Tech

How to use landing pages like a marketing pro

 1024 683 Mandy Freeman
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Published on Xneelo, 2022

Conversions and generating sales leads are important in every small business marketing strategy – and one of the most effective methods of capturing leads is through the use of a landing page. 

A landing page gives your promotions a place to live on your website, and can make it easier to generate new leads. It also provides you with valuable insights into how effective your marketing offers are performing when you track the analytics.

In this post we go through everything you need to know about landing pages, how to create them and how to apply them to your own marketing plans.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a stand-alone page on your website that lets your visitor complete an action of value, such as capturing their information through a form, downloading an ebook etc. A visitor usually lands on this page after they’ve clicked through from an email, advert or social media post.

There are two common types of landing pages: click-through and lead generation.

Click-through landing pages give visitors the info they need about an offer they’re interested in. The ultimate goal here is for them to buy something.

Lead generation landing pages are specifically designed for you to collect information through a form and often offer something in return for a visitor’s information, such as a discount.

How to create a landing page

Once you’ve identified which landing page you need for your business, you’ll need to create one.

A good landing page should include the following elements:

A headline

This is the first thing visitors will see when they land here and a good headline sums up your offer. If you’re unsure what it should say, ask yourself this question: “What will visitors who convert receive?” The answer will help you write a compelling headline.

Concise copy

The copy on your landing page should explain the value of your offer in a simple but compelling way. You can use bullet points to break up large chunks of text.

Relevant keywords

Don’t forget to include keywords in your page title, header and text so that the page will be optimised for search engines and appear in common searches.

Social sharing buttons or links

Adding these links lets visitors share a landing page with their connections on social networks, which increases the reach of your landing page beyond your network of followers and email subscribers.

The conversion form

This is where your visitors will enter their information in exchange for something, which helps convert them into viable sales leads.

An image

Include an image that gives visitors an idea of what they’ll receive. It also adds to the visual appeal of a landing page.

For ease of use, Managed WordPress Hosting customers can simply add a new page to their Starter Site of choice and use the WordPress Block Editor to drag and drop the above elements into place.

How to use a landing page

There are a few things you’ll need to consider when creating a landing page that will convert. Here are three best practices to guide you.

Offer something great

You need to offer your visitors something in return for their information. What this is, will depend on what business or service you offer on your website. If you’re selling products, for example, visitors are more likely to convert if you offer them a discount on a future purchase.

Add a clear call to action that sits above the fold

A call to action (CTA) tells people what you want from them, such as signing up for your newsletter so you can grow your subscriber database. Make sure you add the CTA above the fold (the top half of the screen), so visitors don’t have to scroll to find it.

Focus on your benefits rather than features

Someone who arrives on your landing page is probably here because they’re looking for a solution to a problem. Focus on the benefits to a potential customer instead of listing all the features that your product or service offers.

Getting visitors to your landing page

Once you’ve created a landing page and identified your goal, people will need to find it.

There are a few simple ways you can drive traffic to your landing page:

  • Include a CTA and the URL in a newsletter
  • Use paid search advertising, such as Google Ads
  • Share the URL with a CTA on your social media pages
  • Optimise your landing page for SEO so it appears in searches
  • Add a CTA to your home page or in relevant blog articles

POPIA considerations

Any personal information you collect has to be POPIA compliant. This means you’ll need your visitor’s consent before you can process any of their personal information. For example, when a customer checks out on your online store and enters their email address, you need to ask for their permission before you can save it to your database to use for future marketing. Make sure all personal information you collect and keep is safe, and that your customers can access, correct or delete any of their data. You also need to give people the option to opt-out at any time.

 

What you need to know about the WordPress 6.0 update

 1024 683 Mandy Freeman
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Published on Xneelo, 2022

WordPress 6.0 is the second major release of 2022, and it comes with almost 1 000 enhancements and bug fixes.

As a website owner, here are all the major updates and features you should be aware of.

Improved performance

WordPress 6.0 includes several performance updates aimed at speeding up the page loading time on your site. Queries on navigation menus have been simplified to use fewer database queries, while cache performance has been improved by looking at cache time limits and memory size of the cache.

While these improvements may be small, every bit helps improve page load time, which ultimately benefits the visitors to your site.

WordPress 6

Improved accessibility

The update includes improvements that help make it easier for people with disabilities to use WordPress sites. People with visual impairments use programmes to describe the image content, and the ALT text describes the image. If you don’t add ALT text, WordPress will use the article title. There’s also an option to display icons and the appropriate text in the block editor, which is helpful if the icon can’t be read by an auxiliary programme.

WordPress 6

New templates

WordPress 6.0 introduces several new templates for specific functions, including templates for displaying posts from a specific author, category, date, tag or taxonomy.

Wordpress 6

Block locking

This feature prevents you from accidentally deleting, moving or editing an important block, which is beneficial if you work with many reusable blocks and don’t want anyone else working on your site to change them. It also helps preserve design layouts if you create templates. You’ll know a block is locked because you’ll see a padlock when you click on it.

WordPress 6

Enhanced writing experience

If you’re hands-on with writing content for your website blog, then there are a few notable new features that will be beneficial. The new stack block lets you customise your posts with vertically stacked content, and includes settings for justification, orientation, text and background colours, typography, padding, block spacing and borders. WordPress 6 also introduces a new theme export tool.

WordPress 6

You can insert internal links and titles more quickly with a simple shortcut: insert two square brackets ([[) followed by the post title. The editor will show you any matching posts on your site and is useful when you want to add internal links.

Interface and design changes

The latest version of WordPress delivers an enhanced user interface that makes it easier for you to design web pages and edit text. New tools include ​​a new colour panel, border controls, transparency levels, and more layout flexibility. There is also an improved navigation structure and a new web-fonts API which can be used with available themes.

Why are updates important?

Not updating to the latest version can make your website vulnerable to security breaches and hackers. Your website may also experience incompatibility issues with plugins, affecting performance and speed.

All xneelo Managed WordPress Hosting websites have the option to have their WordPress automatically updated for convenience. It’s important to remember that all updates are compatibility tested before roll out to ensure no disruption to your service.

 

5 must-have pages for your business website

 1024 683 Mandy Freeman
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Published on Xneelo, 2023

You’ve got a product or service to sell, you’ve registered a domain and now it’s time to create your website. One of the first things you would do for a new site is decide what pages you need. In this post we outline the five must-have pages every business website should have.

WordPress is a great choice for business owners as it allows you to create a professional website quickly and easily without any programming experience. Plus, when it comes to your look and feel, you’ll be spoilt for choice with a large selection of WordPress themes for business.

A home page

Research shows that 99% of websites have a 10-second opportunity window – this means visitors decide in 10 seconds whether they want to stay or leave. Your home page is your opportunity to pitch your business offering – your product or service – and hook your customers by telling them what problem your product or service can solve for them.

Good navigation is key to visitors being able to find what they’re looking for, and quickly. As a start, keep all your important information above the fold – this is the section of your site that visitors will see before scrolling down.

Keep your home page design simple. Add one featured image or video to the content above the fold, with a short headline that introduces your business. You can include a subheading or a sentence that describes your business in a bit more detail below that. Don’t forget to add a strong call-to-action – tell visitors what you want them to do.

Additional practical tips that can help create your home page:

  • Use clear labels for navigation
    It’s best practice to use words that people are familiar with for drop-down menus.
  • Follow the three-click rule
    People should be able to navigate your site with as few clicks as possible. The three-click rule says that visitors to your site should never be more than three clicks away from what they are looking for.
  • Don’t forget about the footer of your site
    Visitors expect to find navigation options and contact information in the footer, so make sure it’s there.

From your home page, your customer should be able to know exactly where to go to find what they need. Don’t make them look too hard!

An about page

This page needs to tell visitors who you are and what your business is about. It’s your space to tell your brand story, share your values, and unpack your vision.

If you’re not sure what to include on your about page, you can start with these important details:

  • Your business values are and what makes your company special
  • A brief history of your business
  • Where you’re located – don’t forget to include what area(s) you service if necessary
  • Customer testimonials or reviews to foster trust
  • Links to your social media pages
  • A newsletter sign up button if you have one

Make sure all information you include is relevant and up to date. And don’t forget to include any awards your company has won – this is external validation that can instill confidence in prospective customers.

Remember to be human, authentic and honest. You want your customers to trust you and believe in what you do and why you do it.

Product or service pages

Your products and/or services pages should provide information about what your business offers. This page should be easy for visitors to scan and navigate quickly. If you have a large catalogue, create a separate page for each product or service, as too much information can be overwhelming.

Some key elements to include:

  • A detailed description of each product or service
  • A breakdown of features
  • Any important benefits and problems you’re solving for your customers
  • High-quality images and/or videos
  • The price of each product or service and whether or not VAT is included
  • Customer reviews
  • A call-to-action button to help customers place their order

A contact page

Customers need to be able to get in touch with you – so include your contact number and email address. It’s also useful to add Google Maps if you have a physical address that’s open to the public to help customers find you.  Integrating Google My Business is another great idea.

You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch with you. Contact forms can help automate the process. Keep your forms simple and only ask for important details. If you only need contact information, for example, don’t ask for a physical address too. Tell people exactly what information you need, why you need it, and how you plan to use their information. There are important legal considerations to keep in mind when requesting customer data.

You can also consider using a chatbot if you’d like to further automate the contact page and create an effortless experience for customers. Tidio is a popular WordPress live chat plugin that comes with a customisable widget and free mobile apps for Android and iOS.

Your contact page should make it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch with you. If you’re worried about spam, your Managed WordPress Hosting plan has built-in spam filters in place to ensure you don’t get hounded by junk mail.

A blog or news page

The blog or news page is often underrated but plays an important role in the success of your website. For a start, it’s a great Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tool, which is important if you’d like your website to reach more potential customers.

