Last updated on August 13th, 2024 at 11:25 am
Landing pages are a type of web page that converts the best.
This means that you are almost certainly leaving money on the table if you aren’t using them.
That’s why today we are going to share ten tips that can help you create online coaching landing pages that convert!
- #1: Design Your Sales Funnel First
- #2: Create a Super Valuable Lead Magnet
- #3: Choose the Right Landing Page Format
- #4: Use a Proven Landing Page Template
- #5: Craft a Compelling Headline
- #6: Emphasize the Benefits of Your Lead Magnet
- #7: Provide Social Proof
- #8: Have a Clear Call to Action
- #9: Start Driving Traffic to Your Landing Page With Paid Ads
- #10: Optimize Your Landing Page For Conversions With A/B Testing
- Build A Sales Funnel For Your Online Coaching Business with ClickFunnels!
#1: Design Your Sales Funnel First
Landing pages don’t exist in isolation – they should always be viewed in the context of your overall sales funnel. That’s why we advise designing it first!
There are several popular sales funnel models out there. Which one should you use to grow your online coaching business?
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:
In theory, the term “landing page” can refer to both lead generation landing pages and sales pages.
In practice, when people use the term “landing page”, they are typically referring to lead generation landing pages – the “Bait” stage of the Value Ladder sales funnel.
That’s why in this article we are going to discuss how you can create a lead generation landing page for your online coaching business.
#2: Create a Super Valuable Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a freebie that you offer to potential customers in exchange for their email address.
It’s important to understand that no amount of copywriting skill, conversion optimization techniques, or A/B testing will help if your lead magnet doesn’t resonate with your dream customers.
So if you want your lead generation landing page to convert, you first need to make sure that your lead magnet is irresistible. How can you do that?
- Identify the most painful problem that your dream customers are struggling with.
- Create an information product that provides an effective solution to that problem.
- Give that product away for free.
The format of your lead magnet will depend on the niche that you are in.
If you are in a niche where information can be easily conveyed through text, then you should probably go with a free ebook or a free email course as text-based lead magnets are the easiest to produce.
Alternatively, you can present that information in a webinar format, where you host a 60-minute online seminar and then end it with a sales pitch for your coaching services.
However, in niches where information is best conveyed through video (fitness, crafts, cooking, etc.) creating a video masterclass or a video course might make sense.
Your aim with the lead magnet should be to provide information that would enable your dream customers to get the results that they want.
Then you can offer your online coaching services where you help them put what they learned into practice.
Keep in mind that your lead magnet is the foundation of your entire Value Ladder sales funnel – you want to go all out with it and exceed everyone’s expectations.
#3: Choose the Right Landing Page Format
Your lead magnet format will determine what landing page format you should use. What does that mean?
Let’s look at the three most popular lead generation funnels:
The Squeeze Page Funnel
A squeeze page is the most basic type of landing page.
The squeeze page funnel is the most basic type of a lead generation funnel:
Page 1: A squeeze page
Page 2: A thank you page
Squeeze page funnels work best for text-based lead magnets such as reports, ebooks, and email courses.
The Reverse Squeeze Page Funnel
A reverse squeeze page is a squeeze page that features a video that the potential customer can watch without providing their email address.
The reverse squeeze page funnel also looks like this:
Page 1: A squeeze page
Page 2: A thank you page
With the reverse squeeze page funnel you provide some free value right there on the landing page itself then ask the potential customer to give you their email address in exchange for more free value.
Reverse squeeze page funnels work best for video-based lead magnets such as video masterclasses and video courses.
You can use your reverse squeeze page to provide a sneak peek with a highlight reel of your video content.
Alternatively, you can share the introductory video that sets the stage for the rest of the video content.
The Webinar Funnel
The webinar funnel is a lead generation funnel where you use a webinar as your lead magnet.
Here’s what it looks like:
Page 1: A webinar registration page
Page 2: A thank you page
Page 3: A webinar page
Page 4: A product order page
Our co-founder Russell Brunson primarily used webinar funnels to get ClickFunnels off the ground.
He remains convinced that the best business model in the world is to create a webinar and then do that webinar live every single week for a year at least once a week.
#4: Use a Proven Landing Page Template
Okay, so you decided on a landing page format, what should you do next?
We don’t recommend building your landing page from scratch if you don’t have any previous landing page design experience.
You will likely be better off going with a proven landing page template that has been designed specifically for the lead generation funnel that you have in mind.
ClickFunnels includes a library of landing page templates for pretty much every use case imaginable – squeeze pages, reverse squeeze pages, webinar registration pages, we have it all.
What’s more, we have been relentlessly optimizing our landing page templates for almost a decade now.
This means that all templates in our library have been proven to work for real businesses – they don’t just look good, they also convert well!
