What is a landing page?And why should you create one?
Landing pages are important elements of any online marketing campaign. They designed to drive traffic towards a specific action, such as buying a product or signing up for your mailing list.
Some companies have dozens of landing pages. Others only have a handful. But if you ask, “What is a landing page?” You are already behind your competitors. Our SEO Consultants help you catch up.
You probably already have a website. It has a homepage, a page about us, a contact page, and maybe a blog, all linked together with your primary navigation and a footer.
Landing pages are often outside your site and look different from your primary web design – because they need to communicate something important to a visitor who has a particular goal in mind.
So, what is a landing page, and how does it work? What is a landing page used for? And how do you build one? Let’s go through the process.
What is a landing page?
A landing page is a page on a site that directs users to a specific action. It’s called a landing page because you usually drive traffic to it via other online platforms.
For example, let’s say you run a Facebook ad to promote your latest product.
If someone clicks on the ad they come to your landing page, which strengthens the offer of the product, provides extra information and directs the users towards the sales side.
There can also be a buy button embedded on the page, if you feel that you have provided enough information for a visitor to be able to make a purchase decision . or, you might have asked people to sign up for your email list at the end of a blog post. When someone clicks on the link, they end up on a page with a form.
What is a landing page? put, it is a place for consumers to land so you can convince them to do what you want.
Landing page vs. website
In some ways, landing pages and websites work the same way. They are both designed to control website traffic. Landing pages, but, are more specific than websites.
If you run an e-commerce store, you have lots of products to sell. Your website can highlight the best-selling products in your range. While a landing page would only focus on one product. Also, a website needs to appeal to your entire audience. Anyone who might interested in your products or services should feel “at home” when they arrive.
The landing page used to direct traffic towards a very specific action. So, it must target a very small part of your target audience to do their job.
Some companies only have one product, so their websites can also serve as landing pages. Others already have a very small target group, so they do not have to limit it further with their landing pages.
Also read: Beginners guide to Google Ads
How are they used to generate leads
Landing pages convert by focusing visitors on a simple action. The best landing pages make the offer so appealing that the target group cannot refuse it.
What is the goal of a landing page? Getting visitors to perform a desired action. The more complicated the action is, the more you have to make an effort to get people to do something. For example, it is much easier to register for a webinar than to buy a product. The consumer does not have to spend any money or fill in long, complicated forms.
Therefore, you will likely generate more conversions on landing pages that are intended for non-payment actions. However, this does not mean that you cannot use them to sell.
You choose pictures, texts and prompts that make it easy for visitors to buy your product. Below we go through the basic parts of a landing page named so that you can see how it works.
Type of landing pages
There are two basic types of landing pages: those you create to attract users, the top of the funnel, and those you create to convert consumers to the bottom, the bottom of the funnel.
Top of the funnel landing pages are not trying to sell anything. They designed to get your target audience to leverage their contact information, follow on social media, take part in an online event, or take another step that takes them further into your company’s influence.
Bottom of the funnel landing pages lead consumers to buy something from you, book a meeting – or, in the case of non-profit organisations, donate to your cause. You want visitors to focus on taking the specific action.
Understand the main elements
Now that you know what landing pages are and why they are important, we should go through the landing page’s main element. Let’s examine the most critical parts of a landing page so you can put together your own.
Offer
You should communicate your offer throughout the page. Make it clear in your headline, body text and call to action. Be very specific. Creative language is good, but not when it gets in the way of specificity.
The layout and navigation
Landing page navigation is often discussed between marketers. Some say you should remove all navigation except CTA, while others point out that you want to give users a different place to go so they don’t bounce.
Consider testing both. You should remove your primary navigation, but you can include links in text if you think they are valuable to the user. Make sure that they opened in a new browser tab.
When it comes to layout, you have many options. Consider using a single slot layout without sidebars. You want to put the most important information at the top of the page so that visitors do not miss it, but you can include more information below.
design
Large custom images often work well on landing pages. What is a landing page without a little colour and exciting pictures?
You can also test custom illustrations, arrows to direct visitor eyes and other design elements. Make sure your design is not too “glossy”. If your message goes away in all chaos, you will lose more visitors than you convert.
The text
Landing page text is important, especially as it is the only way to make your site more discoverable via search engines. Use texts that contain primary keywords around your offer.
Creative adjectives and verbs go a long way, especially in headings and subheadings. Make sure you proofread your texts to avoid mistakes and that your font size is large enough to be light in the eyes.
The form
The form should look as if it belongs to the page, but stand out so that the visitors notice it. Be sure to tell visitors exactly what they will get to complete your form and how they will receive it.
For example, you can give away a joint magnet as a direct download, or you can deliver the led magnet by email. Remember that specificity is important.
The call
The call is perhaps the most important element on a landing page. That’s what tells visitors how to proceed.
Use unique, energetic text for your CTA button. If possible, the button colors do differently than other elements on the page to help the button stick out more.
Here’s how to create a landing page
The easiest way to create a landing page is to use a web template for landing pages. It is a pre-engineered web page that you customize with your specific tasks.
Many premium WordPress themes come with pre-designed landing pages. You do not need to be able to code for changing headings, text, CTA and other elements.
Even if you don’t have a pre-landed landing page, you can create one based on the rest of your site’s design. Remove any elements you do not want by changing the code yourself or renting a web developer.
Make your landing pages more likely to convert
What is a landing page host if it does not convert? Absolutely nothing.
You want the bulk of your traffic to convert, follow these tips to increase your chances of getting a good conversion rate / conversion rate.
Understand what your site visitors want
You need to know your target audience very well to get them to convert. What are their objections to the offer? How do they make purchase decisions? What will impress them? what features and benefits?
When you market towards people who are economical and cost-conscious, you want to use a landing page and text that emphasises value. If you can offer a discount on your landing page, you will be so much closer to a sale.
Let’s say your target audience is extremely security conscious. If you ask for their contact details, emphasise your commitment to their privacy and the actions you take to keep your data safe.
See how the target audience navigates
Once you’ve created a landing page, use heat maps to better understand how visitors interact with your landing page. The heat map tells where the users click, how far down the page they are browsing and more.
Recordings can also be very valuable. When you sign up for a Crazy Egg account , you can generate recordings. When a recording ends, you can watch the mouse movements to better understand how users navigate.
If a user is having trouble filling out the form on a landing page, you know that you need to simplify it or make your instructions clearer.
A / B test elements
By running A / B tests you can improve different parts of your landing page over time. You can, for example, change the headline, the prompts or images to see which version your target audience responds to most.
Many marketers make the mistake of assuming they know what will resonate with their target audience. Testing is the only way to make decisions based on facts and data. If you do not make an A / B test, you may lose conversions because you miscalculated when designing your landing page.
Don’t forget the thank you page
Gratitude is never a bad thing when it comes to marketing. The cover page is what the page users look for that they have converted to your offer.
The cover page tells the user that they have completed what action you asked them to perform and that you appreciate their time and commitment. Include contact information if they have any questions and consider directing them to another page on your site so they don’t bounce.
Summary
Once you’ve created your landing page, it’s time to market it. Share a link on social media and with your email list if you have one.
If you do not get any traffic to your landing page, you have wasted all your time and effort.
However, do not assume that you have automatically selected the best images, text and CTA. A / B test your landing page against a variation and automatically target the majority of the traffic to the winning variant.
The more you test, the more you will know about what resonates with the people in your target group.
