Let’s start with the basics. A ‘landing page’ is a standalone page on your website – it isn’t connected with other parts of the site. Its sole purpose is to turn visitors to the page into leads for your business.

How does it work?

It starts by bringing someone to your landing page. You might have a link from a blog which does this, or something in an email – but in any case, the first goal is getting people to the landing page.

From there, you offer them something. This could be a free service or some information that you give in exchange for something from them – usually their contact information.

In that way, both parties get something from the exchange on the landing page – the visitor gets a valuable service or information and your business gets contact details that can be used to follow up with the visitor at a later point and have an opportunity to generate sales and revenue.

What should be on a landing page?

The essential elements of a landing page include:

  • A headline describing your offer (as well as a sub-headline if you like).
  • A brief and more detailed description of your offer.
  • An image.
  • A form to collect your visitor’s information.

If you’re working on a PPC campaign, there are further principles of landing page design which can help you turn a visitor into a prospect.

What makes a good landing page?

There’s a number of things that make a strong landing page. Keep things simple and don’t include any unnecessary distractions. Keep in mind that the sole purpose of the page is to get the visitor to take advantage of your offer.

There shouldn’t be site navigation on the landing page (apart from a link back to the homepage). So don’t include things like your menu bar or footer. Keep the visitor on-task.

Make sure the offer is absolutely clear, and ensure it is as appealing as possible.

Don’t have too much text. Don’t make the visitor work too hard to take advantage of the offer – you want to keep things simple.

On the form, only ask for the information you absolutely need (again, to keep the barrier to conversion low and make things easy for the visitor).

You also need something to drive people to your landing page – whether it’s fantastic blog content or a PPC campaign to turn leads into customers.

What should you avoid?

Make sure you don’t have an unclear offer, large amounts of text, or too many images. You don’t want to make the page lengthy – make sure the visitor doesn’t have to scroll down at all.

You want your landing page to sell to the visitor on the value of your offer. Don’t make the offer all about the features offered.