One Degree

The following is a sponsored post by Commune / The Content Optimization Company™.

Some landing pages work best with nothing but a headline, a subhead, and a submit box.

Then again, some offerings require the in-depth explanation that only body text can provide. And in such cases, you need to make sure your words are pulling their weight.

To optimize your landing page's body text, try adjusting and testing these elements.

Long vs. Short Copy

If your offering is low-risk (or even better, free), short copy will likely test better.

But if it requires a serious investment, a proportionate amount of copy is in order. The more someone has to spend, the more convincing they'll need.

That's the standard rule, but there's a deeper angle: You should also consider the source of a prospect's motivation.

If your offering is something they need (meaning it's a rational choice), long copy may convert more effectively—even if it's a low-risk situation.

And if it's something they simply want (meaning it's an impulse), short copy could be your best bet.

Naturally, the only way to know what works for your offering is to test both options.

Column Construction

Too often, designers try to eliminate scrolling by keeping everything above the fold.

But if you crowd a single page with too many columns to keep everything up top, your visitors will likely look elsewhere for a page that doesn't force them to pick out what's important.

So as a general rule, use one column and keep it to between 40 and 60 characters wide. And if your prospect is interested in what you're saying, they'll be happy to scroll for more.

Blocks vs. Bullets

On the web, readers tend to shy away from long paragraphs and bulky blocks of text.

So if anything you're explaining can be broken down into a series of bullet points or a numbered list, give it a try. You might also test checkmarks in place of the bullets.

Font and Size

Web designers who use huge, high-resolution monitors sometimes forget that most people read the web on dingy cube monitors or dim, battery-conserving laptops.

To make sure everyone can read your landing page with minimal friction, use a screen-friendly, sans serif typeface like Arial or Veranda, and choose a point size of 10 or larger.

And stick to black on white. Shades of gray—or worse, white text on a black background—will irritate your audience.

Once you've tested every angle to find the body text that works best, you'll need to tweak another essential ingredient—your submit box.

So next week's post will be chock full of tips to make sure your lead-capture lives up to its name.

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