Are you using landing pages to generate leads? If not, you're missing out on opportunities. Don't know what landing pages are or how to use them? No problem; we can help you. Landing pages are easy to create and very effective. Once you know what they are and how to create them, you'll want to use them in all of your marketing campaigns.
What Are Landing Pages?
Landing pages are exactly that - pages that people land on when they visit a website. A landing page is NOT the main page of the site - also known as the homepage. It is a separate page that is by itself only meant to be used for ONE purpose - conversion.
How Landing Pages Convert People
Landing pages are similar to sales pages, but not the same as them. They are shorter but equally convincing.
The content gives visitors snapshots of what they will receive if they complete the form on the page. You will receive A, B, and C and all a user has to do is submit their name, email, or whatever information your company can benefit from collecting that is equal to the value of the offer you are giving them. If you ask for too much information, it can affect your conversion rate.
A landing page has no exit. No exit means people have two choices: fill out the form or click the back button to return to the previous page.
Do Landing Pages Work?
Absolutely. Landing pages are highly effective for lead generation.
- Landing pages have an average conversion rate of 9.7%, according to Unbounce.
- Hubspot found that companies that increase their number of landing pages from 10 to 15 saw a 15% increase in leads.
If landing pages didn't work, why would 48% of marketers build a new landing page for each new campaign?
How to Create an Effective Landing Page
Not all landing pages are effective. Let's take a look at a couple of landing pages, one that isn't effective and then one that is, so you can see the difference.
Example of an Ineffective Landing Page:
As you can see, the top of the page is cluttered. People don't know where to look and that means the form isn't prominent, which decreases conversion probability.
Multiple calls to action too close together can be confusing. Spreading them apart can increase the effectiveness of the page.
Have on objective because more than one can reduce the conversion rate as people don't know what to do on the page.
Example of an Effective Landing Page:
A landing page should be simple and direct. People should receive some of the information they expected on the page and then led to believe they will receive the rest of the information by completing the form.
It's important to develop trust by giving the person information.
Once that trust is established, you can give the person hope by presenting the possibility of receiving more information. The bait is then placed with the form and a call to action - this usually produces excitement. When the person clicks submit, order, purchase, buy, etc., that's when satisfaction comes into play.
Trust, hope, excitement, and satisfaction - these emotions guide people on a landing page to converting. Skipping any of these emotions can affect the chances of converting so think of this when creating the landing page.
Where to Use Landing Pages
Landing pages can be used in many places as part of an inbound marketing campaign.
- Social Media Posts - To easily convert social media users, link your social media posts to a landing page.
- Paid Social Campaigns - Social media advertising is more effective and costs less when using landing pages because there's a higher conversion rate.
- Paid Search (Google Ad) Campaigns - A landing page can lower the amount of the Cost-Per-Lead (CPL).
- Blog Posts - Landing page links can be placed in blog posts just like the one at the end of this post.
- Emails - Email signatures are another way to use links to landing pages, especially when emails are sent to prospective customers or customers who can lead to repeat business.
How to Improve Landing Pages Over Time
The best landing pages are never done. Business owners should work on optimizing landing pages continuously, testing different layouts and copy to see what converts better. Having two versions of a landing page to see which one performs best is called A/B testing.
When one performs better than the other, duplicate the one that performs the best and change it just a bit to see if it increases conversions. If it does, duplicate that one and change it a little and see if it increases conversions, and so on and so forth. Little by little you'll improve the conversion rate of your landing page to maximize its effectiveness.
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