Landing pages are a key element of successful search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing campaigns. Whether you’re expanding your market reach or promoting a new product or service, a user-friendly, SEO-optimized landing page can help you achieve your business goals.
But what is a landing page and why is it important that you master how to create a landing page to support your online marketing efforts? In many cases, a landing page gives site visitors an initial glimpse of what your brand is all about and impacts their decision-making process.
A landing page is a quick and simple way for internet users to contact or purchase from a business,” said Lauren Holland, Thrive’s PPC manager. “It should also allow users to identify the brand and what services or products it offers.”
A robust landing page is an indispensable asset that can be tailored to your brand objectives and marketing demands. Landing pages help you engage leads and prospects and get them on the path to conversion. Landing page design and development, however, are not simple tasks. You need to create the right landing page SEO content and landing page design that align with your business objectives and prospects’ intent to leverage conversion opportunities.
Here, we discuss everything you need to know about landing page conversion and answer your most pressing questions about the subject. We explore 1) what is a landing page and 2) why landing page optimization is significant to businesses. Our pay-per-click (PPC) marketing and web design experts also enumerate landing page tips geared towards improving your digital marketing and conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy.
What Is a Landing Page and How Does It Differ From Other Web Pages?
A landing page is a section of a website that users “land” on when they click through pay-per-click or social media ads, email links or a call to action (CTA) button on a different page.
Landing pages are designed to be concise and drive a specific action rather than a place to go for research and information gathering,” said Holland. “The most important highlights of a business or service will reside on a landing page.”
Landing pages nurture leads from the upper CRO funnel and guide them towards goal completion. Once prospects learn about your business and click on a call to action button or link at the top of your CRO funnel, it is easier to strengthen their brand engagement through your landing page and convert them into paying customers.
Take a look at this illustration to better understand where landing pages fit into your conversion funnel:
The main difference between a landing page and other web pages, such as a homepage, “About Us” page and service page, is landing pages target segmented customer populations. They are disconnected from a site’s navigation and created mainly to convince online users to take action (i.e., sign up for an event, subscribe to weekly newsletters, download an eBook, schedule an appointment, etc.).
Why Your Business Needs a Landing Page
Some marketers fail to incorporate landing page design and development into their digital marketing strategy because they see it as a costly and time-consuming process. Failure to consider landing page SEO benefits on your website, however, can sabotage your conversion rate optimization results.
Still not convinced about the significance of landing page conversion to your business? Here are the top reasons landing page optimization should be one of your top priorities:
1. Expand Potential Leads
Landing page optimization is a great way to increase your brand recognition, drive qualified leads and traffic to your website and improve your SEO and CRO. According to a MarketingSherpa study, approximately 68 percent of business-to-business (B2B) companies use landing pages to acquire a steady stream of leads for future conversion.
A HubSpot report, Marketing Benchmarks From 7,000 Businesses, also revealed that businesses that prioritize landing page conversion and have 10 to 15 landing pages increase their leads by up to 55 percent. What’s more, companies with more than 40 landing pages generate 12X more leads than those with five or fewer.
It’s clear that knowing how to create a landing page is critical to acquiring more leads and increasing your chances of conversion. If you’re not sure how to get started with your landing page optimization or which calls to action effectively attract qualified leads, you can always tap the expertise of your local web design agency or content writing services provider.
2. Generate Valuable Data and Actionable Insights
Persuasive landing pages allow you to collect prospect demographics necessary to contact leads and move them along your conversion rate optimization funnel. The most common landing page examples, such as lead capture landing pages and splash landing pages, contain a short form that asks visitors for relevant information, such as their name, email address and other contact information.
Landing page forms are among the most critical components of landing pages, but many marketers often get them wrong. Be sure to ask only for information that you need. Don’t request too much personal data because this can leave a negative impression on your potential customers and drive them away from your landing page.
Here are a few good examples of landing page forms that our web design agency has created for our clients:
As you can see in the examples above, our website design agency only included limited form fields in the clients’ landing pages. We identified the critical information that our clients need to connect with their prospects and focused on them.
As you can see above, our content writing services team crafted smart calls to action and descriptions to reassure visitors and entice them to sign up. And what is a call to action if not an efficient way to remove the friction in moving your potential customers down your conversion rate optimization funnel?
A similar approach to your landing page templates increases your chances of acquiring useful insights and improving your landing page conversion rates.
3. Provide a Better User Experience (UX)
SEO rankings mean little if internet users click to the website and they are unable to easily understand it or complete the business’s goal,” said Holland. “Alternatively, if a user intends to contact a business, make an appointment or purchase, but the process is too difficult or does not make sense, the opportunity will be lost due to poor CRO.”
This can lead to low conversions, high bounce rates and low site duration. Employing landing page SEO best practices allows you to make a good first impression on your prospects and build brand credibility.
Let’s look at this landing page example we’ve developed and optimized for a local educational institution:
Our web design agency was tapped to promote the client’s homeschool program and improve its clicks, leads and sign-ups.
Thrive’s PPC and web design experts created a landing page that highlights the client’s unique value proposition (UVP) and allows potential enrollees to easily sign up for the program they are interested in. We also maximized our content writing agency’s expertise to create compelling calls to action and landing page SEO content that clearly answers visitors’ information needs, such as the institution’s background and history, course components and unique offerings.
Creating a digestible and navigable WordPress landing page allows you to build positive brand experiences and make it easier for online users to complete their goals.
4. Maximize Your Search Campaigns
Technical SEO and paid advertising efforts are only half of the battle. You need a conversion-focused landing page to inspire specific user action and maximize the results of your digital marketing campaigns.
Landing pages are not only used to support SEO and PPC campaigns; they are also effective platforms for email marketing, social media advertising, search engine marketing (SEM) and eCommerce optimization.
