You’ve been living under a rock for the past two years if you don’t realize that the majority of your website traffic is coming from mobile phones, and the number continues to rise with no signs of slowing down. Learning how to build landing pages that convert on mobile should be top of your to-do list.
Mobile is convenient.
It allows the user to search for what they are looking for while on the go. If they are craving pizza for lunch they are going to pull out their phone and search for local pizza shops. If they are out and about and suddenly decide they want to buy new shoes they are going to pull their phone out and look for the particular item that is on their mind.
Because of this, you need to be sending your mobile traffic to landing pages that are optimized to convert. Because of the convenience mobile searching offers, your visitors aren’t going to stick around and try to figure out your website if it’s a pain in the ass to navigate. If you don’t make it super easy for a mobile visitor to complete a form, make a call, or buy something, you will lose them.
Nobody has time to waste. You HAVE to put yourself in the shoes of your visitor.
If you are searching on your phone you want answers NOW and you want the end product or service NOW.
I have so many businesses come to me wanting SEO that either don’t have mobile landing pages or if they do, they are so bad that all the traffic in the world isn’t going to help them make sales.
You don’t even have to have a huge budget, designers, and coders these days!
There are so many programs that help you build really slick landing pages that are both desktop and mobile friendly. The trick is knowing HOW to put together a landing page that will actually convert mobile traffic.
Well, that is what I am going to do today.
If your rankings are solid and your traffic is heavy, but your conversion rates are poor, this should help you.
Note: if you don’t know the exact percentage of traffic that hits your website on mobile devices you are making a huge mistake. You should know this number. When you look at your analytics data you should really be paying special attention to your mobile percentage and seeing how that traffic acts on your website.
Here are some things to pay close attention to when you are building out landing pages.
They will help you build landing pages that convert on mobile..
Focus on light code and simplicity
Not everyone is going to be visiting your website on the newest iPhone that’s connected to super fast WiFi. A lot of your visitors are going to be on older beat up models and they will be connected to 3G or WiFi with serious lag because so many devices are pulling from it.
Build your landing pages using light code and avoid animation and unnecessary elements. Website design has gone full circle in the past few years, as flash and animation has slowed down and most popular websites redesigned to focus on a simple and flat design.
You can still use a nice design, just keep speed your main focus. The best test to run is GTMetrix, and if you follow the suggestions it gives you it’s possible to really improve your speed. You will usually find that your images are the biggest offenders. Even if you have zero coding skills, you can hand off the GTMetrix suggestions to a freelancer and for $10 – $15 get your speed grade to an A+.
Build your pages in a block stack format
When someone is searching on a mobile phone you have limited space to present your offer. You want to stack information on top and allow the visitor to soak it all in by scrolling down. Also, you want to be sure that you don’t include so much information that they feel like they are scrolling nonstop. If you do this, they will eventually stop and leave. You have seconds to get them to understand your offer.
If you are trying to trigger a phone call you need to put that number in front of them and get them to click it within seconds of landing on the page.
If you are trying to get them to make a purchase you need to make it so simple that they can complete the process and be in your shopping cart within seconds and no more than a couple of clicks.
Build your mobile landing pages the same way you would build with blocks. You can get some inspiration from these responsive templates here.
Make your forms no more than 2 fields
Not every mobile landing page is going to be trying to trigger a purchase. A lot of LP’s are for lead generation, so it’s important to know that a mobile visitor is going to have a much different tolerance level when it comes to form fields than someone sitting at a desktop computer has.
For example, if you are trying to generate leads for a local dentist your regular landing page might ask for the following information:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Address
- Phone Number
It’s only four info fields, but that is likely to not convert as high on mobile. So, for a mobile landing page it would be wise to cut that down to just the following two fields:
- Name
- Phone Number
This gives you the person’s first name and a phone number. As soon as the lead comes in the business would want to call them and schedule an appointment. At this time they can collect any other information they need over the phone.
Ask for the bare minimum. The less “work” a mobile visitor has to perform, the higher your conversion rates will be.
Only have one offer per mobile landing page
This is where I see a lot of problems. You can’t have mobile pages with multiple options for the visitor to complete. If you give them too many options (Lead forms, download offers, product sales, etc.) they become overwhelmed and end up doing nothing but leaving.
People that are searching on mobile are in a rush. They don’t have time to try to decide what offer to focus on, so only give them one choice. Next time you are walking down the street look at people. They all have their head down buried in their phones. They are on websites. They have limited attention and limited time, so you have to make it so simple.
If someone lands on your website page and they only have the option to complete a form they will either complete it or leave. You will experience a much higher conversion rate this way, instead of giving them multiple options. This gives you a true conversion rate and helps you really optimize your offers over time.
