What is a Landing Page?

The internet is loaded with various (and yes confusing) definitions of a landing page. The purpose of this write up is not to add to that confusion, but somehow to clear the view for everybody to easily understand what landing pages are all about, i.e., their purpose and usage. The best way to define a landing page is to extract its pure purpose or the reason why landing pages are created. A landing page, therefore, is the page of your website where visitors arrive through a link. Landing pages could be your home page, or just any web page of your website.

The use of landing pages

It is important to understand that landing pages are not created just for what they are, but what they can do. In fact, they give a customized sales pitch for people who arrive at your website. When you have fully developed landing pages that address visitors (from wherever they come), there are greater chances of converting your visitors into prospective buyers. Dumping visitors into your home page to fend for themselves may not be a good strategy; after all, people will immediately leave your site and move to a competitor if the landing pages are not equipped in providing them with their immediate needs.

Providing your visitors with what they need on your landing pages, may actually help you captivate them. However, avoid creating distractions on your landing pages in the form of links as these can make your visitors disappear from your site.

Types of landing pages

Although any page of your website can be a landing page, there are specifically two types of landing pages: reference landing page and transactional landing page.

• Reference landing page. This type of landing page provides information that is relevant to your visitors. This can be a form of a displayed text, image, relevant links and other important elements. This type of landing page is good if they qualify with the requirements of the publishers, associations or organization. The effectiveness of this type of landing page depends on how revenue value is displayed on the page.

• Transactional landing page. The primary objective of a transactional landing page is to persuade a visitor to initiate and ultimately complete a transaction, such as to fill out a form, interact with what is being advertised or do other things on the landing page. The goal is to persuade the visitor to eventually purchase your product. Another function of transactional landing page is to capture the visitors’ information, such as e-mail addresses and the telephone numbers.

How to craft effective landing pages?

While driving people to your website is an important marketing strategy, holding on to them as they arrive on your site is another story. It is important to note that the internet is a fast-moving being and people tend to move faster than you can even capture them. The ultimate trick to hold their attention is to craft a powerful and effective landing page. The following are simple yet effective tips on crafting effective landing pages:

• Create a brief headline to thank your visitors for coming
• Offer free white papers, demos or whatever so that you can legally capture crucial information
• But, don’t ask too many questions (this might turn people off!); get their names, e-mail address
• Provide a promise of privacy and make this a crystal clear policy
• Don’t write publish a novel on your landing page!; keep your copy brief, but be very convincing
• Don’t’ forget to follow up

The ultimate purpose of creating landing pages is to give visitors what exactly they need and look for the moment they arrive on your website. So craft your landing pages according your visitors need, not according to what you want them to need.