What is a Landing Page and How Does One Work?

Creating a landing page is one way businesses attempt to quickly engage with their customers online. But what exactly is a landing page and how do you create an effective one?

Technically, any web page is a landing page because by clicking on it, you land there, but for marketing purposes, landing pages are standalone pages, essentially separated from the rest of a business’s website. Their goal is to quickly persuade viewers of the usefulness of the product advertised and then convert to sales.

The reason landing pages are created to “stand alone,” is so viewers do not click away from them. Landing pages are designed to be online dead ends. The options left are two: back out or sign up and purchase what is offered. If properly designed they can be quite effective. Nearly 70 percent of B2B businesses use them to get new sales leads for future conversions.

The challenge, then, is to make the landing page dead end as attractive and intriguing as possible so the viewer isn’t even tempted to back out. Here are some ideas on how to accomplish that:

  • Do not overload your landing page with text. With so much to look at on the web and limited time to do it, no one wants to stop and read your landing page novel. Be brief, but not abrupt; do not make your landing page consist of only a form to fill out.
  • Make any form included simple to fill out, and gather only the necessary information. A well crafted form should in no way resemble a college application. Again, users have only so much time and they don’t want to feel like they may be stalked by your business in the future.
  • Focus on only one call to action. Don’t make this complicated or confusing. If you want to make additional offers to your customers create additional landing pages. There’s no reason your website has to have only one.
  • Make the headline and the look of your landing page snappy and intriguing. You want their attention, and you only have about five seconds to get it.
  • Have your landing page be fully functional. This may seem elementary, but if your landing page doesn’t load quickly, users will put their browsers in reverse. Also make sure the the form included works, generates the proper results, and is user friendly.
  • Display a trust badge on your landing page as well as any genuine user reviews to add credibility to your offer.

Using these tips, it should be fairly simple to avoid the usual landing page pitfalls and design something that works. It’s always a good idea to get feedback from your clients, customers, or friends on what works and doesn’t work for them. And, as always, keep trying new or different versions to see what most appeals. For any business, marketing and advertising is trial and error, but online you are able to get feedback more quickly. It’s wise to take that feedback and tweak your website until it runs like a well oiled machine. Good luck “landing” new customers!

Contact Tom directly at [email protected] or 616-426-9303.