Landing pages for small businesses and how they can help you grow

How you engage first-time visitors to your website can be the start of a beautiful and long-lasting relationship, or it can fizzle out in seconds. First impressions count, and, if you are looking to actively promote your services, the first point of contact your potential clients will have with your website will likely be a landing page. As such, they are a vital touchpoint with both clients and potential clients.

In this month's newsletter, we're going to focus our attention on landing pages and what they can do for your business.

What is a landing page?

You already have a business website and, most likely, it encompasses a home, about us, product/service and contact page. Landing pages exist outside of these, and they have one single purpose, which is to convert visitors into leads. Typically, they have prominent calls to action at the top and bottom of the page, designed to capture those leads.  

Visitors often arrive after clicking on a social media ad or a Google Ad. For more about Google Ads, check out last month's newsletter.

How landing pages generate conversions

A user finds a call to action (CTA) in a blog post, Google Ad, or social media ad and clicks on it, which takes them to a landing page. They fill in the form with their name, email address and phone number, and perhaps their physical address as well. You then contact them, knowing they're a strong lead interested in the product or service you're promoting.

Typically, a landing page CTA is all about the gathering of information, not selling something there and then, and therefore is likely to generate a good number of conversions because there is no handing over of money. Although that's not to say you can't use landing pages to sell a product directly.

Types of landing pages

Not all landing pages are the same. Among the different types are:

Lead capture page – the purpose of this type of landing page is to capture personal information like a name and email address. The contact forms are carefully designed and worded to encourage visitors to click the call to action button to provide information.

Squeeze page - specifically designed for a visitor to submit their email address to proceed
further into the page. This approach helps businesses grow their email list as potential clients are guided further along the sales/marketing funnel.

Click-through page - think of this as a middleman between your Google Ad or other ad and your eCommerce cart. The purpose is to get your visitor to warm up to your product with a special offer and then quickly direct them to click through to the product or service.

Differences between landing pages and regular webpages

One of the principal differences is that a landing page is much more sales focussed. It is action-orientated, providing basic information about a specific product or service in a way that is designed to generate a lead. The sole focus is to get the user to complete the form, so you know they're interested in what you have to offer. The call to action is the form, and it must be clear, direct and straightforward.

Benefits of landing pages

The key benefits of landing pages include:

• Creating a good first impression and offering tangible next steps
• Generating leads and conversions
• Promoting new products and services
• Increasing your search traffic
   

Recap…A landing page is a front door to your business, serving as an initial interaction and an important avenue to nurture leads.

PS: Landing pages are often used in conjunction with Google Ads. The search engine regularly evaluates landing pages, and if you offer an exceptional landing page experience, you may see your ad rank higher over time.