landing pages trends tips guidesThe landing page is one of your most critical tools for attracting and converting clients. A great landing one embodies a balance of aesthetics and functionality that calls people to action and caters to your most actionable clientele.

“A good landing page will target a particular audience, such as traffic from an email campaign promoting a particular ebook, or visitors who click on a pay-per-click ad promoting your webinar,” says Pamela Vaughan of Hubspot.

Vaughan goes on to explain that landing pages can have many different purposes, from providing visitors with downloadable content or redeeming marketing offers, to finding a location near the visitor’s home or offering an opportunity to redeem coupons. Their most valuable task, however, is ultra-targeting.

“Creating landing pages allows you to target your audience, offer them something of value, and convert a higher percentage of your visitors into leads, while also capturing information about who they are and what they’ve converted on,” Vaughan explains.

The methods for gathering such indispensable information evolve quickly, because digital marketing and website development trends change constantly. For that reason, it’s worthwhile to look at today’s top landing page trends before you try to build or update your new landing pages this year.

1. Bold Fonts and Bright Colors

Website design styles are becoming more modern, and your landing pages should not be left behind. The use of bold font styles and bright colors, particularly on landing pages, can increase engagement while complementing the rest of your site.

A combination of vivid hues and bold fonts is perfect for grabbing visitor attention, who are likely to spend only a few minutes looking at your page (if that!). For example, take a look at this one from the website Bold Earth. The company has used natural landscapes against a bright blue background and fun fonts, which should rapidly invest people in the content.

2. Google Maps Integration for Brick-and-Mortar Businesses

Given an infinite number of startups that use online-only platforms, Google Maps integration has fallen by the wayside for landing pages. However, if you have a brick-and-mortar location, this item is an absolute must for your landing page, so people can see exactly where you do business.

You’ll get more conversions from people who can actually come to your office. But it doesn’t have to take up the entire page.

Take a look at this page for the Colorado Springs law office The Sawaya Law Firm. The firm has loaded its landing page with beautiful imagery, bold fonts, and bright colors, as well as useful, detailed content. Sawaya integrated its Google Map in the center so potential clients may be easily directed to the firm’s offices.

3. Mobile and Responsive Design

This has been a consistent trend in landing pages for several years, but because many companies continue to neglect to incorporate mobile-friendly, responsive design in their websites, it remains worthy of repetition.

Statista research indicates that nearly 50 percent of all website traffic around the world in 2016 was generated on mobile devices, which was a significant increase from the 35 percent the year before.

Google will also roll out a mobile-first index sometime in the first half of 2018, which will place greater emphasis on websites that have every single page indexed for mobile-friendly design. Integrating Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), an open-sourced coding standard for rapid mobile loading, is a necessity for landing pages today.

That could mean the difference between getting more conversions and seeing your bounce rate go sky high.

4. Scroll-Triggered Animations

Scroll-triggered animations are also nothing new for keeping users engaged and making them see the value on the page. But this year, they’ll incorporate contemporary styles.

Interactions will be minimalist in approach, but they’ll give users a sense of satisfaction that tends to boost engagement. This could also clean up the look and feel of your website so you manage to convey your point without a clutter of menus and buttons.

To see an example of this minimalist but highly effective tactic, consider this page by Apple. With each scroll, you’re greeted by striking imagery, popping graphics, and useful information that keeps on giving.

It’s not an in-your-face variety of animation, but it can leave a beautiful impression on visitors.

5. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Qualities

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are going fully mainstream, so incorporating them into your website will be one of your biggest tasks. This is heightened by the fact that Google’s Alpha Go AI machine successfully ousted a human Alpha Go player recently, a sure sign that machine learning and artificial intelligence are becoming quicker and more accurate.

Incorporating such features into your landing pages might seem confusing and costly at first, but firms like Adobe Sensei and TheGrid are trying to make AI-based web designs and tools available to the everyday website owner.

The age of bolder, more intelligent landing pages has arrived. If you want more of your visitors to convert, you have to present them with the sharpest new designs and promotional strategies.