Are You Solving a Problem or Selling a Product?

Cluttered home and landing pages with no clear call to action (CTA) are discouraging to say the least. Visitors want solutions, not sales pitches. Learn how to build a hero page that solves customer problems and converts better.

Add a Call to Action

You want to see your conversions do this?

Stop building pages without a clear call to action. So often I see websites that are built for the business, not the customer. This results in pages with too much text or too many calls to action, neither of which is helpful. Instead, define your customer's problem and solve it for them.

Small business, this doesn’t just fall on your shoulders. You’d be surprised at the number of multi-million and sometimes multi-billion dollar businesses I find suffering from this problem. Lucky for you, reading this means you have the opportunity to be the next billion dollar business by doing it right.

When Only 1 Call to Action is Needed

When building your homepage or landing page, focus on solving the customers problem.

Example: An AI business trying to sell website creation could use the title "AI Can Build You a Website in Seconds" and the CTA "Get Started Now" or "Try It Free." This clearly answers the need of their target customer, who is searching for a way to easily build a website.

Other features and details can be added below the fold, which is typically where skeptical customers look for more information.

Here’s another example of a page I built for myself.

Remember that I built this website with AI a week ago. If you like it, that’s great! If not, I’d love to hear what I did wrong in the comments below. I built this page to showcase two important things.

1) It’s clear and to the point.

2) The CTA stands out as the single point of action.

My customers may be looking for marketing help, product redesigns, or other solutions, but at the root of their problem, they all want more customers, right?

When More Than One Call to Action is Needed

In the example above, you may be wondering why I didn't give a "no" answer option. One reason is that if someone selects "no," then I'm likely wasting my time working with them. But the most important reason is that even if I make them think about the question, I may be opening up doubt in their mind. There are rare cases where multiple CTAs are smart, such as with Amazon.

Amazon has all sorts of things going on here. Sign up, join prime, selling fall styles, halloween goods, top deals and sex (I mean lingerie). In Amazon’s case it makes sense there are so many avenues to click around. They are a shopping destination, based on the 1,000’s of A|B tests they have run, I am willing to bet they have some smart marketers building their experience. However, if I were going to just Amazon Prime. Guess what, there’s only one primary CTA.

Unless you are Amazon, resist the urge to put more than one call to action on your homepage. In every A/B test I have ran throughout my marketing career, multiple CTA’s on hero’s and homepages have led to poorer overall conversions. Why? Well, I can’t tell you for certain, but I have this belief that if you make someone think online, you’ve lost them. My answer to this problem is to keep answering your customers' problems without making them think. Do this by providing simple micro-actions that keep them engaged and moving through the next step.

What’s a Hero Page?

When you visit any website, the hero section is the first thing you see. This is true for landing pages, home pages, and all other web pages.

Some people call their most successful landing page their "hero page." However, this is different from the design meaning of "above the fold" content. Anything you see when you first arrive on a page is considered above the fold.

Why is Above the Fold or Hero Content So Important?

You have a few seconds to grab your customers' attention. That's why you must grab and keep their attention in the simplest way possible. Think about it this way: what are they coming to your website for? What problem can you solve for them? Solve it quickly and easily, and then move them to the next step without making them think. I have mentioned Stephen Krug's book Don't Make Me Think before. It's a great book on web usability, and I highly recommend reading it.

What Should I Put in My Below the Fold Content?

In the content below the fold, you can expand on the details of what you offer and how it can benefit your customers. This is a great place to provide more information about your business, such as reviews, testimonials, product features, and hours of operation. This is also where you can really niche in and solve the problems of customers who are looking for more detailed information about your business.

Recommendation On How To Build Good Hero Content

Focusing on solving your customers' problem is key to a successful website. Can you solve your customers' problem in a sentence or two, or maybe with an image? If the problem is complex, you could use a video. Keep your content simple and engaging, and encourage customers to interact with you without feeling like they are being sold to. If you're still struggling, look at what your competitors are doing. You can use their ideas as a starting point or for your first A/B test.

Building A Solid Home Page | Hero Page

I can't stress enough how important it is to keep your landing pages, home pages, and entire websites simple. Solve your customers' problems and move them down the funnel. One of the most frustrating things to me as a marketer is to see pages with nonsense all over the page or a simple solution to a customer's problem with 3-5 calls to action. Don't confuse your customers; keep it simple and don't make them think!

Friends, I need your help! I wrote this post because of my recent frustration with a marketing agency working with a client of mine. They offered poor advice and redesigned some pages for my client without following these principles. I need you to share this newsletter with everyone you know who could use some marketing or business help. Hopefully then, together we can make the world a better converting place.

You can track your referrals using the link below. At the end of the year, the subscriber with the most referrals will receive a special prize from me.