The term "landing page" crops up a lot in marketing articles; so what are they, how do you create them and how can you use them effectively?

What is a landing page?

In marketing terms, it's a specialised page that visitors are directed to once they've clicked on a link, usually from an outside source such as a Pay Per Click ad. The page is usually tightly focused on a particular product or service with the aim of getting the visitor to buy or take some form of action rapidly that will ultimately lead to a sale.

Landing pages - the two schools of thought

Some marketing experts will tell you that a landing page should be wholly and solely dedicated to one offer, and nothing else. Others will say that it's good to provide easy access to other areas of your site and mention other offers in case the visitor isn't interested in the main offer.

The right way for you to go will be down to experimentation, but my general view is that if you are using PPC advertising to drive clients to a specific offer, then writing a dedicated page with little mention of anything else is the best strategy. After all, PPC ads are usually very targeted, so traffic from this source will be quite focused. 

The basics of developing landing pages

There a few questions to ask yourself when creating a landing page:

• What are you offering?

• Who do you wish to appeal to?

• Why would they be interested in your offer?

• What do they need to do to participate/purchase?

Think of your landing page as a summary of all the usual pages connected with the product/service you are offering. The goal of the landing page is to usually convert potential clients *quickly*, or  to have them take some sort of action rapidly so you can follow up with them later.

Call to action

Ensure you have included a call to action towards the top of the page. This will work on more impulsive people or those who are already familiar with what you are offering. There should be calls to action sprinkled throughout the remainder of the content as different people have different tipping points in the sales process. The call to action should be linked to the order page or subscription form. 

A call to action is simply telling the potential client what they need to do in order to receive whatever you are offering e.g. "purchase today!",  "buy now, limited offer!" or "subscribe now!"

Short statements

There's no need to get long-winded on a focused landing page. Your sentences should be brief or dot-points, but provide valuable bite sized chunks of information. Always offer an avenue of communication for further information for the more inquiring and discerning potential clients.

Length of pages

This will vary greatly and there doesn't appear to be a general consensus as to how long a page should be. I feel that the more costly an item is, or the more unique it is, the more content will be needed to convince a buyer to purchase or explore the possibility of purchasing further; but remember that calls to action should be within easy reach throughout the page and not have to be hunted for.

White space, headings and colours

Where appropriate, use headings and blank lines to organize your content so it is neat instead of a textual barrage. Separate some elements with different, but complementing colours.

Provide a bonus

Everyone loves a freebie and on a landing page it can be especially effective. Even if the visitor doesn't take up on the main offer, by offering a free report that requires their email address in order to download, it will give you a second chance at acquiring their business through ensuing follow ups. For example, a free newsletter subscription will allow you to to build a relationship over time with more cautious clients.

Testing your landing pages

Get traffic flowing to the page to the level you want, then tweak the copy. When editing your marketing copy, do it step-by-step; adjust, test, adjust, test. Too many changes as once can be as ineffective of making no changes at all.

A good general initial test is to ask friends and colleagues to view the pages for about 5 seconds. Don't tell them what the page is about prior to displaying it to them. Allow them to view it and rather than ask if they thought the page is "good", ask them what they remember about the page - their concept of the message you are attempting to relay. If it ties in with the question mentioned earlier of "what are you offering", you're on the right track.