Whenever you publish or update content, Google receives a signal that says your site is active. In addition, writing blog content means you can target keywords that you can’t include on your landing pages.

Beyond SEO, though, a blog page can:

  • Offer you additional content that you can easily repurpose for social media
  • Help convert traffic into leads with well-placed Call To Actions (CTAs)
  • Establish you as an authority in your area of expertise. To do this, though, you must make sure the content you publish is both accurate and useful for your readers

Now that you know what website pages to include to optimise your user experience, consider using one of our Managed WordPress Hosting Starter Sites to build your website.

Creating a business website doesn’t need to be difficult, nor do you need to hire expert help. Take the time to research the best practices, look at what your competitors are doing, and most importantly, use the tools available to make your life simple.

How to monetise your website

 1024 683 Mandy Freeman
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Published on Xneelo, 2023

Did you know that if you currently have a website that gets a decent amount of traffic every month, it’s possible to generate a passive income from it? You might be asking, but why would I want to monetise my website? 

You may want to scale or pivot your business in the near future and want to use your website to generate enough funds to run itself until you do, or you simply may want to boost your website’s earning potential. Whatever your reason for doing so, there are options available to make this happen.

We’ve put together a few ways you can use your existing website to make money.

Google AdSense

Using Google AdSense is possibly one of the simplest ways to set up your website to make money. You allow Google to place ads on your website and each time someone clicks on an ad, you’ll get paid.

While there are different platforms available, Google AdSense is a popular one because it’s fairly straightforward to use. To get started, you’ll need:

  • A Google account
    If you’re using Gmail (or any other Google service), then this step is complete. If you don’t have one, then you’ll need to create an account.
  • A phone number and postal address
    These contact details must be associated with the bank account you’re going to link to your Google AdSense account for payments.
  • A unique code
    You’ll get a code to add to your website that lets Google track click-throughs.

Once your account is active, Google AdSense does all the heavy lifting in the background, matching ads to your site based on the content you publish and the visitors you get. The ads that will be placed on your website are created and paid for by advertisers. If, however, you notice an ad that you don’t like, you can remove it from the Brand Safety page on your account.

Display ads

A second option is to sell space for ads on your website directly to advertisers, giving you more control over the selling price. Display ads – or banner ads – are placed in high-traffic locations on web pages, such as across the top or down the sides of a webpage. They’re typically put in places where your eyes are likely to look when you’re browsing.

Generating leads doesn’t need to be difficult – you can create an “Advertise here” page that directs potential advertisers to a form where they can submit their details or to your contact page.

If this sounds like an option that will work for you, make sure you keep the user experience top of mind. A good rule of thumb is that less is always more. Running too many ads can slow down your page loading speed, which in turn can affect your SEO. The quicker your website loads, the better the experience for your visitors. In addition, search engines favour fast-loading sites.

You’ll also need to optimise the ads for web and mobile, as your visitors are likely to access your site from different devices. Optimising how the ads display is important, too and you’ll need to consider their size, location and type (static vs animated).

Affiliate marketing

If you’ve got a blog section on your website, you could explore affiliate marketing – basically, you promote a brand or product to your audience. Think of it as a performance-based marketing strategy where you’ll get paid for each successful sale.

When you sign up as an affiliate, you’ll receive a link or tracking code that needs to be embedded on your site. Every successful sale or lead generated through this affiliate link means you’ll earn a commission.

SME South Africa does caution against pushing brands and products too heavily. They say, “The key thing is that you should only promote affiliate products that add value to your audience. If you come across as too salesy, your audience could lose interest.”

Locally, there are a number of brands that offer affiliate programmes, such as:

Globally, Amazon and Etsy are quite popular options for affiliate marketing.

Ideas for content creators

If you have a blog or vlog on your website, chances are you are passionate about a certain subject or industry. If you have knowledge that can benefit someone else, you can monetise this. Consider creating an ebook, audiobook or even an e-course to sell from your website.

Many popular bloggers and streamers sell merchandise from their websites. This is a great way to build loyalty among fans who want to support you.

If your blog is popular enough you can even sell reviews or sponsored posts. Alternatively, you can gate premium content behind a paywall or offer this content to readers who support your content with donations. There are plugins that can help you with this. PayPal also offers this functionality.

Monetising your WordPress website

The beauty of WordPress is the ease with which websites can be customised. Adding a paywall to your content, automating your affiliate marketing or hosting ads is as simple as adding the right plugin.

When adding a plugin, always look at the number of active downloads, and its user review rating, and check whether it’s compatible with your version of WordPress and your Starter Site or theme.

Another way to monetise your WordPress website is to add an online store. Our e-commerce Starter Site, Athletic, available as part of our Managed WordPress Hosting product, has everything you need to easily set up your online store. If you’re already a Managed WordPress Hosting customer making use of one of our other Starter Sites, you simply swap out your Starter Site for Athletic. You can find the steps for switching to Athletic here.

Whatever option you consider, remember that it will take time before your website starts to make money. While there’s no timeframe on how long this will take, factors like how many visitors you get and the quality of your content will play a role.