Welcome to our guide on "What is a Landing Page for a Website and Why It's Critical for Your Business". Whether you're a small business, start-up or entrepreneur, you've probably heard of the term "landing page" before. But what exactly is a landing page, and why is it so important for your business?
In simple terms, a landing page is a standalone web page that has been designed to serve a specific purpose, such as promoting a product, service or offer, or capturing leads. Landing pages are designed to encourage visitors to take a specific action, such as making a purchase, filling out a form or signing up for a newsletter.
In this guide, we'll take a closer look at what a landing page is, why it's critical for your business, and best practices for creating effective landing pages. By the end of this guide, you'll have a solid understanding of how landing pages can help you to increase conversions, drive more leads, and grow your business. So, let's get started!
What is a Landing Page for a Website?
A landing page is a standalone web page that has been designed for a specific purpose. It is separate from your main website and is designed to capture leads or promote a particular product or service. Landing pages are typically created for advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads, to target a specific audience.
Unlike other website pages, such as the homepage or about page, landing pages have a clear and specific call-to-action (CTA). The CTA is designed to encourage visitors to take a specific action, such as filling out a form or making a purchase.
Landing pages are often used in conjunction with online advertising campaigns, as they allow businesses to target specific audiences and measure the success of their campaigns. By using a landing page, businesses can track the number of leads or conversions generated from their advertising efforts.
Companies that have increased the number of landing pages from 10 to 15 see a 55% increase in leads. (Source: HubSpot)
The Types of Landing Pages
👉 Lead Generation Landing Pages:
Lead generation landing pages are designed to capture information about a visitor, such as their name, email address, or phone number. These pages typically have a form that visitors fill out in exchange for a free offer, such as an eBook or whitepaper. The goal of lead generation landing pages is to generate leads that can be followed up with through email marketing or sales calls.
👉 Click-Through Landing Pages:
Click-through landing pages are designed to encourage visitors to click through to another page, such as a product page or checkout page. These pages are typically used for e-commerce businesses or businesses that offer a free trial. The goal of click-through landing pages is to encourage visitors to take the next step in the sales process, whether that's making a purchase or signing up for a free trial.
Both types of landing pages have their own unique purpose and can be used to achieve different marketing goals. Lead generation landing pages are best for capturing information about visitors and nurturing leads over time, while click-through landing pages are best for encouraging visitors to take immediate action. Depending on the marketing goal and target audience, businesses may use one or both types of landing pages to achieve their desired outcomes.
What is a Landing Page vs a Homepage?
So, is the homepage a landing page? Generally speaking, no it isn't. The homepage is more like a reception room for all the other areas on the website. It has lots of possible doors to go through (links to other pages) where as the landing page is super focused with fewer links.
Having fewer links on your landing page increases conversions, as there are fewer distractions that’ll carry visitors away from the call to action.
That’s why expert marketers always use a dedicated landing page as the destination of their traffic.
(Whilst we're talking about homepage's here is a great example of how to design a homepage for a personal brand).
Why Landing Pages Are Critical for Your Business?
1. Landing Pages Easily Generate Leads
If you could do one thing right now to drastically improve your lead generation efforts, it would be to use landing pages on your website. Too many companies send their email, social media, and search traffic to their homepages. This is the equivalent of throwing leads away.
You could capture these leads at a much higher rate simply by sending them to targeted landing pages. Landing pages provide a very easy way to generate leads for your sales team that you can then easily segment, nurture, or distribute to your sales team.
2. Landing Pages Increase Search Engine Rankings
The more landing pages you have, the more likely you are to be noticed by search engines, especially if they’re well made.
If you have a relevant landing page with organic content, it will definitely help to elevate your rank in search engines.
3. Landing Pages Can Help Reduce Ad Costs
A good page's message matches the messaging in your ad, which is good not only for customers but also for your ad costs and performance.
A decent message match can help improve your AdWords Quality Score as well as your Facebook Relevance Score. This could mean a higher ad ranking or a reduced CPC (cost per click) for your online ads across platforms.
If you don’t create a landing page relevant to your visitors’ search, your campaign will be penalised, which will result in lower ad visibility and ultimately less traffic to your website.
4. Landing Pages Improve Credibility & Trust
Your landing page gives you credibility in the eyes of your visitors. This is because when you develop a landing page for your visitor, you tend to solve a problem for them (one specific niche). Hence, visitors of your website will consider this and put their faith in your website. This gives your business credibility and starts a new relationship based on thought leadership and trust.
5. Landing Pages Help You Personalise Your Messaging
Once you’ve captured a visitor’s email address, you can send them relevant content, offers, and information via email marketing. Landing pages are incredibly useful tools for these messages as you personalise them to the individual. If you’re sending subscribers an exclusive offer, use a landing page!
When Should You Use a Landing Page?
Below are some examples of some of the ways you can use landing pages.
- Use a landing page in every ad, PPC or offline, to lead people to a place to get more info
- Use a landing page to drive people to your events
- Use a landing page to enroll people in your email newsletter
- Use a landing page to promote your new product launch
- Use a landing page to promote your free eBook
- Use landing pages to personalise your social media profile links
- Use landing pages to get sign ups
Now we have answered the questions what is a landing page for a website, why you need them and when you should use then we will look at how to create them, what tools you can use and how to measure the success of your landing pages.
What Tools Can you use for Building a Landing Page?
There are lots of different website development tools you can use for your landing pages (Lead Pages, Unbounce, Instapage) and if you already have a website the chances are you can use your existing platform (Wordpress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify etc).
The tool itself doesn't really matter as long as you have the flexibility and freedom to build your landing pages. If your platform is limited or you struggle using the tool, consider changing but bear in mind a platform change isn't usually a simple and quick job.
What are the Best Practices in Building a Landing Page?
Creating an effective landing page is essential for achieving your marketing goals. Here are some best practices to follow when creating a landing page for your website:
1. Define Your Goal
Before starting to create a landing page you need to know WHY you want to create the page in the first place. In other words, what your call to action will be, for example:
Fill out a form
Sign up for a free trial
Download a free ebook
Order a product
Register for a webinar
Subscribe to a newsletter
Sticking to a single goal is important because it minimises the amount of choice you give your visitors and it makes it much easier to create a truly effective landing page that focuses on a single outcome.
2. Competitor Research
You need to do your competitor research. It's crucial you have an idea of what your competitors are doing and see examples of landing pages in similar areas. Luckily, software exists for you to spy with!
With these tools you will answer the following questions:
What keywords are they bidding on?
How much does the average CPC cost?
What do their facebook ads look like?
What copy are they using to convey their own WHY?
What do the landing pages look like?
3. Target the Right Keywords
I know it’s time consuming but if you want the best results you need keywords. And you have to pick the right keywords so search engines rank your page as highly as possible. Keep in mind that long-tail (more specific) keywords are easier to rank than shorter, more general ones and often produce a higher ROI.
4. Designing a Landing Page
Next you need to design and build your landing page. A great landing page is simply one that clearly defines its value to its audience and generates leads. Here are the key elements you need to include in your landing page:
A killer headline
An amazing offer
Keep it simple with clear, concise copy
Clear call to actions
Social proof to back up your claims
A video detailing the offer and its value
Relatable photos to help the visitor picture themselves after getting the offer
Answers to frequently asked questions to reduce objections and friction
Including customer testimonials on a landing page can increase conversions by up to 34%. (Source: BigCommerce)
📖 Read Creating highest converting landing pages to see more detail on exactly what you should include on your landing page.
5. Create landing page copy that converts
An optimised landing page should have clear and concise copy. Make sure your copy is easy to scan, uses bulleted copy blocks and a clear, sequential thought process. It's about what you say…and how you say it.
Your copy should be relevant, clear, and convey a sense of urgency while avoiding sources of anxiety and distraction. It should be focused on the benefit to your customer and speak directly to their wants and needs.
