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What in the World is a Landing Page? Do I Land on it?

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April 12, 2010

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Internet Marketing

In short, yes. You do land on a landing page, not physically but digitally. When you do a Google search and you click onto an ad, it directs you to a specific landing page that a marketing guru has optimized specifically for what you were looking to do, and to then follow through and contact the company. Is your company interested in creating a landing page to maximize advertisement exposure? Then read on…

How do you know which landing page is right for your business, or if landing pages are even a good choice at all? It’s best to consult with a marketing expert to determine what the right strategy is for you. This article will help guide you through the options and get a better idea of what to expect.

Landing pages are typically used with Pay-per-click ad campaigns, the most popular one being Google Adwords, which appear on the right side of searches under the sponsored links section. Landing pages are sometimes referred to as lead capture pages, and that is probably a more accurate description, because that is the page’s main goal: to capture a lead so the business can follow up and contact a potential customer. However, landing pages do not always have the goal to capture a lead – sometimes their purpose is to get someone to sign up for a newsletter, purchase an item for sale, or even just get information to the public. In any case, when the visitor completes the task the landing page has laid out for them, it is called a conversion.

There are many different approaches to landing pages, and all of these have their uses depending on what market niche the company is in, what the company budget is, and what the conversion goal is. I will describe a few different landing page approaches based on their efficiency in obtaining their conversion goal.

The Landing Page Form
This type of landing page includes  brief amount of information on the left side, to give your visitors an idea of what you’re selling, and why they should buy. The right side displays a form where the user can enter a minimal amount of information about themselves such as name, phone number, email, and zip code. This works well for intangible sold goods or for event signups. For example, if you are a real estate broker and want to contact first time homebuyers, this page will enable you to retrieve a phone number and follow up with a potential client. Or, if you are hosting a special event to unveil your latest product, you can use this form as an RSVP guest list. In short, this form is good if you need to make personal contact with the visitor or gather their personal information for a specific reason. Here, your conversion is measured in the number of leads you gain.

The Informational Page
This is a place where your visitor can read medium to large amounts of information about a product, brand, or idea. An informational page lends itself  to campaigns which are interested in informing their visitors on a subject, and not necessarily making an immediate sale. These types of pages might be geared towards changing a person’s opinion about a certain subject, or simply to repeatedly expose them to a certain brand name so they will be more familiar with it. For example, you might be in the nutritional business and have an informational page urging visitors that a certain diet, vitamin, and exercise routine would be good for them. Adding your company logo and a lot of good advice on the page could increase your visitor’s confidence in your company and its products, therefore leading them to trust your brand the next time they see your vitamin supplements on the shelf at the local store. Here, the conversion rate is very difficult to monitor, but the real measure in value is building a great brand name for your product.

The “Buy me now” Page
Although this landing page isn’t going to have the words “buy me now” all over it, that’s certainly what it is meant for and it’s quite obvious to the visitor. Which is actually a good thing, if you’re marketing tangible items commonly bought online. This landing page is great for those moments when a consumer is looking to buy something already, and just wants to find a good deal and buy as quickly and easily as possible. So, in this instance you would want to use an ad that shows a great sale (ie 30-50% off), and directs the user directly to a product page on an ecommerce site where the user can immediately see photos, price, and description of the product at hand, and most importantly – click the “add to cart” button. What’s great about a campaign like this is the easily tracked conversion to ROI goal. Each conversion is measured in dollars, so it is easily compared to the amount of money spent to achieve that goal.

What is a reasonable conversion goal? This can really vary depending on the market, but on average landing pages only receive 1%-6% average conversion rate. That means that of 100 visitors to land on a landing page, only 1-6 of them will actually follow through to the end goal. That seems like a very small amount, but when you add up the cost of the campaign and average it out by the profit obtained, you can focus on the Return on Investment (ROI) of the campaign, which is the most important part.

If landing pages do not sound like your cup of tea, try researching some other internet marketing strategies and see if one seems to suit your business better. All in all, when you stick to a landing page campaign with a good strategy, you will see a great Return on Investment very quickly. The first step to any internet marketing campaign though, is to lay out a good blueprint for success.

By: JT Website Design specializes in landing page optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.

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