Last week, we talked about how to boost and advertise specific blog posts in order to increase exposure for your business. Though boosting can be an effective long-term strategy, it likely won’t generate as many direct results, such as:
• Product Sales
• Lead Generation
• Gathering Contact Information for Emails, Telemarketing, etc.
If these immediate results are what you are looking for, you’ll want to consider a different web content approach: landing pages.
A landing page is a stand-alone web page. Typically it won’t show up on your regular website’s navigation and the landing page itself might not contain any navigation elements to take a visitor back to your website. It is designed with a singular purpose in mind. The landing page is meant to drive a specific action on behalf of the visitor.
Let’s say you have a product you want to sell. You build web page just to promote this one product and you incorporate strong calls to action throughout the page. You create a strong case for why someone would want that product and highlight any features that make it enticing. Think of it like a QVC segment on a web page. You create demand and desire with engaging content, imagery and graphics.
Calls to action should be peppered throughout the page so that the reader will be drawn to take that next step. Whether it’s a number they need to call or a hyperlink to a product ordering page, give them many opportunities to purchase that product immediately.
If lead generation or information gathering is your goal, then encourage that response throughout the page and include contact info fields for them to fill out. Make that action step clear and prominent.
A landing page is typically very different than a blog. Blogs are a good long-term web marketing strategy and the content shouldn’t be overly salesy (at least in our opinion). Landing pages are direct response oriented.
Having said that, there are several different styles that marketers will utilize when developing landing pages:
- Direct Sales – You sell your product or service very directly. It’s clear that the page wants you to buy something from the moment you look at it.
- Informational Article – These can be more subtle and similar to a blog approach, but they are still written to produce a specific result. Present the web page like a news article or information page and then build up to a specific call to action.
- Event Sales – Perhaps you host seminars where the real sales happen or your sales require a more in-depth personal approach (on the phone, in person, online chats, etc.). Use a landing page to get people to an event or to schedule a consultation, where the sales can then be made.
- Community Pages – These are a bit more involved and there will be a more detailed article here next week on the NextGear Marketing blog. In a nutshell, these are multiple landing pages with sales/service information tailored to all the different geographic communities or target audiences you wish to attract.
So how do people find your landing page if it’s not directly connected to your website? That’s where you might use social media advertising methods on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Or, Google Adwords and other pay-per-click options. Certainly share links to the page on your social media pages. A landing page could also be converted into an email campaign (either to drive people to the landing page or the landing page itself is sent in an email format). The landing page itself should also include plenty of key words and SEO tags so people can find it organically through web searches.
Whatever your goals, a landing page (or series of landing pages) may be the right web content approach for you. For more information about landing pages, contact NextGear Marketing today.
NextGear Marketing 