Be sure your copy clearly communicates your value proposition, and pay special attention to point-forward headline construction, which places the benefit at the beginning or end of your headline, where your visitor is most likely to read it.
📖 You can read more about this in the following article How to create landing page copy that converts.
6. Link Your Landing Page to Your Ad
An optimised advert is not enough. You need to connect it with a powerful landing page, otherwise, you won't make the most out of your advert or landing page - they go hand in hand.
When you create a landing page make sure your adverts direct your visitor to the right place and you’re using the same language in your ad copy as you are on your landing page.
7. Track and Analyse your Landing Page Metrics
You’ve done all the hard work and created a landing page, but how do you know it’s actually working and how can you work on increasing the conversions? If you want to improve the conversion rate of your landing page then it's important you measure the conversion rate metrics. The tool main tools I use for measuring conversion metrics for a landing page are Google Analytics and Hotjar.
Google analytics is great to analysis the quantitate data on your website and Hotjar helps you to measure the qualitative data by using live recording and heatmaps.
Here are 2 articles that go into more depth about measuring the success of your landing page.
8. Optimise your Landing Page for SEO
Optimised landing pages according to SEO landing page best practices will drive more organic traffic because it's easier for visitors to find your page and for search engines to understand the purpose of your page. When optimising your landing page for SEO you should pay attention to the following:
Title tag - Eye catching, include keyword and brand, less than 60 characters.
Meta description - a compelling ad for the page, include keyword, less than 160 characters.
Header tags - include keywords.
Intro text - include keywords.
Content - make it keyword rich.
Image file names and ALT text - include keywords.
URL structure - include keywords.
By following these best practices, you can create an effective landing page that encourages visitors to take action and achieve your marketing goals.
Measuring the Success of Your Landing Page
So, you’ve designed the most attractive, perfect landing page and are ready to take it live. But how do you know it’s perfect? You can’t know for sure how effective your landing page will be, no matter how beautiful, unless you understand what success looks like and how to measure it.
If you want to improve the conversion rate of your landing page then it's important you measure the conversion rate metrics. The tool main tools I use for measuring conversion metrics for a landing page are Google Analytics and Hotjar.
Google analytics is great to analysis the quantitate data on your website and Hotjar helps you to measure the qualitative data by using live recording and heatmaps.
Here are 2 articles that go into more depth about measuring the success of your landing page.
A/B testing can increase conversion rates by up to 300%. (Source: SteelHouse)
Now it’s Time to Start Building your Landing Page
In conclusion, a landing page is a critical tool for businesses looking to convert website visitors into customers. By providing a focused and compelling message, a landing page can effectively guide visitors towards taking the desired action, whether that be making a purchase, signing up for a free trial, or providing contact information for future follow-up.
To create an effective landing page, it's important to understand the different types of landing pages, follow best practices such as using clear headlines, strong visuals, and clear calls-to-action, and study examples of effective landing pages from successful businesses.
By implementing these strategies, small businesses, start-ups, and entrepreneurs can create landing pages that help achieve their marketing goals and drive growth for their business. Remember, a landing page is often the first impression a visitor has of your business, so it's important to make it count!
Now you've found the answers too 'what is a landing page for a website?' and discovered how important they are, it's time to start creating yours.
👉 Need some inspiration? Here some of my favourites examples of landing pages that convert.
Need Some Expert Advice?
Hopefully this article has answered the question on what is a landing page and you now know all the essential elements of a high-converting landing page and what it takes to create it, it is up to you to make a landing page and watch your visitors convert at the speed of light.
If you're struggling to create effective landing pages for your business or would like to improve the performance of your existing landing pages, then get in touch today for a FREE introduction call.
We experts can offer valuable insights and expertise on how to optimise your landing pages for maximum conversions and sales. We can provide you with a detailed analysis of your landing page's strengths and weaknesses, and offer practical solutions for improvement. So, if you need any help with improving your landing pages to achieve more sales and leads, then get in touch today and one of our website conversion experts show you how they can help your business grow.