Last updated on July 9th, 2024 at 12:43 am
Are you considering hiring a landing page agency to create a landing page for your product or service?
Today we are going to discuss the pros and cons of doing that as well as potential alternative solutions.
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a web page that is designed with a single conversion goal in mind.
There are two types of landing pages:
- Lead generation landing pages where the conversion goal is to persuade the potential customer to give you their contact details.
- Sales pages where the conversion goal is to persuade the potential customer to buy your product or service.
Note that typically, when people say “landing page”, they are referring specifically to lead generation landing pages.
Why are Landing Pages Important?
There’s something called the Paradox of Choice – the more options you give to someone, the more likely they are to experience analysis paralysis and end up doing nothing.
This might seem counterintuitive at first but there’s a lot of research that supports that idea.
The most famous experiment is the jam study which showed that people are more likely to buy jam when they can choose from just 6 flavors as opposed to 24 or 30.
With that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that landing pages tend to convert better than regular home pages, product pages, pricing pages, etc.
After all, by definition, a landing page gives the potential customer just two options:
- Act on the call to action
- Leave the landing page
This is a much better way to get someone to do what you want than asking them to follow you on social media AND subscribe to your email list AND buy your product all at the same time, which is was often happens with regular websites.
If you aren’t using landing pages in your business yet, then it’s probably safe to say that you would almost certainly increase your revenue if you started doing it.
Of course, optimizing a landing page for conversions might require some experimentation, but if you manage to get it right then it will likely be well worth it.
Do You Need to Hire a Landing Page Agency?
Okay, but what if you have never created a landing page before and aren’t sure where to start?
You have several options:
- Create your landing page yourself.
This is the most affordable approach because all you need is software like ClickFunnels that provides proven, high-converting landing page templates for various common use cases.
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- Hire a landing page agency to create a landing page for you.
This is a much more expensive approach but it’s also least the least time-consuming because you are outsourcing everything to the agency.
Something to keep in mind here is that just because a page looks pretty doesn’t mean that it will convert well.
You need to make sure that the landing page agency is primarily focused on conversion rate optimization, not on aesthetically pleasing design.
Ideally, they should include A/B testing in their landing page package so that you would be sure that the landing page they created actually converts. - Hire a landing page designer and a landing page copywriter to create a landing page for you.
This approach can be as cheap or expensive as you want because the price will depend on who you hire.
But it is likely to be the most time-consuming because you will need to not only find the right people for the job but also manage them throughout the whole process.
As you can see, what is the right choice for you largely depends on the resources that you have available, as these three options require varying levels of investment in terms of time, energy, and money.
Generally, if you are just starting out, we recommend creating your own landing pages with ClickFunnels because hiring a landing page agency or freelancers might not be wise at that stage.
Moreover, creating landing pages is an invaluable skill in and of itself, so learning it can benefit you tremendously in the future.
How to Create a Killer Landing Page Without Hiring a Landing Page Agency
So how exactly can you create a killer landing page by yourself?
Design Your Value Ladder Sales Funnel
Landing pages don’t exist in isolation.
They should always be viewed in the context of your overall sales funnel.
The reason why this is so important is that the conversion rate of any given landing page isn’t determined only by its design, copywriting, and offer.
Everything that happened before the potential customer arrived on that landing page also has an effect on its conversion rate.
Traffic source, ad copy, email copy, their previous experiences with your company, your overall brand image, you name it…
All that matters when it comes to conversions but it’s easy to miss these potential factors if you are only looking at the landing page itself and not at the big picture aka your sales funnel.
That’s why we recommend designing your sales funnel first and only then creating landing pages for each stage of it. But what sales funnel should you build?
We believe that the most effective way to sell anything online is the Value Ladder sales funnel.
It was created by our co-founder Russell Brunson who then used it to take ClickFunnels from zero to $10M+ in annual revenue in just one year (it’s at $100M+ now!).
This sales funnel has four stages:
- Bait – You offer the potential customer your lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
- Frontend – You offer the potential customer your least expensive and least valuable product or service.
- Middle – You offer the customer a more expensive and valuable product or service.
- Backend – You offer the customer your most expensive and most valuable product or service.
Ideally, you also offer a continuity program of some sort, meaning, a subscription product that generates recurring revenue.
We also recommend adding downsells, upsells, and cross sells to these core offers in order to maximize your revenue.
