Users on the internet can’t concentrate on a damn thing anymore. That’s why you need to know about landing pages.
A landing page is a type of web page often used for an advertising campaign or other marketing campaign. Companies and individuals alike leverage landing pages for their marketing campaigns as a way to both capture leads and convert visitors into paying customers.
Key Takeaways
- Think of a landing page as being like a standalone web page.
- Effective landing pages convert visitors arriving from search traffic or Google ads into prospective customers, bolstering your target audience marketing efforts.
- Landing pages have fewer links and distractions on them than web pages. This helps direct users toward the desired next step in your marketing funnel.
- Many online creators are using more landing pages to grow their email list, since it is an important audience asset.
- Since landing pages help “squeeze” users through your funnel, they are sometimes also called squeeze pages, though the term squeeze page is less common.
- Many software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools offer a drag-and-drop landing page builder to make landing page creation easy.
Let’s review why landing pages are a great way to grow your audience.
Table of Contents
What Is a Landing Page, and Why Care?
An effective landing page is a web page on which there is only one link or one action to take. Whereas our website is more about giving readers information on ourselves or our organizations, a landing page instead prioritizes a call to action.
Most online signup forms don’t perform very well. Users are both distracted and overwhelmed. It’s not atypical for inline and sidebar forms (like what you see on this blog post) to only convert 1-2% of visitors—and that’s if your messaging is spot-on.
In contrast, a high-converting landing page is very focused. There is only one thing to do. As a result, many of your landing page visitors will follow through on your call to action.
A successful landing page typically converts 20% of visitors or more, and depending on how users arrived and what the call to action is, it’s not unusual for those numbers to be much higher.
An old landing page of mine. Short, ugly, and to the point.
This ugly page converted at over 60%. One reason for this is that users arrived on it after already having read an article of mine, so they had gotten to know me a bit before landing here.
Types of Lead Generation Landing Pages
Here are some of the most common types of landing pages to know about.
Lead Generation Landing Page
One of the most common types of landing pages is a lead generation landing page. This page invites users to sign up for a list in order to receive more information about a person, product or service.
Most businesses consider email subscribers to be leads, and build marketing campaigns accordingly around that idea. The reason for this is that, once you’ve earned an email subscriber, you can communicate to them or market to them for free.
This is far less expensive than having to run ads or compete in social media algorithms every time you want to be seen, which is why so many businesses want you on their list.
Related: Writing Descriptions for Products: 11 Tips for More Sales
Webinar Registration Landing Page
The name says it all: this landing page invites users to either a live or replay webinar.
A webinar or instructional video can be a great way to power up a marketing campaign. Webinars give you a chance to inform website visitors on topics that are of interest and importance to them.
A webinar registration landing page can have components like a calendar or countdown timer to drive home the point.
Free Trial Landing Page
If your offer has a free trial of some kind, a free trial landing page would also be effective. These landing pages include a checkout widget either directly on the page or on the next page, with the condition of a free trial that users can cancel at any time.
Sales Page
A landing page can also be your entire sales page or product page. Longer landing pages serve a different purpose. Rather than focus the reader on taking an action quickly, a sales page focuses on giving your reader all the information they need to know in one controlled environment.
There are many landing page templates specifically designed for sales page and offer page efforts, and tools like Leadpages and ActiveCampaign have lots of landing page templates built in to make the process easier.
TIP:Consider getting a software that already has landing page templates. These are the designs that have converted best, based on data. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
Here is an example of a landing page from Athletic Greens, a supplement company. The ad takes users directly to the sales page itself.
Notice how the page has no other buttons.
Screenshot taken May 20, 2023.
How to Direct Traffic to a Landing Page
You’ve got your fancy landing page set up. Now, how do we get users to see it? If you’re using a landing page, you’ll want to employ one or more of the following traffic strategies.
Social Media or Other Online Marketing Platforms
A popular marketing campaign for lead capture is to publish content on social media that appeals to your target audience, then occasionally invite your users to a specific landing page. Great landing pages make it easy to sign up for something via social media.
Marketing company HubSpot leveraged LinkedIn to promote a landing page with its new report.
Google Ads or Other Paid Ads
One of the most effective landing page strategies is to use a landing page as the arrival point when they click on an ad. This approach also applies to traditional print ads. Since most landing page providers let you create as many landing pages as you want, they’re ideal for a targeted ad strategy.
Landing page optimization allows you to see on a very granular level which pages work best, making your ads and other pages more lucrative.
In this example, marketing company IDG Communications is running an ad on the keyword “marketing strategy”. The ad leads to a landing page.
Search Engines and SEO
Users that arrive on your page by entering a question or phrase into Google are known as search traffic. Search traffic is valuable because users have high intent and are motivated.
It can be challenging to have your own landing page rank for SEO, because part of good search engine optimization is having enough content on the page. But it can be done.
How to Improve Landing Page Performance
One of the best reasons to consider a landing page is that the data points are really easy to read. You can quickly see at any time how many users visited a page and how many followed through.
PRO TIP:PRO TIP: Measure your landing page conversion, then experiment with changing the headline, button color, or other single variables to see if you can improve it.
Here are some ideas on how to develop a great landing page offer and make your call to action more compelling.
Offer a Lead Magnet
A lead magnet can be like a free ebook or checklist. The reality is that no one wants more emails, but they do want their problems solved.
If you can offer site visitors a piece of content that is valuable, they’ll be more likely to sign up for the offers your landing pages provide.
Make the Landing Page Easy to Skim
In landing page copy, less is more. Give your potential customers the essential information they need, and make this information easy to skim. This might mean incorporating bullet points, dedicated landing page images, or a video.
Don’t worry about making your first landing page perfect before your press publish. A good landing page (and overall digital marketing strategy) is more about testing and iterating than getting everything exactly right on the first try.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Need a Dedicated Landing Page to Grow my Email List?
Not necessarily, but a landing page can help. Landing pages are proven to command higher signup rates, because the only link on the page is a signup link or signup box.
How Are Landing Pages Different from Other Web Pages?
On any other web page or website, there are many different buttons and menus for users to click on. In a landing page, there is only one action to take. This focused approach results in more users taking the desired action.
What Are the Best Tools for Creating Landing Pages?
Leadpages is a great tool for building both landing pages and sales pages. Some email service providers such as ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign also offer built-in landing pages and a drag-and-drop editor.
What Are Some Important Landing Page Best Practices?
- Make your call to action very clear.
- Have an embedded form for lead capture.
- Leverage bullet points to make your page easy to skim.
- Use language that appeals to your target audience.
- Clearly define your overall marketing strategy.
Create a Landing Page Today
Creating a landing page doesn’t have to be complicated, and it can help you reach your potential customer or reader more quickly.
Take the time to learn and master lead capture techniques so you can remain in the driver’s seat of your online publishing efforts. ◆
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