Prepare for a Smooth Landing: Creating Landing Pages that Get Results

There are lots of reasons why creating specific online landing pages makes sense. The main gist of it is that landing pages are particularly useful to target and market directly to a specific audience. Landing pages that include a simple call-to-action and the specific information your potential customer seeks will help you convert a higher percentage of website visitors into leads.

How can a good landing page help your lead generation take off?

It’s simple. A well-conceived landing page gives your prospects and customers what they want.

What is a Landing Page?

Basically, a landing page is a web page that a user arrives at after engaging in one of these several forms of advertising or promotion: – A search engine result (such as Google) – A banner ad – A Google AdWords or AdSense ad – A link in an email – Print advertising – TV commercials.

Types of Landing Pages

When it comes to zeroing in on the type of landing page you should use, consider your goals. What do you want to accomplish when users hit your landing page?  Landing pages can work in several different ways. Here are some of the major contenders. Lead Capture: This is useful when a company wants to put feelers out to gauge interest or potentially obtain new prospect leads. These pages direct the user to enter contact information so that the company can later use the information to send email marketing campaigns, connect with via social media, call with special offers, etc. In some instances there is limited navigation so as not to distract the user from completing the mission. Click Through: This landing page is a short and sweet product or service promotion. It has general information about a product, why you should buy it, when it’s available, etc. The user would be prompted to click to the page where the item can be purchased. Viral: These types of landing pages are trying to generate buzz amongst a large bunch of people, so they are full of social- sharing buttons and compelling content and imagery. The idea behind them is to get as much exposure as you can by letting your audience do the clicking.

Landing Pages vs. Home Pages

Even if an email, advertising, or social media campaign is dealing with one specific selling point that the company has to offer, they will sometimes think to only send the user straight to their home page as the user action, assuming they want to learn more about them as a whole. This in itself is not a bad move, it just isn’t making the most of the attention you have already attained. Think about: When users get to your home page what do you want them to do? What information do you want them to really absorb? And, what action do you what them to take? This is the perfect opportunity to expand on that teaser from the campaign and market directly to their interest.  Instead of sending them to your home page with multiple messages, create a landing page that contains a single targeted message and concrete follow-through action.

Landing Page Basics

Keep it short and to the point: One of the most important features of the landing page is that it should concentrate on marketing to one specific need. Keep your content to the point. If you have a form for contact capture, make sure it is not bloated with numerous fields and requests, but rather can be quickly and easily completed. You want visitors to get the info and then perform the action you desire with ease and speed. Value or incentive: A great way to capture leads from a landing page is to offer value to your user. You can do this by offering them a free download (ie: informative whitepaper, industry cheat sheet, product spec sheet, etc.) or mini consultation. They would get access to this perk after filling out a short form that allows you to capture the contact info you need. Enable sharing: Use your audience to spread the word… it’s free! Add share buttons to your landing page to encourage your website visitors to share your content with their audiences.

Thank you for flying with PMG today, we know you have many choices out there when it comes to your website development and marketing needs and we appreciate your business 🙂

Landing page for informing the community about how to flush right – highlights many different points that guide the viewer through main points and offers free downloads.

About the Author:

I’m Jannah Lyon, the creative director and graphic designer for Placemaking Group with a focus on Website and Interactive Design.  I keep my pulse on all things design that relates to small business marketing.

For more design ideas and a sample of projects I’ve completed visit our portfolio page, or connect with me on LinkedIn.