Why your website needs a landing page

Good landing pages are designed to focus attention towards visitors engaging in one action. A landing page could be designed to convert traffic into sales, gather new enquiries, gain social media followers or email sign-ups. It sounds easy enough, but all too often companies don't spend enough time and money on creating outstanding landing pages that convert.

What exactly is a landing page?

If you are using a home page as your landing page, be assured you are losing valuable sales leads. The home page of a website is designed to be general purpose and explains what it is your business does, and why you do it so well. Imagine your home page is the shop front window: the buyer may stop and admire your products, but if you cannot engage the buyer’s interest, they are just as likely to continue window-shopping onto the next website, and chances are you will never see them again.

A landing page, on the other hand, might be considered an open door. It is a standalone page that appears in response to clicking on an advertisement or email link, engages directly with the potential buyer, and captures data to generate sales opportunities.

Why your website needs a landing page

A landing page is more than simply page to send targeted traffic too. A good landing page holds your visitor’s attention and captures information through a lead form. There is no point generating traffic if you are unable to convert interested visitors into sales opportunities, so your landing page should effectively target the particular the demographic of your campaign, and have an interesting offer or call to action. Simply put, you should never start any online advertising campaign without a landing page in place to capture the leads you generate.

How do I make my landing page work for me?

Before you start your advertising campaign and set up a page to capture traffic, ask yourself what you want potential customers to do when they get to your website. Do you want them to see the latest products you have to offer? Do you want them to sign up to your email list? Whatever your purpose, having a clear idea of what you want your landing page to achieve means it can be set up to prompt and direct traffic in a way that increases the effectiveness of your online marketing. If you want your landing page to consistently deliver results, try to keep the following points in mind:

• Short and simple is best: the internet is a busy place, and most internet users have notoriously short attention spans. Don’t bore people with large blocks of information to read. Landing pages should answer your visitors problems quickly and easily. Limit distractions: keep your landing page clutter free. You don’t want your potential leads leaving so hide website navigation and information on landing pages.
• Value add: make sure the offer you make is compelling and clearly demonstrated to the demographic you have targeted.
• Be sure to share: You page should have links to social media to enable your audience to share your information.
• Landing pages should have easy to understand opt-in forms with the minimum of information – the less time it takes to fill in the more chance you have of gaining a lead.

You can also use multiple landing pages for various campaigns. As an example if you have a website selling shoes, have different landing pages for each demographic.

• A landing page for teenagers
• A landing page for orthopaedic shoes
• A landing page for sports shoes
• A page for business types
• A page for your Christmas specials

Each page could be similar in layout but designed differently in terms of graphics and colors so each demographic feels at home when they arrive to the landing page you've created for them.

You definitely need a landing page if you are...

• Beginning a PPC Campaign
• Promoting a new product, book or sale
• Advertising in offline media such as TV, radio & newspapers
• Building your email list
• Want to target a particular type of client

Creating a landing page to capture leads is an easy and effective way to improve online marketing strategies, drive sales figures and collect important data for future marketing campaigns.

There is nothing to lose and sales to gain!

Words: Robin Jennings

Robin Jennings is a web designer who specialises in creating communities online through his web design agency We Push Buttons. Connecting people by passion not location really curls his whiskers.