We’ve all been taken to a landing page when something has caught our eye, but what are they and how should they be used?

I will explain what a landing page is, the key features that should be on them all, how to make a SMART landing page, how to analyse them and make sure it’s working for your business and also when not to use a landing page.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a standalone web page which is created specifically to get the user (your customer) to do something. They are mainly used in conjunction with Pay Per Click advertising or an email marketing campaign.

You are directing your visitors to the exact place that you want them to be to do exactly what you want them to do and you don’t want them to get lost or distracted!

The different types of landing pages are:

• Lead generation
• Click through for ecommerce

So think about….

What you want to do with your landing page?

Who are your directly trying to engage?

What is the best way to get them to take notice?

What do you want them to do?

And a good way to make sure your landing page does this is by making it SMART…

Make it SMART

The Acronym SMART goals are used a lot in marketing, and are very useful when your thinking about creating a landing page.

S – Specific

So you are asking the user to come to the landing page and do something specific.

M – Measurable

You want to know how well this page is performing, so this may be through sales or signups from this page. These may be obvious if there is a sudden increase as soon as the page is live or may be gradual and can be analysed through Google analytics or a Facebook pixel.

A – Attainable

How many more signups/sales do you want per month and is this realistic – what are you doing to drive your traffic here?

R – Relevant

Is the page relevant to your business, once they get here will they want to download the ebook/sign up to your mailing list/buy your product? Now they are here make it easy for them. How does this current ‘offer’ relate to the rest of your business and how can you profit from it.  There’s no point getting lots of people to sign up if you never send out an email to them!

T – Time-bound

If a certain offer is only available for a certain time then people are more likely to do something straight away, it will also help you see what is working and what is not.  If you try a few different landing pages over a few months and see which ones work the best and why.

Here’s a great blog on hubspot for utilising SMART goals to make you a better marketer:

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/smart-goal-examples

Key features:

• Headline
  • They’re here so what do you want to tell them?
  • Make sure the headline talks to your audience and grabs their attention!
• Call To Action
  • What do you want them to do?
  • Keep it simple – only get the information you need!
  •  Let them know the benefit of what you are offering!
  • Keep the form above the fold
  • Make the form stand out
• Clear & Concise  
  • Give them key information but don’t drown them, its not a blog post after all!
  • Break up the text
  • Emphasis the important points
  • Use eye-catching and relevant imagery (Such as an ebook front page – if that’s what your offering)
• No distractions – No navigation or other distractions we don’t want them going anywhere!
• Easy to share
  • Add social sharing buttons so your visitors can help you reach more!
• Reinforce your brand – so that even if your customer doesn’t convert this time they will remember your brand when something else comes up in the future.
• Boost your credibility – A good landing page should have your customer best interests at heart and be offering them something they want (or need!)

The following is  a great post by SEO guru Neil Patel:

Beginner’s Guide

How to know if your landing page is doing it job

You should know how many customers are converting through your landing pages.  This can be through Google analytics, a Facebook pixel, a particular campaign that they are signing up for.

https://unbounce.com/landing-page-analyzer/

To thoroughly test your landing page here is a guide to A/B testing, A/B testing is when you try out different versions of the same page and test how well it is doing, here is an infographic which demonstrates A/B testing:

Infographic by- Invesp

When is a landing page not needed?

Your landing page shouldn’t take you anywhere else on your site – and certainly not to your homepage (otherwise it should just be your homepage!).  If you haven’t got clear goals and a clear audience that you are targeting and a way of checking whether the page is converting it probably isn’t a landing page you need.

Landing pages can be a really useful marketing tool if used correctly and can help you gain customer and broaden your reach and make our brand more recognisable and trusted.  Get them correctly and you can hugely increase your reach!

If you need help help creating your landing page, contact Anna at Gold Nugget Designs.