What & why are landing pages important?

When you’re setting out to set up your digital marketing strategy, one of the core concepts you’re likely to stumble upon is the landing page.

So, what is a landing page, how is it different from the other pages on your website, and how might you be able to incorporate landing pages into your strategy to boost clicks and conversions?

What is a landing page?

A landing page is basically a standalone web page, separate from your homepage and “hidden” within the navigation of your website, which has been designed with a single purpose in mind – to convert clicks into sales.

Performing a key role in your larger campaign strategy, a landing page will usually be linked to from a targeted email you’ve sent out, any Google ads you have running, or perhaps sponsored/paid-for content you’ve invested in on social media – on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

With one specific, short-term goal in mind, all of the content on your landing page will marry up with your core advertising campaign and be driven towards highlighting the value in your product or service, before convincing the user to invest with some well-placed calls to action. Essentially, it’s all about making what you have to offer irresistible!

When it comes to landing pages, there are usually two different types – click-through and lead generation. Here are a few key differences to bear in mind:

Click-through landing pages do exactly what they say on the tin – they present your offer along with calls to action that enable the user to click through to another page on your website. This could be your shop, a specific product page, or even your contact/enquiry page.
Lead generation landing pages see the sales aspect of your campaign geared up a bit. Usually, to catch the user’s attention early, a lead generation landing page will propose an offer, such as the link to an eBook or webinar, a limited free trial for a product or service, entry into a competition, or registration to an online event. You’ll be asking your user to provide their contact details in order to access these goodies, so you’ll need to make sure the content on your landing page is both engaging and persuasive. For this type of landing page, the aim is to build interest in your product so that the user will be enticed by your call to action. Once they’ve gone ahead and taken the leap, their contact information can then be stored in your database and used for future marketing.

A few key things to remember:

Quantity: You can have multiple landing pages running at the same time to marry up with various campaigns.
Content: The content on your landing page needs to be more focused than the content on your homepage. You should try to get straight to the point about what you’re offering, whilst also highlighting its value.
Design: Your design should feature fewer clickables than your homepage, with your targeted calls to action included as a dominant feature.

How is a landing page different from a homepage?

What separates a landing page from a homepage is its purpose. The experience provided by your homepage will be different for every user, and it will ultimately depend upon how they’ve found you and what they’ve clicked through to your website for. In most cases, the homepage of your website will be a potential customer’s first exposure to your brand – it’s essentially where first impressions are made, and this can play a key role when a user comes to decide on whether or not they’d like to use your products or services.

For this reason, it’s important not only to make your homepage eye-catching in design, on-brand and easy to navigate, but you should also try to provide insights into who you are and what you do, which you can then elaborate on in the content of additional web pages.

In contrast, the purpose of a landing page is singular – to drive conversions. Separated from the network of pages on your website, a landing page should be designed in such a way to engage the user from the offset and keep them focused on the value of what you’re offering. Part of this is done by removing the navigation bar, to avoid the risk of the user becoming distracted and clicking through to a different page on your site.

When it comes to landing page content, it’s usually a little more direct and sales-driven, with headlines that are focused towards engaging the customer, and copy that remains benefit-oriented throughout.

How can I drive traffic to my landing page?

You will have put a lot of hard work and effort into getting your landing page up and running, so you’ll want to make sure your investment pays off and that your landing page is actually seen by users.

There are a number of different ways to make this happen, but here are a few you can start to think about:

Paid search, or PPC (pay per click) advertising

You may not be all that familiar with paid search, but it’s highly likely that you will have encountered it already in some aspect. Basically, when someone uses Google to search for a product, service, company, answer to a question, etc. the first results they’ll find are usually adverts, which appear (subtly marked as ads) in the top positions of the results page.

These top results are paid for by marketers, and are usually engineered to target a specific audience based on the search term and demographic data of the user.

Should you choose to invest in Google ads, you might set them up so that the user will click through to the homepage of your website, although you’re more likely to achieve those all important conversions if you take the user to the dedicated landing page you’ve created – one that matches the copy in your ad and has focused content that’s driven towards the specific goal you’ve outlined.

Need a hand with setting up your PPC campaigns? We’re here to help!

Paid social

The key benefit that comes with investing in your social media advertising is that you don’t have to wait for potential clients to find you; rather, you can target them based on the interests they’ve indicated in their social media profile and their patterns of engagement, before they’ve even thought to search for your product or service.

Each social platform has a range of benefits and strengths, so it’s a good idea to do a bit of research into each before settling on which platforms are the right fit for your business. As an example, for those with eye-catching content with strong visual appeal, Facebook and Instagram are probably the best options, whereas businesses who specialise in providing services for other businesses might consider running some paid ads on a platform used by other business owners, such as LinkedIn.

Here at Root Fifty-Two, our dedicated social media team has years of experience in setting up and pulling off successful paid and organic social media campaigns across all platforms. Got a question? Don’t be afraid to get in touch!

Email marketing

Email marketing is a great way to stay connected with existing clients and to target new audiences to acquire new ones. When putting together your email marketing campaigns, your top priority should always be to capture the reader’s attention and take them on a journey which ultimately leads to a conversion. To do this, you’ll need to craft your offer in the email content, making sure it’s enticing and irresistible, before directing your visitor towards a clear call to action with the content on your landing page.

The Root-Fifty Two team has a wealth of experience in planning, designing, building and managing successful, customised email marketing campaigns, all of which can be incorporated into a fully scaled marketing strategy. Contact us today to get started!

So, you should now have all the tools you need to make a start on putting your landing page together, but if you need a hand, we’re always only a phone call away! Our dedicated team of creatives, based in Burnley, Lancashire, are here to help you with designing, building, implementing and marketing your custom landing pages, with an excellent track record of achieving real results.