What is a Landing Page?

Landing pages are focused web pages:

• Targeted to only one goal
• With the same look and feel as your website, without the distractions
• That do not have any navigation, so visitors can stay focused
• Containing only images relevant to the goal of the page
• Featuring a clear call to action or contact form that is visible high up on the page

Everyone knows that a landing page can be any page on your site. But when people talk specifically about landing pages, they are usually referring to a page that is focused on getting the visitor to take the desired action. (to download a white paper, sign up for a newsletter). Landing pages can also be stand alone pages that have nothing to do with your website.

Turn Leads Into Sales

Landing pages are targeted to one goal and the objective is to get your visitor to fill out your contact form or take your desired action. Landing pages can have the same look and feel as your web page, but without the distractions. They have no navigation so visitors can not wander around, and all the images on the page are relevant to the goal (if you’re selling a bike, there is a picture of a bike.) And VERY important, the call to action or contact form is high up on the page for impulse buyers or visitors that already know what you have to offer.

Focus Your Website Visitors To Take Action

Landing pages can be linked off any page of your website, but I would recommend your home page, as it gets the most traffic. As an example, you could have a button on your home page that said "FREE TRIAL" which would then link to your landing page. Your landing page would look just like your other web pages, but without any navigation links.

The idea is to keep the customer focused on the offer by narrowing the distractions. Your landing page would also include persuasive copy about the free trial and maybe a customer testimonial on how your product helped others, and a clear call-to-action or a contact form high enough on the page so the customer sees it right away.

Increase Your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Conversion Rate

Using landing pages for your Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads can increase your conversion rate 10-20 times. When someone clicks on your PPC ad, and you send them to your website, your message is lost. There are too many distractions, and the information on your web page is more generalized.

The way to convert people or to get people to take your desired action, is to send them to a stand alone landing page that's focused on that one action. Your page should include persuasive copy, a testimonial of how your product has helped others and a short contact form that's clearly visible for the visitor to see without having to scroll. Include only relevant images and no other navigation.

An example would be if you were advertising for a "3G iphone" and you sent them to your web page that had many different cell phones. Yes, you got people to your website, but no one bought anything. Your visitor became distracted and overwhelmed with too much information.

Instead, send your visitor to a stand alone landing page, focused on the "3G iphone"; include a photo, persuasive copy of the benefits of this particular iphone, a contact form, and track the results. Tracking your visitor's behavior is very important. If your visitors are bouncing off the page without filling out the form, then maybe your content is not compelling enough. Consider your Landing pages as a testing laboratory and tweak them until you achieve your desired results.