Well hello there! Welcome to episode 25 of Conversations with a Digital Strategist. On this week’s episode we’re going to chat about landing pages. There are so many tools out on the Internet today that allow you to create special landing pages for products, services, webinars, freebies, or anything else you want people to know about. But I’m going to explain how landing pages should be used and what constitutes a landing page. Let’s get into this week’s episode.

Cool Tool

Do your eyes glaze over when people begin to talk about search engine optimization? Mine do too! There are so many rules to remember, it’s very frustrating. Especially when you find out the rules are always changing! Albert Einstein said, “Never memorize something that you can look up.”

Well, I’ve found a nice tool that will analyze your website for free and tell you what you need to do to improve the SEO on your homepage. The tool is called WooRank. It not only reviews your page, but offers suggestions on improvements. You can upgrade to receive even more feedback and recommendations for $49/month. Which isn’t bad for the amount of information they give you. WooRank, has been around for many years and is well respected in the SEO. If you’re interested in the WooRank tool, visit woorank.com. And, if you didn’t know, now you know.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a focal point for a particular campaign. You can create a special landing page for webinars, e-books, online courses, sales, or anything you want to draw attention to.

[tweetshare tweet=”A landing page is a focal point for a particular campaign.” username=”Level_360″]

Landing pages have been popular since the creation websites. The original “landing page” was always thought of as your homepage. In the beginning it was the first page website visitors would access before moving throughout your website.

How is every page on your website a landing page?

Today, a landing page can be any page on your website. Not just a specialty page or your homepage. Depending on how well your search engine optimization is working for your website pages, visitors can enter your website from any page.

[tweetshare tweet=”A landing page can be any page on your website. Not just a specialty page or your homepage.” username=”Level_360″]

For example, if you are a yoga instructor and you specialize in Bikram yoga. You may have a page on your website, under “classes” that explain what Bikram yoga is and when each class is offered. Assuming you’ve done a great job at optimizing that page for the keyword Bikram yoga, visitors searching for that specific keyword, are going to land on your Bikram yoga page first.

The conversion rate of this page, is determined by how good of a landing page it is. It may be a great page, for someone who knows your company well or has already visited your other pages. But if the visitor is viewing your site for the very first time, the quality of your landing page will determine if the visit is fruitful or becomes a bounce.

What are the characteristics of a good landing page?

So, now that we’ve established all the pages on your website are potential landing pages. We need to identify the characteristics of a good landing page and compare those characteristics against your current website.

• Good landing pages are complete – they provide all the information a visitor needs to make a determination about the page subject matter. If I visit your Bikram yoga page, I should be able to read a brief description of this type of yoga, see a list of what we will do during the class, review a list of upcoming classes, view a list of class rules and find out what I need to bring with me. Don’t skimp on the details. Tell me what I need to know.
• Good landing pages have bold calls to action – I shouldn’t have to guess what you want me to do. If I can register for class, I should be able to identify the registration button, link, form or whatever without much effort. I should be able to register from any place on the page. If I read all the way to the bottom, don’t make me scroll to the top to register. Meet me where I am.
• Good landing pages cross promote – I may not know you offer hot yoga unless you tell me. Be sure to cross promote your other products and resources.
• Good landing pages link back to the homepage – Always have a link back to your homepage, so if I’m interested in learning more about you, I have a way to get there. If you don’t connect your pages, search engines won’t be able to find their way around either.

[tweetshare tweet=”Good landing pages are complete, have bold calls to action, cross promote and always include a link back to your homepage.” username=”Level_360″]

What are the characteristics of a bad landing page?

We can’t look at the good characteristics without pointing out the bad. I don’t want you to have lopsided landing pages. So, what are some characteristics of bad landing pages?

• Bad landing pages contain a lot of text – sure, you can add text to the page, but make it easily scannable. You’ve heard me say that before. People don’t read. Make it simple for visitors to scan the page and get the jest of what you’re trying tell them, without forcing them to read a book. Also, break up the content with strategically placed, relevant images and even video.
• Bad landing pages don’t include a company logo – brand that page! Don’t leave off the one image that ties everything together. Always add your company logo to every page on your website and any external landing pages you create.
• Bad landing pages don’t follow brand standards – along with adding your logo, always keep with your brand standards. Only use the colors you’ve identified as your branded colors. You want everything to match. This will help visitors identify you across your web presence.

[tweetshare tweet=”Bad landing pages contain a lot of text, don’t include your company’s logo and don’t follow brand standards” username=”Level_360″]

In Conclusion

When you look at your website, assume each one of your pages is the first page a new visitor will land on. Visit the page for yourself and think, if I didn’t know anything about this company; could I get all the information I need from this one page? If the answer is no, you need to make some changes to the page. If you aren’t sure of the answer, run some tests. Post a page to social media and see what people say? Or use a tool like Usability Hub to run some tests.

Thank You!

Thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of Conversations with a Digital Strategist. If you have questions about anything I covered, feel free to email me at podcast@level360.co. If you’d like more information about me, visit my website at Level360.co. I’m also social, you know. Follow me on Twitter at Level_360. Or on Facebook at Facebook.com/Level360LLC. Until next time, live true, work smart, and in the words of one of the greatest strategists to ever live, think different! Bye!

Intro and outro music by: DJ Quads
DJ Quads Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/aka-dj-quads
DJ Quads YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCusFqutyfTWRqGhC8kHA5uw