If the point of SEO and Paid Search is to get people to your website, why isn’t your home page the perfect Landing Page?
What is a Landing Page?
The first question a customer asks themselves when arriving on your website is “Am I in the right place?” so it makes sense that the page you take a customer to refers to the specific content that encouraged them to click to your site, rather than to a generic home page.
A landing page is a standalone page that serves a single and focused purpose – a place where you can give information, or an offer, in exchange for contact information.
You may have several landing pages, particularly if your marketing strategy targets different customer persona groups. If, for example, you have some services aimed at businesses, and other services aimed at individuals, you are likely to be running separate segmented campaigns targeted at each, focusing on the different customer pain points.
Landing pages can offer a huge variety of options – maybe an “offer” or “new in” page on your ecommerce site, or a “Download white paper”, “Take part in our survey” or “Get a quote” and many, many more.
Types of Landing Pages
By creating a landing page, you refine your visitor interaction, and therefore increase the chances of conversion. Choosing the right type of landing page is therefore an important step.
- Home page
Your home page CAN be your landing page. If you are running a Brand Awareness campaign, then your home page shows what you offer and gives users a great start point to explore your site.
- Lead capture page
Lead capture pages are essentially data capture forms, where you ask for customer information in exchange for a quote or an offer. They are best used in the middle of the sales funnel, where the customer knows they want to buy, but haven’t quite decided who from yet.
- Click-through page
Think of Click-through pages as transitions – a great example is an Ad for a range of clothing, where the landing page offers the specific lines in the range, allowing the customer to choose their style, colour and size to add to their shopping basket without having to trawl through every product on the website.
- Squeeze page
Squeeze pages are data collection pages used at the top of the sales funnel, at the point when customers are exploring options. Their aim is to collect minimal details e.g. name and email address, usually in exchange for educational content such as a white paper. It’s important to remember that you are unlikely to have won customer trust at this early stage, so your call to action must be super-clear as to what to expect in exchange for personal data.
- Sales page
Moving to the bottom end of the sales funnel, we have the sales page – this is where you demonstrate the value of your product / service and specifically ask for the sale. These pages need to be carefully crafted using your best salesmanship – too pushy or too subtle and the customer will walk away.
- Infomercial
Infomercials are all about engagement. They are an opportunity to tell elaborate stories which encourage customers to keep on scrolling, becoming more connected with your view as they read on.
- Splash page
Splash pages are intended to capture “yes” or “no” type of data e.g.”I am over 18” or “Select language”. They are simple pages and require no data in exchange from the customer.
- Viral landing page
Viral pages are conversational / interactive and offer links within the site and maybe to other relevant sites, with a view to encouraging people to share the page via Social Media. They may include videos or even games.
- Microsites
A microsite is a dedicated miniature website that sits within a master website. It’s used to support marketing activity which may potentially spin off, such as the launching of a sub-brand. Microsites, are often supported by paid search activity to get them found.
What makes a good Landing Page?
There is a common misconception that landing pages are hard to maintain – which is why 44% of website clicks are directed to home pages, which is often not the right strategy. This is not the case at all, as long as you think about landing pages being less about flashy tech, and more about getting the consumer to what they are looking for.
So what are the ingredients of a good landing page?
- They are all about the campaign offer, not the company – Of course your landing page should be on brand, but the landing page is about them, not you, so focus on the campaign message.
- Less is more – You want the customer to follow your call to action, so don’t distract them with other things to consider.
- Don’t scare them off – Lengthy forms, forms with lots of technical language or forms asking apparently irrelevant questions intimidate people. Keep it simple.
- Talk to the specific customer – You will have targeted a specific persona in your campaign, so make sure you target the same persona on your landing page.
- Ask useful questions – A landing page is a great place to find out more about what your prospects are looking for. Ask about what made them click.
- Target your offers – Where do you put a New Customer Offer on your website without irritating your existing customers? A landing page linked to your recruitment campaign is the ideal place.
- They start a conversation – Say thank-you when a customer completes a form, and when you add the customer to your email list, ask them to follow you Social Media.
In Summary
A great landing page delivers on the promise in your content, creates a useful online customer experience, and improves conversion rates – using them is a smart move.
If you want to know more about landing pages, here are a couple of great articles from the WSI archives:
Landing Page for Lead Generation : 9 Essential Components
5 ways you are Sabotaging your own Landing Pages
If your interest has been piqued by this article, you can find out more about our Landing Page services here.
If you fancy an exploratory chat about any of our services, of course we’d be happy to talk.
