What is a landing page? A landing page is the cornerstone of any self-respecting web marketing activity. It’s your showcase, it’s the page that users will be faced with as soon as they click on your ads on the web or on social networks. It is a fundamental tool and should be known to create in a workmanlike manner. Here is an article that can help you become familiar with this tool.
What is a landing page? It is the page that you see by clicking on your ads or links.
The translation of the landing page, in Italian, sounds a little bad. Literally, it would be landing page (or landing page). Technically, the landing page is the page where the visitor arrives by clicking on your ads or other links. It is a single page, which from the SEO point of view is optimized for a specific keyword to ensure visibility on search engines, and from the point of view of the Digital Strategy is optimized on a specific objective.
Very often (but not always) it is a cornerstone of the web marketing activity.
This page, whose contents are strictly relevant to your link or your advertising, will give you the opportunity to
- attract and interest a compatible and relevant audience with your offer
- get the contacts (email, telephone …) of your target audience
- direct your audience to the next step of your sales journey
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Why can the Landing Page be very effective?
It is soon said: for its complete focus on the objective. Your landing page will contain all the information about your offer, in order to capture the attention, interest and stimulate the desire for your product or service. The information you provide will be useful for answering questions and doubts that visitors may have about your offer: no more or less than the words a real-life salesman has to spend to bring the potential customer to the next stage of the decision path.
This will eliminate any doubt and allow your potential customers to have all the information they need before buying the products. In this way, visitors can make an informed purchase and turn into customers (or buyers). The goal of your landing page, your goal, must be just that: convert. Convert visitors to subscribers or subscribers to customers. Here’s what a landing page is, in two words.
I already have a site, why do I have to use (also) a landing page?
A landing page is not an institutional page, which generally presents an activity, its values and so on. It is a page designed specifically to receive visitors interested in a specific topic and to induce them to perform a specific action:
- inscription
- subscription to a newsletter
- completing a survey
- a purchase
- a request for information and so on
Usually, if the source of traffic is a paid source, like an AdWords ad or a sponsored Facebook, using a landing page designed ad hoc is a must. But even for other traffic sources, having one can be an optimal choice, for example, SEO, article marketing, advertorials, email marketing, social activity, affiliate marketing.
Because the landing page does not distract the visitor like the other sections of the site.
Apart from some technical reasons, the great advantage of the Landing Page is to structure in one place an entire process of “conversion ” (the action we want our visitor to do), without distractions, without menus and other useless links, and with a message tailored to the concept we want to try, or the announcement we want to test.
For example, let’s say that yours is a window firm and that the goal is to receive requests for a quote. Suppose the strength of your offer is the extraordinary insulating capacity of your frames. Your site speaks of your windows, but also of the company, its history, has a blog and endless ways to distract yourself and do not take the action you want: the request for a quote.
So you decided to make a landing page in which you present all (and only) the information necessary to convince the visitor to take the next action, as a seller would do on the phone and make a campaign on AdWords to bring relevant traffic to your offer.
At the same time, you came up with the idea of trying another value proposition: what would happen if instead of focusing on insulating skills, I would try to convince potential customers with the topic of the speed of intervention, on which your animated business company is equally strong?
A landing page designed ad hoc on this concept will be for you: landing will create a new campaign on AdWords, using keywords that recall the need for the speed of installation of windows and doors. After a while, you can sum up and figure out which of the two topics works best in terms of return on investment (ROI).
The exact structure of the landing page: flaw as a rule if not it is useless
What is a landing page we said at the beginning of the article: it is a special page that must be composed following specific guidelines, otherwise it does not reach its purpose that is to convert. First of all, know that the landing page must:
- be compatible with as many browsers as possible
- be compatible with as many platforms as possible
- be light and fast in loading
- be cured and attractive in content
- indicate a unique and differentiating offer
- indicate a single univocal action to be taken
- do not have any external links (or other distractions)
Never forget that the landing page is a single web page (which can be attached to your site) designed to capture a person’s interest, to make it a lead and, hopefully, even a customer. Your landing page must be able to capture the visitor’s interest very, very quickly, otherwise, the page will be abandoned without having completed any action. Marketing experts suggest that if you really want to include more information about a service or product, you might want to turn your landing page (of a page) in a three-page micro-site so that the potential client can be more educated. Otherwise, if you can reduce your info almost to the bone, keeping things simple on the landing page is the best solution. Simple and effective in content, very simple in graphics. These are the landing pages that convert more.
So which structure must have a landing page done well?
When a visitor clicks on your landing page, he should see the following structure.
- Title and subtitle (express the Value Proposition)
- Page body
- Call to action (called a call to action)
The title should do three important things:
- Attract the visitor’s attention
- Declare the purpose of the page
- Coincide with your banner or ad (or at least recall it clearly)
You only have one moment to attract the visitor’s attention, therefore, the header should entice the reader to continue reading to the next paragraph or subtitle. So, choose the words well, the font, and the font size. And remember that if the title does not coincide enough with your banner or ad, your target will have already lost before it can view the page.
The body of the landing page should have the following characteristics:
1. Paragraphs: Paragraphs should be short, interspersed with interlines (white space). Why? Most people do not read word by word, but slide their eyes, as if scanning the page
2. The form of texts: Firstly, the sentences should be short and snappy. Visitors usually do not read, but “scan” pages: they want information as quickly as possible. No word turns then. Secondly, the first sentence of each paragraph should contain a summary of the paragraph. Finally, a call to action (Buy now! Try it now!) Should appear in the body of the page, as well as at the top and bottom of the same
3. The content of texts: It is always advised to speak little about the characteristics and a lot of advantages. For example, more “Take more time for your real work” than “1 Terahertz processor speed”
4. Subtitles in bold: Subtitles in bold must identify the topic of the paragraph or paragraphs that fall under the subheading. This will allow the reader (who reads just like a scanner, do not forget it!) To read or skip the paragraph, looking for the information he is most interested in
5. Bulleted lists: The information in the form of a bulleted list is a true cure. The bulleted list helps to condense information into short, accurate, easy-to-read sentences without being boring. Consider writing at least one bulleted list in the text of your landing page.
6. Elements of trust: For example, testimonials from satisfied customers, with photos and names; logos of newspapers that have talked about you; certifications; guarantees.
7. Images: The images have several purposes: to make concepts clear, to create focal points with which to direct attention in a path, and above all to excite. If an image is not needed, take it away, it can only do damage.
Programs to create landing pages: there are several if you can do it alone
Technology also helps you here. As with WordPress, you can create a website with backend management, even to create landing pages there is pre-set software that allow you to work independently. Using them can become easy, but you must still apply. And the predefined templates, although tested for conversion, can adapt to your needs or not. If you need a highly personalized landing page model, however, rely on a professional and not do it alone. Moreover, once created, the landing page must be implemented, for example by “hooking” it to an autoresponder (automatic responder) for collecting contacts, or to payment systems (such as PayPal) in case your landing allowed a direct sale.
Here we indicate the most popular programs (free or paid, of course) to create landing pages starting from pre-set templates:
- OptimizePress
- Unbounce
- Clickfunnels
- MDirector
- LeadPages
- Quick Pages
Now you have all the tools to understand what a landing page is and the great importance it can have for your business and why it is worth investing money (and time) to build one in a workmanlike manner. Because, of course, every business needs to convert and transform users into interested contacts and interested contacts into real customers.
