Landing Pages: A Guide for Beginners and Beyond

This post will be long and interesting, in it we will try to combine all the basic information related to the selling landing page: creating a landing page, its promotion and optimization. The material will undoubtedly be very useful for beginners of our platform (and Internet marketing in general), but experienced users will probably find a lot of useful information in it.

Let's start from the very beginning: what is a Landing Page?

Full details are provided in the article "What are landing pages?".Now we just recall a few of the most important concepts, so:

• landing or landing page is a narrowly targeted web page aimed at converting visitors;
• landing pages are a continuation of an advertising campaign, not a website;
• landing pages - this is work with different types of advertising traffic (PPC, PPM, CPA, PPV-media, video, etc.);
• Landing pages are a sky-high conversion rate (e.g. 79%);
• The landing page is NOT the main page of the site

Landing page types

There are 3 main types and 7 types of landing pages, however, for the small and medium business sector (SMB, small and medium business), it is of interest to create only 4 types of landing pages, which we will talk about.

• Signature pages, or landing pages designed to generate leads .

On such a landing page, there is a lead form consisting of a certain number of fields, where a potential buyer, if desired, leaves contact information. Personal data is used for tele - or email marketing.

Referral Pages, or CTR (Clickthrough Rate)

The task of such a landing page is to transfer the user to the main site or to other landing pages. For example, it can be a product page of an online store, a page for signing up for a webinar (remote webinar), a page offering various services. The real conversion with this scheme occurs on the webmaster's resource.

Mobile Landing Page

Absolutely everyone has to reckon with the “mobile” Internet today, its share in the advertising market is increasing at a high speed. That is why mobile landing pages , adapted to smartphone browsers, can probably be called “the hottest trend in web marketing.” Mobile landing pages can generate leads or work on a direct call system (Click To Call).

Facebook Fan Page

Every self-respecting Internet entrepreneur, shop or brand has its own fan page on the Facebook social network, which can also convert potential customer visits, for example, into “fans”, “likes”, leads or calls.

Now, having considered the main types of landings, we can move on to the next question. How to create a landing page - and for what purpose should you do it?

Starting a Marketing Campaign: Defining a Goal

If you are running an SEM campaign (PPC, for example), you must keep in mind a simple rule, the "truth" of effective web marketing: a well-designed landing page can significantly increase your conversion rate, and a high conversion equals a high ROI ( return on investment) and high profit.

It's worth remembering that building a landing page is by no means the same as developing successful websites. There are well-defined principles that you must adhere to in order to maximize your success. To get started, ask yourself the most important question: Why are you creating your landing page?

Landing pages, like any other "weapon" from your marketing arsenal, need precisely defined goals (sales, subscriptions, leads, calls, registrations, software / program downloads, transition to a specific page, etc.). If you don't have a specific goal, consider that you have no way to start an effective advertising campaign. In addition, you should set your own "success criteria" for yourself - this can be the total number of conversions, for example.

Landing page concept

Once you've set your goals, it's time to start thinking about the concept and design of your landing page. As a rule, absolutely any landing page has the following main elements : title, visual element (image / video), lead form, call to action button. It's not that difficult, is it?

• How to develop a landing page concept quickly and accurately

A clear call to action (CTA) is perhaps the most important part of a landing page. The call to action should be specifically “tied” to the main goal of the landing page. All other components - headline, text, images, overall layout - should work to strengthen the call to action.

• Call to action elements from famous brands

Another important principle: "The simpler the better"

Landing pages should be greatly simplified compared to other types of web content. Simplicity should be pursued precisely because landing pages have very specific goals, and therefore should not contain extraneous information that can distract your visitors, making it difficult to convert.

Landing page text: Clear and concise

The topic of writing sales copy (“copywriting”) is very, very important, so please give it enough time. The content (semantic content) of the page should be clear and concise. Remember that landing pages are not the place to show off your literary talents (leave the complex arguments and ornate phrases for a personal blog).

Every sentence and every word should serve a common purpose, and that purpose should be to support your call to action and, of course, conversion. If this does not happen - "cut!" Be ruthless in editing your text. Tell your visitors just what they want to know - as concisely as possible, and get them to respond to your call to action - as quickly as possible.

Landing page design

Design is just as important as text content. Good design supports the call to action, while bad design detracts from it. That's why the good old rule works here: the simpler the better. In our gallery you will find many landing page templates in various categories. You just need to change the template a little to get your own high-quality and individual style of the landing page.

Don't forget to remove navigation elements

Remember that the main difference between a regular website and a landing page is that landing pages do not have the usual site navigation system. Instead of links to other pages, the landing page should only have a call to action (CTA), and possibly links to additional information for those visitors who have not yet come to a final decision (it is also desirable to place links to such important points as “terms of operation ” and “privacy”). Creating a landing page with navigation elements and other details that detract from the conversion action is a big mistake.

If you have a website, you can visually “link” it to your landing pages by simply using the same logo and common graphics, and keeping fonts, colors, and page layout consistent.

"Long Page" vs. "Row of Pages"

How to create a landing page: in the form of a single "long" landing page that requires scrolling, or as a series of short ones (sometimes called a "mini site")?

Mini-sites, as a rule, are several pages with short text content, the visitor sequentially goes through them one after another, thus getting involved in the conversion process. This method is good in that it educates users in the habit of moving from one page to another, which, in turn, helps to create the “right” psychological mood for the visitor, which helps a successful conversion.

"Long" landing pages, on the other hand, are great for posting a small amount of information. The main advantage of such pages is that the content of the page is loaded at once, which can be a very important positive factor when the Internet connection speed is low.

Among Western marketers, disputes about the importance of placing the main elements “above the fold line”, that is, do not subside. in the visible part of the screen, accessible without scrolling. However, for landing pages, this issue is not even discussed: a highly visible call to action should be placed at the top of the page so that the visitor does not have to scroll.

Minimum images, large fonts

Use only one image per landing page, or at least two images. You must avoid visual clutter on the landing page, anything that can distract the visitor from the call to action.

It's a good idea to use large font sizes to save the visitor from having to strain their eyesight. Just don't go overboard with the sizes, and remember that the ideal line length for digestibility is 39 characters.

Page Layout: One or Two Column Layout?

The general consensus is that a one-column landing page layout is considered the best. And yet, among marketers, there are still quite a lot of adherents to creating a two-column landing page. Test both options to see which one works best for you.

Landing page editing and customization

The technical part is perhaps the easiest, as the Free Landing Page Creator service provides you with all the tools you need to edit and customize your landing page. And, of course, you need to start by choosing a template - in accordance with the goals and objectives that we talked about earlier - and, of course, studying video tutorials on using the editor and the rest of the LPgenerator functionality.

Lead generation and lead management

A lead is contact information voluntarily received from a user who is interested in purchasing certain goods and services. The expression "get a lead" means that a potential client transfers his contact information to the seller in order to obtain additional information about the product with the subsequent conclusion of a transaction.

“Lead generation” is the process of finding a market of potential buyers and influencing it with marketing tools (advertising banners, PPC, direct mail, etc.) in order to obtain contact information of potential customers.

How many fields does your lead form have? This question is very important, as it has a direct impact on the conversion rate: on the one hand, the fewer fields, the higher the conversion rates; on the other hand, a potential buyer who filled out, for example, 7-9 fields of the lead form, is most likely of “quality” and has a better chance of closing the deal. The ultimate strategy for generating quality leads depends on your goals, the marketing niche you're in, the type of product, and the competition.

Customizing and Opportunities for Your Landing Page Lead Form

CRM lead management system

The speed of lead processing affects the conversion rate in the following way: a lead processed in less than 1 minute can increase conversion by 391%! It is possible to process the received personal data in two ways: by telemarketing (direct sales by phone) or through email marketing or mailing lists.

For those who work with subscription lists, integration with SmartResponder and MailChimp services will be most useful , where you can set up all processes for receiving and sending emails automatically.

Conversion Optimization

Conversion rate optimization is an increase in sales! There is a lot of meaning and a whole concept of Internet marketing in this simple sentence. Let's say your conversion is 2%, in other words, out of 1000 site visitors, only 20 will become buyers, and, of course, this traffic (1000) costs some money.

You can increase real profits with the help of conversion optimization, leaving advertising costs at the same level. Using the technique that we will discuss below, for example, you can easily increase the conversion rate from 2% to 4%, and this is already 40 real customers and a 100% increase in income.

Conversion Optimization Methods

Creating a landing page and optimizing it are processes that are inextricably linked with constant and thorough testing. Split testing or, as it is also called, A / B testing is a technology in which each new visitor is shown two variants of the landing page (page A or page B) alternately in a 1: 1 ratio, and the visitor is not aware of the existence of the second option . When the number of impressions reaches a certain statistically significant value, all that remains is to compare the conversion rate of each page variation and decide on the more effective one.

There is also a multivariate test that allows you to simultaneously test an unlimited number of variations of several landing page elements. We will not talk about it, since it is only suitable for large volumes of traffic.

For example, Sajid Ali Yousaf was able to achieve simply phenomenal conversion rates on his subscription pages.

When creating a split test, you need to concentrate and check only 3 parameters: headline, image, call to action (CTA). We bring to your attention an article completely devoted to this topic: doing a split test of landing pages in practice .

To trust the test results and be truly sure that the headline "Non flat TV at half price" has a higher conversion rate than the headline "Flat TV at 15% off", you need to achieve the following statistics - 100 conversions on each landing page, or at least 2 weeks of split-testing.

Conversion optimization techniques also include segmenting incoming traffic into separate landing pages. This approach helps to accurately track the result and indicators such as CPA (cost per action), CPL (cost per lead), CPS (cost per sale). Segmentation is usually based on the type of traffic (contextual advertising, social media, mailing lists, etc.).

Concluding this topic, I would like to note the importance of traffic relevance, that is, the full semantic correspondence of the advertisement and the landing page. Simply put, you can't use "white roses" promotional materials and then direct users to a "red roses" landing page and expect high conversion rates.

Check if your landing page meets the visitor's expectations. Contextual ads or banners must contain almost exact occurrences of headlines and/or calls to action.

Instead of a conclusion

We hope that now you know much more about how to create a landing page, develop a quality design and optimize conversions. But remember! What works for one site may not work at all for another. Most of the time, finding the most effective landing page design is a trial and error process. It is important that you test different versions of your landing page to find the one that works best for your particular situation.

High conversions for you!