The Importance Of The Landing Page

If you have a website or run any form of online marketing, you’re probably aware of the term “landing page”. Whether your goal is to generate leads or to generate sales, creating a landing page to direct potential customers to will lead to higher conversion rates.

In this blog you will learn what a landing page is, how to create one, and why they are vital for supporting your digital marketing.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is the first page a user sees when they click onto your site through a marketing campaign. A good landing page will show exactly what your potential customers are looking for when they click on your advert. For example, If an individual clicks on a PPC advert advertising stripy socks, the page should contain any information about polkadot socks.

According to MarketingSherpa's Landing Page Handbook, 44% of clicks for B2B companies are directed to the homepage - this can make it harder for the user to convert. By creating a targeted landing page for each one of your offers or products, you can direct the user to the relevant page and make the process much more user friendly.

Why are they important?

Not only is a specific landing page important for user experience, it can also increase conversion rates. Creating a landing page is vital for supporting any digital marketing you may be using.

Users that click on a link you share on social media, a PPC advert or a page you feature in a marketing email, already have strong interest in what you have to offer. The page that they land on should be about the offer advertised with a clear section for data capture. If you don’t create a specific landing page, you will be effectively throwing both leads and money away.

In terms of PPC, the content on your landing page needs to be consistent with your campaign structure. The reason for this is because Google awards keywords with a Quality Score. This has a large influence on the performance of your PPC campaigns. The lower your score, the more you may have to pay for a click. If you have a high Quality Score, you may end up paying less for a click. This score is based on three things:

- Ad Relevance
- Landing Page Experience
- Expected Click Through Rate

If your landing page, adverts and keywords aren’t consistent, your Quality Score will be low meaning you might have to pay more for a click and your adverts may not show as often as they could.

You can test different landing pages for your adverts through Adwords. You can send 50% of traffic to one landing page and 50% to another for a select period of time in order to test which performs better. By testing a few landing pages, you can determine the most successful page and implement it into your campaign.

In terms of advert relevance, Google recommends you include your keywords within your adverts to show users that your advert is directly related to their search. By using your keywords, especially in your headline, you are more likely to stand out to the user. Just make sure you don’t over use them as the advert will then look spammy and people may be less likely to click.

The 3 C’s of creating a great landing page

1. Consistency is key. If you are running a ppc campaign, the relevancy of your landing page needs to be consistent with the keywords you use and your advert text. The user is interested in the offer or the product advertised, so it’s important the landing page mirrors the advert that caught their attention in the first place. Mixed messaging can be confusing for the user and can lead in high exit rates and low conversion rates.

When creating your landing page, make sure the page titles and headings match the keywords used in your PPC campaigns. Don’t worry too much about the number of times the keyword appears on the page, obviously don’t overdo it, but make sure you include your keyword phrases at least once or twice on the page.

2. Clear call to action. Once a user is on your landing page it needs to be clear what they need to do in order to convert. Whether you include an on page enquiry form or a clear add to cart button, it needs to be a seamless, simple process. The simpler the process, the more likely the individual will convert.

It also needs to be clear to the user what will happen when they fill out the enquiry form. Will they get a call back, receive an email, be sent a link? This needs to be clearly stated, along with links to the company contact details and private policy somewhere on the page, most likely in the footer. This is because Google also takes into account the “trustworthiness” of a landing page when deciding on quality score.

3. Clever content. The quality and relevance of the content on your landing page can make or break a conversion. It’s important that you get all the valuable information across without bombarding the visitor with endless paragraphs. The details of the offer or the product need to be expressed clearly in a compelling way that grabs the user’s attention. The best way to do this is through bullet points to demonstrate key takeaways. If you are using the landing page to support a PPC campaign, it is vital that you include the keywords used in your campaign and adverts in the copy.

Landing pages are an important aspect of any digital marketing campaign. Creating a great landing page can significantly improve your conversion rate and in terms of PPC may significantly reduce your costs. The more relevant and informative the landing page, the more likely a user is to convert. If you are interested in using PPC and would like to know more about how we can help, feel free to get in touch.