You’re Behind the Curve if You’re Not Using Landing Pages

You might think that paying for ad space on Google is enough to increase your business, but if you aren't sending those clicks to a relevant and well-thought-out landing page, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Just like having catchy ads are crucial to initially get people's attention, great landing pages are necessary to convert that interest into action.

Therefore, you better be sure your landing pages aren't just effective, but convenient and user-friendly too. What if you could come up with a landing page that could double your conversion rates? That means you'd get twice as may leads for the same amount of money.

But that doesn't mean marketers are taking advantage of this wealth of knowledge. In fact, according to MarketingSherpa's Landing Page Handbook, 44% of clicks for B2B companies are directed to the business' homepage - not a special landing page. Of the companies that are using landing pages, only 62% have six or fewer total landing pages. Sending users to your homepage is the worst thing you can do. Your visitors are looking for very specific information, and if you are taking them to a general page, you are making them work to find what they want. And guess what? They won't. Having landing pages is part of providing good customer service. Give the clients exactly what they're looking for and they are more likely to reward your efforts by giving you their contact information.

If landing pages are the bread and butter behind marketers' lead generation efforts, why aren't they being taken advantage of? MarketingSherpa believes businesses don't use landing pages because their marketing department either doesn't know how to set them up or they are too overloaded.

So let's start at the beginning - what is a landing page? It's a personalized, highly-specific web page that allows you to grab a visitor's information using means such as a contact form.

The Right Type of Landing Page

If you have a good landing page, it'll target a specific audience, like visitors who click on a pay-per-click ad promoting one of your white papers or traffic from an email campaign.

You can create landing pages that permit users to download whatever you offer - such as webinars, whitepapers, ebooks - or even redeem offers like coupons or demos. Either way, your page needs to target the right audience, give them something they want, and gather information on who they are and what they're looking for.

It is important to note that landing pages do not live on your website. A landing page should be separate, stand-alone page that is consistent with your branding. There are many services out there, like Unbounce, that make creating landing pages a breeze.

Grab Even More Leads

If you are looking for an immediate action you can take to boost your lead generation efforts, adding landing pages to your website is a great option. There are way too many companies who are sending all of their search traffic, social media and email to their homepages.

Basically, they are throwing these leads right out the window. If you want to grab these leads at a higher rate, send them to targeted landing pages with content that is highly-specific to the language of the ad or email that they were viewing before clicking on the landing page link. It's a simple yet effective way to generate leads for your sales team that you can segment or distribute as you see fit.

Provide a Hub for Your Offers

Landing pages and marketing offers go hand in hand. If your offer isn't connected to a landing page, it isn't going to provide you with it's maximum lead generation potential. Have a specific page outlining what your offer is, why the user needs it, and what the user is missing out on by not participating, and watch the leads start to pour in. They get your offer, and you get their contact information. It's a win win.

Get to Know Your Prospects

Whenever a user completes the conversion form found on your landing page, your marketing and sales team rejoices. Why? Because they are getting valuable and useable information about potential leads.

Your marketing team can use this newly-found information to understand what type of visitors you're getting and who is converting. Your sales team will now have a foundation of information before they reach out, so they aren't going into the situation blind.

Find Out Who's Engaged

Landing pages go so much further than just giving you new leads. They can also help you keep a close eye on re-conversions of current leads. From here, you can use this information to figure out who is more interested in your business and what their evolving needs are. You're collecting intelligence on your leads' activities, actions, and behaviors while they're on your site. You're getting an insider's look at what makes them tick, what turns them off, and what really captures their attention. You can pass all of this information onto your marketing and sales departments, who can incorporate these findings into their processes.

Fuel Your Marketing Channels

If you have a successful inbound marketing strategy, you know this all too well - it all revolves around having lots of content. Since landing pages can be shared on social media, they're a great addition to any bank of content.

You can use them for email campaigns, PPC ads, or just through organic search. There are plenty of different avenues where you can use your landing page and get great results.

See How Effective Your Marketing Offers Are

Whenever you create a landing page, you're adding yet another data advantage to your marketing campaign. So keeping track of - and analyzing - the different metrics that come along with these pages are going to give you invaluable information. You can see how your marketing performance is doing, such as comparing how your offers are holding up.

You can also see how your visitors and leads are converting on these landing pages. Either way, you're getting unbeatable insight into your users that'll allow you to improve your marketing and truly optimize the information you're receiving.

So what exactly should your landing page consist of?

• A killer headline. Sum up your offer clearly in your headline and make sure your visitors know exactly what they're getting. NOTE: For PPC campaigns, make sure the landing page headline matches the headline of the ad that it is attached to. This is an important aspect that goes into calculating your quality score..
• Great content. The text on your landing page should dive into your offer in both a simple yet intriguing way. Bullet points are a great way to break up large pieces of text to clearly spell out a benefit.
• Targeted keywords. Much like with the rest of your marketing content, stick with targeted keywords in your headers, text and titles. NOTE: For PPC campaigns, make sure the keywords used in your ad are reflected on that page.
• Social shares. Unless you don't want visitors to share your landing page (We didn't think so!) make sure you add social sharing buttons and links to your social media accounts.
• Hidden navigation. If your landing page has a top or side navigation bar that's hidden, it'll cut back on distractions and decrease your bounce rate. Plus, it'll boost the changes of a visitor staying on the page and actually converting.
• Conversion forms. It's the most important part of your landing page - adding a lead-capture of conversion form. Here, you'll get their information in exchange for your offer. Best practice is to only have one form on a page.
• Images. Make sure you images are relevant to what visitors will receive. It'll make your landing page much more appealing and help visitors get a better feel for the offer or product you're supplying.

If you don't have landing pages for your company, there's no better time than the present. Getting started doesn't have to be daunting. In fact, Insivia is ready to help you with your landing pages today. As experts in the marketing industry, we know exactly what your company needs to increase conversions. Get started today and see all the benefits that come along with service landing pages.