If you run a website, there's no getting around a landing page. The call-to-actions lead the visitor directly to the landing page, which is practically the figurehead of your website.

These pages are therefore very important in marketing, although it is not always clear what a landing page actually is.

To give you an overview of what a landing page is, what it is used for and how to set up a landing page, we have compiled all the important information for you.

What is a landing page? 

The term landing page comes from the word landing. The visitor lands on your page, usually after clicking on something. The visitor often lands on your landing page via a call-to-action such as click here or links.

Another word is landing page. This term describes the content of the landing page. On the landing page, the user finds specific offers without distractions or other disruptive factors. On the landing page, there are many call-to-actions or input forms for orders, newsletters or offers.

A landing page stands alone. It usually follows an advertising banner that states what the customer is looking for.

A customer can reach the target page in the following way: The customer sees a banner ad for a product they are looking for. He clicks on the call-to-action and lands on the landing page. Here the customer carries out the goal of buying the product. To do this, they find information about the product and a purchase option on the landing page.

To prevent the customer from leaving the site, landing pages stand alone. Often there is no additional navigation system, no external and internal links and no references to other pages.

The landing page should not be confused with the start page. The start page fulfills a completely different function than the landing page.

Summary

A landing page, also known as a target page, pursues a specific goal for the visitor. As a rule, these are purchases or subscriptions to emails and newsletters. The landing page is therefore a stand-alone page that the visitor finds via call-to-actions.

What types of landing pages are there?

A landing page is based on the action that the visitor is to perform.

These can be:

• Buy a product
• Book a service
• Arrange a consultation
• Subscribe to a newsletter
• Donate money to an association
• Book an event

Basically, however, you can summarize two topics. The first category of landing pages are the Opt-In and the Click-Through.

• Opt-in pages are loading pages that want to collect contact data such as e-mail addresses of names. These pages are often used on B2B pages, i.e. business-to-business pages.
• Click-through pages want to make an offer to a customer.

Homepage and landing page - what's the difference?

Landing pages and home pages are often used interchangeably, although they are completely different types of pages.

Both types of sites pursue different goals.

The main aim of the homepage is to provide information and make the site appealing to the customer. There is a lot of information, links and call-to-actions that lead to the subpages. It generally shows the visitor what kind of site it is, what it offers and what the customer will find here. There is no specific goal such as a purchase offer.

Why a landing page is so important

A landing page is a very important component in online marketing. Without a landing page, it is much more difficult to sell services or goods.

Overall, the landing page pursues several goals:

• Traffic and SEO: A landing page helps your site to rank well on Google and increase your visibility. This gives you more visitors and more potential customers. SEO, or search engine optimization, pursues the goal of displaying your site at the top of Google.
• Leads: Good landing pages increase your leads, i.e. contacts to customers.
• Sales: Well-optimized landing pages help to increase your conversion rates and generate more sales.

All in all, landing pages are essential for attracting customers, ranking your site and generating more sales.

Tips for a good landing page

After all the theory, here we explain how to create and build your perfect landing page.

Nevertheless, you should refrain from creating the perfect landing page right from the start. A conversion rate of 100 % is therefore unrealistic. Nevertheless, you can still achieve good rates of 80 % with a good landing page. Here are a few tips for optimizing your landing page.

1. set target

Before you start, you should first think about what you want to achieve with the site. Goals can be:

• Subscribe to our newsletter
• Book a service
• Enter data such as e-mail addresses

The selection is not limited. You decide what you want to offer with the site. However, you should focus on one function and not mix different goals. The fewer distractions, the more effective your page will be, which is why you should create a separate landing page for each goal. For example, keep forms short and concise and don't overload the visitor with too many functions and information.

2. find target group

You cannot optimize your website without a target group. You should therefore decide right at the start which group of people you want to reach. Do you want to appeal to young people? Women or men or both? Rather older people? Professionals or students?

Depending on your target group, you must adapt your landing page stylistically and visually and align it to your visitors. However, avoid confusing graphics and too many gimmicks so that the focus is on your product.

3. coordinate ad and landing page

The ad that brings the visitor to your site should match the look and content of your landing page. It is important that the landing page keeps the promise made in the ad and does not make any promises that you cannot keep. Ideally, the ad and the landing page should build on each other.

4. create form

The heart of your landing page is the form. After all, your visitors should enter their data in a form. The form should not be too long, visually appealing and easy to find, but not intrusive. The same applies here: as much as necessary, as little as possible.

5. present solutions

Customers like short and concise messages. Customers don't want to read long texts, explanations and stories.

The visitor should therefore quickly recognize what benefits they will receive by visiting the site and purchasing the product. Therefore, choose short and direct sentences such as:

"Product xy made my hair shiny after two washes!"

