We live in the future. Perhaps not the Jetsons-style, flying-car chic we were (and, in my case, still are) hoping for, but a pretty damn technologically advanced society all the same. One clear sign of this is the rise in usage of personal websites- now used the same way business cards were just a short decade ago.
Yes, the world is digitised, and yes, everyone’s got a website, but does that mean that everyone’s got business? Not necessarily. Why? The reason is simple enough – people are either not using the humble Landing Page or misusing them entirely, and that’ll bust even the best of marketing plans. Failing to bring your potential audience to the right page of the website, not touching their pain points, and not giving them the information/solution they want is a great way to leave a lot of money on the table, so let’s learn about optimising Landing Pages.
Have You Heard of Landing Pages before?
Odds are that you have. If you haven’t; then you’re sure about to. A Landing Page is a web page that allows a business to capture the information about a customer through a form. When a keen, potential customer clicks on a Call-to-Action in your content or a piece of your advertising, they should not be led to your home page, but to a Landing Page that outlines exactly what they’re signing up for. It’s where they swap their information for your content offering, in a weird, super-modern version of bartering. It’s a big leap towards lead-conversion when you have your prospects contact info and they’re waiting for your call by the phone like a lovesick 90’s teen.
It should be apparent by now how a poorly optimised (or even worse, missing) Landing Page can affect your business, but in case it isn’t…
- Being directed to the home page reduces the odds of a contact staying in the mood, as it were, risking that they’ll lose focus, leave the page and wander off to another part of your site, and,
- If the page doesn’t give the user the information they want, then they aren’t going to hit you with their details and you’ve lost out on a possible customer.
So what makes an optimised Landing Page a lead-generating powerhouse of digital marketing glory? These 4 elements, actually!
1. They're Lead Generation Stations
Landing Pages are an easy, super effective way to generate leads. They can bring you traffic from email campaigns, social media, content marketing, and even the website itself and you want to drive all these folks right to the content without giving them the chance to get distracted by links on the page and the rest of your website. When it comes to the internet, my attention span can be measured in seconds, so I know the struggle to stay on task. Leading them to a Landing Page is to hand-deliver them your content on a platter. The leads you developed can then be easily classified and catered-to by your sales department.
2. Location, Location, Location
Like we just said, you wouldn’t want your customers running loose when you’re so close to converting them into valuable leads, so you want to create a designated place where they can always find your content. As such, make sure your Landing Page is easily found and that all the roads leading to it are working. It’s an easy way to sort things and let your customer grab what they want.
3. They Collect that Oh-So Important Information
Don’t forget what you’re getting out of this trade- usable information about your lead. Not only does this mean you can get in contact with them down the track, but also that you have information with which to segment your audience. Segmentation is the act of breaking your audience into groups, based on demographic info (age, job, location, favourite flavour of soup, etc) so that you can serve them information that is relevant to them. The info you use to segment should be gathered by the form on your Landing Page (but don’t try to learn too much- overly-long forms are about as beloved on the internet as damn Captchas).
4. Saying Thanks
Behind every great Landing Page is a great Thank You Page. Once a lead has filled out your form, present a Thank You Page that delivers them the content and introduces them to some other related content they might be interested in. A lead is never more engaged than they are at this point, so it’s an excellent opportunity to move them along the path towards becoming your customer.
So if you want to see the engagement-with and quality-of your content soar, consider your Landing Pages when you put together your next killer marketing plan.