Do you know the definition of a landing page? Technically, landing pages are any web page that visitors can "land" on. However, when you look at landing pages from a marketing perspective, the definition is slightly different. For marketers, a landing page is usually a stand-alone web page that is separate from a business's website, designed for a single purpose. That purpose is to get your visitors' attention and then get them to convert - and a conversion doesn't always need to be a sale. Sometimes a conversion consists of capturing an email address in exchange for access to a resource, a webinar, an appointment, a newsletter or a free trial.
This is where landing pages and marketing campaigns cross paths.
At ShortStack.com we've started seeing a variety of businesses building their marketing campaigns and promotions as landing pages. They're published as stand-alone web pages that are designed to fit with their brand's marketing but are focused on meeting the specific goal for that brand's campaign. We also see businesses using ShortStack.com to build landing pages for their Facebook ads.
Here are 5 Things to Remember When Building Landing Pages
1. Determine Your Goals
The first step in any marketing campaign is to determine your goals, which will enable you to build a landing page focussed on meeting it. Here are some common goals we see among our users:
• Increase brand awareness
• Promote a new product or service
• Boost user engagement
• Gather user feedback
• Gather user content (photos, video, etc.)
• Develop brand advocates
• Convert followers into leads
• Convert followers into sales
• Grow a social media presence
2. Research best practices based on your goals
Are you running a promotion or trying to convert a customer? Will your landing page be short copy or long copy? Since landing pages refer to a variety of marketing strategies, do some research on best practices. If you're building a landing page to convert customers - we recommend this article that discusses 4 tips to drive more conversions with your landing pages. If you're wanting to run a more traditional marketing giveaway, then spend some time looking over these 5 tips for running successful social media campaigns.
3. Customize your domain URL
When you build a campaign with most third-party platforms, the default domain consists of a variety of numbers and letters which can look spammy to your visitors. However, most software also provides the option to customize any domain, and we recommend you do this to add relevant branding. For example, which looks like a more legitimate URL: x2huy7.pgtb.me or shortstackpromotion.pgtb.me?
4. Use ads to drive traffic to your landing page
Whether your landing page was built specifically for your online advertisement or not, you should be running ads against your landing pages. In the example below, Jon Loomer is running a landing page for some workshops he is hosting. When you go to his website, jonloomer.com you'll find a variety of ads that link to his landing pages. He also runs Facebook ads and sponsored posts.
5. Maintain consistent branding
Even though your landing page is a standalone web page, separate from your web site, it's important to still brand your landing page to match your other marketing materials. You'll notice that Jon Loomer's colors consist of orange, black and white, and that he uses images of himself in his marketing. This remains consistent from his ads to his landing pages to his website, so there's no question what brand you're interacting with when you land on his page.
Example of a Landing Page
Jon Loomer is an advanced Facebook marketer who uses ShortStack.com to build landing pages to drive traffic from his Facebook Page to his website and convert his social followers into customers. Jon's landing pages tend to be longer copy and include strong calls-to-action at the top and bottom of the pages. Jon uses Facebook advertising as well as advertisements on his website to drive people to his individual landing pages.
Most of Jon's landing pages start with an ad somewhere else online. Below is an example of an advertisement I saw on Facebook for Jon's eBook, The Facebook Ads Experiment: 12 Tips to Crazy Engagement
Once you click on the ad, you're taken to the landing page that is embedded on Jon's website. This landing page would be considered short form and it gets straight to the point and makes it easy for people to get the resource they're looking for.
Here's another example of a landing page for one of Jon's workshops - this one is a long form landing page:
And here's one more example of a landing page for another one of Jon's eBooks, that's embedded into his website.