When it comes to online marketing, your landing page is your first impression, and we all know how important first impressions are. Whether you’re running ads, promoting a product, or collecting leads, a landing page can make or break your campaign.
But what exactly makes a landing page good? It’s not about cramming in fancy words or complicated designs. It’s about doing a few key things right. In this post, I’ll walk you through the top five tips to optimise a landing page. These tips are simple, clear, and based on real experience.
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1. Keep It Focused – One Goal, One Message
One of the most common mistakes people make is trying to say too much at once. Your landing page isn’t your whole website. It’s not the place for visitors to browse and explore different options. It’s meant to guide them toward one specific action, signing up, buying something, downloading a file, booking a call, whatever it is.
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Why Focus Matters
When your page has too many messages, visitors get confused. They don’t know what’s important, and confused visitors don’t convert. Your landing page should have one clear headline, one strong call to action (CTA), and one goal. Every part of the page should support that one goal.
What You Can Do
- Write a headline that says exactly what the offer is.
- Use subheadings to support your main message.
- Remove anything that distracts from your main CTA.
- Stick to one form, one button, or one action.
Less clutter = more clarity = better conversions.
2. Make It Load Fast
People don’t wait. If your page takes more than a few seconds to load, there’s a good chance they’ll just leave. A slow landing page isn’t just annoying, it’s expensive. You’re paying for traffic that never even sees your content.
How Speed Affects Performance
Every second your page takes to load increases your bounce rate. Plus, search engines like Google also consider page speed when ranking content. A slow page could hurt your SEO and ad performance.
Simple Fixes
- Compress your images before uploading them. Tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh work well.
- Avoid unnecessary scripts or heavy animations.
- Use lightweight fonts and minimal plugins.
- Choose a good hosting provider or consider a CDN (content delivery network) if needed.
Test your page on Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to see how it’s doing.
3. Write Like A Human
I know this one sounds obvious, but it’s so important. Too many landing pages sound like they were written by a robot or someone trying too hard to impress. If your visitor needs to read a sentence twice to understand it, that’s already a bad sign.
What Good Copy Looks Like
A good copy is clear, direct, and sounds like something a real person would say. You don’t need to be a copywriting expert; you just need to be honest and easy to understand.
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Writing Tips
- Use short sentences.
- Avoid jargon or buzzwords.
- Talk directly to the reader using words like you and your.
- Focus on benefits, not features. People want to know what’s in it for them.
Here’s an example:
Instead of this: “Our tool utilises state-of-the-art AI-powered solutions to streamline customer engagement.”
Try this: “Our tool helps you chat with customers faster and save time.”
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See the difference? One feels natural. The other doesn’t.
4. Design For Mobile First
Chances are, most of your visitors are coming from their phones. If your landing page doesn’t work well on mobile, you’re losing leads without even knowing it.
Why Mobile Experience Is Crucial
A lot of people design on desktops and forget to check what the page looks like on mobile. The layout breaks, the text becomes too small, buttons are hard to click, or forms don’t load properly.
That’s a conversion killer.
Things To Check
- Make sure your buttons are big enough to tap easily.
- Use a single-column layout, it works better on small screens.
- Keep your text size readable (at least 16px).
- Don’t rely on hover effects, they don’t work on touchscreens.
- Test your page on actual devices if you can.
It’s not just about looking good, it’s about being usable.
5. Use Social Proof (But Do It Right)
People trust people. When someone sees that others have tried your product or service and liked it, they’re more likely to believe it’s worth their time.
That’s where social proof comes in.
What Counts As Social Proof
- Testimonials from happy customers
- Star ratings
- Case studies or success stories
- Logos of clients you’ve worked with
- Real user numbers (e.g. “Join 5,000+ users”)
But here’s the thing: fake or generic testimonials won’t help. People can tell when something feels made up.
Best Practices
- Use real names and photos if possible.
- Keep testimonials short and specific.
- Place them near your CTA or form.
- Update them regularly if your offer changes.
You don’t need dozens, just a few strong ones that feel authentic.
Bonus Tip: Test, Then Test Again
No matter how good your landing page is, there’s always room for improvement. The best way to get better is to test different versions (called A/B testing) and see what works.
You can try testing:
- Different headlines
- CTA button colours or text
- Images or videos
- Form lengths
- Testimonials placement
Even small changes can make a big difference. Don’t guess, test.
Final Thoughts
Optimising a landing page doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need to follow every trend or copy what big brands are doing. You just need to focus on what matters: clarity, speed, mobile experience, human-friendly copy, and trust.
Here’s a quick recap:
- Stick to one clear goal.
- Make your page load fast.
- Write in a natural, friendly tone.
- Make it mobile-friendly.
- Show real social proof.
If you keep these tips in mind and keep testing, you’ll start seeing better results, not overnight, but definitely over time.
The truth is, most people don’t need a fancy landing page. They just need one that works. Hopefully, these tips will help you get there.
Written by Uzair Kharawala
Partner at SF Digital Studios, a Google Premier Partner agency. Uzair has been helping businesses grow with Google Ads since 2002 and teaches it every week on YouTube.
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