What is a landing page and why do you need them?

So, you’ve put together a killer marketing campaign. You’ve integrated content, search, email, social, and mobile tactics. You’ve got compelling copy and a gorgeous campaign design. You’ve segmented your target audience and customized your outreach. Your messages are getting to the right people at the right time. Now, you just need a landing page to process leads. But what is a landing page and why do you need them?

What is a landing page? Let’s start at the beginning.

Indeed, what is a landing page? A simple landing page is where your customers and prospects “land” after clicking on a call-to-action (CTA) from one of your marketing pieces. These are standalone landing pages dedicated to a specific promotion or marketing campaign and designed to accomplish a single, specific objective.

Well, I’ve got this great website…

You may have the most beautiful website in the world. And yes, some of your contacts may decide to visit it and poke around at their leisure. But most of them are busy, and when they decide to take the next step with you, they want it to be quick and easy.

This is why having beautiful landing pages is so important. In fact, many experts insist that you don’t start marketing campaigns without great landing pages.

What kind of objectives?

You can use a landing page for all kinds of reasons, but the most common purposes are for lead generation, lead nurturing, and lead conversion.

For lead capture, landing pages will contain a lead generation web form to primarily collect names and email addresses. You can also ask for any additional information that will enable you to begin a dialogue with that person. Keep in mind though, that most leads will not necessarily want to share too much with you at the beginning, so it’s best to keep forms brief and simple.

Lead nurturing landing pages (also known as clickthrough or jump pages) contain content intended to push your lead toward conversion. This can include product information, special offers, demos, videos, images, and more. It absolutely must include an attention-grabbing call-to-action (CTA)—a clear, concise instruction such as “Give me my free trial,” “Products and Pricing,” or “Contact Us.” Check out these great examples of CTAs designed to boost conversion rates.

The lead conversion landing page is where the call-to-action takes the customer for the final step. These are typically used for e-commerce, such as a shopping cart or checkout page. Read more about some of the best landing page examples that convert, as well as some key landing page best practices.

That’s great, but why can’t I just direct people to my website?

To answer the question “what is a landing page?” consider this. The difference between your website and a landing page is that your site contains all the information about your company. Why make a lead wade through your company mission, your team bios, multiple product specs, your contact information, and your jobs page to get where you want them to go? Rather, direct them straight to your offer or product landing page where there is a clear CTA.

Sure, you want people to visit your site, but that’s just for general information. When you want to move leads through the sales funnel, you can’t distract them with other content. Plus, normally landing pages are created through the use of a marketing automation solution, which allows you to score leads, track visitors, monitor conversions, and gather a host of additional metrics.

What if I just sent them to my homepage?

Look at your homepage. How many active links do you have there?

The same problem exists. Every link, every blurb or graphic, all of those things dilute your message and distract visitors from taking the desired action.

Whether you’re looking for email addresses, signups for a free trial, or even an outright purchase, you need a landing page to create a single path to conversion. If your lead doesn’t know exactly where to go, they’ll most likely leave your site, perhaps forever. You’ve got one chance to engage them, and you need to make it count.

Fine, you win. I’ll make a landing page. What should it include?

Now we’ve answered the question: what is a landing page? It’s time to dig into the nitty gritty of how to produce effective landing pages. As we mentioned above, the content of your landing page will depend on its purpose. Again, the CTA is a must-have, no matter what, and we recommend a simple, easy-to-find button.

Video and images are always great for click through pages, because they convey the necessary information in an easy-to-digest format and hold attention long enough to complete the call-to-action.

The copy should be concise and informative, communicating the core benefits message of your campaign. A best practice is to use verbiage and graphics that align with your original marketing campaign so that the visitor knows they’re in the right place to learn more. Apply this equally to short, single-purpose campaigns and multichannel campaigns alike. 

You should also be aligning landing page content with your search campaign, optimizing for keywords and phrases. Everything should be in line with your overall brand identity.

OK, so I make a landing page and watch the leads roll in?

Well, not quite. When it comes to landing pages, you should have a variety of them; one for every major marketing initiative you have, and each with a clear purpose. Your SEO campaigns love the extra exposure. Plus, according to Hubspot, companies can see up to a 55% bump in leads generated when they increase their number of landing pages. That is why landing page marketing is so important to your digital marketing strategy.

That sounds like a lot of work. How do I get started?

Think of a landing page as just another piece of collateral you are creating for your marketing campaigns. It’s not a lot of extra work, especially since you’ll already have most of the necessary elements created.

Landing page design is important as well. You can utilize a landing page creator like ours, with custom landing page templates, drag and drop design, and intuitive editing tools to help you quickly create dynamic pages that generate and engage leads.  

The bottom line

So, what is a landing page? It is the final destination for your marketing efforts. Make it a place your leads and customers will want to visit and let it inspire them to continue their journey. By generating good landing pages, you eliminate noise and distractions, and provide a clear path to the information they need. As a result, you’ll see more leads, higher engagement, and overall better conversion rates. Plus, with Agile CRM’s free subscription option, you can do all of this without breaking the bank!

Do you have a compelling landing page that has generated exceptional results for your business? Tell us about it in the comments section below!