A landing page is a standalone web page created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign in digital marketing. It’s where a visitor “lands” after clicking on a link in an email, or ads from Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or similar places on the web.
Unlike a web page, which typically has many goals and encourages exploration, a landing page has a single focus or purpose, known as a call to action (CTA).
This focus is the best option to increase your marketing campaigns’ conversion rates and lower your cost of acquiring a lead or sale.
Here’s where this idea might fit into your marketing strategy: The landing page exists after prospects click a link in an ad, email, or anywhere else on the web. It’s where the conversion (like a purchase, signup, or registration) takes place.
Can Any Page be a Landing Page?
Technically, yes. The term is used this way in Google Ads and Google Analytics, for instance. But not all destination pages are made equal. The term “landing page” describes a campaign-specific page with just one single call to action and no website navigation.
Two Kinds of Landing Pages
There are two archetypal landing pages defined by their goals:
Lead Generation Landing Pages: Also called “lead gen” or “lead capture” pages, they use a form as their call to action. This form almost always collects lead data, like the names and email addresses of visitors.
Click through Landing Pages: Frequently used by eCommerce and SaaS (software-as-a-service) marketers, clickthrough pages go straight for sales or subscription. Usually, they have a simple button as the call to action that sends the visitor into the checkout flow or completes a transaction.
Driving Traffic to Landing Pages
You’re going to need to fill that funnel full of visitors for your landing page to work. Fortunately, you’ve got a lot of options. Here we explore some of the more common sources of traffic to landing pages.
1. Paid Search Traffic
Most search engines include paid advertising. When someone looks something up, these ads appear marked—but not too clearly—in the search results.
Your charming copy and visuals are why someone clicks. Unlike the other results on the page, pay-per-click ads are prepared and paid for by marketers. And you’ve likely targeted them based on their search term, demographic data, or interests revealed by their browsing history.
Crucially, when you create an ad, you get to choose where the link takes your visitor. You could decide to send them to your homepage, but it’s better to create a standalone landing page that matches your ad copy and offers a clear call to action.
2. Paid Social Traffic
Running ads on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or LinkedIn targets people and communities who’ll be particularly interested in your brand, regardless of whether they’re in the market yet.
Instead of people searching for “XYZ of the month club,” you might advertise to people who’ve added “XYZ appreciation” to their list of interests in their Facebook profile. The advantage is you can connect with customers before they start to look for your product—or before they want it!
Aside from offering advanced targeting features, each social channel has its characteristics. Instagram, for example, works well for products and lifestyle brands with a strong visual appeal. On the other hand, B2B advertisers prefer to use LinkedIn to reach professionals working in specific industries.
3. Email Campaigns
Email is often praised as the most effective marketing channel because of its colossal reach and low costs compared to other platforms. Use a powerful combo of emails and landing pages to nurture existing relationships with customers and acquire new ones.
After building a list of contacts, your carefully crafted email lets, you entice readers with your offer while the landing page fills in the details and directs visitors toward a call to action.
4. Organic Search Traffic
The term “organic traffic” refers to visitors who come from an unpaid source—like the bottom half of Google or Bing search results. By creating compelling, legitimately helpful content on your website or landing pages, you can ensure that your business appears more frequently in related searches. The higher your content ranks, the better.
Calling it “unpaid” is a little bit misleading, however. It doesn’t mean there isn’t time and money invested in ranking. There’s an entire field of professionals dedicated to squeezing as much organic traffic from Google as possible through a balance of careful strategy, technical know-how, and brilliant content creation. This strategy is search engine optimization (SEO) in a nutshell.
Contact Us
It’s impossible to cover every landing page use case. You might run native ads during a podcast, for instance, or create interactive quizzes or run traditional print ads with QR codes. No matter how you fill the top of your funnel, a landing page will help you make the most of it. Contact Emagine Web Serves! We can create a landing page to kick-start your following today!
