What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is the section of your website where visitors end up after clicking on a link, typically in an ad or organic search listing. The landing page can be any page on the website, including the homepage.

Because landing pages target clearly defined types of customers, the majority of whom are looking for specific products, services or information, these pages should be optimised to increase conversions. As marketing tools, they are only as effective as the time and effort that is taken to produce, maintain and monitor them.

Landing pages are optimised to focus on particular aspects of the products and services on offer; for example, the focus could be to advertise a new item in a range of similar products, a seasonal sale or a special offer. Whatever type of selling point or promotion happens to be the focus, the aim of a landing page is to persuade visitors to make an enquiry or purchase.

Likewise, landing pages can be used to encourage registrations and sign-ups in order to generate qualified leads. Click-through and conversion rates are used to determine the success of the landing page via analysis of the activity generated by the linked URL. Google Analytics allows analysis of the data that shows the number of times a website is accessed and how well it is being promoted. Use this data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the overall marketing strategy for landing pages and amend accordingly.

Monitor performance frequently. This may mean a rethink on design, content or actions of the landing page, particularly if there is evidence to suggest that the website has had a significant number of visitors but the data does not reflect this in the low number of conversions. It pays to optimise landing pages as effectively as possible

Landing pages also aim to limit the risk of a visitor becoming distracted. Visitors should be given all the information they need about a particular product, service or subject. They should not be tempted away from the principal offer. Nor should they be required to search the whole website to find all the information they need.

A landing page should be concise, informative and relevant to the visitor's search query. The design of a landing page should encourage conversions, so purchase or sign-up prompts ought to be positioned prominently. If possible, visitors should be able to make a purchase or subscribe to a service without having to click through to other pages (with the exception perhaps of a cart or checkout page). The governing principle is to provide visitors with exactly what they want, including all the information they might need, on a single page. Presentation is critical and strong calls to action must be included to minimise the bounce rate.