The reason why this sales funnel works so well is that it allows you to:
- Start the relationship with that person by offering free value.
- Nurture that relationship by continuing to provide free value via email.
- Build trust by providing progressively more paid value at each stage.
Here’s how Russell explains it:
You don’t need to have an entire product line ready in order to create a basic Value Ladder sales funnel.
You can begin with a lead magnet + frontend offer and then build out the rest of the funnel later.
What matters is that you get clear on the big picture before you start creating landing pages for your business.
Choose a Conversion Goal for Your Landing Page
Now that you have designed your Value Ladder sales funnel, choosing conversion goals for your landing pages should be easy.
At the Bait stage, the conversion goal is lead generation – you want to persuade the potential customer to give you their email address.
Meanwhile, at the Frontend, Middle, and Backend stages, the conversion goal is to persuade the potential customer to buy your products or services. These landing pages should be sales pages!
Use a Proven, High-Converting Landing Page Template
We don’t recommend creating a landing page from scratch – your best bet is to pick a proven, high-converting landing page template and then customize it according to your needs.
Ideally, you want to find a template that has been designed for the specific use case that you have in mind, whatever that is.
ClickFunnels has a template library with templates for all the most common landing page use cases.
Moreover, our software includes an intuitive visual page editor that you can use to customize your chosen landing page template. No web design or coding skills are required!
Make Sure That Your Landing Page Headline Conveys the Value of Your Offer
It’s impossible to overstate just how important landing page headlines are.
David Ogilvy, one of the best copywriters that ever lived, is quoted as having said:
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
Presumably, he was talking about print ad headlines, but we can probably safely assume that this is just as true today with landing page headlines.
The reality is that when a potential customer arrives on your landing page, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention.
If it’s not immediately clear what your offer is all about, they will simply leave and never come back!
Here’s a simple yet effective landing page that we use for our “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” lead magnet:
Get “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” for FREE!
As you can see, the headline makes it clear:
- What our offer is about
- That it’s FREE
By the way, this type of landing page is called a squeeze page and can work well for promoting free offers.
However, when it comes to selling products and services, it’s best to use medium-length or long-form landing pages.
Generally, the more expensive the product or service, the longer its sales page should be.
Emphasize the Benefits of Your Offer in Your Landing Page Copy
One of the most important copywriting principles that you need to understand is the distinction between features and benefits:
- A feature is a quality or a function of your product (e.g. “These shoes are waterproof!”).
- A benefit is a value the potential customer will get from your product (e.g. “These shoes will keep your feet dry!”).
People take action based on the benefits.
That’s why you should emphasize them all throughout your landing page copy, from the headline to the body copy to the call to action.
How will your offer make their lives better?
Emphasize that.
Add Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological principle that says that when people don’t know what to do, they look at what others do to determine the best course of action.
In the business context, it means that potential customers are less interested in what you have to say about yourself and more interested in what other people have to say about you.
That’s why adding social proof to a landing page typically increases its conversion rate – it reassures the potential customers that both the offer and the individual or business behind it are legit.
Consider displaying “As Seen On” media badges, sharing customer testimonials, and mentioning relevant accomplishments on your landing page.
And if you don’t have any social proof to speak of, we recommend getting out there and acquiring it. It might take some work, but it’s worth it!
Have a Call-to-Action Button That’s Impossible to Miss
Every landing page needs a call-to-action button that’s impossible to miss.
Make it large and use a color that stands out in the overall color scheme of your landing page.
As for the copy, you want to use descriptive copy such as “Get Your FREE Ebook” as opposed to generic copy such as “Subscribe” or “Download”.
Use A/B Testing to Increase Your Conversion Rate!
Keep in mind that the first version of your landing page is just the start.
Landing pages are best seen as works-in-progress – you need to continuously optimize them through A/B testing.
Over time, conversion rate optimization can help you 2x, 5x, or even 10x your sales funnel profits!
Want Russell to Show You How to Build Your First Sales Funnel?
Let’s keep it real:
Building a sales funnel from scratch can seem like a daunting task.
That’s why we created our 5 Day Challenge where Russell walks you through it step-by-step.
You will learn how to:
- Generate unlimited leads
- Create your first lead magnet
- Build your first sales funnel
- Create a simple 6-email follow-up sequence
- And launch your funnel
…in just five days!
So don’t hesitate.