You can also show photos and upload short testimonials. However, avoid advertising texts and concentrate instead on human and honest texts.

6. gain trust

Testimonials and seals of approval show that your product is of high quality and trustworthy. Other ways to gain the trust of your customers are:

• Product video and tutorials
• Company presentation
• Information on blog pages
• Customer reports and ratings

It is important to keep your promises based on this information. You should avoid obvious advertising texts and focus on your target group in terms of language.

7. personality wins

An honest personality is a good sales channel. Customers like honesty and personality and prefer to buy from people they trust. So give your landing page a face and a human side. You can achieve this through storytelling about your real or fictitious person. People like to buy based on gut feeling and not always on rational factors. That's why you can generate more sales with a good fictional or real personality.

8. select elements carefully

The landing pages should be as direct and clear as possible so that the visitor is not distracted. This is why many landing pages do without navigation and lots of graphics, banners or other products. Reduce the content to the essentials and your product,

So ask yourself when designing:

• Does the content offer added value for the customer?
• Is the content distracting?
• What is the focus of the site?
• Does the content support the visitor?

For this reason, landing pages consist of the following content, whereby you should select them according to the motto "as much as necessary, as little as possible":

• Logo
• Headline and subline
• Producer Shot (Hero Shot)
• Introduction
• USPs
• Testimonials
• Trust signals
• Checklists
• Videos, Tutorials

9. select texts specifically

The texts should be carefully structured and designed. Visitors usually look at the page in general before they read. Chaotic texts put customers off and ensure that they leave the site more quickly. Therefore, choose a good, clear structure and a certain order on the page. List elements, markers and checkboxes are eye-catchers that help customers find the right information quickly.

10. call to action

A good call to action should be demanding but not too intrusive. Make your CTA appealing, inviting and clear so that the visitor knows what to do. Rather than using standard formulations such as "Click here" or "Register now", choose creative and appealing CTAs.

11. direct headings

The headlines should be direct and short. The customer scans the page on their first visit before deciding to continue reading. With short and direct headings, the customer knows immediately what to expect and what they will find on the page.

12. keep page short

Long category texts should come at the very end, if at all. Long texts are off-putting, you should avoid long texts if possible. If you still want to include texts, place them at the end of the page so that the customer does not have to skip them to get to their information.

13. analyze ranking

The more pages you create, the better you get. Track your Google ranking and analyze how many sales you generate over a longer period of time. This data will tell you whether you need to optimize your site further or whether your site is already ranking the way you want it to.

Summary: Why a landing page is important

As you can see, it is impossible to imagine e-commerce without a landing page. However, in order for the landing page to fulfill its purpose, it must meet certain requirements.

A landing page is not a classic website. As a rule, homepages should convey as much information as possible, catch the visitor and show them why they should take a closer look at the page. For this purpose, there are orientations such as navigation, internal and external links, info boxes, graphics or advertising banners.

You should do without most of this on the landing page.

The basic rule for a good landing page is to avoid distractions. The visitor should focus on what they are supposed to do.

The goals of a landing page are usually to make purchases, enter data, fill out forms or book services. There are corresponding calls to action and prompts for the visitor. To ensure that visitors do this, they must not be distracted by unnecessary information.

So you can remember that:

• Limit your page to the bare essentials.
• No navigation!
• Use short, snappy titles and headlines.
• Find your target group.
• Address your target group directly and purposefully.
• Choose graphic elements carefully: as much as necessary, as little as possible.
• Select suitable call to actions.
• Keep your page short and avoid long texts.
• If long texts are necessary, put them at the bottom of the page.
• Analyze your ranking and improve the page if necessary.
• Keep your promises.
• Your landing page and the ad through which the visitor comes to your site should match.
• Thank You Page: Once your customer has entered their data into the form, you should program a nice thank you page.
• And of course: don't forget data protection and cookies.

Customers often find your site via an advertisement. If they enter a search term in Google, they are shown suitable offers. If visitors click on the ad, they are taken to your landing page. To ensure that the customer stays on the page, your landing page should match the ad both visually and in terms of content.

Don't forget: the customer decides in the first few seconds whether they stay on your site or not. You therefore only have a short window of time to persuade the customer to stay and buy.

You can achieve this by allowing your customer to see immediately what they will find on the page. You can achieve this with direct headlines that quickly and briefly state what you offer.

Creating a good landing page is not as difficult as it sounds. A good landing page, like a homepage, lives from good content. The ranking and purchases will tell you whether you need to optimize your page further.

If you stick to these rules, nothing will stand in the way of your landing page.