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It’s important for your company to know what converts… before you can determine what will sell

Landing pages. They’re arguably one of the most important pieces in the well-designed marketing puzzle. A savvy marketer, business owner, company, etc. understands that once they have taken all the steps to getting a prospective client to their website, the next step (and oftentimes most challenging, aside from having the prospect directly purchase your product or service) is to convert them into leads for your business.

So what’s going to get them to convert? Landing pages, that’s what! Landing pages should be the heart and soul of your inbound lead generating effort, and we’re here to break down why that is for you.

What’s a landing page?

First thing’s first. In order to understand the effectiveness of a landing page, you’re going to want to properly understand what one is in the first place.

A simple definition: a landing page is a web address and page that is specifically dedicated to capturing a visitor’s information (usually in exchange for something).

A successful landing page targets your company/brand’s ideal audience (or a more generalized audience reach, such as those who click on a pay-per-click ad promoting your content). A landing page is different from your website’s homepage in that is presents a specific “idea,” rather than a general information space. You can build landing pages that allow visitors to download content offers such as eBooks or redeem other marketing offers, like free trial offers, sample products, or coupons for your product.

In cut-and-dry terms, landing pages:

1. Allow you to reach your [target] audience
2. Offer prospects something of value
3. Convert a higher percentage of site visitors into leads
4. Capture info about who the visitors are and what marketing strategies work for them

Why a landing page and not the homepage?

After all, doesn’t the homepage provide your site visitors with seemingly endless possibilities? I mean, you put together such a straightforward nav bar that shouldn’t anyone be able to find exactly what they’re looking for?

While the answer may be yes, consider this scenario:

You put together an update that highlights some shiny new features for one of your products and email your previous, inactive prospects (those that never converted or purchased your product).

If you simply send them to your homepage and ask them to sign-up again, you’re delivering zero ‘wow’ factor and we wouldn’t be surprised if they, once again, decide not to go the extra mile and sign-up for what you’re offering. On the other hand, if you send them to a dedicated page where they’re warmly welcomed back, invited to restart their trial, and reminded that you’ve reserved their account info… well, I think we both know what would work better.

So, how do landing pages work?

If we haven’t made this clear already, it’s important to realize that landing pages provide everyone with something valuable – you as the business owner for generating new, active leads; and the visitor for gaining access to the special offer you are making available.

A visitor will fill out an information-catching form on the landing page because they believe what you will grant them access to will be valuable to them. It’s a win-win situation.

On the surface, landing pages are formatted like this:

• Headline: Tells audience what they will get in exchange for entering their info
• Brief copy: Possibly bulleted points, outlines clear takeaway benefits
• Social sharing: If it excites a visitor, they’ll want to share it, and you want them to, too!
• Alternate navigation: Where else is there to go until they decide if they want to act on the offer? Don’t supply too many options – you want the visitor to stay and convert
• The lead-capture form: For example, name, email address, etc.
• Image: Show the product or service, or something very closely related that will get the visitor pumped up!

Behind the scenes, landing pages work like this:

1. The visitor sees a call-to-action (CTA) and ends up on a landing page with a form
2. Visitor fills out the form, which converts them from a visitor into lead
3. The form information is stored in your database
4. You market to the lead based on what you know about them

Going off #4, the info that the visitor has filled out allows you nurture this new lead in a more targeted way. For starters, you can decide which marketing actions will work best depending upon what product or service the lead is most interested in. A nurtured lead is more likely to move through the marketing funnel faster. This helps show the return on investment of your marketing efforts (and keeps your sales team happy).

We’re clear for landing!

Landing pages are somewhat of lead-generating masters and provide all of your promotions, trials, and offers a place to live, separate from homepage promotions and product description pages. And, more landing pages mean more opportunities to convert visitors into leads! Seriously, it’s pretty hard to overdo it in terms of the amount you create for your site.

That’s where we at 24 Communications come into play with your business! We believe that informed marketing decisions are the most effective – and that definitely hold true when it comes to landing page design, implementation, and market outreach. That’s why we work with you to create a “big picture” of what’s happening in your market and identify opportunities for influencing your audience.

Contact 24 Communications today, and let’s discuss how we can convert those visitors into leads for your company!