What is a Landing Page?
A landing page is any web page that a consumer can land on, but in the marketing realm, it’s usually a standalone page, distinct from your homepage or any other page that serves a single and focused purpose. A landing page is a follow up to any promises that you’ve made in your content. Necessarily, it’s the next step toward a visitor becoming a customer. Your landing page lets you make a trade, some sort of special offer, piece of information, or a deal, in return for providing contact information.
Landing pages can be click-through, leading to another page such as your e-commerce site, or lead generation based. Lead generation landing pages typically offer items like an eBook, free trial, contest entry, or webinar registration in return for the submission of contact information. A useful landing page does its job by convincing a potential customer that it’s worth it to provide personal details in return in exchange for whatever you have to offer. Landing pages can be found through a general search or via your company website, increasing the likelihood that a potential customer ends up there.
There’s no need to have just one landing page or even just one landing page at a time. Experts in the marketing would probably suggest that you should maintain multiple landing pages, targeted toward segmented customer populations.
Why Use Landing Pages?
You’ve done a great job building your brand and creating a website that represents it. Now you have to make sure that all of that hard work translates into sales. If you are looking for a useful lead conversion tool, landing pages are the way to go.
A landing page is a great way to drive traffic, improve your Search Engine Optimization Ranking, and build your brand. Approximately 68% of B2B businesses use landing pages to generate leads for future conversion. Fortunately for you, 44% of these clicks are directed toward home pages, which, as we’ll discuss, is not a good strategy. Landing pages lead customers to a specific product, service, or offer and encourage them to take action, and this is your opportunity to create conversions and build your customer base.
If landing pages are so relevant, why isn’t every business using them? Well, there is a misconception that they are hard to create and maintain. Fortunately, that simply isn’t true. Building a current landing page is less about flashiness and more about giving the consumer what they want.
What Makes a Good Landing Page?
First off, your home page should not be your landing page. You need to send prospective customers to a page that lets them take advantage of whatever special offer you’ve promised them. Since they are looking for something specific, your landing pages have a better chance of capturing attention for a more extended period. Useful landing pages do several things:
1. They zero-in on the offer, not the company. Your future customers are clicking for a reason, and duping them by not giving them what you’ve promised is not going to form a good first impression. Now is not the time to give a detailed history of your company. It isn’t to say that the landing page should not tie to your company brand. Just the opposite. They should serve a separate function, yet it should still be an extension of your brand.
2. They are focused and free of distractions. The content on your landing page should have the end-goal of getting the user what they want while completing the registration process.
3. The forms are not intimidating. Lengthy forms can be daunting to visitors and may encourage them to move on, rather than take advantage of whatever opportunity you are offering. If you simply can’t shorten your form, break it into steps, and let the user see exactly where they are in the process. For example, listing their names and address may step one of four.
4. They speak to a specific audience. Segmenting your customer base helps you to target specific consumers through customized campaigns. If you have a base that’s drawn to a particular offer, such as an eBook or discount, your landing page can serve as a built-in segmentation device, allowing you to nurture these leads effectively going forward.
5. They collect specific information about your prospective customers. Speaking of specific audiences, even if you draw the right crowd, they can’t convert if you don’t collect the right information. The collection of demographic data should include more than merely a name and email address. It should also give you some idea of why a person clicked and what their long-term connection to your company might be.
6. They provide your special offers with a home. Unless they tied to your landing pages, your special online offers not to do anything to benefit your business. Creating landing pages provides a place for your offers to reside.
7. They provide a thank you. Your landing page should always be followed up with a thank you. It is not only polite but assures the consumer that they have completed the registration process.
8. They allow users access to other marketing channels. A customer likes what you’ve just offered. Now you can provide links to other offers, your social media profiles, or an email list sign up.
There is no doubt about it, and we are indeed living in a digitally connected world. Moving boldly forward with a digital marketing campaign can easily be one of the best investments that you make for your business. As you build your digital marketing toolbox, including landing pages, is a smart move, and both you and your customers reap the benefits.
If you would like to learn more about the importance of landing pages or want to get in touch with an expert who can improve your landing page strategy, 88gravity would love to chat with you right now!
