Landing Pages

What is a landing page?

A landing page can be any page that someone lands on after clicking on an online marketing call-to-action. Dedicated, promotion-specific landing pages are what we’ll be focusing on. Dedicated landing pages are standalone pages that are designed for a specific marketing campaign.

By standalone I mean that it has no ties to your website, like global navigation. In essence it floats alone, only accessible from the link you’re providing in your marketing content (the call-to-action in an email for example).

You get 2 types of landing pages

Lead generation landing pages

The purpose of a Lead generation landing page is to capture leads that enable you to market to people in the future.

The most valuable piece of information you can get from a lead gen page is someone’s email address – which gives you permission to continue talking/marketing to them.

Once you have a lead’s permission, you then try to convert them into a customer by combining the two most powerful 1-to-1 communication tools a marketer has – email and landing pages.

Click-through landing pages

The purpose of a click-through landing pages is to “warm up” potential customers to the product you are trying to sell to them before sending them further into your sales funnel.

Click-through pages (sometimes called jump pages) are designed as a conduit between a marketing ad and it’s final destination. The goal of a click-through page is to “warm-up” the visitor to the product/service you are trying to sell.

Commonly used for ecommerce, click-through pages provide enough information to inform the buyer, making them ready to purchase, before pushing them further down the funnel – probably to a shopping cart or checkout.

Dedicated landing pages vs. homepages

If you compare a homepage vs. a landing page you can see why landing pages are so important to your marketing’s success.

Your homepage is designed with a more general purpose in mind. It speaks to your overall brand and corporate values and is typically loaded with links and navigation to other areas of your site. It’s designed to encourage exploration.

Your landing pages are designed for one purpose only.

Think of the links on your page as leaks. Each link on your page that doesn’t represent your conversion goal is a distraction that will dilute your message and reduce your conversion rate.

What are landing pages used for?

The potential uses for landing pages are almost limitless but here are the more common examples of how landing pages are used:

To collect personal information (generate leads) in exchange for:

Reports/Whitepapers with important industry facts and statistics.

Ebooks for comprehensive guides about different aspects of your business vertical.

Newsletters with tips related to your area of subject matter expertise.

Podcasts for people who like to listen & learn during a commute or workout.

Checklists/Scorecards for people that like to see how well they are doing and/or benefit from a to-do list.

Blog subscription to receive ongoing content via email or RSS.

Webinar registration for live online sessions, often with Q&A with experts and special guest presenters.

Presentations or recorded sessions including video or slides.

Consultation services or booking meetings for someone to request your time or services.

An ecourse delivered over a period of time – just like the one you’re reading now!

“Warming” prospects up to your offering before you push them deeper into your sales funnel to:

Purchase your product or service online.

Become a customer or subscriber of your online business.

Or any of the lead capture uses listed above, if you want to use an introductory page before sending them on to the landing page with your lead gen form.

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