Creating a great landing page isn’t hard.  If it seems hard then you are over thinking the purpose of a true landing page.  Granted every page you land on from a link is considered a “landing page” but I’m talking specifically to the single focus, lead capturing & traffic generating landing pages.

Some things to think about when creating your landing page:

• Give the user an easy to view design… make it beautiful.  it will add credibility right off the bat.
• Don’t overwhelm the visitor.  Asking for too much info will cause the visitor to jump ship quickly.
• Don’t *Require every field in your contact form.  Simply ask for Name, Email and Phone Number.  Don’t require the phone number, it’s 2010 and users prefer email.
• Use Media.  Photo galleries are great, short videos (not over produced, million dollar agency commercials) are amazing.  People want to see the area they are investigating and seeing real people in video will help tell your story.
• Avoid putting more than 10 images in a gallery.  Don’t show interior bathroom photos unless it’s a 1,000 square foot, has solid wood floors and a gold plated potty.
• Make your contact form visible and placed near the top of the page.  It’s the reason they are visiting the site, make it easy to find and easy to submit.
• Again, don’t overwhelm the visitor-  your copy should be a paragraph or two at most.  Don’t try to over explain.  Let your photos and videos tell the story.  If they want more information they’ll see the contact button!
• Use minimal links off the page.  Don’t give the user options at the top of the page to link off your page.  If you have more information or a website that you want visited then include a link in the paragraph copy.
• Testimonials-  If you have one sentence testimonials and they can be worked into the design without overwhelming the visitior… do it.  Former clients/users can sell your real estate better than you.
• If your landing page does it’s job then some people are going to be too excited to wait on an email… give them the option and include your phone number ( not at the top and in large font but subtly near the request information form).

Those are some basics to keeping your real estate landing pages simple and easy to use.  Actually, this formula works for more than real estate it’s a great guide for any specific landing pages.  One of the most recent and very active landing pages we created was for Daniel Island, you can view it here.  We didn’t incorporate every bullet point above but that’s the point.  Each landing page will need to be custom built based on your needs.