What You Will Learn in This Post

This post intends to shatter the myths that hover around the concept of "landing pages." We'll dissect the myths of landing pages and explore the background of landing pages through the following four sections:

I. Background

We'll take you through the background of landing pages, the definition and why people frequently over-complicate their understanding of landing pages.

II. The Man Who Was Stranded in The Desert

We'll introduce the concept of the man who was stranded in the desert to exemplify what types of landing pages work today.

III. Landing Page Flowchart

We made an info-graphic for you to print out and put on your wall. Make sure you're following the correct path before creating a landing page.

IV. The 3-Part Landing Page Formula That Always Works

Finally, we'll dive into the actual formula for crafting kick-ass landing pages that actually work.

Let's get started.

Background

Today, more than ever before, complexity rears its ugly head even in the simplest concepts. We see unnecessary complexity more and more--especially when it comes to the field of marketing.

To give an example of unnecessary over-complication, let's talk "Business 101." The fundamental formula of a good business centers around one formula:

Revenue - Costs = Profit

You can gauge how well your current business is doing by applying that formula to it. It's simple. It's business. Yet, many elect to over complicate business and stray away from this formula. While many stray away for logical reasons (need time to invest in business), if one strays away for too long from that formula, it becomes a habit.

You tend to see a lot of such behavior arise in the Silicon Valley (*cough* twitter *cough*). Instead of following the very basic guideline above, many companies replace the formula with the latest buzzwords and trends. They talk "investing in the long-tail," "freemium," and "building to sell, and focus on monetizing later." If your company begins talking like this, run. Because pretty soon, you won't have a company.

Just like building a business, buzzwords and unnecessary jargon can creep into the topic of landing pages.

Before discussing how to improve your landing page, let's first define specifically what a landing page is.

Defined:

Defined, a landing page is a document (either virtual or real), that has one goal.

Pretty simple definition, eh? Yet, when you Google "landing page," you'll be flooded with articles that suggest there are over fifty checklist items you should think about when creating a landing page. You're presented with hundreds of tools that propose to optimize landing pages (e.g. pop-ups, auto-play videos, live chats, etc.) While those tools are well-intentioned and neat, 90% of your optimization success has nothing to do with what cool nifty element you add to your page.  

Your goal when crafting a landing page

90% of your ability to convert a visitor depends on your business, and if it's actually pursuing a easily-communicated, meaningful need. When crafting a landing page, your goal should center on communicating your solution to the customer as quickly and clearly as possible. 10% of the other stuff is what you can improve, which is what you'll learn how to do after reading this post.

The Man Who Was Stranded in a Desert

Bill Neizling was on a camping trip with his buddies. It was a retreat of sorts. A retreat for his friends to get away from their wives, drink beer and ride ATV's. They were having a good time. A good time up until Bill took off riding and got lost in the middle of Death Valley.

The next day, Bill woke up. His friends were nowhere to be found. He was all alone. Sand covered his face and was in his mouth. Must've been the result of a sandstorm he slept through in his sleep. It was now just Bill all alone. Well, just him, an empty bottle of scotch and his wallet. The ATV was out of gas. The sandstorm whipped away any and all tire tracks. So, he did what any other hung-over dude would have done--he chose one direction and started to walk.

For the next nine hours Bill was wandering aimlessly in Death Valley. His iPhone wasn't with him, which meant, no Google maps, no compass and, of course, no Angry Birds to get him through this experience.

Before he knew it, night came, exhaustion came, and Bill dug a little hole in the ground to protect himself from the dozens of wild animals that lingered around after dark. The next four days proceeded in similar fashion.

On the fourth day Bill was so exhausted, so tired, and so thirsty that he started having illusions. He became distracted, anxious and on-edge. Nothing could hold his attention. He needed water, and time was running out.

Bill pressed forth and kept on walking. After another half hour of walking Bill noticed two objects on the ground about thirty yards directly in front of him. He made his way over to the mysterious objects.

When he came upon the objects, he discovered that they were two documents.

Document #1

The first document was 46 pages and started off with a headline that read, "Have you ever wanted water that was so good, it would make you feel better, but also takes into account those with an organic lifestyle and third-world countries?..." It then read, "Dear Friend..." The document continued on like this for 46 pages, and then transformed into a long list of bullet points, super bonuses and other stuff. Bill didn't know what this thing was getting at; in his exhaustive, anxious state, threw it down and picked up the other document.

Document #2

The second document was one piece of paper that had three things on it:

1. A seal from the regional Rescue and Wilderness Preservation Society
2. A sentence that read, "14 Bottles of Water are Buried 2 Feet Below Where You're Standing"
3. A Call to Action That Said "Start Digging"

Which document do you think converted?

Moral of The Story

Yes, we made this story up to deliver the point: the point that your customers have a painful need (they're thirsty) and it's your job to quickly and clearly communicate your offer (water). We'll show you how to do this below.

The Flow Chart

Before we dive into the 3-Part Landing Page Formula That Always Works, follow the flow chart below to make sure that you're ready to build a landing page:

You can grab the PDF/printable version here.

Now that you're ready to create a landing page (being that you have one goal), let's dive into the three-part formula.

The 3-Part Landing Page Formula That Always Works

The 3-part landing page formula is built on three basic ingredients:

Ingredient #1: One sentence that describes precisely what you're offering.

People aren't dumb. The tech-savvy generation is crowding out the less savvy tech generation. Do your prospects a favor and tell them precisely what your offer/product/service is in one sentence.

A couple examples:

• "14 Bottles of Water are Buried 2 Feet Below Where You're Standing"
• "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on your car insurance by switching to Geico"
• "Elegantly launch products and build a membership site with Kajabi"

Ingredient #2: A Call to Action Tell your visitors what to do.

Taking the desert example into account above, the call to action in the story above is simply "Start Digging"

Ingredient #3: Credibility

Credibility makes your visitors more comfortable in acting on your headline and your call to action.

Some Credibility tools may include: testimonials, a guarantee, a phone number, a picture of your office or team, logos of trusted partners, etc.

Bottom line:

Focus primarily on those three factors, and your landing page will work.

Summary

In this post, we covered four areas:

I. Background

We looked at the unnecessary complexity surrounding business and landing pages; and we defined what a landing page is.

II. The Man Who Was Stranded in The Desert

We learned about the story of the man who was stranded in the desert who came upon two documents. One that was filled with marketing jargon; and the other that cut straight to the point.

III. Landing Page Flowchart

We prepared you for the 3-part formula by walking through the Landing Page Flowchart.

IV. The 3-Part Landing Page Formula That Always Works

Finally, we dived into the 3-Part landing page formula.

Please share your thoughts, experiences and any insight you have with optimizing your landing page in the comments below.

Using Kajabi, you can create proven funnels to warm your visitors before they even reach your 3-Part Landing Page. By using Kajabi to give users free information and content, you're gaining their trust. When combining trust with the credibility on your landing page, your conversion rate will rise significantly.

Combining Kajabi's marketing funnels and the three-part landing page formula has revolutionized the way marketers use landing pages to convert users.  To learn more about how Kajabi can help make you money, click here.