Landing pages are most often used as temporary placeholders containing basic company information during the time a website is being designed and built. This kind of landing page is necessary as a stop-gap solution, as well as to build social media buzz and measure early stage SEO; but landing pages may play a much more powerful part of your internet marketing strategy. What follows is MediaMark Spotlight’s crash course on landing pages, detailing the specific uses of landing pages within a website and its virtues for business.
Landing Pages are for Conversions
A landing page is where effective lead generation is rewarded, and prospects are converted into buying customers. It’s the digital equivalent of a “close” in a face-to-face pitch. On a landing page, the prospect completes the final action to which you’ve been leading her. That final piece is “transactional,” where your target audience may be ordering a product, downloading a free informational product, entering her email address for an e-blast list, or simply filling out specific contact information. Be sure to have a separate landing page for each product or service offering category.
A Landing Page is Not Your Contact Page
The landing page is not your “Contact Us” page. A Contact Us page is the most general way for a prospect to interact with your business. A landing page creates focus on one niche application to your audience. The landing page gathers customer information, but unlike a Contact Us page, the information gathered is more specific. A landing page provides your prospects a clearer qualification of how your offering would satisfy their needs, which is critical in converting them into buying customers.
Don’t Restart Your Sales Pitch
One high yield internet marketing strategy is the email blast. Email blasts often link directly to a website homepage; so, why start the sales pitch all over again at your home page? Create your email blast to do all the heavy lifting and from there, rather than linking to your homepage, send them to the final link of the sales chain – an effective landing page.
Stay on the Landing Page
A landing page is the only page on your website that should be free of outbound links. You don’t want the prospect going anywhere else – the objective is to keep them on the landing page to complete a specific transaction. All relevant information needs to be on the landing page, with messaging that’s simple and easy to understand. Your headline should convey exactly why the prospect is there. You don’t even need full paragraphs for this page – bullet points work just as well to get your ideas across quickly. Of course, staying on message for search engine optimization (SEO) is vital; but remember… landing pages must be focused on a single goal – converting prospects to buying customers.
Focus Your Landing Pages
Your entire landing page should be pleasing to the eye, while also being quickly (in a few seconds) and clearly understood. If not, you’ll likely lose engagement with your prospects; so, create landing pages with clear messaging and pleasant imagery, as with all website design. The mind processes appearances (images) faster than it does words; hence, every second is critical during this final step in your sales chain. Don’t lose a conversion because of a cluttered design, vague or confusing content, or poor overall page formatting. Focus on the offering, its value, and your target audience’s required actions for making purchases. Make the action steps simplified, clear, and easy – complications that undermine ready customer purchases at this point are like fumbling-away the football at the goal line.
Thank Them
After the conversion to purchase on your landing page has taken place, lead the user to a new page thanking and encouraging them to share their experience on social media sites. Let your customers’ enthusiasm for your company’s offerings lead to real time sharing and testimonies. Landing pages are a vital component of your internet marketing strategy. Don’t miss out on the power landing pages have to capitalize on your lead generation strategy and convert prospects into new customers.
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