Include your freaking phone number (and make it clickable!)
When someone hits your website on a mobile phone, guess what? They have their phone in hand! Don’t you think it’s the perfect time to get them to call you?!
Fun fact: Out of the last 10 local business websites that I analyzed prior to doing SEO for, only 4 of them had their phone number visible and clickable for mobile users to take advantage of.
<<MINDBLOWN>>
You have someone that is looking for whatever your website is selling and they have their phone in hand. Wouldn’t you want to encourage them to call you? Book an appointment. Get information. Place an order. ANYTHING!
Make sure they can tap your number with their finger and automatically call your business. Nobody is going to manually enter in your number. No chance!
Simple code like this will work:
<a href=”tel:18003335555″>1-800-333-5555</a>
Headlines (H1 and H2 text) should be very short
Why do so many SEOs love long ass H1 and H2 headlines? It’s because they jam pack them with keywords and long tails in hope of ranking. Yes, headlines are important but on mobile you can’t have huge headlines because the text ends up being several lines long. It just makes it visually unappealing and takes away from what you are trying to achieve, which is a minimal design that allows the visitor to quickly notice your offer and the value you are providing.
Headlines do a great job at commanding attention and giving someone a quick overview of what they are about to encounter. So, using the same local dentist example as above, what heading is going to lead to more conversions on mobile?
Detroit Michigan Dentist Appointment Request
or
Request Appointment
The SEO brain in us wants to go with the first one, but it’s too much heading text on mobile. Seeing “Request Appointment” immediately tells the visitor they need to complete the following form in order to request an appointment. If they are searching in Detroit and landed on the page they don’t need to be reminded of that. They know where they are.
Don’t worry, there are plenty of other ways to ensure your SEO remains solid.
Limit your sales copy to small sentences
“Tommy, I know I need at least 500 words of native high quality content on every page.”
Ehhhh, I really wish the “500 words” myth would die off. Content needs to be written according to your needs. If it’s a product description page of a ¼ inch screw, do you really need 500 words? If you are trying to explain the meaning of life, don’t you think you will need more than 500 words?
Write content according to your needs and what you are trying to accomplish. Most landing pages want a quick action, especially on mobile. This usually involves well written sales copy that has one mission: convert the visitor.
Length aside, break your sales copy down into small bits, 1-2 sentences each. This allows people to skim and still take in the majority of the information. The more they absorb and understand, the greater the chance of them completing your desired action.
Include trust signals where they can’t be ignored
Google announced that HTTPS in now a ranking signal, and even if it’s just 1% like many suspect, it’s still something you should consider. If you are selling high dollar items then that green bar that most browsers show when you have an extended validation SSL certificate might be worth the investment. Mobile shows the green bar and as it becomes more common your visitors are going to expect it.
This is a trust signal I encourage all my e-commerce clients to implement. Also, if you are a member of a local business chapter or the BBB, include those logos on your mobile landing pages. Anything you can do to make visitors trust you will help you improve conversion rates.
Even just mentioning accomplishments can go a long way. Since I started guest blogging on Ahrefs and was interviewed for Inc and Tech.co, I have been including that on my blog and it’s definitely helped attract business. Show why you are the best, and watch your conversion rates improve because you establish trust from the start.
Always include detailed contact information
This seems like such a noob thing, but believe me, so many businesses miss this.
On your mobile landing pages, include your full contact information in the footer section. This includes complete name, address, and phone number and I would even include a Google map snippet. If you are going after local visitors, sometimes physically seeing that you are located down the street will help convert and trigger a visit or phone call.
Split test your CTAs, buttons (text, shapes and colors) and offers
I have no affiliation with Opimizely and that is not an affiliate link. It’s just a nice option for those that don’t have the time to build multiple pages and coordinate everything with developers and designers. They even have a free option that can help you split test.
You have to split test everything. I’ve seen conversion rates double just from changing a submit button text from “Submit” to “Click for Awesomeness” as silly as that sounds. You have to be willing to test everything and this is a tool that can help even those that are web design noobs.
You can’t assume just because you are ranking on top for main keywords and getting a lot of traffic that you are going to automatically start to roll in the money. I have seen first hand a lot of businesses rank because the SEO was excellent, but their layout and offer was horrible.
As my agency SerpLogic has matured, I have really dove headfirst into embracing online marketing as a whole, and not just a narrow minded SEO approach. Authority links, onsite and offsite SEO will help your website rank and get clicks, but the conversions aren’t guaranteed. This is especially true when it comes to mobile traffic. You need to know your mobile traffic percentage and you need to take the tips listed above seriously if you plan on turning those visitors into dollar bills.
I hope you were able to pull some value from this, and as always, please leave your feedback below. I do my best to reply to all questions and feedback.
