What is a landing page?
A landing page is simply the website page where your visitors land after they type in or click a link. The link can be on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) or from an article or from an advertisement. The purpose of any landing page on your website is specifically to prompt a certain action or result. Here are a few quick tips for effective landing pages to keep in mind.
Let's assume the traffic comes from an ad campaign. The campaign can drive traffic from online, print, television, or radio ads. Your landing page can have any address using a domain name or URL you own, for instance www.marketing-partners.info/TV if we were running a TV ad. You want your landing page URL to be relevant to your campaign and as short as possible. A landing page address of www.marketing-partners.info/tv/campaign/winter/2012/television_test/index.html?reference=source_blog_Feb18 isn’t very friendly, and certainly not memorable if someone has to type it from a print ad or remember it from radio or television.
Good Landing Pages
Good landing pages have:
- A clear headline
- A short description of the offer or activity with benefits to your customer
- A main image or video related to the ad or ads that drive the traffic
- A clear call to action – usually a form to collect contact information, but it could also be a link to purchase something or make a reservation.
What Landing Pages Should Not Have
- Your website home page address (Your home page should not be your landing page. The primary purpose of your home page is the subject for a future post.)
- Extraneous navigation and links that distract and do not directly relate to your call to action
- Large overhead or long load times
Make your landing page reflect your ad while providing an easy and direct call-to-action for the user to complete. A few other items to consider are having a link to your home page – usually your logo; privacy policy or statement if you are collecting personal information, and when you will end your campaign. If you have your server set correctly, any invalid page address will either present a custom page offering to contact the web master, or you could have the landing page redirect to your website home page when the campaign is done.
Lastly, test your page. Try asking a few people to review it before your campaign starts.
Related Links
- 10 Steps to Effective Call-to-Action Design
- 16 of the Best Landing Page Design Examples You Need to See in 2017
- How to Optimize Photos for Your Mobile-Friendly Site
