The first impression leaves a lasting impression and therefore needs to be the best. Be it at an interview, meeting your boyfriend’s parents, or even Russia trying to annex Ukraine, first impression matters.
The whole enterprise hangs on that first impression which will either make it or break it.
The first impression is not limited to our daily life but is also relevant in the digital space. The first impression decides if you’ll return to the online shopping website or not.
If your website is capable of creating a good first impression on the new visitor, chances are you can then guide him through the sales funnel and achieve sales. Hell, he might even become a repeat customer.
Many websites make use of landing pages to achieve sales as well as create a great first impression on the new visitor. These pages give website visitors a quick glimpse of what your brand is all about.
Besides, when done right, landing pages provide useful and relevant content and information. They also create additional engagement opportunities and herby gather more insight into the visitor.
What Is a Landing Page Used For?
There are different definitions for what a landing page is used for? Some make a clear distinction between landing pages and homepages while others insist that a landing page must have a contact fill form embedded in it.
However, simply put a landing page is the initial point of contact between your website and a visitor.
Yes, that means a homepage could also be a landing page if it is shown as an advertisement or appears on the search engine page.
Many landing pages do have to fill out forms for users to submit their contact info in exchange for an asset download, register for a webinar, or sign up for a monthly newsletter. But it does not mean the options are mandatory.
However, when it comes to digital marketing a landing page is a standalone web page, created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign.
It is the page where the visitor land after being directed there via an email, or ads from Google, Bing, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or some other site.
The chief difference between web pages and a landing page is that the prior has many purposes and encourages exploration. Meanwhile, the latter is specifically designed with a single goal known as a call to action (CTA).
In other words, the main purpose of a landing page is to make the visitor respond to the CTA which can be a sales pitch or gathering information of the visitor.
Generally, the main purpose of a landing page varies depending on the type of landing page and its purpose which we will discuss later in the article.
Why Are Landing Pages Important?
Business is a brand and it needs a website in the 21st century. So you have created an attractive website complimenting your brand but the website would be worthless if it cannot get you sales. This is where landing pages dive in as an effective lead conversion tool.
In other words, landing pages are important because they drive traffic, improve your SEO and build your brand. Besides, they are also part of an effective PPC strategy.
But it all depends on what your strategy is. Many B2B businesses use landing pages to generate leads for future conversion while some other websites use it as a redirection to their homepages.
Obviously, the latter is not a good strategy. In other words, a landing page is only useful if it leads the customers to a specific product, service, or offer and encourages them to respond appropriately to the CTA.
This brings us to the obvious question asking why every business is not using landing pages if they are so important or effective.
Generally, many think that it is hard to create and maintain landing pages but technically, it’s a lie. As long as one is designing a landing page that is more about getting the customer than being a flashy page, it will be effective.
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Are Landing Pages Effective?
It is debatable if landing pages are effective or not but it all comes down to what type the landing page is and its purpose.
First things first, your homepage should never be your landing page and it is only logical to send prospective customers to a landing page where they can take advantage of whatever special offer you’ve promised them.
Since they already need something, the chances of capturing their attention and sales conversion are naturally high.
Thus a landing page is effective only when it is used properly and with a defined goal. To better understand are landing pages effective, let us first understand the various types of landing pages and their functions.
1. Lead Generation Landing Page
The primary intention of a Lead Generation Landing Page is to collect leads using a data capture form.
Being versatile, they are often used when a customer is evaluating your offerings and is on the cusp of either making the purchase or walking away.
This type of page gives both a request and a reward simultaneously. That is, you request information through your form, and in return, you provide a specific offer you are promoting to capture leads. Bear in mind that your request must be as worthy as your promotional offering.
2. Click-Through Landing Page
This form of landing page does not use a form. This page is simply the middleman between your ad and the page to which you wish to direct your customers.
The best example for a Click-Through Landing Page is e-commerce models that use it as visitors are unlikely to purchase if they land directly on the checkout page.
