seminar or Follow Along Online Via Our Live Feed!
• This Amazing Ecourse Will be Available For Download in Less Than Two Weeks!
• We Have 300 Seats Available And We Would Love to Sell Out!

Use Formatting And Color to Your Advantage

Keep in mind that many people will likely be viewing your landing page using a mobile device - this is why formatting is so important. Use bulleted lists, headings, and subheadings. Provide plenty of white space for readability. Then, make sure that your content is organized in a way that is easy to follow.

Color is important as well. Consider using contrasting colors to make certain elements immediately visible. It’s an especially good idea to test colors on your CTA button.

Keep a Laser Focus

This is why every campaign should have its own landing pages. In some cases, it’s a good idea to go a step further and create a customized landing page to match each ad, sponsored post, blog post, etc. In addition to this, consider stripping away anything that does not focus on the messaging of your landing page.

For example, you might consider stripping away your navigation menu, links to policy pages, and links to external websites (unless they are relevant to your offer). By taking away the items that could possibly get the attention of your visitor and distract them, you help the customer maintain focus on what is truly important. The only thing that potential customers should see is details about your training program and all of the compelling reasons to purchase a place on your course.

Build Trust

Trust on landing pages is key. You only have a few seconds to establish trust, so it’s important that you include several elements on your landing page that let customers know they are not only safe in taking you up on your offer, but that they will truly be grateful that they did.

First, begin with customer testimonials. These should be detailed, but brief. Use such quotes as ‘I got my state certification in three days!’ instead of ‘I loved this training course!’ Next, consider trust badges. Is our training program accredited by a trustworthy certification board? See if they have a trust badge that you can put on your website and consider other trust badges as well. If you accept online payments, let customers know that your website has been certified safe.

Has an industry influencer complimented your course offerings? Ask for a quote to use on your landing page. That goes a long way towards building trust.

Finally, remember that quality matters. Reference a case study or statistics relating to your course and focus on the content on your landing page. It is every bit as important to have error free, easy to read, and professionally written copy on your landing page as it is  on any other web page. Also, ensure that any links, scripts, or widgets are up to date and functioning as you intend. This is why it is so important to view each landing page using a variety of devices, operating systems, and browsers.

Use Images And Videos to Bolster Messaging And Retain Focus

Your use of relevant, high quality images and videos will accomplish a few things. First, images and videos on a landing page keep visitors focused and attentive. They increase the amount of time that potential customers will stay on your landing page, thus increasing the likelihood that visits will lead to conversions.

When you do use images and videos, there are some important things to keep in mind: all images should be high quality, original, and directly related to the content on your landing page, while videos should be brief and well produced. Remember that this content doesn’t have to be overly long or complex; nor should your landing page contain a multitude of visual elements that overwhelm the page. Stick to two or three that stand out and enhance the message that you are trying to send via your landing page.

By putting the tips above into action, you should be able to create high converting landing pages. Ultimately, this should lead to more students who benefit from the training programs you have to offer.