So, you’re familiar with how a landing page can create excitement about your website or product launch, right? Well, did you know there’s way more that you can do with a landing page? You can use a landing page to segment your offers or give a personalized welcome to your first time visitors, and that’s just the beginning. By the end of this post, you’ll see why the humble landing page is one of the most powerful marketing tools available.
So, let’s get real for a second. A good amount of landing pages suck. They’re either boring or gimmicky, and sometimes both. Most companies treat their landing pages as a way to sell their product, service, or idea. The problem is no one wants to be sold. Instead, the people who come to your page want to find out for themself if you’re the solutIon to their problem. The best way to set yourself up as a solution is by laser-focused copywriting and looking at landing pages from a different perspective.
A New Way to Look at Landing Pages
Do you think those two or three landing pages are sufficient for your entire website traffic? Maybe, in the year 1997. These days, even the most basic brand needs at least two dozen landing pages.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Consider this: companies with over 40 landing pages receive 12 times more leads than those with less than 5 landing pages. Why? Companies with tons of landing pages can be ultra specific and target like a boss.
Don’t limit yourself to a few landing pages. So, how many do you need? Don’t stop ‘til you get enough (whenever I can reference Michael Jackson, it’s a good day.) Numbers will vary here, but a good rule of thumb is to have at least one landing page for each contest, future event, or offering (free or paid).
Think of each landing page as your open invitation to focus directly the subject matter at hand.
(Psst.. check out our free resource guide to optimizing your landing page found here.)
A Guest Post Landing Page
Do you guest post on other blogs in addition to your own? If so, most blogs are gracious enough to provide a byline and a nofollow link to any URL of your choosing. This is your chance to shine! Create a landing page that welcomes those readers to your site.
The purpose of this landing page is to encourage the first time visitor to stick around on your site. After all, they were interested enough about you to click on the link in the first place.
Optimize this page to coincide with the subject you’ve written about on your guest post. For example, if you’ve written about creating a monthly budget for teenagers on your guest post, but your blog discusses all things parenting, use your landing page to highlight only your posts on budgeting.
This type of landing page is your chance to delve deeper into the subject and point to your greatest hits.
Don’t miss the chance to personalize your greeting. If your traffic is coming from My Happy Blog, title your landing page “Welcome to my home, My Happy Blog readers!” It’s a personal touch that can make your new site visitors feel right at home. Here’s an example of how writer Samar Owais leads visitors to a targeted landing page:
Segment Your Audience
Do you have more than one audience? Are you courting freelancers and small businesses, parents and grandparents, or busy professionals and busy stay at home moms? If you find yourself scrambling to answer the unique needs of two or more groups, here’s the answer: double the landing pages.
Your audience wants to know how your product, service, or idea can uniquely benefit them. When you take the time to craft a landing page that addresses their pain points, you can deeply target your offerings.
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to create multiple landing pages. Welcome your specific audience (i.e. moms, photographers, startups) and then personalize the pain points to that group. All the rest of your copy (what you product or service does) can remain the same across multiple landing pages.
While it may seem like overkill to create an entirely new landing page with only a few words tweaked in the copy, remember this: Your visitor will only see the landing page designated for them. It’s unlikely that they’ll ever come across all of your other landing pages. And, by optimizing your landing page for each audience group, you’ll increase your conversion potential.
A Personalized Greeting After Subscription
Immediately after you’ve converted a visitor into a customer or subscriber, reinforce their decision to trust you. Do this with a landing page.
While you can, and should also do this via email, don’t miss the opportunity to say welcome and thank you on your website as well.
For example, after a visitor joins your newsletter, don’t just send them back to your home page or hope that they open your welcome email. Send them to a secret, for new subscribers only, landing page.
On this landing page, include a link to archived newsletters, top blog posts, or a list of resources that will be useful to this target audience.
For another example, send customers who’ve just completed a purchase to a trust-building landing page. This is the page where you show that you’re not a scam artist by offering something extra. Whether it’s a product demo or a video that says, “Hey, thanks for purchasing,” your landing page can help paint the picture that you care about your customers.
Oxfam does a great job at this by offering a “thank you” landing page, often accompanied by a touching video.
Turn a New Customer into a Rockstar Referrer
The best time to get a referral from a customer is during that honeymoon phase when they’re in love with your product or service. During the small window when they’re initially engaged in and excited about your product, send your new customers a link to a referral landing page. On this landing page, give them all the tools they need to share the news with their sphere of influence. You can even include a script for them to copy on email or Twitter. Be sure to include an incentive on this page, such as a special discount for each new sign-up.
Social Media Optimization
As a bonus, I’ve added one more tip for you!
Chances are, you have traffic from at least one social media source. Whether you see traffic from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, or a host of others, you should to create a personalized platform-specific landing page for each group. Link to that platform-specific landing page in your bio.
Be sure to tweak each landing page to meet the specific goals of the audience. Visitors arriving on your site via Twitter may want something totally different than those arriving via LinkedIn. For Twitter visitors, you may offer a curated list of your best blog posts, while for LinkedIn visitors, you may provide your contact details or showcase your customer testimonials.
Final Thoughts
Be one of the few brands to step outside of boring, bland, gimmicky landing pages and try something unexpected but intuitive like one of the above four ideas. Which landing page are you most excited about trying? Let us know in the comments below.
Don’t forget to download our free resource guide for optimizing your landing page found here.