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What Is a Landing Page? Definition, Best Practices, and More!

Last updated: July 7, 2023

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What is a landing page?

A landing page is a standalone page specifically designed to capture leads or conversions. You arrive on a landing page after clicking a link in an ad.

What is a landing page on a website? If you’re asking yourself this question, you’re in the right place!

In any kind of online marketing, the goal is to direct users toward becoming leads and converting. The exact strategy can take different forms — search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, social media marketing — but the endgame is the same.

Many digital marketing tactics rely on creating landing pages to generate leads and conversions.

Below, we’ll go over the landing page definition, and more! So, just keep reading!

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What is a landing page?

A landing page is a standalone page specifically designed to capture leads or conversions. You arrive on a landing page after clicking a link in an ad. Once there, you’re shown a call to action (CTA) that prompts you to buy or sign up for something.

Landing page vs. homepage: What’s the difference?

So, now you know the answer to the question, “what is landing page on a website,” let’s dive into how it compares to a homepage.

Understanding the difference between a landing page and a homepage is key to success before you jump right in and create your own landing pages. 

  • landing page exists as a standalone page where a targeted audience is directed through an online ad, newsletter, or other specific call-to-action and acts as a page solely to convert users into customers or subscribers.
  • homepage acts as your business’s storefront, introducing your customer value proposition and a broader understanding of your business. A homepage gives users many more navigational options to explore your brand, products, services and values.

Types of landing pages

There are two primary types of landing pages:

1. Lead generation pages

Lead generation pages prompt users to sign up for something, like a newsletter. Typically, they use a form to collect information like names and email addresses.

lead generation landing page example

2. Click-through pages

Click-through pages aim to convert potential customers immediately, directing them to a product page or taking them straight to the cart.

Example of a landing page with a Call-To-Action (CTA)

You can create either of these landing pages with a landing page creation tool.

Read on to learn more, and then consider partnering with WebFX’s team of over 500 digital marketing experts for our landing page design services. Just call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online to get started!

We foster and form long-term partnerships so that your business has long-term results.

Over 90% of WebFX clients continue partnering with us into year 2 of their campaign.

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What are landing pages used for?

Now that you know the answer to the question, “what is a landing page,” and the landing page definition, let’s dive into when you’ll use them.

Which marketing tactics work best with landing pages? Below are a few of the best ways to use landing pages:

  1. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements
  2. Social media content
  3. Blog posts
  4. Email marketing

1. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements

When it comes to PPC ads, landing pages are absolutely essential. If you run a PPC ad and someone clicks on it, it leads them to a landing page.

Landing pages allow you to direct your target audience to content that is highly relevant to their search query, rather than simply sending them to your website’s homepage. If you’re a clothing company and someone searches for skirts, you want your landing page to focus exclusively on your skirts.

2. Social media content

Social media is another outlet where you need to use a landing page strategy. Social media ads use landing pages to direct users to get more information.

These landing pages are similar to those you use for a PPC ad. Additionally, you can use landing pages for the content you share on your social media accounts.

Whenever you craft a post that includes a CTA or encourages your followers to sign up for something, you can have it lead to a dedicated landing page.

3. Blog posts

If you run a blog on your website, you’ve already got a great source of inbound marketing to draw people to your site. Once they’re there, you can use your blog to drive leads and conversions by including CTA buttons in your content.

Example of a blog post CTA

By inserting a CTA in each of your blog posts, you can provide yet another route to landing pages where people can turn into leads or sales for your company.

Bonus Read: What is an SEO Landing Page?

4. Email marketing

Email marketing is another fantastic way to bring people to landing pages. When you send out an email to a lead, you can center it around a CTA that directs the user to a very specific landing page.

Once there, they can complete whatever task the email encouraged them to complete. For example, if you send out an email encouraging users to complete a purchase they left unfinished on your website, the link can lead them right to their cart, with their nearly-purchased item still inside it.

The benefits of a landing page

Using landing pages has multiple possible benefits aside from the obvious – more conversions.

Let’s explore how building effective landing pages can benefit your business:

1. Landing pages allow in-depth targeting

Using landing pages with segmented audiences lets you provide users with an experience unique to their needs.

2. Landing pages look to increase conversions

If your landing page is targeted at the right user, at the right time, and with the right offer, it can significantly increase conversions.

3. Landing pages can be tested

You can create different versions of your landing pages to try on your audience to see which variations perform best. This is called A/B testing and is a proven method for increasing your conversion rate.

4. Landing pages can be measured

You can learn more about your target audience by looking at how your audience interacts and engages with your page through analytics. This allows you to make the necessary changes for higher conversions and to make the right decisions for future landing pages.

5. Landing pages create clarity around your offer

Using landing pages lets you create a laser-focused design around your product or service that allows you to add context to the value you can offer a potential customer.

Landing page best practices

Landing pages can be incredibly effective tools for capturing leads and driving conversions. But some landing pages are more effective than others.

A good landing page strategy will employ several tactics to ensure maximum efficiency. Below, we’ll cover a few vital landing page best practices you need to design a landing page that drives revenue:

  1. Customization
  2. One CTA
  3. Practice good visual design
  4. Highlight unique selling points (USPs)

1. Customization

When users visit a landing page, they’re typically following a link from a specific ad because it best matched their search query. The alignment between your ads and the searches they’re targeting is critical to get right.

When you design your landing pages, make sure they practice good customization by satisfying user intent. Each of your landing pages should be unique to each campaign.

If your ad is part of a campaign aimed at selling your furniture store’s king-sized beds, make sure your landing pages focus exclusively on king-sized beds.

Otherwise, users will quickly hit the back button because your ad content and landing page don’t provide consistent information.

2. One CTA

Your landing pages should keep users focused when they visit. One of the worst things you can do is fill a landing page with five different links to other places because it confuses your visitors.

Limit your landing pages to a single CTA that encourages users to take a single action, and allow them to do that by clicking on a single button. Providing more than one button will confuse users and make it more likely that they won’t click anything at all.

3. Practice good visual design

Your landing pages should look good. If users click on an ad, and it takes them to a page that looks bland or poorly designed, they won’t have much faith in your company. To keep people on the page, you need it to look appealing and engaging.

Craft pages that shout your brand through their color schemes and designs, and set them up to draw users in.

Here are some examples of good visual design elements:

  • Consistent branding across the page
  • Plenty of white space around the text
  • Attractive graphics and images
  • A CTA that pops off the page

4. Highlight unique selling points (USPs)

When users first click on your ad, they might be hesitant about signing up for your emails or buying your product. To convince them, you’ll need to act quickly to ensure that they feel positive about your brand. One of the best ways to do this is to provide several unique selling points (USPs) right up front on your landing page.

Tell them what makes your business, products, and services stand out from your competition.

For example, if you run a pest control business that won an award for performing the best pest control services in your city, you could display that on your landing page.

Or, if your business has been around for a long time by the standards of your industry, you could advertise that too.

Need help getting your own landing page set up and driving leads for your business? You can contact WebFX online or give us a call on 888-601-5359!

Our digital marketing campaigns impact the metrics that improve your bottom line.

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WebFX has driven the following results for clients:

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$6 billion

In client revenue
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24 million

Leads for our clients
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7.14 million

Client phone calls

Get help designing your landing page strategy from WebFX

Are you ready to craft some killer landing pages, but having trouble piecing it all together? No worries — our landing page agency has you covered.

With over 28 years of experience in the digital marketing industry, we know landing pages inside and out.

With our landing page design services, you can start driving leads and conversions for your business like never before. To get started with us, just call us at 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!

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