In marketing terms, it's a specialized page that visitors are directed to once they've clicked on a link, usually from an outside source such as a Pay Per Click ad. The page is usually tightly focused on a particular product or service with the aim of getting the visitor to buy or take some form of action rapidly that will ultimately lead to a sale.
A different view on landing pages
Many site owners believe that the way the visit to sale process works is this:
Client arrives on their home page
Client selects an option from a menu or an offer on the page
Client arrives on the page with the offer/product
Client purchases.
The basics of developing landing pages
There a few questions to ask yourself when creating a landing page:
What are you offering?
Who do you wish to appeal to?
Why would they be interested in your offer?
What do they need to do to participate/purchase?
Before Creating a Landing Page you should KNOW…
Business Objectives
The business objective of the campaign and in particular the page. What problem are you trying to solve?
Know Your Audience
Understand the goals and motivations of the users who will be arriving at your landing page. What are the main questions that a potential visitor will have? Knowing this will allow you to design an experience that answers these questions in priority sequence on the page.
Visitor Action
The desired action of the visitor (primary CTA). Sounds simple, but if you don’t have a very specific idea in mind, your page can lose focus.
Entry Points
Take note of all campaign entry points (email, organic, PPC, social media) and any existing collateral materials to ensure you maintain a consistent brand experience and design. If your landing page doesnʼt match the aesthetic of the banner ad then people will often rightfully assume they are in the wrong place and leave.
Technical limitations of your target audience
Are they iPhone users? Are they business people with laptops that still view everything on 1024×780? Or are they designers with big 24” iMacs?
Creative brief
Ideally there will be a well defined concept that ties business and user goals together into a simple and implementable idea. This will help you to design something that doesnʼt stray from the core goals of the campaign. If you are a small business or entrepreneur then this might seem like a bit of a luxury (or an extreme waste of time). If you’ve never used a brief before, try searching for some examples or templates – it can be really useful to go through the process of creating a simple half page brief just to get the idea down on paper before you commit it to digital realm.
Tips For Landing Pge Optimization
Clean & clear headline: Crisp is how the landing page headlines should be. Language used should be exact. This way you keep your visitor oriented and engaged.
Straight forward Call to Action: Tell the visitors what they need to do. Use buttons or well-linked text or you can use both. We can use a minimum of 2 call to action in a short landing page while 3-5 in a long LP (usually long LP is not preferred, but if there’s no way out because of the number of products, need to use them).
Emphasize benefits: Why will someone care about your company/product/service until it benefits him/her. The benefits are to be brought out in the content. This will help the visitor to quickly act accordingly.
Persuasive message: The message conveyed has to be persuasive. The features, products/services & the benefits can always be put forward in an urge manner which helps the visitor to make a decision.
Tight copy: Too much of content is always boring for someone who needs info quickly. Lack of clutter, clear & specific detailed content will help any visitor clicking the ad. Readers will read long landing page copy as long as you keep building a strong, motivating case for him/her to act. However, remember 2 things which are critical with respect to landing page copy.
Mention offers clearly: Keep your body copy in line with the offer. There has to be a logical progression from your headline to the landing page offers.
Highlight key info in bulleted points: Most of the viewers usually browse through & not read the content. Information is needed quickly. Make sure that they get everything required without having them to slow down.
Contact, Certificates & Testimonials check: Ensure that the contact details are mentioned appropriately in the landing page, so that the visitors can reach you easily (either on Phone/ Email). Certificates and testimonials builds trust in the minds of the visitors about your company & services.
The form has to be visible on the upper fold: Ask not for too much but the necessary info to complete the desired action (sale/lead). Be judicious & confidential in the given information. To be placed in the upper fold so that the visitor can access it easily.
Simple clean images: Images are always the eye-catchers. The landing page images used have to be a supportive medium for the content in the landing page. If the offering is a service, then you can show an image which explains the offering.