Landing pages – an introduction (and how they’re like spaceships)

What are they and do you need one?

When I first heard the words “landing page,” I pictured little cartoon rockets with parachutes attached to them. You know, the kind of thing that Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian would’ve piloted.

Turns out landing pages have nothing to do with space flight, but the case can be made that it’s an apt metaphor when you figure out what they actually are.

Landing pages 101

Essentially, a landing page is a single, standalone web page that’s specifically designed for the purposes of an advertising campaign. This page is where a visitor “lands” when they’ve clicked on an ad or searched for a specific item. Landing pages are the embodiment of a lone marketing objective – the call to action – and are used to generate leads.

A landing page is a quick and uncomplicated way for potential customers to “put their hand up” and allows for a follow-up phone call or personalized contact (which is where the sales magic always happens). Because it’s a single page with a single focus, it’s much less cumbersome than a typical website and is generally free from other distractions, such as photo galleries, links and “about” sections. Good landing pages are also easily updated without drawing in a web designer or the entire IT team.

Okay, but how’s that anything like a spaceship?

Well, like a rocket, the goal of a landing page is to explore new opportunities. It’s designed with a single, overarching mission in mind. A landing page is crafted to be streamlined – excess info is jettisoned to get clients where you want them to go. See? Spaceship!

What makes a good landing page?

A good landing page is clear, concise and uncluttered. It has one main message; it should be easy to navigate and visitors should know exactly what their next step is, e.g. “click here,” “submit,” “download,” etc.

Your landing page’s content should be useful, pithy and inspire confidence. Use the headline to confirm the offer and show how it’s beneficial.

Design, too, needs to be clean and straightforward. Use relevant, eye-catching colours and images, but don’t use too many – the overall impression should be classy not flashy. Depending on how much space you have, consider adding a testimonial or “clickable” share buttons. Finally, make sure it’s mobile friendly.

Do I need a landing page?

Good question. The answer depends on how you respond to a few more questions:

• Do you have a single action you want people to take?
• Do you know your audience?
• Do your competitors use landing pages?
• Does your company have the ability to handle responses from a landing page?

If you’ve answered yes to all those questions, then it’s likely you would benefit from a landing page. If your website is just barely hanging on, or you’re a new business and don’t have your target market nailed down, then you should probably focus your marketing budget elsewhere at this point.

Looking for a way to blast-off your new ad campaign? Want to find out more about how landing pages can help your business live long and prosper? Get in touch and we can fill you in. After all, it’s not rocket science.