What’s a Landing Page and How Should Your Business Use It?

Have you ever diligently searched the web for the information you needed, found what appeared to be a promising lead in a link, and followed the link only to land on a page that had nothing to do with your original goal? Chances are, instead of attempting to navigate through the new page to find your original destination, you backtracked and found a different link that led you exactly where you needed to go.

In computer jargon, you were actually sent to a general automated “landing page” rather than a customized page with your desired results. Think of it like this: If you search Google for “kitchen blender” and see the top search result for a kitchen blender on Amazon, you expect to click the link and be sent to the exact Amazon page that sells the kitchen blender. That’s a customized landing page. If you are sent to Amazon’s homepage instead and need to type in your search query yet again, you’ve been send to an automated landing page and may grumble about the system’s inefficiency.

In essence, a landing page is the page your viewer “lands” on after clicking a link from a search engine. According to a 2012 Marketing Benchmark Report by HubSpot, companies saw a whopping 55 percent increase in leads when they added just five landing pages for viewer use. The biggest goal of any landing page is conversion into sales. So how can you achieve high-converting landing pages?

It’s all about appeal. Internet viewers decide in the span of a few mere seconds whether a site interests them enough to stay, so each of your landing pages needs to make a phenomenal first impression using visual and aesthetic tricks. First, get to the point! Eliminate wordiness and simply provide the information being sought. Second, use contrasting colors and stamp on a logo for visual appeal and clarity. Get rid of any clutter that detracts from your main goal, add social proof that your company has many pleased customers, and uphold consistent throughout every landing page.

An experienced search engine marketing company can do this for you, too. Effective landing pages can’t be underestimated as a major source of customer conversion.