Landing pages are confusing. Why do you need a landing page if you already have a website? If you have a landing page, how would it differ from the website? Wouldn’t the landing page take away traffic from my website? Is a landing page the same as a sales page? And, where am I keeping this landing page – on the website or somewhere separate?

Before your head explodes, I am here to tell you I have the answers to these questions and more. This blog page will quickly lay out a landing page’s purpose before jumping into a few secrets that will make your landing pages more successful.

So, let’s go…

What’s The Purpose Of A Landing Page?

A landing page is one page entirely dedicated to one goal and one audience. From that sentence alone, you would already understand the difference between your website and a landing page. But there’s more…

A landing page speaks to one specific audience and has one goal. Your target audience should be visiting this site to learn about your one goal and not leave this site to visit another site. If you are building a landing page and ask your audience to visit another page to gather your contact details, you have failed. In this case, your contact details should be on the landing page. The only reason anyone should leave your page is if that is, in fact, the goal. For example, if you want someone to download an ebook, they may need to click a download button and be led to the page where the download is stored (although, we’d always recommend emailing any downloads rather than housing them online).

The Rule Of One – how to plan a landing page

The rule of one is a basic marketing principle that reminds us that we will be more successful if we stay single-minded on the topic, the goal, and the audience we are trying to reach. Landing pages are the best way to stick to this rule on your website.

Imagine if someone was interested in your company. They might visit your homepage and learn about the six services you offer and the 10 industries you serve. Still, it’s very hard to speak directly to that particular person and convince them to work with you if you have 16 different things being offered on the page. Every page – even your home page – should only have one goal. A homepage is usually a roadmap. It’s one goal is to push people to the right page for them.

The landing page is where you can get very specific. When you are building a landing page, you should be focusing on a particular person. How? Take a look at your target audience and answer the following questions:

• How does the perfect client look?
• Where do they work?
• What do they think they want from you?
• What is the most popular company in their industry?
• What words do they use?
• What are their problems? How can you solve those problems?

Once you’ve done your research, you should be able to write your landing page using the kinds of words you’re target is using, with graphics that appeal to them, and the exact solution they are seeking. Added bonus: you’ve just done all of the work that will help you to optimize the page for local Googling.

How Do I Design A Landing Page?

Simply. Cleanly,

With Lots of Space

And Lots of Chances to Grab The One Offer.

Don’t clutter your landing page with anything that could distract your audience. The images should be clean and uniform. There should not be contact information or links anywhere in the center of the page. Many landing pages have a menu and a phone number on the page, but keep it off the main area to avoid losing your audience.

If you work hard to get them, you’d better work double hard to keep them!

Do You Need Landing Pages For Each Service?

Yes!

You need landing pages to be very specific so that your visitor feels like you’re speaking directly to him (or her or them). So, each service should have its own landing page and if you are looking to sell apples to chefs and apples to restaurants, then you’ve got yourself two landing pages there.

Should My Landing Pages Be On My Website?

I think so, yes!

If you’re a medium-to-large sized company, you’ve got a sales team. That sales team should be using your website as a sales tool.

“Dear Mrs. Customer, would you like more information on our apples? We have a page on our website dedicated to the story of each apple. Please check it out: {personalized link for tracking goes here}”

If your landing page is set up correctly, they don’t need to send people to the site, but just the specific page where they can read the story and buy the apples. After all, people are inherently busy, and more than two clicks to get to what they want is too much to ask.

There’s another way of looking at this question:

Should I host all landing pages on one hosting account?

If possible, then yes. You might have bandwidth issues depending on your site, but that’s an IT concern, so I don’t want to walk down that plank.

The benefits of hosting it all in one place are many:

1. Better SEO.
2. Cheaper (only one hosting account, only one license for any plugins or integrations)
3. Easier to manage and update
4. Context is there (meaning that visitors can understand where they are. I know, I said you shouldn’t be sending anyone anywhere else, but having the same base url is a good idea from a branding perspective.)

Is a Sales Page the same as a Landing Page?

No, not necessarily, although there will be some overlap.

Both have one goal, but the goal of a landing page is not always to sell. Many B2B companies have landing pages for other means, such as increasing opt-ins for a newsletter or sign up for a webinar. A sales page sells one thing.

There is also a long-form sales page, which is a really long sales page, with every benefit and review that could possibly be considered. Sometimes I wonder if long-form sales pages are effective simply because we run out of energy to scroll any further (I kid, of course – it’s the amazing copywriting that sells!)

Recap:

What Are The Secrets To A Great Landing Page?

• Personalized language (one audience),
• One topic,
• ONE offer,
• Reviews,
• Images (all similar in form),
• Frequently Asked Questions,
• Several chances to commit to the one offer,
• A singular focus without distraction.

At Abask, we write and design pages that convert for many of our clients. Want your own landing page? Let’s get that started by giving you a quote: