A landing page is a standalone web page. It is created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. It is where a visitor “lands” after they click on a link in an email or an ad from Google, Bing, YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram.
Unlike web pages which typically have many goals and encourage exploration, landing pages are designed with a single focus or goal known as a Call to Action (CTA).
This focus makes landing pages the best option for increasing the conversion rates of your marketing campaigns and lowering your cost of acquiring a lead or sale.
The Singular Focus
#The defining characteristic of a landing page is simplicity. It exists to persuade the user to complete one specific task.
This task could be buying a product. It could be signing up for a newsletter. It could be registering for a webinar.
To achieve this, effective landing pages remove distractions. You will rarely see a navigation bar at the top of a landing page. You will not see links to other parts of a website in the footer.
The logic here is binary. You want the user to either take the action or leave the page. There should be no middle ground where they wander off to read your blog or check your ‘About Us’ section.
Landing Page vs. Homepage
#Founders often confuse a landing page with a homepage. They serve different purposes.
Your homepage is the front door to your business. It needs to provide a general overview. It directs traffic to various locations based on what the visitor is looking for. It wears many hats.
A landing page wears one hat. Here is how they differ:
Traffic Source: Homepages get organic traffic or direct searches. Landing pages get traffic from specific ads or emails.
Goal: Homepages inform and direct. Landing pages convert.
Navigation: Homepages have menus. Landing pages generally do not.
If you send paid advertising traffic to your homepage, you are likely wasting money. The user will get distracted and bounce without converting.
Validating Your Idea
#For a startup founder, the landing page is a critical tool for validation. You do not need a finished product to have a landing page.
You can build a page that describes the problem you are solving and the solution you propose. You then ask for an email address.
If people sign up, you have data. You have proof that people care about this problem. If no one signs up, you have also learned something valuable without writing a line of code.
The Scientific Approach
#Because landing pages are isolated, they are perfect environments for testing. You should view them as experiments.
We often assume we know what our customers want. We assume we know which headline is catchy or which image is compelling. Often, we are wrong.
You should run A/B tests. This means creating two versions of the page.
- Version A has a blue button.
- Version B has a red button.
You send half your traffic to A and half to B. The data will tell you which one works.
This removes the guesswork from your marketing. It forces you to rely on facts rather than intuition. It allows you to iterate on your messaging until you find exactly what resonates with your audience.