There are a few different kinds of pages that often comprise successful websites in the online marketing world today, and one type that cannot be ignored here is the landing page. But what exactly is a landing page, and what needs to go into it for it to be successful as part of your larger website design?
At BWP Communications, we’re here to offer a wide variety of both print and digital marketing services to businesses around Salt Lake City, including web design solutions. For those who are just entering this world, here are some basic facts on landing pages – what they are and why they’re so vital for many business websites, their common elements, and some of the main benefits they offer.
Defining Landing Pages
For those who don’t know, a landing page is simply a web page that is designed to be the entry point for a website. Often, this is where people will first land when clicking on a link from somewhere else – whether it’s an email or text message, Google search, or any other external source.
Landing pages are often used as part of larger marketing campaigns, and they should never be confused with homepages, which act as more of a general introduction to the entire website. Instead, landing pages are more focused on highlighting one specific marketing message and/or product or service that you’re offering.
What Landing Pages Do
Landing pages have a few very specific purposes:
- Targeting a specific audience: By using keywords and other elements that are likely to be of interest to a certain demographic, landing pages can help draw in a more relevant audience.
- Giving the audience an offer or cue: Landing pages are designed to give the audience an incentive to take action, whether it’s signing up for services or making a purchase.
- Gathering information: A key component of successful marketing is tracking and analyzing user behavior – and landing pages can be used as part of that process by prompting visitors to provide valuable information. They will often contain things like lead forms, surveys, and other forms of data gathering.
Benefits of Landing Pages
There are many reasons why it’s worthwhile to invest the time and resources into creating effective landing pages for your website:
- They can help increase conversions by guiding visitors to take a certain action – such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
- They’re also great for creating an online presence: building credibility and engaging potential customers.
- Landing pages can also be used to measure the success of marketing campaigns, as tracking data from these pages will give you a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t.
- They’re easy to develop targetted messages for: By creating different landing pages for specific products, services, or promotions, you can easily tailor your message to the right people – without having to update your entire website.
Common Elements of Landing Pages
While these can vary slightly, here are some of the most common elements found in landing pages:
- Main headline: This should be short, punchy, and attention-grabbing in order to draw the viewer in without too much effort.
- Supporting images or videos: Visuals are often very effective at helping get a point across quickly – so consider adding relevant visuals that will help communicate your message.
- Clear copy: Your copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive in order to draw the user in.
- Call-to-action: This is an essential element that will prompt viewers to take action – whether it’s signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
- Lead forms: As mentioned above, these are great for gathering information from visitors – such as name, email address, and more.
- No other navigation: The whole point of these pages is to get viewers to take a single action – so it’s best to avoid any other navigation elements that could lead them down a different path.
By keeping these elements in mind, you can create a landing page that is both effective and successful – helping to increase conversions while also gathering valuable user data.
Landing pages can be relatively straightforward for those with some web design knowledge – but if you want it to really stand out, it’s worth investing in professional solutions. At BWP Communications, our team of experts are here to help create custom landing pages that will take your website to the next level – so don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today about this or any of our other print and digital marketing services for clients around SLC.