#5: Craft a Compelling Headline
The most important element of your landing page is its headline. Why?
Because in all likelihood the potential customer is extremely distracted – they probably have 20 browser tabs open, are chatting with a friend on a messaging app, and are listening to a podcast all at the same time.
The headline will be the first thing that the potential customer will notice so that is your one opportunity to grab their attention and get them to read the rest of your landing page copy before they get distracted by something.
There are several approaches to writing headlines but we recommend focusing on conveying the value of your lead magnet.
How will it make the potential customer’s life better?
Make it clear in your headline!
#6: Emphasize the Benefits of Your Lead Magnet
Okay, so you got the potential customer’s attention, how can you persuade them to give you their email address?
You need to understand the difference between features and benefits if you want to write landing page copy that converts:
- A feature is a quality or a function of a product (e.g. “These shoes are waterproof!”).
- A benefit is the value the customer will get from that product (e.g. “These shoes will help you keep your feet dry!).
People take action based on the benefits of any given offer. That’s why you should emphasize them in your landing page copy.
Once again: how will your lead magnet make the potential customer’s life better? Focus on that!
Also, the more affordable the offer, the less important its features, so when it comes to lead magnets, features don’t really matter much.
Only mention the features of your lead magnet in its landing page copy if that helps you increase its perceived value (e.g. “A free 350-page ebook”, “A free 12-hour video course”), etc.).
#7: Provide Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological principle that says that whenever people are unsure of what to do, they look at what others do in order to determine the best course of action.
In the business context, this means that whenever potential customers are unsure whether to trust you, they will feel inclined to seek indications that other people trust you.
While downloading a free lead magnet doesn’t entail any financial risk, it’s probably safe to say that everyone is tired of overhyped digital junk. Who needs yet another low-quality PDF?
The potential customer might also be concerned that once you have their email address, you will start bombarding them with endless sales pitches.
Providing social proof can help you establish your credibility in the eyes of potential customers and reassure them that you aren’t some weird spammer.
There are two types of social proof:
- Direct social proof that relates to the offer in question. This typically means customer testimonials.
Can you get some testimonials from people who got positive results by implementing what they learned from your lead magnet?
The more specific the testimonial, the better! - Indirect social proof that relates to you as an individual or to your business. This can mean mentioning relevant education, credentials, accomplishments, awards, media mentions, etc.
If you don’t have any social proof yet, we highly recommend acquiring some – it can do wonders for your conversion rates!
#8: Have a Clear Call to Action
Every landing page needs to have at least one call-to-action button.
Ideally, you want it to be large and use a color that contrasts with the overall color scheme of your landing page, as that will make it impossible to miss.
You should also use specific copy (e.g. “Get Your FREE Ebook Now!”) as opposed to generic copy (e.g. “Download” or “Subscribe”).
If your landing page is longer than one screen, you might want to consider having a call-to-action button for each screen.
That way, as the potential customer is scrolling down, there will always be a call-to-action button within easy reach.
It might seem silly but little inconveniences like having to scroll all the way up to find the call-to-action button cause unnecessary friction and can seriously damage your conversion rates.
#9: Start Driving Traffic to Your Landing Page With Paid Ads
The reality is that you can’t know whether your landing page converts until you start driving traffic to it.
And the easiest way to drive traffic is with paid advertising. Pick a social media platform, set a small daily budget, and start running your campaign. Are your dream customers interested in your free offer?
Once you have established that your free offer resonates with your target audience, you can start tweaking your landing page to increase its conversions.
However, it’s entirely possible that your lead magnet will turn out to be a flop, in which case you need to go back to the drawing board, come up with something better, and repeat the whole process.
Keep in mind that it might take several attempts until you come up with a lead magnet that your dream customers find irresistible. So don’t give up too soon!
#10: Optimize Your Landing Page For Conversions With A/B Testing
A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a method that marketers use to optimize web pages for conversions:
- You create two variants of the same page: variant A and variant B. There should be only one difference between them (e.g. the call-to-action button color). That’s the element that you are testing.
- You split the traffic in two and send half of it to variant A and the other half to variant B.
- You let the experiment run until it reaches statistical significance and then keep the variant that converted better.
It’s unlikely that any given A/B test will lead to a drastic increase in conversion rates, especially if you are using a template that has already been optimized for conversions.
That being said, small wins add up over time, so always be testing!
Build A Sales Funnel For Your Online Coaching Business with ClickFunnels!
ClickFunnels has everything you need to build a sales funnel for your online coaching business:
- Sales funnel and landing page templates.
- Visual editor that you can use to customize those templates.
- Email marketing functionality that allows you to send broadcast emails, set up automated email sequences, and create email workflows with behavioral triggers.
What’s best is that we have a free trial which means that you can check out our software without any risk.
So why not start building your Value Ladder sales funnel today?