The 8-Part Landing Page Layout That Turns Google Ads Clicks Into Leads
Build landing pages? Then you've probably done the same as me: endless second-guessing. What goes where? What actually matters?
I'd spend ages shuffling things around hoping for the perfect high-converting page.
I finally decided enough is enough. I wanted to solve the what-a-page-needs-and-where-it-goes problem forever.
For the kind of Google Ads I do a landing page has only one job: get the visitor to make contact. Usually by filling in a form, clicking the call button or messaging.
Why Don't More Visitors Convert?
I sat at a coffee shop with a notebook one Friday morning trying to figure out why someone would click an ad but not fill in the form.
I think I came up with a solid answer...
Before a visitor will make contact they must believe:
- That you do the thing they're looking for.
- That you're able to do what they want.
- That working with you is likely to be pleasant.
- That you'll respond to their enquiry.
I imagined the visitor having a conversation in their head as they read your the landing page.
Looks like I'm in the right place. Yip, they offer what I'm looking for. Yeah, they look legit. OK, this makes sense. Other people have used them so they're probably legit. Huh! Looks like they understand me. OK, let me fill in the form.
I designed my landing page flow from top to bottom to get this conversation going. Here's what's on the page.
- Hero section: "Looks like I'm in the right place."
- Problem section: "Yip, they offer what I'm looking for."
- Profile section: "Yeah, they look legit."
- Benefit section: "OK, this makes sense."
- Process section: "OK, this makes sense."
- Testimonials "Other people have used them so they're probably legit."
- Frequently Asked Questions: "Huh! Looks like they understand me."
- Bottom Call To Action: "OK, let me fill in the form."
Here's more on each section.
Hero section: "Looks like I'm in the right place."
The hero has one job: beat the bounce. It gets about 3 seconds to convince the visitor that they're in the right place. If it fails, the visitor bounces right off the page forever.
The way to do it is with a crystal-clear headline that leaves no room for doubt.
If the ad offers "Custom Oak Dining Tables" you won't get away with "London's Best Furniture Maker". Forcing the visitor to make the connection between what they want (a table) and who you are (a furniture maker) always lowers conversion rate.
And, anything else promised in the ad e.g. a free initial consultation, a free quote etc should also be obvious here.
Problem section: "Yip, they offer what I'm looking for."
This section must make sure that the visitor knows that you solve the kind of problems they have.
The closer your page matches what the searcher wants the higher the conversion rate will be. If someone's after a Volkswagen service, send them to the Volkswagen service page. If they're looking for a Toyota service, send them to the Toyota service page and so on.
Profile section: "Yeah, they look legit."
The general rule about landing pages is NOT to talk about yourself. The profile section is different. It's about you. It's here to show your visitor that you're a real business and start building a connection.
(I've got some ideas on writing profile sections here.)
Benefit section: "OK, this makes sense."
The benefit section promises the visitor that they'll get what they're hoping for. And it backs up your promise by showing how you'll deliver.
I like to keep this short. 3 benefits, each with a paragraph or two of explanation. That makes it easy to grasp. Remember, the landing page doesn't have to win the sale, just the lead.
Process section: "OK, this makes sense."
This builds on the benefit section. It goes into more detail about how you'll help your visitor get what they're hoping for. It also starts reassuring the visitor that working with you will be pleasant.
I like to set this out as a 3-step process showing an easy path from where the visitor is now to where they want to be.
Testimonials "Other people have used them so they're probably legit."
I don't have a strong opinion on how many testimonials should be on a landing page. Too few and you don't have credibility. Too many and it blocks the natural flow through the page.
I settled on showing 3 testimonials and adding a link to reveal more.
Frequently Asked Questions: "Huh! Looks like they understand me."
I've seen FAQS use to answer obvious questions e.g opening hours or the office address. I've also seen them abused for self-promotion e.g.
Why are you the best electrician?
Because our company mission and vision is to be the best.
Both seem like a waste of the space.
I prefer to use this section to pre-empt concerns visitors are likely to have. Here's an example from a client who builds websites for smaller businesses.
What if I don’t know what I want the site to look like?
No problem. We’ll show you examples and guide you based on what works for your type of business. You don’t need to be a designer—just tell us a bit about your goals.
What if I need help after the site goes live?
We can provide as much or as little support as you need. You’ll never be left on your own.
These questions offer reassurance and build trust.
Bottom Call To Action: "OK, let me fill in the form."
This section says "You want this, do this now to get it."
It's our last chance to get the visitor to contact us so I tend to be a little more direct here.
This is all a bit theoretical so I've put up an example page here. If you visit the pages you'll see the flow from top to bottom.
I offer 1-to-1 mentoring and consulting. You’ll get help, advice, support and answers without having to commit to a long-term contract. Details here.
