Landing Page: Digital Asset For Small Businesses

Small businesses focus on surviving and succeeding as part of their growth stages. Gaining as much traffic as possible, building customer relationships, and increasing profitability are some of the necessary tasks.

Leveraging your website is one way to ensure your small business grows. One of the website elements that contribute to business growth the most is the landing page.

This article will cover why having a landing page is important for small businesses, along with the best practices to create your own.

What Is A Landing Page?

A landing page is the page users land on after clicking on certain links. Its purpose revolves around generating web traffic, customer retention, lowering and bounce rates.

There are various types of landing pages:

Squeeze landing page. Squeeze landing pages are the most popular. They are used to gain email addresses, and they often come as invitations to subscribe to newsletters.
Lead capture landing page. These pages work to capture leads and increase interest in your products. A lead capture page continues the process from the squeeze landing page.
Click-through landing page. This page is the middleman between your ad and the product page. It works to introduce your product before the audience proceeds with the next step of the marketing funnel.
Sales landing page. This landing page is the most challenging to make because its main goal is to encourage visitors to buy. The page needs to provide enough details to influence the visitor’s purchasing decision.
404 landing page. This landing page works as a redirect from a 403 forbidden error or other similar server issues. The page keeps visitors on your website and reduces traffic losses.
Thank you landing page. These pages are displayed after a customer makes a purchase. A thank you page helps increase ROI and the upselling process.

Unlike a home page, a landing page doesn’t need to be the first page of your website. Moreover, it is more effective at converting visitors than a home page because it contains relevant product or service information.

Why Landing Pages Are Important

A landing page is essential to digital marketing because of the benefits it provides, which include:

A good first impression. It’s the first thing that users see. A landing page works to deliver what the customers are looking for. It also answers the audience’s questions, making their visit worthwhile.
Generates leads and conversions. A landing page helps filter qualified leads from overall traffic.
Builds credibility. A successful landing page results in a good customer experience. A more positive customer experience helps increase business credibility. In the long run, it helps boost sales.
Increases search traffic. A search engine optimized landing page has all the qualities to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), increasing organic traffic.

Landing Page Best Practices

Now, let’s go over the best practices for landing pages. These strategies will improve the performance of your landing pages.

1. Use Captivating Headlines

The headlines or title of your landing pages is the first element the visitors will see. Make it captivating to retain customer attention and manage their expectations through your copy.

For an alluring landing page headline, write simple, clear, and specific copy. Make it the centerpiece of the page.

Try to arouse curiosity and emphasize your benefits. For example, Mailchimp’s landing page directly mentions that using their platform will “grow sales.”

Source: Mailchimp landing page

By showing what the audience will get from your product, you’ll incite enough interest for clicks and quality leads.

2. Include Visual Aids

Including visual aids mean adding images, videos, illustrations, or similar media that convey what the landing page is about. Adding visuals help increase customer engagement.

The first step of adding visual aids is choosing the visual content for the landing page. For example, you can employ product demos to give an idea of your product, like Evernote does.

Source: Evernote landing page

Use the right tools to create the visuals, like Canva. You can also incorporate videos. Remember to use high-quality and original elements.

3. Add Clear Product Descriptions

When your landing page directs visitors to product pages, you only have limited time to impress potential customers with what you sell.

That’s why you need to make the product descriptions as clear as possible. It means keeping them simple, short, and informative.

To do so, use relevant product keywords, which will be beneficial for both visitors and search engine visibility. Cover all the product features and keep the descriptions straightforward.

4. Write a Specific Call-to-Action

A call-to-action (CTA) in a landing page guides users towards what you want them to do. 90% of visitors who read your headlines will also read your CTA.

Having a specific CTA helps fulfill your marketing objectives and works best on sales landing pages. The page only needs one CTA. However, it needs to effectively drive leads and conversions.

To create a great CTA, focus on your marketing objectives. For example, Shoelace uses the CTA “Book a Demo” for visitors to take the next step in the marketing funnel.

5. A/B Test the Landing Page

A/B testing is checking the performance of your landing pages. By doing so, you’ll understand what works and what doesn’t.

In the long run, A/B testing helps maximize your return on investment, especially if you’re running multiple Google ads.

To A/B test your landing page, pick the elements to test. Typically, you will only test one button, CTA, or piece of copy. Evaluate the reports and create the next steps to optimize your landing pages.

Google Adwords, Google Optimize, or Optimizely are some of the tools you can use for A/B testing.

6. Choose a Responsive Design

A responsive web design works on many devices, catering to a wider audience. It helps people navigate the landing page easier and reduces bounce rates.

If you’re using a website builder or WordPress, always choose a responsive template. There are more practices you can use, which include adding responsive meta tags, embedding responsive images, and making your typography easily readable.

Always test the website responsiveness if you’re making any changes to the landing page.

7. Make an Impressive Landing Page Design

An impressive landing page design means it fully caters to what the audience wants. This means paying attention to its UI and UX. Always opt for a simple page design and ensure your branding is consistent.

Aside from working with the page structure and including design elements, you can also incorporate social proof on your landing page. It leads to a 12.5% increase in conversions as visitors are likely to trust customer feedback.

What’s more, remember that longer landing pages generate 220% more leads than shorter ones.

8. Include a Lead Generation Form

The lead generation form is a part of inbound marketing and is important for acquiring leads. It works to obtain contact information from potential customers. It can come as a newsletter, subscription, or contact form.

When creating the lead generation form, keep it short. Include five form fields at most for better conversion rates. Emphasize your benefits and work them into the form as efficiently as possible.

Conclusion

A landing page is a digital asset for small businesses as it provides plenty of marketing benefits. Some of them include making a great first impression, driving leads, building credibility, and increasing search engine ranking.

There are eight best practices you can implement on your landing pages, which are: