What is the Purpose of a Landing Page?

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What is the purpose of a Landing Page?

In digital marketing, a landing page is a standalone web page, created specifically for the purposes of a marketing or advertising campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” when they have clicked on a Google AdWords ad or similar.

Landing pages are designed with a single focused objective – known as a Call to Action (CTA).

This simplicity is what makes landing pages the best option for increasing the conversion rates of your Google AdWords campaigns.

Types of Website Landing Pages
A landing page is a web page that has been designed for a visitor to “land” on. The visitor could be directed to the landing page from an online ad, from a social media link, from a marketing email or a range of other starting points.

A standalone web page, the main objective of a landing page is to limit the visitor’s options and present very specific information in order to maximize conversion. Landing pages do not offer any navigation to tie it to your primary website to avoid distractions or unwanted clicks. They may be hosted as part of a business’ website, or through a separate service that specializes in creating and hosting landing pages. For businesses that have the resources landing pages may be added and managed as part of the business’ website. WordPress offers plug-ins to help with this.

Regardless of where the actual landing page is physically located its main goal is to guide visitors, seamlessly and without distraction, toward your intended conversion goal. Below we’ll explain the two main types of landing page: Lead Generation landing pages and Click Through landing pages.

Lead Generation Landing Pages
Used to capture visitor data, the main function of a lead generation landing page is to collect information that will allow you to contact the prospective customer at a later time. Lead capture pages contain a form and details about what the incentive is to complete the form. Although collecting information is the primary purpose, there are several other benefits of using lead generation landing pages.

  • Build an Email List. Building an email list is an important marketing activity for any business. Incorporating dedicated landing pages as part of this process provide a significant boost to your efforts. Using website popups, social media sign up forms, and referral programs are great ways to generate leads; however, creating lead generating landing pages is one of the most effective tools for collecting email addresses. Creating a landing page that offers a valuable, no obligation payoff is attractive to visitors. Many businesses offer items such as an eBook, a whitepaper, a product discount code, or a free shipping code which encourages submission of contact information, while also establishing the business as an industry thought leader.
  • Encourage Sign Up. A lead generating landing page can fulfill two objectives at once, collect information and encourage registration. Offering a free trial for your business services or registration to a free webinar delivers visitors one step closer to being customers. And if the prospect cancels their registration, the contact information has been collected for further communications.
  • Advertise Pre-Sale. Everyone loves to be the first to know. Offering either a pre-order or notification of exclusive product launches encourages customers to provide their contact information. When customers feel like they will be part of an exclusive group that will be privy to information before the general public, they are eager to provide contact info.

Click Through Landing Pages

As you can probably deduce, the click through landing page is designed to compel the visitor to click through to another page. These types of marketing landing pages typically offer concise service or product descriptions that provide the visitor with the specific information necessary to take action. Click through landing pages are commonly used in the following ways:

  • Geo Targeted Landing Page. Many modern day businesses are physically located in one area, but provide services to numerous areas. For example, if you own a mobile dog grooming business and want to service all of South Florida, but your physical office is located in Miami, how can you effectively advertise your services outside of Miami? Geo targeted landing pages allow multiple web pages to be created to target specific areas of South Florida. The landing page will attract visitors searching for dog groomers in cities other than Miami and will direct them to a call to action, such as “Schedule an Appointment.” These pages are most commonly created as part of a main website and are included in the website’s site map so that they may be discoverable through search engine searches.
  • Service Targeted Landing Page. Service landing pages work much like geo targeted pages, but they focus on a specific service. For example, a mechanic shop offers a wide range of automotive services, from brakes to transmissions. Most auto service shops’ websites will list a long column of services that are offered, which may not be helpful to a visitor looking specifically for an issue with their clutch. By creating one landing page for each major service offered, a business can maximize their discoverability and provide the prospective customer with the exact information they are seeking without having to sort through the navigation of a website.
  • Email Marketing Landing Page. Every email marketing campaign should have its own landing page. When readers click the link within the email message, they want to be directed to a page that provides more detail and a specific call to action. If your email message advertises a specific product or event, the landing page should provide detailed information for the product or event, with no additional distracting cross marketing. The combination of email marketing and dedicated landing pages is an excellent combination for increasing conversion rates building visitor engagement.
  • Social Media Landing Page. J. Crew found that customers who engage with their brand through social media spend two times more than the average J. Crew customer. Consumers who are either targeted through social media campaigns or who click on social media advertisements are valuable and deserve their own landing page. Rather than clicking through to a typical website home page, customers clicking from a social media platform expect that the landing page will cater to the specific mindset of someone coming from a social network. Social media landing pages should contain minimal text, offer a clear value proposition, and mirror the content of the ad or social post.
  • Ecommerce Funnel Landing Page. An important sales landing page, ecommerce funnels may easily be created with landing pages. Using a landing page to offer sufficient and specific details so as to pique the interest of a visitor is the primary function of an ecommerce landing page. Running an advertisement for eco-friendly baby products and then directing the visitor to a home page where thousands of baby products, eco-friendly and otherwise, are offered leaves the visitor with too many options which will be reflected in your conversion rate. By creating a specific eco-friendly landing page that directs the consumer to very specific eco-friendly baby landing page, the consumer is more likely to remain on the page and click through to make a purchase.

Conclusion:

Landing pages are an excellent tool for collecting more sales leads, enhancing your marketing efforts and building a more effective connection with visitors, customers and sales prospect. Establishing a business web presence extends beyond a business’ actual website to its email marketing, social media, and content marketing strategies. All of these can be strengthened with the use of landing pages. Be sure to include landing pages in the different aspects of your digital marketing.

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