Effective Home and Landing Pages

• What are landing pages? 
• How do you make them a successful part of your marketing strategy? 

Landing pages are the best way to capture a potential customer’s interest when he/she arrives on your site.  They also provide a means for directing specific content for specific advertising campaigns. They also motivate potential customers to provide you with their contact info so that you can follow-up directly with them.  There area a lot theories out there on how to best design a landing page.  All are different depending on the product or service you are offering. I put together some of their favorite landing page designs.

•  Are you running an commercial for your new snow removal service for Bob’s Lawn Care? Don’t simply put your web address on the commercial, but something more specific like www.bobslawncare.com/snowremoval. They are interested in this service, so don’t make them fish for it on your site. Take them right there.
• The other key component of a landing age is data collection. You have peaked their interest. Your landing page should tell them about something they “need”. Make them feel like they “need” what you have. Get them to sign up for email alerts, ask for a quote, contact you for details, request a proposal, have an associate contact them, signup for free trials, etc. You have a better chance of selling your product this way if you can get a hold of them.
• Use dynamic content on your landing page. If you have a short 30-second spot, then put that on your landing page! Users like video and dynamic content. Your video should tell you all about your product or service you can’t necessarily describe in words on a webpage.
• Use imagery to showcase your products or service. You want the visitor’s to be intrigued when they see your site and it can’t be done with a bunch of text. Keep the text minimal and use a good mix of graphics and descriptions.
• This one is important! Show off a little. If you have big-name clients, ask if you can use their logo. Have your big clients write you a testimonial. These will catch the eye of the visitors and will help legitimize your product or service. If you have done serious work for serious clients, then it is time to use that to leverage new clients. Make sure you get permission before you do anything with their name or logo.
• Use your Google Analytics to track the effectiveness of your Landing Page. Are your visitors contacting you from the landing page? Do you have a decent bounce rate? Are visitor’s checking out other pages on your site after they see your landing page. Just because they do not signup or give you their email address, does not mean they are uninterested. This is a good time to scan the rest of your site and make sure your content is top-notch.
• Make sure to compute your ROI. Are you paying for ads to bring people to your website and the landing page does not seem to work? Maybe your ad needs work. Maybe the landing page needs some tweaking. Maybe the rest of your website needs a little sprucing up. Maybe you don’t have a product or service the visitors want!