I talk about digital marketing a lot in this space (probably because this is a marketing and advertising blog, imagine that). Email marketing, PPC advertising, social media usage, all of that gets significant attention. But I have realized that I’ve left a glaring hole is the topics covered here at the Fusion Group USA blog: Landing Pages.

The most enticing PPC ad or the most engaging Facebook post won’t grow your business if it is not converting customers. And without quality landing pages, odds are you are not converting clickers into customers.

What are Landing Pages?

Technically, any page on your site could be a place where visitors ‘land,’ but I’m talking about dedicated, standalone pages with the sole function of generating leads or sales. So, in this sense, there are two types of landing pages: click-through pages and lead generation pages.

A lead generation page is the most common type, especially among marketing agencies where lead generation is the lifeblood of the industry. The goal of a lead generation landing page is to exchange mutually beneficial offerings – content or special offers for the customer and contact information for the business.

A click-through landing page is slightly different – its goal is to provide additional promotional content before a customer is asked to make a purchase. A click-through page functions as an extension of the original ad or offer and it greatly improves the odds of conversion over linking directly to a shopping cart page.

Landing Page Basics

According to landing page experts, HubSpot, there are questions that your landing page needs to answer:

1. What is being offered?
2. What are the benefits of the offer?
3. Why does the viewer need the offer now?
4. How does the user get the offer?

First, a landing page needs an offer. The whole point of a landing page is to minimize distractions and focus on a singular goal. And so, the offer needs to be clearly communicated, otherwise you’ll lose a potential lead.

Second, with most landing pages you are asking for something in return. That means you need to put forward the benefits of what you’re offering. Is that white-paper really worth giving up an email address? Only if you sell it enough!

Third, you need to create a sense of urgency around your offer. Many potential leads will bounce thinking they can come back later, but that almost never happens. You need to close the deal now, and so always address why the viewer needs to take action now.

And fourth, you need to clearly show your visitors how to cash in on your generous offer. I’ve seen countless landing pages that made me hunt for this information. And nowadays I just leave if there are not clear instructions for converting. Don’t make that same mistake!

Landing Page Best Practices

I’ll be diving into the specifics of building and optimizing landing pages over the next several months. But as we get started down that road, there are a few best practices that will guide our way.

• Dedicated Pages – You should craft a dedicated landing page for each offer and for each traffic source. I know that sounds like a lot of work – but your conversion rate will thank you!
• Matching Messaging – The copy and design of your landing page should match the traffic source. If your ad/email/post caught a visitor’s attention, keep that interest with visual continuity between the traffic source and the landing page.
• Uncluttered – It is tempting to fill your landing page with information, but the best ones are simple and uncluttered. Your page has a single goal – keep visitors focused on accomplishing that goal by removing every unnecessary element on the landing page.
• Bold Calls-to-Action – If you want someone to do something, you have to ask. Landing page design isn’t the time to be shy, rather it is the time to be big and bold. Bright colors, clear text, and visual hierarchy should all be used to ensure that visitors are drawn to your CTA.
• Don’t Overdo It – I know that it can be useful to know your customers’ name, address, email, phone number, birthday, children’s names, and income level; but don’t overdo the input fields on a lead generation page. Every new field is an opportunity to bounce and so you should limit yourself to the two or (maybe) three most important ones.
• Test, test, test – Just like with email marketing, the key to landing page success is continual A/B testing. Even slight changes to punctuation and color choices can greatly increase your conversion rate. So, you should always be tweaking and testing your landing page design.

There are hundreds and thousands of tips for optimizing your landing pages, but by following these best practices no landing page will be terrible. From there, it is just a matter of fine-tuning and testing until you find the perfect design for your industry and audience.

Optimized for Conversions

As I mentioned in the opening, all the digital marketing in the world isn’t worth much if you’re not converting customers. Well-designed landing pages are absolutely essential if you want your email marketing, social media, or PPC advertising to be successful.

Optimized landing pages will increase your conversions – whether your goal is more sales or more leads. If you’re struggling to get your digital marketing on track, let us help you build landing pages that will outperform your expectations. Contact us today to see how Fusion Group USA can help!