The click-through page instead offers more details about the product in hopes of making the customer purchase the product.
3. Squeeze Page
This page is similar to the lead-generation page in that, it too is used to collect data but the variation is that the squeeze page is used to gather email addresses to add potential leads to a general mailing list.
These short, basic landing pages with bold headlines and minimal content have a clear CTA and the reader knows what to expect from the click-through.
4. Long-Form Landing Page
This type of landing page is all-inclusive information on a single page. Typically they are lengthy information pieces and are also known as Long Form Sales Pages.
They contain all the information the customer needs to know about your product or service.
Generally, long-form sales pages are used for aggressive sales pitches. In other words, this type of landing page works for people who are on the verge of buying something.
The single-page gives them all the information they need to know about the product and hence encourages them to make the purchase.
The long-form sales landing page works particularly well for certain niches including Online courses, PDFs, expensive products, EOSS or short-time discount sales, and for one-time purchase products.
Hence, the answer to are landing pages effective? depends on the types of landing pages mentioned above and more including the sales page, splash page, infomercial, viral landing pages, and microsites.
In the end, it’s the purpose, choice of the landing page, and other factors that decide how effective a landing page is.
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Benefits of Having a Landing Page
Unlike the other pages of your website, landing pages have a specific function which is usually a short-term objective.
In most cases, landing pages offer only one particular action for the visitors. It can be as simple as asking the audience to sign up with the subscription form for your company’s newsletter.
Besides, there are numerous advantages of using a landing page, and here are the top 5 benefits of having a landing page:
1. A Lasting Good First Impression
Your landing page functions as a welcome page to the new visitor which also depicts your brand and its mission.
Given how hectic our lives are, it is vital that the page is simple and value-oriented. A well-designed landing page makes a positive first impression and is likely to make the customer react as per the CTA message on the page.
2. Get Leads and Conversions
Typically a landing page will have a subscription form and ask for the user’s email address as well as basic personal information.
But a really good landing page will also give for example exclusive material such as an e-book in exchange for the information.
It must be noted that in the second instance, the data collected through the pages are essentially high-quality leads.
But one must remember to optimize the page for quick and precise loading along with an opt-in option for the visitors to receive announcements, newsletters, and special offers via email.
3. Improve Brand Awareness
Landing pages are the first look of your website and hence are also the best place to offer a clear and simple way to communicate your company’s values and message.
Besides, leads generated from landing pages can be used for email marketing campaigns. That is, your brand awareness improves by sending relevant information and offers to the clients.
4. Generate Insights
Every online business improves by amassing information and analytics. Customers can be well analyzed by comparing the number of visitors a landing page gets to other pages.
This helps in determining which campaigns are the most popular and effective. Also, landing pages helps in experimenting with different elements of the website to see which pages perform the best for attracting and converting visitors.
5. Promote New Services and Products
One of the best places to promote your new services and products is the landing page. The page highlights their value proposition and influences the new visitors to buy something new.
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6. Supports Your Business Goals
Efficiently designed landing pages are a lead magnet gold mine. It is a very effective tool encouraging users to a particular action towards your services or products.
It comes in handy and supports your business goal be it by attracting visitors, converting leads into customers, or capturing customer data among others.
In short, landing pages increase credibility, improve SEO ranking, generate data and insights, increase email lists, and ultimately work collectively to achieve your business goals.
7. Improves Credibility
Landing pages is one of the best ways to secure instant credibility among your audience. Landing pages increase a new visitor’s trust in your brand since the page usually tends to solve a problem the visitor is facing.
In other words, your services or products are the solutions to the visitor’s problem and landing pages make it very easy for the visitor to turn into a customer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a landing page is an indispensable tool for marketing and sales. However, care must be taken to have an excellent landing page for a good first impression, generating leads and conversions.
Besides, it also improves brand awareness. Thus the article has explained how important and efficient a landing page and the best place for you to get a perfect landing page would be with OneCity.
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