We’ve been receiving a lot of questions from clients on landing pages.
What are they?
When would you need to use one?
And how to ensure it’s optimized?
This has inspired our 3 part landing page series. In week 1 we’ll focus on when to using a landing page, followed by the key elements that make-up a high converting page in week 2 and ending with an article on split testing.
What is a landing page?
A landing page is not simply any page on your website upon which a person can “land” or arrive. Nor can your home page replace a specifically built landing page.
A landing page is a web page that has been custom designed as part of a campaign and around a specific goal. It is often also termed a “lead capture page”, “click-through page” “lander” or “gate page”. I’m sure we’ve missed a few terms, if you have others you’d like to share – be sure to use our comments section!
How landing pages boost your campaign results.
Let’s say your ad states that your company has the best landscaping in Phoenix. I’m in the market for a landscaper, click your ad, and end up on your generic homepage. OK. Um, now what? There’s no obvious next step for me.
A better option is a landing page created especially for that ad campaign, one that lays out your most popular packages, and has a quick form to collect visitor details and follow-up.
(Check out one of our Exhale’s landing pages: http://web.zeuterin.com/findavet/)
When to use a landing page?
From PPC, product specific promotions, offers based on segments of your clients (e.g. those who have downloaded a trial but never purchased), lead capturing to add-on sales, landing pages can be used in every aspect of your inbound marketing.
A well-crafted landing page will dramatically lift your results, while making the path to purchasing more clear for your customers.
4 marketing campaigns that need a landing page.
If you’re using any of the following four strategies, a missing landing page probably means you’re also missing out on sales.
PPC Advertising
Imagine that you see an ad for waterproof socks. You click on the ad and land on a page that is the storefront for a clothing shop. “Where are the waterproof socks you wonder?” A little lost, like the average busy individual, you probably spend no more than 30 seconds looking for something that represents the reason you clicked, before you give up and bounce from the page (bounce = leave.)
Now, imagine if you had clicked on that ad, and to your glee, a new page opened with a wide array of waterproof socks, easy to see pricing, a clear description and a quick purchase option. 5 minutes later, you’d have yourself a few new pairs of socks and that business would be a little bit richer.
Using a proper landing page also lifts your Quality Score with google. As your score goes up, the cost of your ad goes down.
Lead Capture
Every business that wants to grow, needs a great lead capture strategy. Depending on your particular business this can be achieved via several routes (email, PPC, banner) yet one consistent and critical element necessary to lead capturing is a clean and easy to understand landing page.
The best lead capture pages present an easy to complete form (the minimum fields) along with an incentive (see our next section on White Papers and E-books). You may also wish to have a few benefits of what your business brings specific to the target audience you are engaging, but watch you don’t go overboard. This is a version of your website in miniature.
White Papers, E-book or Other Resources
Giving away an e-book, white paper or other resourceschalk full of useful and free information is one of the best methods to collect data and generate leads. Entire companies have been created around this so called freemium model.
A landing page allows you to give away this valued resource in exchange for contact information (name, email, phone). Many companies will use this to gain new leads, re-engage lapsed customers or even build word of mouth. Having a great library of resources to use in campaigns in conjunction with an optimized landing page opens the doors to a multitude of customer engagement options.
Tip – Make them excited about the offer and ensure it is ridiculously easy for them to give their details and get the gift. Plus, it shouldn’t end there, a follow-up drip campaign should be constructed to nurture that relationship.
Featured Promotion
Free Webinar! Add-on Product Savings! Promotion for Returning Customers! Whatever the promotion, one of the best ways to ensure you don’t have clients wandering off course when they go to “learn more” or “purchase” is by using a landing page. This will funnel clients to a page highlighting the features of the promo, specific benefits and make it really easy for them to complete the transaction.
Why landing pages work.
To a marketer, campaigns consist of multiple layers, components and (with the amazing world of automated marketing) moving parts. However, to your customer, it is a roadmap – your first touchpoint being the beginning of the journey inviting them to continue forward.
It’s up to you (or us, if you are one of our clients) to ensure that this story is timely, engaging and relevant enough to keep that customer moving along that map. Plus, that map must be clear – the next steps obvious to your consumer.
Landing pages play an integral role in this customer journey, acting as a marker along the map, keeping your customers moving in the right direction – primed for purchase. Great landing pages will directly affect your conversion rates. Watch next week for our topic on Recipe for Creating a High Impact Landing Page. Can’t wait until then? Contact us and let’s chat about your marketing and how we can help.