Today, we’re getting back to the basics on landing pages. We’ve all seen marketers throw the term around without truly understanding its purpose or capabilities. We’re going to discuss the fundamentals of a landing page and ways you can turn your landing page into a B2B lead generation machine. Let’s start this refresher with a few basic principles.
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a standalone page you reach after clicking on a link from a page in your website, a search engine optimized search result, a digital ad, or a marketing email. In essence, landing pages are designed to convert visitors into leads. Marketers use landing pages to provide a resource or desired offer in exchange for a visitor’s contact information.
Once a visitor fills out their information, marketers can utilize fields such as name, email, or job title to store information into a client relationship management (CRM) platform like HubSpot or Salesforce.
A landing page is much better at converting than a general homepage because a landing page is specific and has fewer clickable distractions. It can also have varying intents, such as signing up for a subscription, contacting a company, or registering for an event. There are a few questions you want to ask yourself before creating a landing page, such as:
- What is the end goal of this landing page?
- Who is the audience?
- What action should the visitor perform after viewing the landing page content?
These are all essential pre-design questions that will help you craft the perfect message for your specific audience. Now, let’s discuss the building process and best practices for landing pages.
Building a Landing Page that Converts
A few basic elements of a landing page include the main headline, supporting headline, call-to-action (CTA), benefit summary, and closing argument. But your landing page shouldn’t stop there. To create a persuasive landing page your audience can trust, there are a few best practice guidelines you should follow:
- Create an eye-catching title. According to MarketingSherpa, 9 out of 10 viewers who read your headline will also read your CTA. Strong headlines set the tone for your readers. If they find your headline interesting, you’ve conquered the first step to creating a lead.
- Keep it short, simple, and to the point. In a matter of seconds, a reader will be able to form an opinion about your landing page. Your landing page needs to provide valuable content and inspire your reader to act. Make it easy for your visitor to find the content they are looking for and what to do next.
- Include a clear CTA. Your CTA should be easy to find and have specific directions. Try going beyond the generic “click here” and use language such as “Find out more,” “Start My Free Trial,” or “Compare Pricing.”
- Make sure it’s mobile friendly. When you’re creating your landing page, don’t forget to optimize it for mobile devices. For each second it takes the page to load, your bounce rate will increase exponentially. The lesson here? Speed equals revenue.
- Keep your target market in mind. Remember not to derail your content by being too generic. Continue to personalize the experience by using any information you know – like where your visitor is coming from – to your advantage.
- Don’t neglect the design. A clean, crisp design is always better than a distracting, content-heavy landing page. Use color to your advantage and remember that whitespace is your friend. Pay attention to the fold when designing your layout and consider removing the navigation elements to focus more on the content.
- Include videos where appropriate. Including videos on a landing page allows readers to engage with your messaging and can significantly boost a page’s performance. In fact, marketers who use video experience 34% higher conversion rates.
- Testimonials and awards. If your visitor isn’t familiar with your company, mentioning awards or testimonials can help establish you as an industry leader.
- Test, and test again. Marketers may be able to predict customer behavior, but you never really know until you test your theory. A/B Testing is a great way to try new ideas and see what works best for your target market.
- Include a conversion tracking code. Outside of tracking the number of visits, a Google tracking code can help you keep up with how many people are converting on your landing page. The information collected can also help you make iterative changes to your landing pages (like freshening up the copy or switching out the graphics) to maximize your B2B lead generation goals.
Whether you’re running a pay-per-click (PPC) ad or an email drip campaign, a landing page can help you personalize the buying journey for a visitor. It’s also a great way to help distinguish between a visitor and a lead among your website traffic. Don’t leave conversions on the table. Get started today with creating a successful B2B lead generation landing page.