Landing Pages 101

First things first, one might ask… what exactly are landing pages? A Landing page is
any page that someone lands on after clicking an online marketing call-to-action. So,
let’s say your online message says “visit our site and save 30% off!” The landing page
would be where your audiences lands on by clicking the online message link.
A landing page can serve two main purposes:
1. Generate leads and establish a customer base for future marketing targets (Lead
Generating Page).
2. “Warm up” potential customers to the product you are trying to sell to them before
sending them further into your “sales funnel” (Click-Through Page)
Thus, leading to the need for two separate but equal landing pages: a lead generating
page and a click-through page.
What are the benefits of these pages? Why, you’re quite the student!
A lead generating page offers a valuable piece of information; someone’s email
address – which gives you permission to further target and strategically market to them.
Once you gain that lead’s permission, you then have the golden opportunity to try
converting them into a loyal customer by combing the two most powerful 1-to-1
communication tools a marketer has – email and landing pages.
Click-through pages (sometimes referred to as “jump pages”) are designed as a
conduit between a marketing ad and its final destination (no reference to the horror
movie). The goal of a click-through page is to “warm-up” the visitor to the product/
service you are trying to sell. Commonly used for e-commerce, click-through pages
provide enough information to inform the buyer, making them ready to purchase before
pushing them further down the funnel – probably to a shopping cart or checkout.
How do I ensure that I have a successful landing page? I see you’re jumping ahead.
Here is where it matters — Wording!
Let’s be honest most visitors are impatient and they’ll leave your page within seconds
of arrival if you don’t reinforce their intent with a matching headline and purpose
(quickly and clearly). That’s why it’s VERY important to have a strong message match.
Message match is the ability of your landing page to reinforce the message presented
on the link that was clicked to reach the page. A strong message match is an essential
part of why landing pages can be so successful. By ensuring a strong message match,
you’re letting the visitor know that they made a “good click” worth their while! If this isn’t
done correctly or there is a weak message match, chances are you’ll see a high bounce
rate (customers leaving).

It’s all in The Art of Why.