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What is a Landing Page, and Why Does it Matter?

Imagine this scenario: After scouring blog upon blog, and reading every site building resource you can get your hands on, you feel as though you’ve learned all you need to know about building a successful website.

You’ve deemed yourself fluent in tech lingo, and you have developed the use of SEO, CTA, and CTR in day-to-day conversation (or even if you haven’t). For all intents and purposes, you are nearly a site-building guru when you overhear someone say how conversion rates have skyrocketed since introducing the use of landing pages to his site.

Landing pages?

Panicked, you quickly realize there must have been a chapter you missed in your extensive research.

Whether this is the exact chain of events that has led you to your landing page query, or if you’re merely perusing tips about driving traffic to your new online store, we will have you up to speed in no time.

What is a landing page?
A landing page is a single web page, which stems through the clicking of an online advertisement or search engine result. This single page is meant to give you customized information purely on the topic that was advertised or searched.  For example, if you were to go to Google and search “Yola Silver,” you would find the following:

Yola Silver Google Search Screen Shot

As you can see through the search results, it will direct you to one specific Yola landing page, tailored to the search of “Yola Silver.” Once you have clicked through the link, you would come to the Yola Silver landing page.

Yola Silver Landing Page

Why do I need them?
The objective of landing pages is to grab a target market and zero in on one focus by cutting out distractions. When a visitor has already expressed interest in a specific topic, landing pages will allow you to funnel their interests in less broad region of your website.

Additionally, this strategy will allow you to engage your target audience, making your words more personal and, in turn, far more valuable. For example, if a visitor clicks an ad that will give them 30% off of their purchase, linking them to your homepage leaves room for the visitor to lose focus or get lost. Driving visitors to a landing page will ensure that they receive the information they were looking for.

According to Omniture, online advertising that uses landing pages typically sees a conversion rate improvement of at least 25%.

What makes a successful landing page?
There are many components that go into creating a successful landing page, including the following:

  • A Goal – Once you have your target audiences’ attention, do something productive with it. Make sure your landing page either puts them on the path to conversion or captures leads for future contact (an email address, for example).
  • Call-To-Action (CTA) – Do not risk visitors getting lost on your landing page.  Be sure to have a clear, visually distinct and obvious CTA that uses words such as “Get Started” or “Sign Up.”
  • Brevity – A large component to a successful landing page is keeping it brief and to the point. You already know what your visitor is looking for – you! Point them in the right direction. You do not want to lose their attention with unnecessary details.
  • Value – Your visitors should be able to see the value in interacting with your landing page. Give them a reason to give you their contact info or money, such as promising access to future discounts or special incentives for signing up.
  • Social Media – Include links for users to share your landing page on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. With just a few clicks, your page will gain a much larger reach.

Once you have successfully set up your landing pages, keep an eye on their analytics.  If your landing pages are gaining traffic but your visitors are not converting, it is a good indication that your pages need tweaking.

Keep adapting your pages to cater to your traffic until they are working to your benefit. And, of course, tell us how you did and how we can help.

5 thoughts on “What is a Landing Page, and Why Does it Matter?”

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  3. I’m a tiny bit confused about landing pages. I assumed my index page, where all of my products are listed in one place, is my landing page. Is that a good enough landing page, or do I need to create another type of page?

    1. farragio it really depends on what you are using the page for. Landing pages are usually to direct traffic to a very specific goal. A page where all your products are listed isn’t really a landing page because there are multiple calls to action.

      A landing page is meant to be a simple page that guides a visitor to one goal and is commonly used for online advertising. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have that page. Again, it really depends on what you use the page for. I hope that helps clear things up a bit.

  4. a great explanation! I’m always trying to get my clients to integrate landing pages with promotional products (ie- usb drives, magnets, swag etc) and most people just don’t get it. I say, make your marketing dollars count. Landing pages are a great way to do this. But most people just don’t get it. This article is a godsend for my clients!

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