In the world of the Internet, a landing page is a lot like a front door: when guests come to your home. They knock at the front door, stand on the step, and enter there before diverging to different portions of the house.
In the world of websites and blogs, a landing page serves the exact same purpose. To put it simply – a landing page is a place that visitors arrive to and are directed from. Most commonly, a landing page is a standalone page that exists separately of the main webpage and serves a single purpose, like getting people to click a banner or subscribe to and email list.
Because they’re designed to funnel customers toward a specific objective, landing pages generally don’t take customers to your main site, although they are branded with your company and product’s important identifying information. The lack of connection to your main website serves the purpose of providing fewer options (read: distractions) and helping direct customers to take a specific action.
Types of Landing Pages
There are two common varieties of landing pages and both serve a slightly different purpose. Most landing pages you see on the web today are either click-through or lead generation sites, which are often called either Lead Gen or lead capture pages. Although these two types of pages are very similar in many ways, they do differ slightly in terms of their goals.
Click-Through Landing Pages:
Click-through pages do exactly what their name would imply: they encourage visitors to click links and navigate to separate pages, like a shopping cart. These pages are popular with e-commerce sites and generally feature sharp design and a large, prominently featured call-to-action button that is the only clickable piece on the page. Click-through pages are great for detailing new products or offering specific information about a new deal or pre-release offer.
Although click-through pages differ slightly in their approach and wording, they all have several things in common. These things are as follows:
- Great headlines
- Subheadlines that explain the purpose of the page and what the reader is doing there
- Some sort of image – typically a product image, screenshot or related video
- An attention-grabbing design that tells the reader exactly why they should be intrigued by the product or offer
- A customer review, complimentary quote or outstanding appraisal of the product, good or service
The purpose of each of these features is to drive customers to action. Because click-through pages direct customers to virtual shopping carts or registration pages, they can serve the important purpose of dramatically increasing a company’s conversion rate and offering valuable, specific information for customers in late stages of the buying process. For those who are unfamiliar with what a click-through page looks like, there are many examples of click-through landing pages on the web.
Lead Generation Landing Pages:
Anyone who knows a thing about marketing knows that email marketing is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle. This is where lead generation landing pages come in. Lead generation pages are geared toward collecting the names, email addresses and demographic information of users.
These pages are important in that they allow companies to connect with leads at a later time, such as during an email campaign or promotional period. Most lead gen pages feature a short form that asks for personal data like name, email address, location and employment type.
Lead gen pages may also offer to give visitors something in return, like an Ebook, whitepaper, registration to a webinar, coupons for services or entry into a contest. While lead gen pages are very similar to click-through pages, they serve a slightly different purpose.
While a click-through page is primarily aimed at driving customers into the sales funnel and initiating more purchases, a lead gen page is aimed at collecting information from customers in order for companies to market directly to them at a later time. As such, lead gen pages are great for building email lists and pre-qualifying interested leads.
After emails have been gathered through a lead gen pages, companies can opt to use services like MailChimp to send automated emails to those leads and encourage ongoing interaction.
Why Landing Pages Are Important
When it comes to gaining new customers or directing existing ones to take a specific action, landing pages can’t be beaten. When combined with other inbound marketing tactics, landing pages are an important weapon in the arsenal of companies that want to get out there and get noticed online.
By optimizing a landing page for your business’s specific goals, you can increase your traffic and your conversion rates. To put it another way: landing pages are an important asset to your business and should be used liberally to drive customers into the sales funnel or to gain important information. Regardless of whether you choose to use click-through or lead gen pages, chances are you’ll notice that they make a large difference in your company’s traffic and engagement.
If you want more information about landing pages or inbound marketing, check out our page for more details. Bigfoot Media is here for all of your digital marketing needs and would love to help your business create a game-winning strategy. Call us today for a FREE consultation or shoot us a quick email to learn more.
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