Related articles
How I Make Writing the Company Profile Section of Landing Pages Easier Coming up with ideas for an interesting company profile is hard. Here's how to avoid staring at an empty screen.
Can 2FA Reduce Contact Form Spam, and Should You Use It? 2FA can reduce contact form spam—but it adds friction, risks real leads, and opens the door to scams like SMS pumping.
The Missing Piece on Most Service Business Landing Pages When people are looking into a product or service they rarely need they need to be confident about three things before they’ll work with you: That you actually understand what they need. That you have the competence to do what they need. That working with you won’t be a nightmare.
A Fix for Low Conversions: Separating the Sale from the Paperwork I consulted with six businesses that handle complex paperwork for their clients - such as travel documents, business registrations, and tax filings etc. Here's how we improved the conversion rate.
Why I Was Wrong About the 'About Us' Page (And What I Learned) In the past, I thought About pages were just filler because marketing should be customer-focused. I was wrong.
Being "the best" is lazy. I’m talking about describing yourself as "the best" on your website. It stops you from thinking about what actually makes your business the right choice.
Why experts sometimes have terrible conversion rates. Experts often have poor conversion rates because the words on their landing pages are all about them. Here's what you can do to fix this.
How I improve conversion rate for long booking forms Complex lead intake or booking forms offer opportunities for improving conversion rates. Here are a few...
How I track WhatsApp conversations as conversions in Google Ads At the time of writing Google has no way of tracking WhatsApp leads as conversions. I've used a couple of work arounds to solve this.
How to get more phone call leads. Most businesses who advertise online to get leads struggle to contact people who filled in an enquiry form. One way to improve this is to get leads to call you.
Will using technical terms and industry jargon on a landing page improve conversion rate? Landing pages have to be written for both the expert and non-technical user because you get both expert and non-technical visitors. Here's how to do that.
Improve conversion rates with visitor-focussed headlines High-converting headlines are about what the visitor cares for, not about the characteristics of the business. Here's how to check your headline for visitor focus.
6 Critical Mistakes You're Making with Your Landing Page Amy Hoy wrote a brilliant article titled 6 Critical Mistakes You're Making with Your Landing Page. She makes a really interesting observation which resonated with me: Landing page design is actually a usability exercise.
CAPTCHA is like putting barbed wire in front of your shop Don't make it difficult for your customers to contact you. Businesses with the smoothest processes will attract (and keep) the best customers.
Do long enquiry forms get more qualified leads? If your enquiry form asks for much more than contact details you're losing qualified sales leads. Read on to learn why...
Honest conversion tracking when you've got live chat, click to call and a form I took on an account with no useful conversion data. Here's how I started tracking calls, forms and live chat accurately.
How I got landing page load time down from 0.8 seconds to 0.2 seconds. Here’s a quick tip for improving landing page speed. As you know, nobody likes a slow website. Load speed is strongly correlated with the conversion rate: Fast website = more leads.
How long should your landing page be? How long should your landing page be? The answer isn't a number.
How to craft high-converting headlines, even if you have the copywriting skills of a turnip. If you’re anything like me, starting is the hardest part of writing. It's like I'm staring at the screen waiting for someone to unblock the idea pipe. That struggle is over.
How to improve landing page experience. Improving page speed helps improve landing page experience. Google's guidance is broad, not specific. That makes it hard to know what to do. Google does provide one specific set of instructions, following these will improve landing page experience and boost conversion rates.
I’m paying for clicks but I'm not getting enough leads. Read on to learn how your website could be sabotaging your advertising. And, what you can do to get more leads from your the clicks you've already paid for.
Improve website conversion rates with autocomplete. Here's a small tweak to the contact form on your website that'll make it easier for people to complete it. Adding autocomplete to your form fields is one of those 1% kaizen improvements. They all add up.
Landing pages: Click-to-call or contact form? You get the highest conversion rates from landing pages that concentrate on convincing visitors to do just one thing. Offer visitors too many choices and they bounce. But what if there are two equally good things your visitor could do?
Use HTTPS for your landing pages or kill your conversion rate. The number of website enquiries you get is going to fall off a cliff after 24th of October if your website doesn't use HTTPS. After the 24th of October 2017, Google Chrome will warn people that web pages with forms are insecure unless they’re served over HTTPS. Here's how to fix this.
We read websites like we did 100 years ago Even though the internet is infinitely more ubiquitous now. Even though we've had a generation grow up with Google. Even though 2-year olds have iPads . The way people read websites hasn't changed...
What's your landing page's first job? It’s not to convince someone to buy from you, establish trust, build your brand or educate your customer. Those things are important but they're not the first job. The first job is ...
Length is a liability; value per page is an asset. This is a quote from Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick. His advice is perfect for lead-generation landing pages.
How to improve landing page conversion rates by increasing visitor motivation Here's how I doubled the conversion rate on some Google Ads lead generation landing pages by improving visitor's motivation.