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Is My Landing Page Clearly Written? Sometimes your startup's biggest obstacle can be your own website. Make sure the language is clear and engaging.

By Ryan Himmel Edited by Dan Bova

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I am developing an online product and my team and I have built a landing page. We haven’t launched yet and are still getting feedback. We aren’t getting many unique users or signups yet, and worry that our language on the landing page isn’t clear. How do we know when the messaging on our landing page is clear?

Many web start-ups build a product and become so emotionally attached to the inner-workings of their software that they lose sight of the importance of having proper landing page messaging to gain new clients.

Keep in mind that on average you have only 7 seconds -- at most -- to get a prospective clients’ attention. If they land on a website and don't know exactly what it does, how it helps them and why it's better than the other options available in the market, then chances are they're going to leave the site. You can confirm if this is the case by looking up the landing page bounce rate. This rate represents the percentage of visitors who enter the site and leave rather than viewing other pages on the site. Bounce rates of 60-70 percent or more for e-commerce sites should set off an alarm.

Related: Should I add my new e-store to my existing website or build a whole new one?

There are certainly still ways in which you can improve your messaging and conversion rates. I would try to get some feedback from the users who have signed up and like the service. Ask them why they like the service? You'll probably gain some very valuable insight into what got their attention. Perhaps I and others that viewed your site were distracted by some of the other words in your messaging and overlooked these key words. After identifying these key words, try to experiment with placing them in a more prominent position on your landing page. Track the performance of the site with this new landing page. If you note an improvement, then you know you are making progress. But, don't stop testing. Continue to test with small changes and utilize that data to optimize and continue to improve your messaging. It's a continual process.

Related: Does it make sense to link my website to other businesses in the same industry that don't compete with my firm?
 

Ryan Himmel

Head of Financial Partnerships, Xero Americas

Ryan Himmel is a CPA and financial technology executive who has dedicated over a decade of his work toward providing solutions to help accountants and small-business owners better run their firms. Himmel currently leads financial partnerships in the Americas for Xero.

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