In 2019, our CRO agency took over the digital marketing campaigns of a multiple-location property restoration company to improve its digital presence and client acquisition strategy.
The channels included PPC, SEO, online reputation management (ORM) and web design and development.
To facilitate better and sustainable online growth, our CRO agency performed landing page redesign and optimization. We revamped the client’s landing page templates to include localized call to action buttons and create a sense of urgency on the landing page SEO content.
Our CRO and website design agency’s WordPress landing page optimization service complemented the client’s digital marketing campaigns and have resulted in 497 leads per location and a 13.48 percent average conversion rate.
5. Generate Higher Conversion Rates
Although landing page conversion rates vary depending on the industry, many web design experts and content writing services providers agree that the more goal-oriented landing pages you have, the higher your chances of driving higher conversions.
According to a 2019 Databox study, the average landing page conversion rate is 26 percent, while most landing pages have a conversion rate of 10 percent or less. These landing page conversion rates may seem pretty low for non-experts, but an experienced CRO agency knows that these are more than sufficient evidence to use landing page conversion as a sustainable strategy.
Can I Have More Than One Landing Page?
Yes. With help from a trusted website design agency, you can create multiple landing pages depending on your goal. These are the most common landing page examples that web design experts use to support various online marketing and conversion rate optimization campaigns:
| • Click-through landing page | • Squeeze landing page |
How To Create a Landing Page
Are you maximizing landing page SEO benefits for your company? Follow these landing page tips from web design experts and leverage the power of landing pages as lead generation tools and conversion machines:
1. Know Your Audience
Audience analysis and segmentation are critical to landing page conversion. To achieve the highest possible landing page conversion rates, you need to identify your ideal audience, understand their information needs and online behavior and figure out what landing page SEO content, calls to action and landing page design work best for them.
Don’t have the tools and resources to perform audience analysis? A reputable content writing agency specializing in landing page optimization can help you create your buyer persona and build an effective landing page SEO strategy that aligns with your target audience’s needs and demands.
2. Identify Your Goals
What do you wish to accomplish with your landing page conversion efforts? Having a specific goal for each landing page is crucial to achieving the highest landing page conversion rates possible.
According to a Wishpond study, landing pages with more than one offer reduce conversion rates by as much as 266 percent. Undoubtedly, your landing pages must have a clear focus to effectively guide page visitors towards a specific goal.
3. Create Your Landing Page Design
The platform you use to create your landing page is vital to ensuring its quality and CRO success. Some web design experts use landing page builders or landing page design software to rapidly create custom landing pages with images, forms and funnels.
Landing page builders have built-in features, such as drag-and-drop interfaces, A/B testing functionalities and a suite of landing page templates, that streamline the landing page optimization process.
Several WordPress website design agencies and digital marketing companies also promote the use of content management systems (CMS), including WordPress and Joomla, to create landing pages. The right CMS platform is easy to use, customizable, secure and cost-effective.
4. A/B Test and Optimize
Since the goal of a landing page is to support your CRO efforts, you need to properly design and structure various elements on the page, including your calls to action, images and content, to maximize their impact and deliver meaningful results.
A/B testing and landing page optimization are crucial processes in meeting user expectations, telling your story and ensuring better conversions month-over-month (MoM). An Invesp study revealed that about 60 percent of businesses consider A/B testing a highly valuable method in driving conversions.
Among the top landing page components you need to test and optimize are:
• Headline
• Landing page SEO copy
• Images and videos
• Calls to action
What is a call to action’s purpose in your landing page and why is it important to optimize it? A call to action tells visitors what they must do to accomplish their goals. The strategic phrasing and proper placement of your CTAs throughout your WordPress landing page encourage more people to click through and convert.
Let’s look at these landing page examples:
These landing pages have unique calls to action that tell visitors what specific actions they need to take. By following the same approach and performing A/B tests on your landing page elements, you facilitate a positive user experience and drive better engagement on your website.
More Landing Page Tips:
✓ Ensure your business name is consistent throughout the landing page and your logo is recognizable.
✓ Position your contact information (i.e., phone number, email address and location, if applicable) strategically on the page, so your leads can easily reach out to your business.
✓ Use easily discernible calls to action (i.e., sign up here, book an appointment online, schedule a meeting, contact us, etc.)
✓ Leverage testimonials to establish social proof and showcase positive experiences real people have had with your company.
✓ Highlight your business’s differentiators and benefits – why should prospects choose your business over similar advertisers and what makes you special?
✓ Ensure your landing page is easy to navigate, contains readable fonts and is overall visually pleasing.
✓ Avoid images and design details that are too “busy” or distracting.
✓ Make it as easy as possible for people to contact your business through short forms and a few clicks.
To learn more about the different types of landing pages and landing page SEO best practices, check out this in-depth blog post about landing page tips.
Earn More Leads and Drive Sales Through Landing Page Conversion
According to a Marketing Experiments research study, about 75 percent of businesses have difficulty finding a content writing agency with the expertise to create persuasive landing pages. Undoubtedly, great copywriters are essential for landing page creation and optimization. Without the help of experienced landing page SEO content specialists, you risk losing audience targeting and conversion opportunities.
At Thrive Internet Marketing Agency, we create landing pages that speak to your audience. Our conversion rate optimization agency implements landing page conversion best practices to grab users’ attention and convince them to take action.
Our process involves getting to know the business, all products and/or aspects of services and, most importantly, the client’s GOALS. We discuss this information with you and collect logos and other brand guidelines to create a landing page using high-converting elements tailored to your business goals. We also perform A/B testing to show the results of your existing site compared to your new landing page.
Partner with us and let our CRO agency convert your site visitors into qualified leads and sales!
