When it comes to optimizing PPC landing pages, marketers often think about beefing up page copy, adding trust signals, or including eye-catching graphics.
What they often neglect to consider are ways to reduce page clutter — ways to make the information on your landing page easier to read, or ways to visually enhance the most pertinent information on a page.
In this article, I’ll cover the basics on how to effectively reduce landing page clutter.
Eliminate Unnecessary Words
The English language is full of unnecessary words. Unfortunately, these words clutter up your marketing messages and make it difficult for visitors to read — let alone absorb — page copy. Remember, you only have a few seconds to grab your prospect’s attention before they click away, so keep your marketing copy clear, concise and direct.
Along these lines, it’s not uncommon to see huge blocks of text on a page. Online, people tend to scan information, so giant blocks of text make it hard for people to focus and retain information. In terms of cutting down paragraphs, here are some recommendations:
- Use short sentences.
- Never have a paragraph longer than 3-4 lines of text.
By eliminating unnecessary words and keeping paragraphs short, your marketing messages become clearer. In all of our testing, direct wording and the active tense led to more conversions as well.
Create More White Space
In addition to wording, it’s important to consider the white space on your page. Putting space around words, phrases and sentences allows your information to “pop,” or jump out on a page more.
Personally, I like to use bullet points to create white space, and I’ve found the best-converting number of bullet points is in the range of 3-5 per page. You get extra points if you include bullet points with value propositions and/or unique selling propositions (USPs). Here’s an example from Agentfolio.com:
(Click to enlarge.)
Aim to have the most compelling information, and that which makes you stand out from competitors, at the top of the list. (See my last article, 3 simple changes that mean big PPC bucks, for additional information on value propositions and USPs.)
Reducing Page Clutter: Before & After
Take a look at the following landing page copy, before and after page clutter reduction.
Before:
“Making Grown Men Cry Since 1975.” SABRE RED is the leading pepper spray among consumers and Law Enforcement Agencies worldwide, including the NYPD, LA County Sherriff’s Department, Hong Kong and Ireland National Police. Made in the USA, SABRE RED is a much better value because it features double the shelf life (4 years) and up to 5 TIMES more spray per canister for protection against multiple threats, if needed!
SABRE RED protects you against danger faster & more effectively because the formulation is perfectly blended so you don’t need to shake the canister before you spray an attacker.
Each SABRE RED pepper spray is test fired before leaving the factory to ensure proper functioning and the formulation strength of every batched produced is backed by our exclusive HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) Lab Guarantee. We take extreme measures to ensure that Sabre Red is the most advanced pepper spray brand in the world to help keep you and your loved ones safe. These are the reasons why SABRE RED has become the world’s most popular pepper spray!
Order now!
After:
SABRE RED is the leading pepper spray among consumers and law enforcement agencies worldwide, including the NYPD, the LA County Sherriff’s Department, the Ireland National Police and more.
Here are some reasons why SABRE RED has become the world’s most popular pepper spray:
- Double the shelf life (4 years) of competitors
- Up to 5 TIMES more spray per canister
- Quick bursts for protection against multiple threats, if needed!
- SABRE RED formulation perfectly blended so there’s no need to shake canister before spraying an attacker.
- Professional grade (used by law enforcement agencies)
Each SABRE RED pepper spray is test fired before leaving the factory. Every batch is backed by our exclusive HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) Lab Guarantee.
Order now!
In the above example, we’ve cut down the paragraph by taking out unimportant information and extraneous words. Each of the five bullet points increases white space and relates specifically to product USPs and value propositions.
The result is a landing page that’s much more attention-grabbing and easier to scan — not to mention better converting!
Have you tried reducing landing page clutter to improve conversions? How’s it worked out for you?
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